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In June of '06 the entire 6th grade at my school went to LACMA to see artifacts from the ancient civilizations we had studied all year. I was too busy doing head counts and keeping a close eye on some curious 12-year-old hands inching toward priceless artifacts to take in the specifics of the tour, but it was well received by the students. The tour divided students into groups of approx. 10 kids with one docent. The docent led the tour speeding around various statues, pottery, tablets, and the occasional sarcophagus with short pauses to explain the significance of what we were looking at. Some moments allowed for discussion of historical context based on student's prior knowledge while others were new information all together.
My personal favorite moment involved a student correcting a parent chaperone on her mis-identification of the greek goddess portrayed in a statue. (Before coming to LACMA we had made masks of greek gods and goddesses using their representative symbols). Coming in a close second as my favorite moment was when the students were crouched around a sarcophagus studying the symbols on the case and I said "boo!" - despite many conversations explaining that mummies are not alive and will never come back to life the students allowed themselves to belive curses ahead of a mildly sarcastic teacher. 
Specifically related to East Asia and the creation of a catchphrase: The docent leading my group was a Buddist and had a lot of passion for sharing her knowledge on the topic. We spent a great moment learning about a Buddha statue and the idea of "The Buddha". The docent explained that The Buddha was not one person - anyone who fully dedicated themselves to the task could become The Buddha. (A concise but effective explaination for 12-year-olds.)
She continued that one way to become The Buddha was to live a life of virtue. She had the students think of the people they knew that lived lives of virtue - believe it or not, they said teachers were the people they knew that lived lives of virtue. At this point one of my students looked at me with wide and excited eyes and exclaimed, "You could be The Buddha!"
For the remaining month of the school year my class had a new catchphrase: "You could be The Buddha! I could be The Buddha!" Instead of saying "good job" or "great work" I would congratulate students on their attempt at virtue and they would reply with our new catchphrase.
Storytelling aside, the LACMA trip was very brief but had a big impact on my students. They were incredibly excited to see artifacts from ancient East Asia and other ancient civilizations. They seemed wise beyond their years while using the perspective of a social scientist to find out what story each artifact was telling them. I would strongly encourage anyone to look into the tours available for their subject/grade and for a personal enrichment trip.