Rina Sakuraba and Maki Shibata, two upper school students from Tamagawa Gakuen in Tokyo, spent a month at the Harker upper school, experiencing the life of Harker students firsthand.

Each student had a schedule of classes and activities for each week of their stay. Shibata enjoyed psychology class and listening to the Harker orchestra during practice, while Sakuraba had fun in Masako Onakado’s contemporary Japanese class and sitting in on Cantilena’s class sessions to listen to the talented singers.

The students also had a great time at the Winter Ball and went on a trip to Santa Cruz on a day off, where they had a great time on the rides on the famous beach boardwalk. Middle school Japanese students were also paid a visit by the two students, who gave presentations on Japanese cultural topics such as origami, kabuki and Japanese hot springs (known as onsen).

Prior to heading back to Japan, Sakuraba and Shibata said they found Harker students to be very friendly, and hoped to strengthen their new-found friendships in the future.