Traveling To Japan

This lesson was developed by Lara Boudreau who, at the time of development, was a student teacher at O'Farrell Community School in San Diego, Ca.

The purpose of this webquest is to familiarize the students with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The students have been studying about Japan in their social studies class, and they read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr in their English class. The students will search websites to gather information in order to create a travel brochure on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The students will work individually and in small cooperative groups in order to gain a better understanding of this regions' history and culture.

Let's go to Japan!

A Web Based Lesson

by

Lara Boudreau

You have been studying about Japan in your social studies class, and you read Sadako and the Thousand paper Cranes and you are interested (if not-pretend) in traveling to Nagasaki and Hiroshima. You and several of your classmates think it would be fun to travel there as a class. However, there are several students that are not really interested. Your next assignment is to create a travel brochure to convince your classmates to make the trip. Your research and notetaking for this brochure will take place on the World Wide Web using predetermined links listed in this lesson.

You have been put into groups of four for this project. Each group will have four areas to investigate. In order to complete this task, each person must take on the role of an expert in one of the following areas:


Brochure requirements

Your group brochure can be in any form or format as long as it meets

the following minimum requirements:

  1. size- 8 1/2 by 11 sheet folded in thirds (trifold)
  2. pictures- one for each role
  3. text- informative and relevant
  4. colorful- text and graphics
  5. organization- easy to follow, clearly separated, and well laid out


Once you have selected your role, click your role below to start your search:

 

Hydrangea: Flower of Nagasaki

 

At almost anytime of the year, somewhere in Japan, a festival of some sort can be seen. The same is true for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The many festivals vary in their activities and purpose. As the Festival expert, you may find the following sites helpful in completing your portion of the brochure:

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Theater both Asian and Western,began as a combination of dance, drama, and music. Most of Japanese theaters today maintain these beginning concepts. A large part of Japanese culture is the performing arts. Included in these are: Kabuki, Bunraku, Noh and Kyogen Theaters.

Along with theater, Japan's museums offer insight into its rich history and religion. The museums range from memorials to historical sites. The following sites may be helpful in completing your brochure.

The theaters and museums are fun and informational. However, one might also find the Japanese tea ceremony intriguing. With its religious background in history and art, the Tea Ceremony is as important today to the Japanese as it was when the Zen Priests first developed it.

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One of the important things to people visiting a new place is its climate. Japan's beautiful climate yields many beautiful flowers year-round that can be observed in the Shukkeiren Garden and the Glover Garden.Those tourists that want more than just flowers to look at, also find pleasure in the beautiful scenery at Mt. Inasa and Miyajima. However, there were some trees that lived through the devastation.

As further evidence of their love of nature, Many Japanese people have continued the art of cultivating Bonsai trees and mastering flower arranging and styling.

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Traditional pastimes awaken the enthusiasm of most Japanese sports lovers, but the same persons equally enjoy a multitude of sports and recreations of Western origin. Both of these divisions are a part of Japan's heritage. Many tourists attend traditional Japanese contact sport contests, such as sumo wrestling, judo, karate and kendo. Kyudo is also very popular, but there is no body contact allowed. In addition, tourists may go to baseball games or soccer matches. Golfing is also available.

For those people that are not interested in sports, this area offers many tourist attractions. From pachinko and karoke to the Spectacles Bridge and the Twenty-six Martyrs Hill, there are a wide variety of entertainment related activities for all ages to enjoy.

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