Ten Japanese students from sister city Takko-machi soak up as
much Gilroy as possible in their six-day venture
By Jen Penkethman Special to the Dispatch
Gilroy – For the next week, 10 Japanese junior high students will be taken on a whirlwind tour of Gilroy, seeing everything from local schools to Gilroy City Hall.
“We’re only here for six days, it’s really not long enough,” said Sarah Bryson, who will lead the students through the busy schedule. Bryson is the official coordinator of the trip, and acts as liaison between Gilroy and its sister city in Japan, Takko-machi. (‘Machi’ is the suffix denoting a town; the natives refer to it as ‘Takko.’) She said the youngsters, some of whom have never been on a plane before this week, are doing well so far.
“They love their host families,” Bryson said. “They have been planning for a long time what to bring for them.”
In Japan, gifts – omiyage – are extremely important, especially in situations where two parties are meeting for the first time. At Luigi Aprea Elementary School Friday morning, both American and Japanese students traded a bounty of gifts. In Sandy Marshall’s fifth grade class, students made individual cards welcoming the Japanese students. Wendy Conrotto’s fourth grade class memorized Japanese greetings and recited them for the exchange students.
“It took them a couple of weeks to memorize them,” said Conrotto, who was the coordinator between Gilroy and Takko-machi in 2003, and knows more than a little Japanese. “The kids really got into it, they were so excited.”
The 10 Takko-machi students spent the morning helping Gilroy students make paper cranes, going from table to table and helping when things went awry. The two groups, who speak only a handful of phrases in each others’ language, had to coordinate and learn visually to complete the origami.
“This is difficult,” commented Yuto Nakamura to his translator and escort, Keiko Sato. Sato has been escorting junior high students to Gilroy for the last five years. The junior high trip is one of three trips – in January, high school students visit, and in the summer, adult officials from Takko-machi come for the Garlic Festival.
“This is a great opportunity for them to practice their English,” said Bryson, who speaks to her assistants and students in a combination of Japanese and English. This is Bryson’s second year as the sister city coordinator. “The first night we were in L.A., and we stayed at a Japanese hotel, so it was a nice transition – they spoke Japanese there, and served Japanese food.”
Through their translator, the Japanese students said they were surprised by how friendly Gilroyans are.
“People here use much more eye contact,” said Naohiro Soremura, 13. “It’s fun to be here. Everyone is very friendly.”
Yukiko Sato, also 13, agreed with her classmate. “Gilroy is a very comfortable town, it feels very safe.”
Also very big, she said – Takko-machi is a much more rural town than Gilroy, with just 7,000 people. The junior high the students came from is the only one in the area. Principal Yamada and an English teacher accompanied the students.
This is the fifth year that junior high students have come, but it is the 18th year of Gilroy’s sister city relationship with Takko-machi. Known as the Garlic Capital of Japan, Takko-machi also has a sister city relationship with the top garlic producer in Italy, Monticelli.
As for the junior high students, their interest in America is more cultural than agricultural. “They want to know what’s cool in America,” said Bryson, “as well as what their host families want. In the airport they were running around looking at the candy, asking me what American host families would like.”
They will be staying with 11 host families that volunteered through the Sister City Association, and have come prepared – with Japanese calendars, maps, and charts of the Japanese writing system, among other gifts.
The group will continue through a busy schedule this weekend, including a trip to San Francisco to see Fisherman’s Wharf. Sunday, they will be welcomed by Major Al Pinheiro at his home for a Sayonara party, although they won’t be saying “goodbye” until Tuesday.
