Want to be royalty? Try a home stay

[King of Tokyo]

When it comes to hospitality, the Japanese are champions. In Japan, hospitality is like an Olympic sport and requires rigorous cross training in fields such as politeness, modesty, unconditional giving and overall self-sacrifice. There is no better display of this hospitality than in the Japanese home stay, which it appears that most Japanese people have taken a college course in.

Japan Times (http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20040911cz.htm)

This is a cool topic for me because I am applying for a homestay for a year to go to school and all that. So I do wonder if anyone has any comments on homestays or has done it and has any stories. So yeh leave your two cents, and remember, pray that they accept me to go.. Heh.

[jieshi]

I've been accepted for next year and all I can say is..... WERE GONNA ROCK THE JOINT!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYY!!! heres to homestay!

[MeAndroo]

I've done 3 homestays for different periods of time, and I mostly enjoyed them. My homestay family in Kanazawa was the least of the 3, not because they were mean, but because they were boring. Two 60+ people living in the boondocks with odd job hours weren't really able to show me around much. Luckily I had a bus pass and good friends...plus some silly girls who worked for our program that were willing to show us the town.

My Tokyo homestay was phenomenal, mostly because I got to know them the best. 6 months is ample time to get to know people, and if you get a year, so much the better. We drank together all the time, went on numerous trips, they gave me presents, a mini birthday party, helped me with my travel reservations, helped me track down the wallet I lost in a drunken stupor, and so much more. Me and the host mom were the closest, and we used to tease each other all the time. Writing about it makes me miss them... :(

As far as hospitality goes, eventually they'll accept you more as a member of the family than as a guest...or so it happened with me and my friends. Politeness is forgotten and replaced with comfortable realism, like burping, drunken rambling, and gorging yourself at appropriate times. My host mom eventually resorted to doing my laundry and waking me up when i was too hung over to answer my alarm clock...just like a regular mom. They were always respectful of my space, and tried to plan events far in advance to give me due notice...though I don't think this is any different than what they do for each other.

Coming home at 11 am, spending the night at a friend's house, going on random trips...they were all ok as long as i told my host fam before it was too late (usually 5 pm, since they had to prepare dinner). I've heard horror stories, and I had a friend who left 3 months early because his host family was so bad, so it's not all candy and sunshine, but more likely than not, if they're volunteering for this, it's because they want to do it.

Have fun!

[jieshi]

I know exactly what Meandroo means. I have heard all the horror stories as well. I was told of one AFS Australia student who lost his host family to the smell of that disgusting spread called (voice over is a dark powerful voice) "VEGIEMITE". I don't know why Australian people (im aussie) love this stuff. I can't stand it the smeel and taste are horrible!!!! Anyway this kids host family didn't like him eating it and asked him to stop because it stunk out the house. He did as they asked but they thought he had still been eating it, they got really upset and had him moved!!!!

I am so glad I don not eat (voice over is a dark powerful voice) "VEGEMITE". But seriously some host families are pretty whacked!

[RockLee]

*does the dark voice too* "what....what...what's VEGEMITE ??" o.O

[babar-san]

*does the dark voice too* "what....what...what's VEGEMITE ??" o.O

buhahahahaahahaha!!!!!! man that s**t is nasty, i dont see how the brits do it:>

[Ewok85]

Vegemite is the best! Love it for breakfast on toast, perfect morning food.

[jieshi]

All who love vegemite must die!!!!!!! except that would probably be 90% of Australias population.....oh well bigger country for me!

Oh and vegemite is (actually what is vegemite?) okay im just gonna tell you what mike myers said about it "its tastes somewhere between axle grease and mud!" and it has a damn lot of salt in it

[beornot2be]

Sound like i nice experience, to do a home stay...wolud likek to try that.
so how did you apply for the homestay...in Japan or from your home country?
is there an organisation or what?

[Lina Inverse]

*does the dark voice too* "what....what...what's VEGEMITE ??" o.O
Good question... I looked on the web and came up with this page which explains that it is concentrated yeast extract:
Vegemite on Aussie-Info (http://www.aussie-info.com/identity/food/vegemite.php)
http://www.aussie-info.com/identity/food/vegemite.jpg

[kirei_na_me]

A friend of mine from Australia sent me a jar one time. It's one of the very few things that I find that's just as gross as natto...or worse!

[gedatsu]

buhahahahaahahaha!!!!!! man that s**t is nasty, i dont see how the brits do it:>

Vegemite is Aussie!!


When i was staying with my friend in Japan I took some vegemite with me and had various family members try it. Quite a few of them actually liked it, especially the kids. But ojisan assumed it was like chocolate and had a whole mouth full at once... i dont think he trusted me after that :-)

[MeAndroo]

Sound like i nice experience, to do a home stay...wolud likek to try that.
so how did you apply for the homestay...in Japan or from your home country?
is there an organisation or what?

My first homestay I did through my city's Sister City Exchange program, which is sadly now defunct. It was just a 2 week thing, but it was an actual exchange, as in we got a kid to stay with us for 2 weeks too.

My next two were organized by my university when I participated in the Study Abroad program. My school and Waseda had a different agreement than public schools and Waseda have, so pretty much everyone in my program was set up with a host family.

[jieshi]

Im doing mine through AFS. The second biggest volunteer organization in the world, and if you ask me the coolest!! It's a really good program. www.afs.org

[DragonChan]

Yeah homestay is fun. My family is really nice and is good about speaking slowly to me so I can actually understand. The only downside is that I am going to get laughed at when I get home, because they all speak the local dialect, and I am probably going to pick it up.

The funny thing is I get along best with the 12 year old host sister, and the 16 year old (same age) and I barely talk. Though we have more in common. It's just weird. But yeah...it really is luck of the draw. The thing that is killing me is that I can't blast music. Stupid thin walls.

[MeAndroo]

The only downside is that I am going to get laughed at when I get home, because they all speak the local dialect, and I am probably going to pick it up.

Consider yourself lucky. Dialects became something of a hobby for me when I was in Japan, and I would have loved to have had easy access to dialect-laden conversation. What dialect do they speak exactly?

The thing that is killing me is that I can't blast music. Stupid thin walls.

Headphones are a blessing. I wore my out in 6 months, but it was worth it.

[DragonChan]

MeAndroo - I am not so upset about the dialect now. Apparently I am already pronouncing things in good old Nagoya-ben. I figure I'll have more flavour. Or something.