Hello everyone!
Finally I’m able to post my first proper blogpost on my website ^o^
Today I will share my experience at Kurate Gakuen, Fukuoka, Japan!
What is Kurate Gakuen?
Kurate Gakuen is an actual junior high school located in Kurate city, Fukuoka, Japan. Since 2015, the school has stopped operating and was destined for abandonment or even abolishment.
But the people of Kurate city decided to recreate the school into both local and tourists attraction, especially for cosplayers and photographers. Kurate Minami Junior High School has become the first life-sized school cosplay studio! How awesome is that?!
As this enormous cosplay studio is derived from a real school, it has the perfect facilities such as Classrooms, Music Room, Nurse’s Room, Gymnasium, Swimming Pool, Roof Top, and many more!
Kurate Gakuen Moe Ambassadors
I didn’t expect to get nominated to become Kurate Gakuen Moe Ambassador. It was such a big honor for me ;///;
The representatives from Singapore are Kiyo, Maoru, and Niri. From Malaysia, there is Ying Tze. Last but not least, from Indonesia, there are Clarissa Punipun(me) and Matcha Mei.
I never dreamed of being in a Japanese school, meeting the Mayor of a city in Japan, and meeting new friends from around the globe. It makes me feel super grateful to the cosplay community which has been a big part in my life :’)
I will do my best as an ambassador!
Day 0
Me and Matcha headed to Soekarno Hatta International Airport on Thursday 16th evening for our flight to Haneda connecting to Fukuoka.
It was our first time flying with ANA and it was Matcha’s first trip to Japan so we were so excited ❤
When we arrived at Haneda, it was 1 hour earlier than the scheduled arrival time so we took our time (way too long) and ended up rushing to catch the bus to Domestic Terminal (l0l). We weren’t able to take many photos and videos during that time.
After spending ~6 hours sitting at the plane, we continue by another 2 hours sitting at the plane haha XD;
My butt aches!
Day 1
We finally arrived at Fukuoka!
At this time, we already equipped our ‘armors’ aka wind breaker + neck warmer because it was very cold outside 😡
At Fukuoka Airport, we were welcomed by Ms. Kayo from Nippon Travel Agency and after we grouped with the Singaporeans cosplayers, we went to Kurate city~
Welcome to Kurate Gakuen!
They have our cosplay pictures on the welcoming board /shy/
Since our schedule on day 1 is quite packed, I didn’t take many photos TxT so sorry.
After we put our luggages, they brought us for the long awaited agenda: lunch! (lol)
The Tempura Restaurant is pretty near! It only took us less than 5 minutes walk from school to this place :3
They serve fresh tempura such as fish tempura, broccoli tempura, shrimp tempura, and many more!
Itadakimasu!
Right after lunch, we changed to our costumes: Re:Zero School Uniform!
Me, Matcha, and Ying Tze are doing the same series today ❤
Today schedule is mainly for media interview so we go to the appointed classroom after changing.
During the Nomination Ceremony lead by the Mayor of Kurate city, there are several medias doing the coverages.
Since most of the ceremony and dialogues are in Japanese, we are very grateful for the help from our translator, Mr. Takuma >u<
This photo is taken by our Japanese photographer, Kuro-san!
His photos are magical and I felt in love with his photography style *u*
Today we also got an opportunity to be dressed in authentic yukata, usually worn for matsuri / festivals in Japan *o*
Meet my yukata mother!
She’s the one who helped me pick my yukata and dress me up ❤
The mothers who helped us are very kind and loving, even though we have language barriers, but we can still chat and laugh together ^///^ so warm ❤
In Kurate Gakuen, there is a big room that has been transformed into a Festival Room!
The closest celebration at this time is Hina Matsuri and also Coming of Age Day, so they have a Hina Matsuri decorations on the tatami area ❤
There are mini pond and a shooting gallery across the tatami area, too. You can really play at this area XD
I tried the shooting gallery, goldfish scooping, yoyo-tsuri, and candy sculpting.
Ying Tze, Matcha, and me are playing the goldfish scooping using paper net.
It was difficult but our Japanese friends said that we were geniuses at this (LOL).
I get the biggest prize: yellow ducky! (after a number of torn paper net on the right side of the photo hahahaha)
This is a game I never heard before in manga/anime/game owo
Basically, you need to sculpt the shape on the candy using only toothpick.
You lose if the shape broke which is very easy to do LOL
Unfortunately, I took the hardest design which is the umbrella and…..
After 10 minutes, I only managed to make small holes on the umbrella T____T
I’m not a genius at this so I went ahead and chomp the candy to erase the evidence of my n00b-ness muahahahaah!!
Here are some selfies with my fellow Moe Ambassadors, Translator, Kurate cosplayers, and Photographers ❤
Everyone is so friendly!
Inside the Music Room, they have lots of musical instruments~
I saw a grand piano, drum set, guitars, and amps! But, I think they have more (o w o)
I always wanted to do more music related shoots / projects XD
Maybe someday I will shoot here again!
Finally, everything is done and now it’s time to fill our hungry stomach again~ XD
After a long long day~~
We are now ready to have some rest back at the hotel ^A^
And with that, day 1 at Kurate Gakuen is finally over!
Please look forward for my next blog (and vlog) of day 2 ^^
See you soon~
Contact Information
Kurate Gakuen
993-1 Nigita, Kurate, Kurate District, Fukuoka Prefecture, 807-1313
Tel. +81 949-28-7890
www.kurategakuen.com
Clarissa Punipun Official Website 