After their arrival yesterday, the 86 students from Excellence High School led by principal Hidehiko Gomi, four teachers and two tour coordinators visited GCA and the Aging Center.
At the school, Grace Christian Academy principal Marsha Owens and student council president Lauren Hofschneider welcomed the visitors at the school auditorium.
The GCA students and their Japanese guests exchanged greetings before they participated in sports activities.
Satoshi Hirabayashi, one of the tour coordinators, said they enjoyed interacting with the students of Saipan.
The visiting Japanese teachers were Kazutaka Oyanagi, Atsushi Futatsugi, Junko Nakajima and Kanae Hara while the other tour coordinator was Yukikazu Ishikawa.
GCA teacher Susan Pagarillaga said the program which included the exchange of gifts between the local and visiting students will allow them to continue communicating each other in the future.
The visiting students had GCA “buddies” who assisted them in all the events held on campus.
Pagarillaga said the students played basketball, volleyball and indoor games.
The mayor’s office of Saipan said 41 local families will host the visiting students during their five-day stay on island.
The Saipan Business and Language Institute coordinated the visit.
Its secretary Leilani P. Detabian said they will bring more students from Japan next year.
She said they started the program in 2003 and the response has been very good although it was affected when the tsunami and earthquake hit Japan last March.
Other institute staff that joined the program yesterday were Via Starr Cucal, Weilly Brana and Karl Mechor.
Saipan mayor’s office executive secretary Vinycia Seman said the host families will teach the visiting students different handicrafts including bead- and mwar-making as well as basket weaving.
The Japanese group will also visit the American Memorial Park museum and Managaha.
