Barrhead said “konnichiwa” last Friday to Ayami Ujihara, Rikuya Satoh, Fuko Asabatake, Tomonori Umeda, Takahito Narita and Miwa Nakadai.
After 24 hours of travelling, the Japanese delegation from Barrhead’s sister city of Tokoro arrived at the Town Office at about 6:20 p.m.
There was clapping as they were greeted enthusiastically by home-stay families, Reeve Bill Lee, Barrhead Mayor Brian Schulz, and chairman of the town twinning committee Roy Ulmer.
Four delegation members are students: Ayami, 15, and 16-year-olds Rikuya, Fuko, and Tomonori.
Narita is a 31-year-old teacher, while Nakadai is an interpreter, who has been to Barrhead several times.
“I am very happy to be back here,” said Nakadai. “Barrhead is like a second home to me.”
She added all the students were making their first visit to Barrhead.
In a joint statement, the students said they were looking forward to enjoying many different experiences in Canada.
Ulmer welcomed the group and said a busy schedule of activities had been organized for this week, including tours of a day care centre and the RCMP station, a calligraphy session in the library and visits to a Barrhead dance and combative arts studio.
Students were expected to go on a hayride yesterday at John Kippers’ farm north of Neerlandia, while today they are scheduled to visit a funeral home, a place of interest since the Japanese cremate their dead and don’t preserve the bodies in caskets.
Ulmer said a visit to the Northplex modular homes plant had also been added to the March 9-14 itinerary.
Neon bowling is on the agenda for Thursday, March 15, followed by a farewell dinner at the Agrena multi-purpose room. The delegation flies back to Japan on Friday, March 15.
Lee, who had Japanese language versions of his business card printed, also welcomed the group, encouraging them to have fun.
“I hope you are going to enjoy your home-stays,” he said.
Schulz asked members of the delegation to introduce themselves in turn.
“On behalf of the Town of Barrhead I thank you for coming,” he said.
He said he knew they were tired and probably hungry, adding snacks had been prepared.
After a group photo, Barrhead’s guests received goodie bags containing souvenir items marked with council insignia.
They were then introduced to their home-stay families, before being driven away.
A good night’s sleep was in order to prepare for their hectic week.
