The rest of the 30 Sanpo-en students, who are from different schools in Osaka, Fukuoka and Nagoya, are scheduled to be here on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The first group that arrived on Friday, the 20 K.S.K.K students from Tokyo, is scheduled to visit historical and tourist sites, including the Suicide Cliff and Last Command Post today.
Chaudhry said the Sanpo-en students are composed of the advance group that will arrive today; the main and Fukuoka groups that are scheduled to arrive on Tuesday; and the Nagano group that will be here on Wednesday.
On Wednesday morning, the Sanpo-en will pay a courtesy visit to Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and to Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela.
The group is led by a Buddhist priest, Kansho Kayaki, Chaudhry said.
Each year, they visit Saipan to offer prayers to those who died here during the war.
“We expect a bigger ceremony this year because this will be their 30th visit,” Chaudhry said.
She said the group will stay at Hopwood Junior High School and will also spend two days at the houses of local families who volunteered to accommodate the visitors.
On Thursday morning, the Sanpo-en group will join the paper lantern-making activity at Hopwood Junior High School.
In the afternoon, they will attend a memorial service and float paper lanterns while a “sayonara” party will be held for the K.S.K.K. group.
The Sanpo-en group will leave Saipan on Aug. 4.
Chaudhry is hopeful that the visiting students will learn a lot about local culture and history.
