Students from Japan recently spent nearly two weeks in Newtown, visiting through the Japan Society Junior Fellows Leadership program, in collaboration with the Newtown International Center for Education (NICE.)

The five students reflected on their time in Newtown on March 27, their final day in the area. The students were from “all over Japan,” according to the group, and each applied and were selected for the trip, which also included visiting New York and Washington, DC, after the stint in Newtown.

Haruna Nakagaki, Kenta Mamiya, Rin Ogura, Ren Nakano, and Masayuki Takekawa all stayed with host families while in Newtown. Haruna explained each of the students applied for the chance to travel to learn about leadership. All of the students are rising sophomores and juniors in high school.

While at NHS, the students visited classrooms and went on day-trips or explored the area with their host families through NICE.

“We had opportunities to experience many things,” said Kenta, who added that he enjoyed the “school life” at NHS.

NHS Director of Alternate Programming and Support Systems and NICE Executive Board member Tim DeJulio said it was great to see how Newtown students were excited when the students from Japan joined classes.

Host families took the students to a range of activities and outings. Students said they enjoyed visiting a trampoline park, using a hot tub, and they were able to see NHS’s musical production of Mary Poppins during their stay.

Rin said that he found it interesting the different type of “kindness” he experienced from people in Newtown. People in Japan are also kind, he said, and there was a different type of kindness exhibited in Newtown.

Ren said he found experiencing the different culture to be the best part of the trip.

NICE has been hosting students in Newtown through the Japan Society Junior Fellows Leadership program for years, according to Mr DeJulio. He also said local families will have more opportunities to be host families for visiting students through NICE in the 2019-20 school year. Students from Spain and China are also expected to visit Newtown next year.

More information about NICE and its programs is available on its website nicenewtown.wixsite.com/nice.