Gilroy
– After five whirlwind days in the South Valley and greater Bay
Area, the 17 visitors from Asakura, Japan head home today.
Gilroy – After five whirlwind days in the South Valley and greater Bay Area, the 17 visitors from Asakura, Japan head home today.
They arrived Thursday and toured San Francisco before meeting up with their host families, many of whom have members that will travel to Japan during the first few weeks of April on a choir trip.
The highlight of the trip was a visit to Monterey, said Michie Yanagihara. She and her fifth-grade daughter, Kakoto, went down there with her hosts – Kermit Schrock, migrant education director at Gilroy High School, and Gretchen Yoder Schrock, Spanish teacher – to stroll along the boardwalk and wander through the aquarium.
A dinner of Mexican food afterwards was also a treat as it is not a common cuisine served in Japan, Yanagihara said.
The high school senior play, “Damn Yankees,” was exciting for Kakoto and the other five kids on the trip. They enjoyed the music and the content about baseball, a popular sport in Japan.
Some visitors took advantage of being in the area to enjoy museums, such as the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose. Third-year visitor Yoshida Tada Aki, who went there Saturday, said he was impressed by the quality of the displays and their interactive elements.
When the weekend was finished, the visitors went with their host families to school Monday, taking part in a number of activities that helped facilitate conversation and cultural exchange, such as arts and crafts projects.
Monday night featured a farewell dinner at Trustee Jaime Rosso’s house, with visitors filling themselves up with lasagna before heading back to Japan this morning.
The excitement of the trip will only be turned into looking forward to next year, said Ted Uchida, who owns Gilroy’s Zen Nursery and helps to organize the exchange between the two towns.
Even with the prospect of another exchange next year, the Japanese still do not want to say goodbye.
Asked if she was ready to go home, Yanagihara said she was “not ready yet. I want to stay more.” She added with a laugh, “maybe more than a month or a year.”
