Japan has been a popular student exchange destination for students, with four from Rangiora High School soon to depart on one of three upcoming trips.
At Oxford Area School, 10 students have just returned from their annual Japanese exchange trip.
The RHS students will travel to Kurashiki, Christchurch’s sister city, for two and a half weeks in late September as part of a sister city student exchange programme that’s been running for 28 years.
Last week the students hosted the Japanese students, whose homes they will be billeted in when they visit Kurashiki.
The 10 Japanese students from Kurashiki spent the day in Rangiora for an arts and crafts outing, organised by Christchurch Kurashiki Sister City Committee student exchange co-ordinator Carol Burdon, of Loburn.
She said the year 10 students and teachers had a fun day out of the classroom, visiting Fern River Pottery studio for pottery lessons after discovering the many varied sculptures at the Iron Ridge Quarry Sculpture Park.
The Japanese students spent four days attending their host schools in Rangiora, Lincoln and Christchurch, learning how Kiwi students go to school, visiting Akaroa, a marae and taking a jet boat ride at Hanmer.
Kurashiki and Hamasaka are small cities on opposite sides of the main island of Japan, Honshu, with Kurashiki in the south and Hamasaka to the north on the Sea of Japan side.
Both are tourist locations, Kurashiki with its picturesque canals while Hamasaka is a popular Onsen (hot spa) town.
The Oxford Area School students accompanied by principal Mike Hart, spent two weeks at the Hamasaka Cultural Exchange after hosting the Japanese students earlier in June.
Oxford Area School and Hamasaka Junior High School have run an International Student Exchange since 1996.
A highlight of the latest trip was student Harry Griffiths completing the exchange many years after his mother, Rebecca, was in the first student group to Hamasaka Junior High School back in 1996.
A total of 10 students and two teachers embarked on an adventure including Singapore, Osaka, Kyoto, Hamasaka and Hiroshima over a 16 day period during the July School holidays.
Mike says a highlight of this exchange was sharing International Education across borders, with students participating in classes in Japan.
“Our students billeted with Hamasaka Junior High School families.
“At the end of July we had 10 students and two staff from Hamasaka travelling to Oxford.
Another feature of the trip is to deliver 1000 paper cranes collaboratively made by Oxford Area School and Hamasaka Junior High School students, to the Children’s Peace Memorial in Hiroshima. Mike says this is one of the many traditions of the exchange.
RHS also welcomed five students who arrived recently from one of their three sister school exchange programmes in Japan.
Three year 13 students are here for two weeks from Iizuka High School, based in Fukuoka, Southern Japan.
RHS Japanese teacher Jessica Bradley says during the upcoming September school holidays, students from RHS will stay with these students when they pay a return visit to Iizuka.
"We formed the sister school relationship with Iizuka Shimada Gakuen in March this year.
"This was the school Julie Glassenbury (teacher of Japanese and Tourism) had spent her gap year with which means it is a very special relationship for both schools."
She says this allowed them to add two more exchange opportunities to their Japanese programme.
During the December school holidays, Julie will be taking some year 12 and 13 students to Japan to participate in both programmes at Iizuka Shimada Gakuen.
RHS also has a sister school relationship with Mukogawa Women's University Junior and Senior High School near Kyoto.
Jessica says two of her year 13 students will spend three weeks on an exchange during the summer holidays.
Rangiora New Life School principal Stephen Walters says the school is hosting 15 Japanese students for a short time, arriving this week. Kaiapoi High School principal Jason Reid says the school has hosted several short-stay visitors and groups from Japan this year.
“They have come from many places including Tokyo, we have also just had a group of 16 of our own students return from an exchange to international schools in China.”
