Students embrace Japan group
By James Gonser
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hundreds of Hokulani Elementary School students yesterday waved homemade Japanese and American flags and held bright banners while greeting 58 counterparts from Kinki University Elementary in Osaka, Japan.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
The visiting fifth-graders waved back just as eagerly, and then, dressed in their black-and-white school uniforms, climbed down the steep tour bus steps and were each given a lei by Hokulani children.
Fifth-grade students from Kinki University Elementary in Osaka, Japan, perform for their Hokulani school counterparts. The Japanese students were visiting Hawai'i as part of a four-day cultural exchange program.
The Japanese students, here as part of a four-day cultural exchange program, were led to the multipurpose auditorium to the sounds of "Hawaii Five-0" and treated to several musical performances, including hula and jazz.
In groups of two or three, the Japanese students then bravely walked up to the microphone to introduce themselves in English.
"Aloha. I am 11 ... I like baseball and hamburger," one student said.
Sixth-grader Kathryn Livingston said communicating with Japanese students is not a problem because kids have their own language. To demonstrate, Livingston shrugged her shoulders and lifted her hands, palms up, and said, "Huh?"
The exchange program began in 1992 when a group of parents and teachers concerned about an ever-shrinking world realized that a global education is necessary for the creation of a peaceful society.
The program aims to promote mutual understanding among children of different cultures, provide opportunities for children to explore other cultures and sow the seeds of friendship.
Friendship between the two countries was strained after the USS Greeneville crashed into the Japanese training vessel Ehime Maru, taking the lives of nine students, teachers and crew members.
Kinki school principal Kazuaki Fukuyama said young people forgive easier than adults.
"Even though it is a terrible tragedy the students will make a bridge between the two countries with their innocent hearts and help us all," Fukuyama said through a translator.
Hokulani principal Elmira Fukumoto said the one-on-one relationships formed during the students' short stay in Hawai'i will go a long way toward global peace.
"The relationship between the two schools has a tremendous impact on everyone involved." Fukumoto said. "We have to learn to live and communicate in a global society."
The Japanese students will spend the weekend with host families who have children attending Hokulani. They return home Monday.
Fourth-grade teacher Marilyn Higashide said, next year, a group from Hokulani will visit Osaka.
"They learn that kids coming from foreign countries ... are just like them," Higashide said. "They have similar interests and they find that being from a foreign country doesn't mean there has to be a wall between them. Especially right after this submarine incident.
" I don't know how much the children have read, but I think this will help ease the tensions a bit. Even though on both sides there might be some people with bad feelings about the incident and the children might have heard adults talk about it, ... by meeting children from the other country, they will find out that they can be friends.
"It's the adults that are having a tough time."
