Four Cotter students became a part of the Okisho community over the summer, on the small, beautiful island of Okinawa, Japan. The group was led by Ms. Hollie Duffy, our geography teacher. The trip lasted two weeks, departing on July 8, and returning July 22.

“I want to learn many things about Japanese culture. I have friends who were in Cotter last year. I wanted to meet them.” said Matthew Park.

For school days, we went to school with our host family as exchange students and learned many things there. We learned sado (Japanese traditional tea lesson), karate (Okinawa’s traditional sport), calligraphy with a special brush, and Japanese language from professional teacher of each.

Every day after school and on weekends we all gathered together and hang out through many activities. We went to bowling, beach, museum, aquarium, shopping and restaurants. Everything we have done there was pretty fun because of the people in Okinawa, fun and nice.

Through home stay we experienced Japanese culture and life style which are very different from how Winona is. Many students use school buses to go to school from four different area. They wear nice school uniform to go to school and take classes until around 4pm and leave to their afterschool party. By using local buses and taxi, lots of students go shopping, movie, beach, etc. They do their homework at night after they get home, so sometimes takes until very late.

Okinawa has a sub-tropical climate through a year which means Okinawa is very hot and has never had snow even in winter unlike Winona. Most of Okinawa people are driving box cars somehow.

The students who went to Okinwa are Matthew Park and Se Uk Oh, juniors from Korea, Hohyung (Daniel) Kang, a Cotter graduate of 2013, now attending KAIST in Korea. We taught them about Cotter life through presentation. We also cooked Korean food to show one of Korean cultures.

“It was wonderful to be able to spend time with students from Japan who had spent the 2012-2013 school year at Cotter,” Ms Duffy remarked. “The Reciprocal Exchange Program is a great experience for Cotter students. By traveling to Okinawa, Japan for two weeks and staying with a host family, students are able to experience life and culture in another country in a way that doesn’t happen just traveling on vacation. It’s a very authentic and enriching experience for both our students and the Shogaku Okisho students. My hope is that we have more students participate every year in the exchange.”

The best memories we have got in Okinawa are something very special and unforgettable for the friends there and us. “The beach party was the best. We all gathered together at the beach and rode a banana boat.” Seuk Oh’s best memory. “The graduation dance party was pretty fun and amazing!” Matthew Park said.

“One of my favorite memories from the trip is spending the day at the beach and swimming with students from Cotter and Okisho in the Sea of Japan,” Ms. Duffy said.