Two teams that have been exploring their respective cultures finally meet up. Although they are dimly aware of the existence of another group, where are they and what are they doing? When will they meet? The children had no idea where they were going, what they were doing, or when they would meet. As the two teams sit across from each other, they look excited but also slightly nervous. After sharing their stories of where they left from and how they arrived at Hondo, the director, Mr. Nakamura, told the children, “You are going to check out the local people and interact with them. The cultures of Kumamoto and Kagoshima, which you have studied while interacting with the local people, are probably completely different. And the relationship with Amakusa, where we are now, is very interesting. The children seemed to be upset when they were suddenly asked to present their findings in groups after dinner, but then he made a surprise suggestion: “Well, who wants to drive a Porsche? But then came a surprise suggestion: “Well, who wants to drive a Porsche? To their surprise, a Porsche 911 GT3 RS and the new Taikan Cross Turismo were waiting for them in the parking lot. At the all-member presentation meeting held that night at the hotel, presentations were made one after another about the various cultures of Kumamoto and Kagoshima that they had heard about from talking to people in town and from interacting with local people. However, Mr. Nakamura, who listened to the presentations without saying a word, was a bit harsh in his evaluation. He said, “I think your presentations lacked the important element of comparison. For example, did you hear in Goshoura about the “Higo no Icchotchobori” that you learned about in Kumamoto? Mr. Nakamura continued. You need to learn how to connect the dots. When you connect dots, you get a line; when you connect three dots, you get a plane. When it becomes a plane, it moves differently. The children were silent, unable to say anything. Mr. Nakamura closed the third day by saying, “Let’s do our best tomorrow.
Day 4 of “Let’s connect what we have studied so far” The fourth day of the tour, which started in the morning for the first time with all members, began at the Amakusa Christian Museum, a cultural facility in Amakusa City. The director of the museum, Mr. Toyohiro Hirata, is a specialist with a deep knowledge of the history and climate of Amakusa, not to mention the history of the Amakusa Christians. Mr. Koji Honda, who was also in attendance, is an intellectual and former director of the Amakusa Municipal Museum of History and Folklore. It was an intense time for us to ask these lecturers questions we had not been able to answer. After the Amakusa Christian Museum, we went to the Hondo Bus Center. Sakizu, the next stop for the group, is a place known as one of the villages where the hidden Christians continued their faith in secret. After an hour and a half bus ride, we arrived at Sakitsu, where fieldwork was conducted freely around the Catholic Church of Sakitsu, the symbol of the community. I wonder if we were able to put into practice what was said at the presentation the day before: “Connecting the dots to make a line”? From Sakitsu, we took the bus again and headed north for 45 minutes until we arrived at the last inn of the trip. After taking a hot spring bath and eating dinner, it was time for a final review. On this day, we asked ourselves the question, “What is culture? What did you feel and what was interesting about Amakusa? All of them had clearly changed their awareness and perspectives from the previous day, but here are some of the most memorable words from one of the students. I asked about shimenawa (sacred straw ropes) everywhere I went today. I found out that in Amakusa, the decoration of shimenawa was a kind of ‘sign that we are not Christian’ during the period when Christianity was suppressed. I looked into the shimenawa, which I had seen here and there in Amakusa and wondered about them, and found that they were connected to the Christian culture of Amakusa, and finally to the Reformation in Europe. I realized that this is what it means to connect the dots. I felt I had touched something deeper than the fact that there are so many shimenawa.
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