A group of 13 Japanese students from Hollister’s Sister City of
Kato City in Japan arrived here Saturday and are on a whirlwind
tour of the area until Thursday.
A group of 13 Japanese students from Hollister’s Sister City of Kato City in Japan arrived here Saturday and are on a whirlwind tour of the area until Thursday.
The trip, sponsored by the Hollister Sister City Association, brought the group of excitable teens as part of an exchange program that will also include having a group of Hollister teens head to Japan this October, said Ruth Erickson, co-president of the association.
On Tuesday at the YMCA, the students, sporting fashion styles not unlike American teens, giggled and chatted enthusiastically while their American hosts and instructors tried to communicate and keep them interested.
“I come to America to eat a big hamburger,” said student Kotono Hijii in clear English. “Everyone says ‘hello’ to everyone here. In Japan we don’t say ‘hello’ to everyone like that.”
The group of 12 girls and one boy got tours of the fire station, Hollister Municipal Airport, Marich Confectionary, San Juan Bautista and Rancho San Justo School Library, just to name a few places. On Monday, the Japanese students went to Neighborhood Pizza and got to make and eat their own pies.
Erickson noted how the students got to sit in a fire truck and wear firefighter uniforms.
Inside the candy shop at Marich Confectionary, the students scrambled from one candy to the next to see what to buy. The candy Band-Aids seemed to be a hit with the students.
Hijii said she liked visiting the school the best.
“I want to go back to the junior high again,” she said.
