Japanese students making their annual visit to McMichael Middle School spent Thursday morning at Brooks-Quinn-Jones Elementary demonstrating origami, the Japanese art of paper folding, reading to students and playing games.
The students staying in Nacogdoches until next week are from Ikueikan Junior High, located in Kagoshima City on the island of Kyushu.
Next month, students from Amami City Public Schools will visit Nacogdoches. Amami City is on a smaller island located southwest of the Japanese mainland.
While in Nacogdoches, students stay with host families, attend classes at McMichael Middle School and visit attractions, including a downtown excursion that comes with a stop at SuSu’s Popcorn and a visit to Muddy Pants Pottery.
Students have also visited Stephen F. Austin State University, with a stop at the planetarium at the Ed and Gwen Cole Stem Building. On Friday, students stopped by city hall and called on Mayor Randy Johnson.
The association between Nacogdoches and the Japanese communities goes back to 1993 and at first included Stephen F. Austin State University.
In 2018, the communities marked the 25th anniversary of the international relationship. Students from Japan visited again in the fall of 2019 but the onset of COVID-19 early the next year halted the program until 2023 when both schools restarted their annual trips. Students from McMichael will go see their Japanese counterparts in May.