We were in the same position as they were, seeing these places for the first time.
On a later field trip, we went to a namahage museum. Namahage are oni (demons) who come to houses in the Oga Peninsula region of Akita and scare the children into behaving for the next year--kind of like Santa Claus, but much scarier. With members of my dorm, I also went to a Fox Parade. We all dressed in kimonos and fox masks and watched traditional singing and dancing and a ritual at the shrine. As a surprise, our group was invited to a dinner afterward with all of the people who made to parade possible. Multiple people came over to talk to us and thanked us for joining the festivities. A few of the men poured sake (rice wine) for us, including us in a part of important Japanese social etiquette.
Lastly, I have integrated myself into the community by teaching English to children. There is a group at my school, RCOS, that arranges welcome activities for schools to visit the campus and learn English from international students. They also arrange activities for us to go to schools in the prefecture in order to teach students English and eat lunch with them. They teach us songs and games in return. At the last welcome activity I participated in, all of them gave us gifts. I got a few bookmarks and some hand sewn magnets (two Mt. Chokai magnets, and one fish that is native to Japan). The effort that these elementary schoolers put in to making us feel welcome was amazing!
Even though it hasn't always been easy, there are so many ways to help with integrating into a new community.
