Immersing themselves for an evening in the Japanese culture will help prepare 19 area students for their upcoming ten-day trip halfway around the world.
Sunday evening, the eighth, ninth and tenth grade participants in the Traverse City Sister City Cultural Exchange Program feasted on Japanese food, practiced using chopsticks, learned cultural norms and practiced some useful phrases.
Held at Traverse City West Junior High, the gathering with their parents helped them shift gears for their November 2 departure for Koka City, Traverse City's sister city. Koka City is situated in the Shiga prefecture, or state, which is Michigan's sister state.
"This is kind of a wake up call that it's coming up, we can try some food and meet some of the kids going," said Jack Lyon, a ninth grade student at West Junior High.
Alyssa Hartman, a ninth grade student at East Junior High, is eager to expand her horizons with this trip.
"It's a chance to see what the rest of the world is like," she said. "It will really make me think about how different the world really is. I will definitely remember this all my life."
This is the first year Traverse City is participating in this program, five chaperones are accompanying the students, including two teachers and a retired teacher. While most exchange programs are for high school or college age students, this one is specifically for the junior high age.
Many of the nine Traverse City students going hosted junior high school visitors from Japan last February; alternates have replaced some who could not make the trip. These students will stay in Japan with the family of the student their family hosted here.
Ten eighth graders are also going and will live with host families who have children their age. In February, they will start the next cycle of the ongoing program by welcoming their Japanese counterparts to their homes.
While the students from Japan were in Traverse City last winter, they attended school with their host family's child in the morning and checked out everything from the Great Wolf Lodge to the Sleeping Bear Dunes in the afternoon. Traverse City students will have the same schedule in Japan: school with their host brother or sister in the morning and touring in the afternoon.
"We had ten students here in February, five stayed with families from East Junior High and five stayed with families from West Junior High," said Mike Bailey, who with his wife, Pam, is the cultural exchange coordinator. "The principals recommended the kids who are participating."
Sunday evening's potluck dinner also featured extensive tips about Japanese life, homes, schooling, dress and etiquette from Mike Wolf, a member of the special education staff at West Junior High. During the summer, Wolf dons another hat: for the past 24 years he has served as international camp director for the YMCA in Hokkaido, Japan.
Fluent in Japanese, he coached the students — who hail from the East and West junior highs as well as Central High School — on everything from slurping while eating (OK in Japan) and footgear (take new, clean shoes and socks) to formal dress (no jeans) and being rowdy (tone it down.) He also described the basics of bowing and politeness and the standard set up of traditional Japanese houses and families.
"It is the oldest son's responsibility to take care of the parents until they die," he said. "Typically one house or business will stay in a family for generations."
The language barrier may be a challenge, although students have been studying Japanese on their own since last winter. It will also help that Japanese students study English.
"Every kid, by the time they are in junior high school, they know the basic introductory kinds of things and can also read those kinds of things," said Wolf. "If they can't speak English very well, they have a great understanding of the written language."