Japanese Culture Experience
Students from Utah Valley University visit Seiryo High School

14 students from Utah Valley University visited Seiryo High School in Shizuoka on June 12th and 13th. They joined Japanese students to attend some classes and activities to experience Japanese culture.

UVU offers many subjects such as aeronautical engineering, automotive engineering, and others. The university has its own airport, and many students from all over the country attend UVU to learn how to fly. Many foreign students from different parts of the world also study at the university. UVU is a university of expert training. The International Student Office sponsored the study abroad in Japan this summer for the first time.

Seiryo High School has sent some students to Meridian School in Utah since 2003 as part of their program called ‘Overseas Language Study Training’. Meridian School is a private school with students from pre-kindergarten through high school and this year on March 27th, Seiryo and Meridian signed a Sister School Agreement.

It is part of Seiryo-Meridian program that students from Seiryo High School visit Utah Valley University for campus tour including some simulation experiences at the aeronautical department. 4 years ago, the director of International Student Office and one of his staff members visited Seiryo High School and requested that UVU students visit the high school for cultural experience once study abroad in Japan began.

Those 14 students and some chaperons arrived in Japan on June 3rd. After visiting Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto, and Hiroshima, they met host families from Fujinomiya-city on the 11th. They were welcomed by the high school students and teachers in the special morning assembly on the 12th. Aaron Fairbanks and Doug Perl made their speeches in Japanese. Aaron said, ‘Japanese culture is so special and wonderful. We would like to know more about Japan’ in his speech. Josh Sacket sang a popular song, ‘Sen no Kaze ni Natte (a Thousand Winds)’ fluently in Japanese. They visited English, Japanese, and history classes in the morning. After lunch, they learned how to wear summer Kimono, and experienced the tea ceremony.

On the next day, they visited more classes in the morning and learned origami, calligraphy, and flower arrangement in the afternoon. They will spend weekend with their host families in Fujinomiya and leave for Tokyo on the 16th.