Clarkston High School has some international flavor in March as 13 students from Japan are spending a couple weeks in Clarkston.
The exchange program, which is part of the New Perspectives organization, has some Clarkston students traveling to Japan after hosting their Japanese friends.
The students are from Ichikawa Higashi High School in Chiba, Japan which is located near Tokyo Disney Land.
“The first day we came here there was a lot of snow and they had a snow day,” Ichikawa Higashi High School teacher Hiroko Nakamoto said. “We have had a wonderful time here. We went skiing, shopping and to Niagara Falls. The Falls were magnificent but it was very cold.”
Each Japanese student is staying with a Clarkston host family including Mika Hayama with Britni Brehmer, Keiko Udagawa with Angela Regiani, Tomomi Anzai with Tracy Mak, Natsuko Hota with Chelsea Hassett, Yuko Ogawa with James Ross, Sayaka Sakiyama with Laura Preston, Ayumi Sakata with Michael Kruk, Hoko Ishii with Carrie Wojciechowski, Izumi Sakaki with Collin Chesney, Nami Ishihara with Katy Manojlovich, Maimu Morinari with Pete Boissonneau and Greg Thorstad, Chika Okajima with Adam Engler and Andrea Logan and Ayumi Yoshioka with William Burgin.
“We do this to help the students learn English and also experience a different culture,” Nakamoto said. “We have made a lot of friends in our time here.”
It has also been a learning experience for the Clarkston students.
“I have learned a lot about Japan. I can really tell the difference between the two cultures,” James Ross said. “Probably the biggest difference was they don’t like spicy foods at all. They thought root beer tasted like medicine.”
The Clarkston students are looking forward to the time they will spend in Japan.
“I expect to be totally lost,” Collin Chesney said. “But it is going to be a great experience to learn about a different culture. I have learned more in the two weeks they have been here than a whole year in class.”
Mike Kruk added, “I am not going to know anything but I am looking forward to it.”