Ketchikan-Gero-Kanayama exchange program continues

A group of officials from Kanayama traveled to Ketchikan in November 1986 to discuss a relationship with Ketchikan delegates, and in 1987 papers of intent were signed. The primary goal sought by founders was educational, leading to the first exchange of students and teachers.

Following that, Ketchikan local Christa Bruce and her family served as the first teacher exchange participants. The program in Ketchikan allows local eighth-graders to participate in the exchange.

In 2004, Kanayama was incorporated into Gero City along with four other towns in Japan, and the program’s name was changed to the Ketchikan-Gero-Kanayama exchange program. Japanese students in the program now come from all sectors of Gero.

Kanayama-Gero and Ketchikan have exchanged teachers yearly since 1987, with only the 2020-2021 school year inactive due to the pandemic.

Ketchikan’s teacher while in Japan instructs English skills, American and local customs and shares knowledge of Ketchikan as well. The Japanese teacher, while in Ketchikan, teaches the Japanese language and Japanese customs and culture to all grade levels of the Ketchikan School District.

This year, nine Kanayama-Gero students visited Ketchikan from March 25 to April 1. The 12 Ketchikan exchange students plan to visit Japan from June 5 through June 24.

In a March 31 email to the Daily News, Coordinator for International Relations Tony Hatano-Worrell wrote that the Japanese students while in Ketchikan “tried to visit all elementary schools plus Schoenbar and (Ketchikan High School,) but this year unfortunately we missed the Charter School and Kayhi due to the landslide and scheduling changes.”

He added that the Japanese students “also visited Saxman, got to see dancers and have a tour, got to speak with Nathan Jackson and his fellow carvers Mr. Natkong and Mr. Milne, and we got to visit the hatchery, have a tour on a boat, spend time at (Ketchikan Afterschool Program) and The Plaza, held Japan Day there, visit the police and fire stations for tours, have a bonfire at Rotary Beach, have a Schoenbar dance, and so much more I can’t even remember it all. It was great!”

On Sunday, the Ketchikan exchange students were gathered at Schoenbar Middle School to practice the Japanese language, plan for their trip and practice the traditional fun dances that the group performs for audiences while in Japan.

Students who are part of the program are: Chloe Beach, Tatum Burns, Hunter Eckert,  Savannah Etten, Kinley Ginter, MaraJade Green, Narina Holzmeister, Aidan Jones, Stephanie Kleeman, Audrey Mettler, Carly Toole, and Josiah White.

Head chaperone for 2025 and Exchange Program Board Member Archie Inoncillo and Board Member Ema Oshima, along with Japanese exchange teacher Mahiro Tohyama, were leading the day’s events. Also in attendance was Ketchikan-Gero-Kanayama Exchange Program Board Vice President Liz Jones.

Inoncillo said that he also was a chaperone in 2024, and also, from 2017 to 2019 he worked as the Ketchikan exchange teacher in Kanayama.

“For myself,” he said, “seeing the program and then being part of the program, I wanted to give that opportunity for kids to see the world, especially in as a unique program as this one. … Junior high school students don’t often get this opportunity to go abroad.”

The most challenging part for the students, he said, is learning the Japanese language. It’s not taught as a regular class at Schoenbar, so they don’t get consistent exposure to the language.

“Also, I think it’s getting out of their own small shell, their own little world then breaking out to see all this new stuff for themselves too,” Inoncillo said.

The program is getting close to its 40th year, he noted, adding, “We definitely want to keep this going as long as we can — hopefully forever. Keeping the community informed is something that we have a mission to do. Keep spreading the enjoyment of the program, because there are kids who have been exposed to the program, but never know that there’s an opportunity to go, so we just want to make sure that people know that the program is still going and we want as many people to be involved in as many ways that they can.

“We’re always open to alumni being either part of the board or volunteering in any sort of way, we’re more than happy to accept any assistance from them and we want to get more stories from past alumni students who have gone in the past, or any chaperones —- anyone who’s been affected in any positive way by the exchange, we want to hear all the stories,” he added.

Inoncillo said people can contact board members via email at info@ketchikangerokanayama.org, and can find more information about the program on Instagram or Facebook by searching for “Ketchikan Gero Kanayama.”

He said that people also are invited to attend board meetings, held from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on the first Monday of each month at Jeremiah's restaurant, upstairs at The Landing.

Jones said that she has been involved with the exchange program for 31 years. In 1994 she was a student participant, then her younger siblings were participants the following two years.

“I also was the student representative on the board,” she said.

She said, of her motivation to be involved for so long, that “When I first went to Japan, the world opened. It was being able to see another culture and experience it firsthand, and to live in their homes, and to truly be welcomed in, it was not really what I expected going into it … they don’t just open their home, they open their hearts. We weren’t just another kid, it was they treated me like their daughter.”

She said that the Japanese student with whom she stayed while in the program visited Ketchikan later, and they stayed in touch over the years.

“Those relationships that you build, they’re not fleeting, they do last a lifetime, there’s a certain bond that you get with someone when you kind of experience that same thing … you’re put into a situation where you don’t speak the language, you don’t know all the customs, but there’s still a certain amount of camaraderie there because they’ve experienced the same things on this end.”

She added that “traveling internationally at that age is so important because you’re moldable,” which can have a positive long-term impact.

“It offers a global perspective that’s so important in today’s society,” Jones said.

Jones said that she returned to Japan between her junior and senior years of high school for eight weeks as the Alaska delegate for that year’s Japan-US Senate Youth Exchange.

That experience was “amazing,” she said, adding that she has continued to travel.

Tohyama said that she originally planned to teach the entire 2024/2025 school year in Ketchikan, but there were some technical issues with her visa application, so her tenure is now set for March 25 through April 29

She said that during her stay, she will be visiting each elementary school to share her language, culture and music.

Tohyama said that she teaches foreign students the Japanese language in Kanayama-Gero.

This is her fourth time visiting Ketchikan, she said. Her first visit was in 2013 as an exchange student. She also visited as a program chaperone right after the pandemic travel restrictions were lifted, and then visited for three months in 2024 to assist the Japanese class teacher and that year’s exchange group.

“In junior high school I went here as an exchange student,” Tohyama said. “After I joined the exchange, I was interested in learning English, so I decided to learn English and go to university, and I learned literature and history about England and Europe.”

She said, of visiting Ketchikan, “this is a way to learn English and why I became a Japanese teacher.”

Tohyama added, “In my heart, three students and three chaperones stayed at my house, and when I was 18 years old in (my) high school’s last year, I had to decide my major at university, and I really was thinking I had two choices of which university to go (to,) in summer.”

She said that through talking to the chaperone who had stayed at her house, she learned that the exchange students would be in her city, so she attended one of the events, leading her to want to help to ensure that the program would continue.

“It’s really important for the future generations, so I decided, ‘Oh, the future — I want to teach kids Japanese, or work as an exchange teacher,‘” Tohyama explained.

She described learning English as “so fun,” as she is able to communicate in English better and to understand people.

“This is my point of learning English,” she said.

She noted that some sounds are especially challenging for a Japanese speaker, such as the “th” or the “r” sounds, which are not used in Japanese.

“It’s hard, but I practice, practice, practice,” she said, laughing.

Tohyama said that every time she has visited Ketchikan “I made a friend, so I’m really happy every year, I meet more friends.”

Schoenbar eighth grader and exchange program participant Savannah Etten took a break from dance practice on Sunday to talk about why she joined the program.

She said, “I had lots of friends in the grade above me who had done it and it looked really fun, and I saw them do their dance, and I was like, ‘I want to do that,’ and then I did!”

She added, “The most fun part is getting to have the students come over and just making a new friend from a different country, and show them all of the things I do.”

Etten said that she and the student who stayed with her family most enjoyed going beachcombing together.

The most challenging part of being in the program, she noted, is that “the language is really difficult, and translator apps are helpful, but aren’t always accurate, and you get a little confused.”

Etten said that her advice to a younger student contemplating whether to join the program is that it’s “very, very fun, you should definitely do it because first of all, you make a group of 12 friends, and it’s such an amazing experience and not many people get to do this in their life, like, go to a whole other country.”

She said she is “excited to see all the Gero and Kanayama students again, because, oh my gosh — two months without them! It’s just, like, so long.”

Etten said that while in Japan, she wants to try a special dish that she and the Japanese student who was staying in her home made called “onigiri — it’s rice with a little seasoning, and it’s a little triangle, and I really want to try some more of that over there. It's delicious.”

Narina Holzmeister also took a break from dance practice to talk about the program.

She said that she was interested in the program simply because, “it was in a different country,” and she hadn’t visited another country before.

Holzmeister said that she’s interested in not only trying Japanese food, but also seeing the nature and animals in the area. She said that she’s especially interested in collecting animal bones, and has a blue heron skull that she’d found on a trail.

Holzmeister said that her favorite part of the exchange program so far was, “when my Japanese kid actually came.”

She said, “we went to the beach a lot and that was fun, and to the (Southeast Alaska) Discovery Center, that was fun.”

Communicating with her guest student “wasn’t that hard, because we mainly just spoke simple words and made just sounds.”

Learning the Japanese language has so far been the most challenging part of the program, Holzmeister said.

She said that she sees the program as impactful as “it’s been going for a really long time and a ton of people have loved it when they went.”