Learning from one another

The Japanese students visiting Spokane Valley on Tuesday were thrilled to be in America.

“I like America because it is very big and Japan is very small,” said 15-year-old Takuya Kawai. “America has nice nature; it has big, wild deer.”

The teenager said his favorite foods so far are pizza and barbecued hamburgers. And he’s been shopping too; for his mother and father he bought T-shirts that say “Washington” and “Spokane.” For himself, a Mariners shirt and baseball cap.

Kawai is one of 120 students from Japan who are visiting Spokane through the Compass USA program, which is in its 17th year for the area, said Lisa Wilson, a program coordinator. The 15- and 16-year-olds took English classes for three years in Japan and passed a test to be able to come to America.

Each student stays with a host family. Six Compass USA coordinators escort the students from place to place in groups of 20.

Eighteen of the Japanese students from Showa Shuei High School, which is just outside Tokyo, were at Cornerstone Montessori on Tuesday to teach children how to use chopsticks, make origami shapes and write their names in Japanese.

“They want to give a little bit back while they are here,” Wilson said. “They also love to see the children.”

The students sat side-by-side with the children and clapped when they wrote letters in Japanese; they helped fold paper into fancy airplanes and then showed them how the planes could fly, and the students showed the kids how to use chopsticks to eat popcorn.

“I like the children,” said 16-year-old Kumiko Fukamatsu. “American children are funny and friendly.”

Visiting the kids at Cornerstone Montessori was one of several experiences the students have had since arriving on July 25.

They’ve been to Sandpoint where they swam in Lake Pend Oreille, Wilson said. In Japan, they can’t swim in the lakes because they are too dirty. The students have also been bowling, roller skating, to a mall and Silverwood Theme Park and Boulder Beach Water Park.

“They love to experience everything,” Wilson said. “They have so much fun here, they don’t want to leave.”

Fukamatsu said not being ready to go back to Japan is a contrast to how she first felt about coming to the United States.

“In Japan, I was nervous about America,” she said. “I met host family here and was relaxed.”