Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures Custom Group program!
Here are a few things you can expect:
- We typically receive 2-3 blog posts per week here at GLA Headquarters from our program staff and students, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post daily – that’s totally normal.
- Blog updates sent on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
- Due to many factors, including but not limited to internet accessibility, photos may not always be available to post onto the blog. Sometimes onsite program staff are only able to send text back to Headquarters, where our team updates the blog.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.
For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.
-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team
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BLOG POST FOR SEPTEMBER 30
Dear Atmosphere Academy Japan 2025 families:
Haikei! We are so glad all students have arrived! We greeted them in Osaka and straight away headed off to the beautiful bamboo forests of Arashiyama. We hiked up to see the snow monkeys and then through the mystical bamboo forest, then on to the Teryuji Temple to explore its gardens and ancient buildings.
We then headed back to Osaka where we stopped for a nice dinner and orientation, and then after our very full day made it back to our comfy hotel. Tomorrow we are off to the famous Nara park to hand feed the deer!
Over the next 9 days we will explore Osaka, Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Tokyo- trying local foods, learning local crafts such as painting Japanese fans and making Wagashi, a Japanese dessert. We will see Sumo wrestlers training, take bullet trains, cruise Lake Ashi, and explore Tokyo by subway. It will be a blast! We hope to learn tons about Japanese culture and will see some amazing sights.
Student leaders of the day will be writing a blog post every one to two days to keep you updated about all the great things they have been up to. Our schedule is packed so besides the blog we won’t be on our phones very often. We truly hope the students enjoy this cultural experience in Japan.
Keigu!
The GLA International Director team: Heather, Brooke, Adham, and Clint + our Japanese Local Director teams: Yu-san, Tai-san, and Hiro-san
BLOG POST FOR OCTOBER 1
On our second day in Japan, we woke up a bit tired, had breakfast, and then boarded the buses to begin our adventure to Nara Park, where we saw a beautiful park filled with around 1,400 deer.
We walked through the park and stopped at the center, where our guide, Ty-san, gave us rice crackers to feed them, and during one of my interactions, the deer chased me and even bit my jeans while other students were also chased.,
Later, we visited a temple and saw a breathtaking giant Buddha statue that took 12 years to build, with incredible details and stunning wooden craftsmanship. The Buddha statue was built before the temple. Inside and outside the temple were statues, including a wooden disciple believed to have healing powers if you rubbed his knee and then your own, or any other body part, you would be healed, and guardian figures, one holding a rolled piece of paper and another holding a weapon, said to watch people’s behavior.
After lunch, we went to another temple that housed a golden Buddha statue and saw ancient stone statues that, despite the many years that had passed, still displayed their beautiful details.
After lunch, we went to the Umeda Sky Tower which was very nice. The view from the top was very memorable and there were lockets on a small rail there that were mementos of other people who had been there. Downstairs, there were many small shops where there were a variety of cool items like murals with special designs on them and more.
We then made our way to dinner, which was amazing. We went to a barbecue where we were given the opportunity to cook our own food on the stove in front of us. We got to try new types of food we had never had before, and experiencing cooking the food over a fire right in front of us and being able to eat it right after was astonishing!
After that, we returned to our hotel after a very full day. We’re excited to ride on a bullet train and visit the Hiroshima Memorial Park and Museum tomorrow!
Written by Adrianna and David. Photos by Nyleese
BLOG POST FOR OCTOBER 2
Today, us seniors who are in Japan took a bullet train to Hiroshima, an experience that none of us had ever had until now. A train that’s that fast and smooth is something the U.S. doesn’t have at all or anything close to it, and it was a great experience. When we entered the bullet train it was very quiet and it ran smoothly.
When we landed in Hiroshima, we went to buy lunch of our choice. We then took a five-minute walk to the Hiroshima memorial and met our tour guide, Ms. K. She taught us things we don’t usually learn in America. When the incident happened in Hiroshima, the Japanese tried to recover electricity, water storage, and food supply. Many children were left alone because their parents passed away, so they built 20 orphanages (only one of the orphanages is still up). Many people were left depressed because of what they saw and had to endure.
We saw the “Bell of Peace,” a symbol of all nuclear weapons being gone and to live with peace. Then we went to the museum, where they showed pictures of what the innocent victims looked like after the bombing. We also learned about the three Americans who helped Hiroshima citizens: Norman Cousins, who donated 2.5 million and brought 20 girls to New York for better care, and Barbara Leonard Reynolds, who built a peace center in Hiroshima.
This day was by far the most impactful of the trip. Hiroshima was where one of the two atomic bombs was dropped by the U.S. in 1945, ending World War II. The city was left in absolute ruin, so many lives were lost, and there was a strong feeling of sadness within many of us. But that isn’t entirely Hiroshima’s legacy. What we saw was a beautiful city with some of the nicest people we’ve met. It was wonderful to see the growth Hiroshima has had into being the great city it is today, but also one that holds strong importance in its history.
After the museum, we went to eat okonomiya, a savory pancake with noodles and toppings like lettuce and shrimp, which they cooked in front of us. After that, everyone went to the Pokémon Center, which was so fun! Then we went straight to the bullet train to get back to Osaka and arrived back at the hotel around 11 p.m.
Written by Emilio, Dayana and Antonella
BLOG POST FOR OCTOBER 3
Today we had breakfast at the hotel before we left. It was our last day, and the breakfast was really good.
Afterward, we boarded the buses with our suitcases and went to the Manga Museum. They had a lot of old-fashioned mangas with the traditional manga style, as well as demonstrations showing how the artists created their work. There was also a wall where people could draw their own little manga illustrations. Additionally, they had a shop with a lot of anime merchandise based on the mangas.
Later we went to the school. We played a game with questions, questions such as, what is your name, how many sibling you had. We also made paper airplanes, we played a game on whoever throws the paper airplane highest gets a warrior shirt. If atmosphere scholars won, they got to give a shirt to whoever. Later we went to a tea ceremony. We had to be quiet during the ceremony as a sign of respect.
After the school experience, we went to a hot pot. We had clear noodles. Overall it was a good experience.
Written by Adrianna and Dayana
BLOG POST FOR OCTOBER 4-6
OCTOBER 4
On today’s blog, we went to breakfast when we woke up in the morning, it was very nice and it tasted good. After breakfast, we went to the fan making center where we painted and created our own designs on your own fan for you to keep, People made very creative fan designs and all had fun using the water color paints for the fans, their designs were things such as Japanese cherry blossoms, koi fish, and other types of unique designs.After finishing making our fans, we had enough time so went to the floor below where they had a shop full of souvenirs, antique Japanese items, and kimonos.
After finishing up with everything, we went to make Japanese sweets with red bean paste, the people guided us and showed us how to make them properly and we even were able to eat them afterwards along with matcha tea since the sweets are mostly used for tea.
After making the Japanese sweets, we had a slight delay with the busses but we were still able to go to the temple where the views there was very pretty, a fact about this temple is that they have a separate thing for women to pray on their own which was pretty nice to know and considerate to the women there, we were also able to touch the secret water which was cool to do because there wasn’t a lot of temples where you can actually somewhat interact with so seeing a temple like that is nice.
After the temple, we went to see a performance which was very nice to see all of their cultural music, dances, and performances. After everything we had some difficulties with dinner but we were able at least that we were able to sort things out and everybody had something to eat. Today had some troubles but in the end it all worked out.
Written by Ashley, Zaniya and Ogemdi
OCTOBER 5
After breakfast we walked to the train station and waited for the bullet train. Once it arrived, we enjoyed a two-hour ride to our final destination—Tokyo! As we approached the city, we saw wonderful sights like Mt. Fuji and Japan’s beautiful nature.
In Tokyo, we visited an arcade called Club Sega, then went to Asakusa to see Senso-ji Temple. The temple had many shrines and statues, and its story dates back to 628 when two fishermen found a statue of the deity Kannon and enshrined it there. We explored the grounds, admired the lantern at the main gate, and visited smaller walkways filled with incense. Inside the temple were gold embellishments, intricate paintings of Buddha and a dragon, and a large offering box where visitors could toss coins and pray. There were fortune stations and food stands selling snacks like snow crab and shaved ice.
Later, we ate at an American buffet with a chocolate fountain and a balcony overlooking the water—complete with its own Statue of Liberty, likely an homage to the U.S. The view of the city lights and bridge was beautiful. We’re very excited to spend these last few days in Tokyo with close friends and valued teachers!
Written by Marleni, Jayreen and Emily
OCTOBER 6
Today we woke up, had breakfast, and headed onto the bus to go see sumo wrestling. We learned about different techniques to win and what not to do to avoid getting disqualified.
After that, we went to lunch and then visited a street filled with all kinds of food. There was a smoothie shop, tanghulu, and even an arcade.
Later, we went to Tokyo Tower, which was very big and had lots of pretty souvenirs. We also had some delicious ice cream.
For dinner we ate from a buffet. The food was really good and after we had dinner we were able to go shopping at a mall! Until tomorrow!
Written by Franklin, Valerie and Ashley
BLOG POST FOR OCTOBER 7
Today we had a very long day. We all woke up at 6:15 and headed down to the lobby at 7:00. We couldn’t have breakfast today because our bus ride was 3 hours long! We had to have breakfast on the bus. For breakfast we had a couple sandwiches and fries with green tea. After the long bus ride, we eventually were able to take a boat to hakone railway line and went up 1,044 meters near Mt Fuji. We were able to do different things like shop, eat hotdogs, have ice cream, and just enjoy the scenery. Although, it smelled kind of bad due to the sulfur from the volcano.
After this, we took the long bus ride back to Tokyo and went straight to dinner. For dinner, we went to a Japanese restaurant that served us rice with different kinds of meat. We had to take off our shoes since it was a traditional Japanese restaurant. After dinner, we went to family mart to get some snacks and walked 5 minutes to the hotel and that’s basically it. Last full day tomorrow!
Written by Paulina
BLOG POST FOR OCTOBER 8
We started off the day at 10 with sushi making where we had a lot of fun making our own food especially a traditional Japanese dish.
Afterwards, we went to the Tokyo (train) Station and not only was it a station, but almost like a mall with the amount of shops that were there. The group had about an hour and a half to shop around and saw stores with a bunch of characters. They bought items from stores such as Pokémon, Lego and Sanrio.
Later on, the group went to Shibuya Crossing, one of, if not the busiest area in Tokyo. Shibuya resembled Time Square for the scholars there. There was time to explore the area by themselves, with a range of stores for everyone. Shibuya was not only good for shopping, but the different pathways and sections made the location beautiful.
For the last dinner, the group got to enjoy traditional Japanese meal with shrimp, fish and miso soups. Not only that, the dinner ended with a delicious ice cream.
The day was overall very eventful with a lot of free time to end the trip by exploring Tokyo.
At the end of the day at the hotel, the group started to pack and got ready to depart back to New York.
Written by Jesus, Taylor, and Aryana
