By Hikari Shimase
The greatest memory of mine in Hawaii is the gift of being understood given by the Iolani students in Hawaii. On December 13, the Shimane and Yamagata students did presentations on Japanese culture, including Lafcadio Hearn, Iwami kagura, and Japanese dialects. Although we practiced the presentations, we were nervous if our presentations would be understood or not because they would be our first presentations ever to American students in English.
We were very relieved when the Iolani students watched our presentations attentively, and they showed great interest by actively interacting with our speakers.
The Iolani students were so kind to us and sang everyone’s favorite Chirstmas song, “Last Christmas,” together both in English and in Japanese. The Japanese students were truly moved.
Talking with the Iolani students was so much fun. To our surprise, many Iolani students are Japanese Americans. Some of them said their grandparents were Japanese.
We felt we were “connected” when our presentations were understood and we exchanged our ideas. At the end of the cultural exchanges, we shared our SNS’s and promised to keep in touch online.
