On a Japan Day at the school, two visitors from Ireland and Japan spoke to students about renewable energy. Students participated in various activities that taught them about Japanese culture, such as trying foods, composing music, origami, and haiku poetry. They also did a science experiment making hydrogen gas and saw a demonstration of a hydrogen-powered toy car. Presentations at the end of the day provided information about renewable energy in Orkney and an overview of Japan. The Japan Day was an engaging way for students to learn about Japanese culture and renewable energy.

1. Japan Day
On Thursday 8th
June we had a Japan day at school. We got visitors for the special day. They
were called Jen and Yuka. Jen is originally from Dublin, and Yuka is from JAPAN!!! They were
really nice people. They both work for Aquatera which is a company based in Stromness that
helps us get renewable energy. Jens job at Aquatera is to see if the renewable energy
turbines are suitable for the marine animals living in that location. Yuka's role is that she
communicates with Japan because Japan wants to know more about the renewable energy
so they can get some instead of buying fuel from abroad.
At the start of the day we were divided into 3 groups. In my group we had Elizabeth, Ella,
Myself, Millie, Toni-Anne, Liam, Noah, Star, Ollie and Martha.
We then had a time to go around looking at everything that was set out in the hall. It was
really cool. A lot of people dressed up in Kimonos. I tried using chopsticks and I was
amazing. I then tried Yuzu gummy lemon sweets. They were really nice. I then tried Chicken,
Rice and seaweed Sushi, which I did not like. Then we went and did our first activity.
Our first activity was composing Japanese style music. I was paired up with Noah. In my
opinion our tunes were quite good. We did 2; one was a happy little tune whilst the other
one was a bit darker. We next went to break before our next activity.
Our next activity was in the Primary class rooms. First I went and did Origami. I made a
swan, a box and a bookmark. They didn’t go well at all. I then moved to the Upper Primary
classroom where I made Haikus. I made 2; one was about a desire for noodles and the other
was about how I murdered everyone.
We then went to the Science room where we were making Hydrogen. I and Ella were paired
up to make the Hydrogen. What you did to make it was you would put Magnesium in a
conical flask. You would then put a test tube on the end of the flask. You then poured
Hydrochloric Acid onto the Magnesium ribbon which made it fizz and then the bubbles went
to the test tube. It was really fun and when you put fire into the tubes that had Hydrogen in
it would make a loud pop. Doing this Elizabeth accidentally burned Millie. Only 2 of our test
tubes had Hydrogen in the other 2 just had air. Hydrogen is lighter than air so it means it
floats up and not down, so we held it so it was slightly tilted up so we could squeeze the fire
into the test tube. Mrs Rose then showed us her little car that works on hydrogen. It was
really cool and when it bumped into something it would reverse and turn and go another
way. How it worked was you charged up the car using a solar panel or a battery. You would
then put water in the fuel cell until it’s about half way. Next you connect the 2 gas tanks to
the car and fill them both up until they are both half full.
We then went to dinner. It was just a normal dinner except we were all on the same table.
After we had finished we went for break. We then we all went and did the daily mile.

2. After we had finished the daily mile we went and did our final activity. We went to the
French room were Jen was doing a PowerPoint about Orkneys renewable energy. It was
really cool and I learnt a lot about the renewable energy the Orkney has and how Aquatera
works with people from all over the world. We then went to the English room and Yuka
showed us a PowerPoint about Japan. It was really cool and we all learnt a lot about Japan.
We then went to the hall for an assembly. We thanked the visitors for coming by saying
Thank You in Japanese. We then wrote what we liked about the whole day. The Secondary’s
then tidied away, which didn’t take too long to do. I liked the whole day.