By Kimberly Yamaguchi

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From a town on the coast in Ibaraki, Japan, to the shores of Hawaii, 37 students and five advisers from Kaiyo High School made the two-week fishing voyage, which gave them some hands on experience in their field choice, fishing and marine science.

“We came over on the ship ‘Hashimamaru’,” said Kaiyo Junior Rudo Seiya, continuing, “We were looking forward to trying to catch as much fish as we could. The best fish to catch in Hawaii is tuna. We caught 29.” Aside from learning to fish, the students are also taught to can and sell the fish caught.

In comparison to previous years the trip has been opened to all students. “The students don’t need to take any exams or tests to come to Hawaii. The program is offered to anyone in the school to take,” explained adviser Takuya Yamamoto.

Students were also more open than they had been in previous years. “I’m really surprised because the students interacted with the students they didn’t really know.  Some of the previous years that I have done this, they are more interactive now,“ expressed Junior Kaena Maeda who acted as a tour guide due to her fluency in Japanese.

The event began with a quick energizer to get the two schools a little more comfortable with each other, followed by a short message from ASMHS President Senior Evan Wilson. “I didn’t actually have much interaction with the students.  It was more behind the scenes, but from what I heard from the tour guides they had a lot of fun as was when I interacted with the students, which was kind of limited, but still fun,” explained Wilson, who was at the head of planning the event.

Both MHS and Kaiyo were asked to have a performance that reflected their culture.  “We asked (Hawaiian teacher Kekoa Wong’s) class to perform some traditional hula dances to demonstrate Hawaiian culture,” said Wilson, continuing, “And then we also asked (Kaiyo) if they could have a cultural presentation, which was their flags.”

There were a few inconveniences throughout the day, but overall the event went well. “Well in regards to our participation we had a good amount of volunteers.  However, the weather is a bit of a bog.  That’s put a damper in some of our plans we had for today,” said Student Activities Coordinator Janet Ward-Riehle.

Despite being forced to make minor changes due to unpleasant weather conditions, the MHS and Kaiyo students made the best of their visit and hope to continue this tradition.