Last week, a group of 16 Japanese students returned to Japan after their 10-day stay in Chesterton. These students, ranging in age from sophomore to senior, stayed with local host families and attended CHS with their host student or staff member.
Chesterton High School hosts students from our sister school, Toyama University of International Studies, every two years. Exchange programs such as these are meant to widen students’ perspectives and promote cultural exchange. They share some of their culture in exchange for a bit of ours.
Exchange Students Arrive
After making the 13-hour flight from Toyama, Japan, the host students were given a tour of Chesterton High School and met their host families.
“They were really shy at first,” said senior Marissa Roe, who plays for the varsity girls’ volleyball team. She hosted two students, 16-year-old juniors Kobayashi Miri and Takeyushi Kotoha. “They went to the [volleyball] game I was playing in the main gym. That’s when I first got to see them.”
The students were a bit shy at first, which is understandable, given that most of them had never left Japan before. But the host families immediately gave them a warm welcome.
“They were automatically part of our family,” Roe continued. “After a few days, we got a lot closer, which I’m really happy about.”
Not all of the students were new to America, though. Mrs. Tsugawa, a Chesterton Japanese teacher and native speaker of the language, hosted Kanon Koshino, a 15-year-old sophomore. The two had actually met before this exchange trip. Koshino had never been to Chesterton before, but she lived in Chicago for eight years of her life.
“My daughter went to a Japanese school in Chicago and [Kanon] was her classmate. So we met 10 years ago,” recalled Tsugawa.
For most of the students from Toyama, this trip was a homestay. But for Kanon, it was more of a homecoming.
American Culture Crash Course
The next week and a half was packed with all the most distinct aspects of Hoosier culture: fast food, sports games, shopping, movies, and the beach.
“We went to the outlet mall out in Michigan City. We did a boat tour, we went to the beach. And we went to the Renaissance Fair in South Bend,” Roe recounted.
The students were able to learn a lot from outings around town, but they also experienced the day-to-day life of Chesterton students.
“We watched a lot of movies at home: the Emoji Movie, Super Mario, and Boss Baby,” said Roe.
While most of the students were out experiencing new things, one of them was reuniting with people and places from her past.
“During [Kanon’s] stay, we were able to go back to where she grew up. So she was able to see her childhood friend,” said Tsugawa. “We are really glad that we were able to do that for her.”
The students met up in small groups multiple times throughout the week. Several of them watched the opening Friday night football game. A group visited the state park beach. They even met up with the entire group for dinner at Round the Clock on Thursday. And, of course, they attended classes with their host students.
“Seeing how they reacted to our school was crazy,” said Roe. “Here, we have so much freedom but they’re so uniform…They’re not allowed to wear makeup, not allowed to dye their hair, not allowed to wear nails. They have to wear uniforms.”
Japanese school rules are a lot stricter than the ones here in the US. So the culture shock that students get when they are used to the strict rules of their school back in Japan and are exposed to a relatively easy-going American high school is fully understandable, and even expected. In light of this clear difference in cultures, the students from Toyama created and delivered culture-centered presentations to Japanese classes at CHS.
“My students were all excited wanting to talk to them,” Tsugawa said.
The students left for Chicago last Tuesday. The entire group, both Japanese and American students, gathered outside Entrance 1 for an emotional goodbye. They talked and laughed, recounting the adventures of the last week and a half. After the very last tears were shed and the last selfies taken, the Japanese students boarded a bus. They continued their trip in Chicago, sightseeing and experiencing American urban life. Right now, they are all safely back in Japan, settling back in to their normal lives.
The Aftermath
Though the Japanese Students are gone, the effects their visits had on the students here at Chesterton might never leave them. Memories, cross-cultural experiences, and a wider worldview linger behind.
“There’s such a huge difference in perspectives,” said Roe.
Exchange programs are designed to introduce new perspectives and leave students more open-minded at the end of the trip than they were at the beginning. Students here at Chesterton gained a richer understanding of global ways of life.
“They bring the atmosphere of Japan by just being there, and wearing uniforms and speaking Japanese,” observed Tsugawa.
Whether they walked past a student from Toyama in the hallway, listened to one of their presentations in Japanese class, or actually hosted one of them, everyone at Chesterton walked away from the experience with a little more perspective.
“This is like the second-best thing to my students going to Japan,” Tsugawa added.
While this exchange program is a sure way to experience Japanese culture without stepping foot outside of the US, there are opportunities to experience it abroad. This summer, Chesterton will send a group of American students for a summer study abroad trip to Toyama. Just as the Japanese students lived in America for two weeks, students from Chesterton will be able to dive headfirst into a completely different culture. With luck, they will have just as much of a positive impact as the students from Toyama did.
