WAKULLA COUNTY, Fla. — Wakulla County 4-H is hosting two students from Japan this school year. They say it's a way for local students to learn about different cultures and the world around them.
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Wakulla County 4-H is hosting two Japanese students for this school year to help students share their cultures with one another.
Kanta Seki and Riko Satomi have travelled thousands of miles to attend Wakulla High School this year thanks to 4-H's foreign exchange student program.
"I have been, you know, in Japan so far, you know, for 17 years," said Seki. "So everything is different, totally different from Japanese culture and Japanese customs at school or things like that."
This program allows students to learn about other cultures.
Seki and Satomi said that schools in Japan are different from American schools because of how they are run and how students behave in schools.
Satomi says that American students her age are more expressive in a variety of ways.
"I'm kind of shy person. I'm not good at like, like, giving a speech and talking in front of many people," explained Satomi. "But I think most Americans are good at, like, expressing their feelings and like, they're so, like, active. So I really want to be a person like that."
Wakulla County 4-H says a program like this is important for students, since it helps expand their knowledge of the world.
Loretta Compton, a student in the program, says she's learned so much from her new friends from Japan, including origami. However, with entertainment nowadays giving her a false impression of other cultures, she can now get firsthand knowledge to rely on instead of movies or anime.
"Especially with different movies and stuff, that it might not actually [be what you see if] you could compare," said Compton. "If a lot of people might watch, like you said, anime and stuff, but it might not actually be true of the Japanese culture."
Satomi shared similar sentiments, saying that American entertainment, such as "Mean Girls" or Disney Channel, gave her a different idea of American schools than what she's experienced here. She was also concerned of people treating her differently because she wasn't American.
"At first I was worrying about, like everything, because I watched many movies about, like, for example, like 'Mean Girls' or something like that," explained Satomi. "And really worry about like, 'Oh, she's Japanese.' Like, people think about me like that, but the people in here are so nice and kind, like, whenever I ask a question, they're so kind to, like, teach me, and the teacher is so nice. So it was the biggest like culture, it's not culture shock, but it was like biggest surprise for me."
Satomi and Seki said that interacting with their new peers is not much different than back home, sharing that conversations are what any teenager would talk about these days. However, Seki shared that the "67" trend surprised him.
They also encourage others to study abroad at some point.
"So, you know, live in America by yourself, yourselves, that sounds really hard. Yeah, at first it was so," said Seki. "But this experience is really, really precious, like, you know, precious. So if you want to go to other countries to study, I don't want you to give up going, you know, [because it's] challenging."
Seki said his favorite memory thus far was visiting Washington DC to meet with other 4H international students.
Satomi shared she loved the tradition of homecoming week at the high school this year, and she was finally able to ride in a yellow school bus.
Kanta and Riko are excited to see what the rest of the school year will bring and they’re beyond grateful to have this experience.
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