3/22 – 26/2024
Fukuchi Town is located in the Northeast region of Fukuoka Prefecture with the population of a little over 20,000. The town’s Board of Education has been in touch with HGEF since late 2022 during the Covid lockdown, hoping to conduct the online exchange program with local middle schools. In 2023, three junior high schools in Fukuchi Town (Akaike, Hojyo, and Kaneda Gimu) had a series of the online exchange program with Ke Kula Kaiapuni O Anuenue, Stevenson Middle School, and Island Pacific Academy.
Eight (8) junior high school students were selected and came to Hawaii in March this year as the inaugural group of the program. During the 5-day stay, the students experienced the homestay with local families, visited USS Battleship Missouri Memorial, leaned about the Japanese immigration history, and ate loco moco!
They were able to visit one of the local schools they met online, Anuenue, for one day, and learned how to dance hula, too.
