Palmetto Senior High School Japanese language teacher Mieko Avello has been deeply involved with the program for the past six years.
“Beyond language, this program allows students to interact and gain life experiences they can’t get anywhere else,” said Avello.
With her dedication, three of the eight visiting Japanese students spent time shadowing Palmetto High students and living with their host families. We were lucky enough to be a host family.
For the entire week, we immersed 14- year old Nana Kabayama in as much Miami possible. We began with dinner at Shorty’s to give her a taste of Miami. It was immediately clear this was going to be special for all of us with her broad smiles and palpable thanks. When we visited Miami Seaquarium, you could literally see her eyes opening to new things. Early on, Nana focused on our wildlife. Squirrels, iguanas and peacocks seemed her favorite. The dolphins and killer whale at Miami Seaquarium certainly entertained.
The mundane details of our lives also proved quite interesting. She marveled at the size of our drinking cups. At the movie theater where she saw Big Hero 6, Nana remarked, “Even the small size is taller than my hand!” Signs for food and the sheer serving sizes seemed to also be impressive to her.
“I want it all, but I cannot eat so much,” she said.
One evening at home, we had BBQ hamburgers and lit the fire pit, cooking s’mores for dessert. While she certainly liked a lot of our food, s’mores seemed to be her alltime favorite.
Nana thoroughly enjoyed her time at Santa’s Enchanted Forest www.santasenchantedforest.com, a uniquely Miami Christmas-themed amusement experience. “The rides and lights are so pretty,” she said. “It is beautiful!”
She also loved visiting Animate! Miami www.animatemiami.com, Florida’s largest anime convention.
“Americans can be fun, dressing as their favorite characters and playing the parts.” One night, Nana met CBS4’s Eliott Rodriguez, Eric Folbaum and Irica Sargent during a tour of the WFOR-TV studios.
While language was certainly a barrier at times really trying to converse with Nana, we were impressed with the ability to use translation apps on our iPhones to bridge the gap. Just like here in the U.S., each Japanese student certainly loved their smartphones and used them extensively during their trip.
While a smartphone and the Internet certainly make our world smaller and seemingly more accessible, Kagoshima-Miami Sister Cities program’s chairman Jose Fuentes said, “We feel that both American and Japanese students are incorrectly believing that seeing photos and videos of a place constitutes experiencing that place. This program proves what we adults know, there is no substitute for the real thing.”
Before her departure, Nana and our family exchanged all the photos we took during her visit. Much like the incredible insight gained by viewing the road-trip photos taken by Raymond in the 1998 film Rain Man, looking at the shots from Nana’s camera provided me with a unique perspective on how Miami is perceived by foreign eyes.
It is clear that we are less reserved, almost to the point of flashy and showy, and that we have more visual stimulus in our daily lives than in Japan. The photos showed that we often overlook items of beauty in our daily lives that caught Nana’s attention. Some of her photos can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/NanaGallery. You can go to http://tinyurl.com/2014KagMiami to see pictures of when the girls first arrived in Miami and met Miami Mayor Tomás Pedro Regalado.
“We had eight Kagoshima students visit Miami this year, all of them female,” said Miami’s Japanese Consul General Shinji Nagashima at the goodbye dinner he hosted. “If you are curious why, it is simply that every boy candidate failed the qualification tests.”
Shy and demure, Nana and the rest of the Japanese students certainly made their impact on our lives. It is eye-opening to hear about their culture and mannerisms, not to mention the reflection of Miami they provided.
Next year, November will mark the 25th anniversary of the Kagoshima-Miami Sister Cities exchange program. Like many cultural events of its kind, it needs support.
“We are not necessarily looking for money or charity,” said Jose Fuentes. “We need the support and awareness of the community that will then prompt the Miami government to fund and keep this worthy program going.”
The Kagoshima government funds 75 percent of the costs of their students’ trips. Miami shoulders no costs for our students headed there.
REAL ESTATE UPDATE
I wish you real estate success in 2015 and look forward to sharing the best of South Florida with you through my column right here in the Pinecrest Tribune. If you’re even remotely thinking about selling this year, make sure to book me for a free consultation.
Hal Feldman (MiamiHal) is a Realtor with RE/MAX Advance Realty. Contact him with your story ideas or real estate questions at www.MiamiHal.com, Hal@MiamiHal.com or www.facebook.com/MiamiHal.
