Kai Uchihara threw her arms up in glee when she discovered her name in Hawaiian means “sea.” Uchihara was one of four students from Shiraho Junior High School who arrived Wednesday morning for an exchange program with Kapa‘a High School,
Kai Uchihara threw her arms up in glee when she discovered her name in Hawaiian means “sea.”
Uchihara was one of four students from Shiraho Junior High School who arrived Wednesday morning for an exchange program with Kapa‘a High School, which runs through Sept. 13, Kaua‘i Film Commissioner Art Umezu, said.
Umezu was joined by Kaui Tanaka of the mayor’s office at the Lihu‘e Airport to greet the arriving students from Ishigaki, Japan.
“I even brought my Ishigaki bag,” Tanaka said, revealing inside dendrobium orchid lei, which she presented to the incoming visitors. “This has been a good year for students.”
The arrival of the group from Ishigaki, one of Kaua‘i’s sister cities, brings the island’s approximate number of student visitors up to several hundred this year.
Umezu, whose proficiency in Japanese language and culture allows him to facilitate many of these exchanges, said the student exchanges often entail home-stays, which provide educational opportunities for Kaua‘i’s community.
“We learn from them just as they learn from us,” Umezu said. “(The visits) don’t just benefit one school here or one school there. It helps the whole island.
“When the visitors come, they almost always leave with more bags than they come with. They stay at hotels, they eat at local restaurants, they shop, and when they’re at home-stays, the host families are out helping the economy.”
According to Kauai Visitors Bureau Executive Director Sue Kanoho, Japanese student groups continue to make a strong showing on Kaua‘i, even though Japanese tourism overall has declined.
Kanoho said the student demographic, while not a target market for the Visitors Bureau, is often drawn by Kaua‘i’s community and cultural events.
“I think it’s a great exchange, especially culturally” Kanoho said of the island’s sister-city relationships.
The most recent rush of Japanese high school and college groups began arriving Aug. 13, with two student groups from Chiba Keizai College, which visited Kaua‘i Community College campus.
Fifteen additional students from the Okinawa Prefectural College of Nursing followed last week. While on-island, the nurses-in-training volunteered with seniors at Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital.
Josie Pablo, the hospital’s recreational activities director, said Mahelona’s concurrent 90th anniversary celebration events, including a bon dance, allowed the Okinawa nursing students to experience a taste of home with a Kaua‘i twist.
Additionally, Kapa‘a High School’s athletic department hosted a football team from Komaba Gakuen Senior High School. Kaua‘i High School followed with an informal exchange with Kwansei High School, a national champion football team coming off a victorious outing on Maui.
Perhaps the strongest presence among the Japanese groups, 100 musicians from the Tachibana High School Brass and Marching Band brought a mastery of music to Kaua‘i last month.
The group, now well-known for putting on an impressive show, offered proceeds from its concert to benefit the Kaua‘i High School music program under Director Darryl Miyasato.
Looking forward, there are more educational events in store to draw student groups from Japan. Later this month, the island will host the annual Matsuri event coordinated by the Kaua‘i Japanese Council.
Additionally, sporting events for students of all ages brought a multi-national representation to Kaua‘i this summer, going beyond Japan to include teams from California, Canada and the Neighbor Islands.
“It’s nice when the kids can come and see what’s the same and what’s different,” Kanoho said.
• Blake Jones, business writer/assistant editor, contributed to this report.
