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I knew Lesson Study when I was teaching in SMP 10 Banjarbaru, through MGMP-Based and School-Based Lesson Study (LSBS) activity. I also learned the true meaning and significance of Lesson Study when I joined Lesson Study club (LSc) under the guidance of Mr. Ryo Suzuki. As a teacher, I was happy and surprised to be selected to join the Counterpart Training in Japan on October 7-20, 2012 and it was also a huge responsibility for me. The training lasted for 14 days. I got many valuable lessons from this training.

On October 7, the participants went to Jakarta. On October 8, we joined the self-introduction and briefing activity hosted by Ms. Okamoto (JICA Indonesia). On the 3rd day, when we have arrived in Japan, the participants received an insightful lecture from Prof. Izumi Nishitani of the Faculty of Education, Gunma University. He explained about the Teacher Education System and Culture in Japan. In Japan, it is very hard to become a teacher. One must take several exams held periodically to be able to keep his job as a teacher. One must also have the skills, abilities, self-evaluation capacity. Most importantly, a teacher must have a good competence, so that the students can also feel it in their learning.

On the 4th day, we took a trip to Tagoura Junior High School, Fuji City, to participate in an open-class and reflection of their LSBS activity. During the class observation, I noticed the closeness and good communication between teachers and students. The teacher really positioned himself equal with the students. I found that teachers in Japan really guaranteed their students' rights to learn. Moreover, the activity also showed us that Lesson Study was not just for Mathematics and Science.

I really learned a lot from this visit, especially the reasons why in Indonesia, Learning Community and Lesson Study has not been running optimally. It was because the open-class teachers felt they were heavily criticized during reflection, whereas reflection is actually an activity to be able to make all students learn and to improve the quality of the lesson. In this school that I visited, their reflection focused on whether all students could learn well or not and thought about the students' learning together.

The journey continued to Ishioka City, to visit Jounan Junior High School. The visit showed the surrounding environment of the Jounan Junior High, their vision and philosophy, how they implemented LSBS, and how the learning process of Learning Community in the school was. Things that I got from the LSBS implementation in Jounan Junior High School were (1) teachers must strive to ensure the students' rights to learn. We should really try hard and wait patiently for the students during their thinking process. (2) teachers need to establish a good communication with the student. Teachers make dialogues with the students before the lesson starts. (3) Discussion should be conducted democratically.

The next visit was to Motoyoshiwara Junior High School and Ninoe Junior High School in Fuji City. Although every school that I visited had different characteristics and backgrounds, they had one thing in common. They really established collegiality among the teachers.

In the final days, the participants were invited to visit the Gunma University Laboratory School. This school is a special needs school merged with regular school. Thus, normal kids can join and meet directly with no barrier between them. The trip continued to Hamanogo Elementary School, a renowned school in Japan, located in Chigasaki City, Kanagawa Province. In the school, teachers had the awareness to accept each other and not to ignore each other, and so did the students. I could see independence and collegiality, and LS was held continuously every day and became a culture.

It was my very first visit to Japan. The journey to better education is still a long way. Although it promises to be a winding one, we have to try hard, never give up, establishing a better collegiality, to make good communication among teachers and among students, to try to pay attention to one another, not ignoring each other and try to listen first before speaking. Progress will not happen without us willing to make changes and we must have the courage to try to establish our future mission as teachers, how we can provide skills to the students for their future lives.