Vikings on the Road: Japanese Students Visit Santa Monica's Japanese Sister City

Max GumbelStaff WriterThe streets of Tokyo are very different from the hallways of Samo. Yet the City of Santa Monica has a unique partnership with a Japanese city called Fujinomiya Douri, which lies about 6,000 miles away. Eleven Samo students from the Japanese program discovered parallels between the two cities when they embarked on an eight-day voyage around Japanese cities and monuments, departing from Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 2. Japanese teacher Emily Kariya, M-House principal Larry Boone, and two parent chaperones accompanied the students.The group stayed the first five nights in Kyoto before venturing to Tokyo.According to junior Daniel Bottitta, the group explored nearby Buddhist and Shinto shrines, castles, temples and other monuments including Hiroshima.When the group sojourned to Fujinomiya Douri, they met with city officials, who welcomed the eleven with open arms.“We talked about ourselves and how great Japan was, and they gave us gifts and celebrated our partnership. We celebrated the relationship we have as sister cities. They also took us to a number of sites around the city,” Bottitta said. “They were the nicest people we met in Japan.”According to Kariya, there were many differences between American and Japanese towns.“Some of the towns we visited were populated with just as many animals as humans,” Kariya said. “We took a few stops to feed monkeys and deers.”In addition, Kariya said all of the city streets were spotlessly clean.“In Japan the trash cans are very spread apart, but the Japanese carry their trash with them until they finally see a bin,” Kariya said.Bottitta said that Japanese manners are also unlike those of Americans, which came as a surprise to him.“The Japanese value their silence. There is a very big emphasis in Japan on not having any impact on others,” Bottitta said.  “It made me feel like a very loud person.”While the cultural difference was one of the enriching aspects of the trip, students’ language skills also improved due to being surrounded by fluent Japanese speakers.“Students got to use the Japanese they learned in class to survive when they went to the mall or ordered food,” Kariya said.Bottitta said that the trip was also socially enriching.“There was a very strong sense of community among the students who attended the trip by the end,” Bottitta said. “The Japanese class is very diverse and I did not know much about most of the people I went on the trip with, but forced together by the foreign trials of a strange land, we all became good friends.” mgumbel@thesamohi.com