Sister Cities trip immerses students in Japanese culture

LIMA - Standing in front of a Buddhist castle made mostly of gold, Jacob Luhn knew he was in Japan.

"A lot of the cities, I felt like I could have been in some city out in California," the Elida High School sophomore said. "But the temples and things, I felt like I was in Japan. It was fun."

Jacob and 10 other high school students returned this week from Lima's sister city, Harima-cho, Japan.

Sponsored by the Lima Sister Cities Association, some of the students will host Japanese students in August. Luhn, whose older brother Andrew also made the trip, had previously hosted students. That experience made them want to make the trip.

Elida sophomore Michele Theodore and Shawnee junior Tyler Berlin both had siblings previously travel through the Sister Cities program.

Each student stayed with a different host family. Tyler and Michele's families spoke English well, but Jacob had a little more of a problem communicating. He learned simple Japanese along the way.

"Even though we couldn't always understand exactly what we were trying to say, eventually we got over the language barrier and we still had fun," he said.

Students were struck by how friendly and respectful Japanese people were towards them and each other. They certainly noticed the difference between the two cultures, including bathing only at night and always taking their shoes off before entering a building, but even more so noticed the similarities.

"I think we think of people as being really different than us, but once you go there, you see that everybody is basically the same," Michele said.

They also noticed how fortunate they are, Tyler wondering if he could live in such tight quarters all the time.

"It made me appreciate home more, how much space we have here," he said. "You don't think about it much when you're here, but when you are there, everything is right on top of each other. There is not much room there."

A highlight for the students was a visit to a junior high school. The children there were fascinated with the American students, Tyler said.

"They lined up to shake our hands and cheered for us. They were amazed with us," he explained.

Students are eager to show off their way of life when Japanese students arrive here in August.

"They come during the fair and I can tell it is a lot different than anything they have in Japan," Michele said. "I really want to show them how ‘country' we are compared to them."

All three students hope to return to Japan to see more of it and to visit their host families.

"When I got back I felt really empty, sort of," Jacob said. "I was away from it all, and I sort of wished I could have gone back and been there longer and done more things."