By Sierra Gamayon

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Hawaii is famous for its cultural diversity and MHS is no exception. On Feb. 25, students from Miyazaki Kaiyo High School in Kyushu, Japan toured the MHS campus to experience what life is like for students in Hawaii.

“Hawaii is so beautiful; I really like Mililani High School. I was glad to meet everyone and loved eating the good food,” said Kaiyo Junior Takahiro Yoshino.

Kaiyo is a maritime trade school that travelled to Hawaii by boat; they arrived after a six-week journey. Their stay lasted two weeks, but they only visited MHS for one day; despite the short amount of time, many memories were made. “ASMHS gave us the opportunity to perform for Glee Club and show the kids from Kaiyo some of the fun things that we do; it was also really cool because we got to watch some of the students from there do a karate piece,” said MHS Junior Jessica Watarai.

The day consisted of a variety of different activities, starting with an introduction ceremony with entertainment from different clubs, sampling of Hawaiian food, a campus tour, a photo station and lei making. The Japanese students helped out by keeping Kaiyo students comfortable and bridging the language barrier. “I choose to be a tour guide because it’s always fun and it’s a great opportunity to meet the Japanese students, and just be able to hold a conversation in a different language,” said MHS Junior Taylor Fukuda.

Kaiyo and MHS students’ lives are different in many ways. “We’re a fishing school, we go fishing and the fish we catch on the boat goes to the school and we don’t keep any of the money,” said Yoshino. Despite some gaps in language and cultural differences, students from both schools had a memorable experience. “The students (from Kaiyo) are really respectful all around.They dress very proper and talk very little, but when they do they are very polite and friendly. They loved to greet people and meet random people without feeling ashamed. The group I toured loved to dance and it was really adorable,” said Fukuda.

As the day winded down, students from both schools mingled over lunch together. “My favorite part (of the day) was probably exchanging gifts and eating lunch together; they were really excited and grateful about the gifts I gave, and I felt the same about what they gave us. During lunch we talked the most. We even exchanged Twitter (accounts) so we could keep in touch and we had a couple of laughs of course,” said Fukuda.

The event ran smoothly, as the students from MHS and Kaiyo bonded and made new friends. Next year a new group of students from Kaiyo will be coming back to MHS for a fresh experience.