Oak Ridge, Japanese sister city trips resume
The Sister City Support Organization (SCSO), in cooperation with Oak Ridge Schools, has selected the delegates for the 2024 middle school exchange with the sister city of Naka-shi, Japan. The 29-year student exchange will resume this year after it was stopped five years because of COVID-19.
The Oak Ridge students are paired with Japanese students and stay in their hosts’ homes and attend their schools. The Oak Ridge group will visit Japan in July and the Naka students will visit Oak Ridge in August, according to a news release from SCSO. The goal of the exchange is to build knowledge and understanding between the different cultures.
To prepare for the trip, Oak Ridge students will take lessons in Japanese language and customs with John Smith, Jefferson Middle School teacher and SCSO chairman. The class curriculum is based on lesson plans implemented for the exchange by the late Shigeko Uppuluri.
Classes will be augmented by Mana Muramatsu, a Japan Outreach Initiative (JOI) coordinator who is in East Tennessee as a cultural liaison to share her culture and learn about ours in return. She will introduce Japanese cultural dance, origami fan making, traditional Japanese toys, and making rice balls.
The seven rising eighth-graders represent both Jefferson and Robertsville middle schools and will be accompanied by Elizabeth Horton, special education teacher at Robertsville and Matthew Box, math and special education teacher at JMS.
Ram Uppuluri, Shigeko's son, will accompany the delegation as a representative of the city of Oak Ridge and the SCSO. He will carry greetings from the Oak Ridge City Council and Mayor Warren Gooch to the mayor and council of Naka shi, Ibaraki.
The SCSO was created to assist the city in international relationships. The Naka-Oak Ridge partnership agreement was signed in 1990. Since that time, the SCSO has facilitated the opportunity for international friendships with more than 850 Oak Ridge/Regional participating families and organizations.
The SCSO consists of volunteers; host families, local organizations and individuals who have contributed thousands of dollars of “in-kind” funding and hundreds of hours of planning. These projects have included 29 middle school exchanges with Naka-shi, virtual and pen pal exchanges during the COVID-19 pandemic, social exchanges with Naka and Oak Ridge women, hosting visits with Japanese Girl Scouts and the Hiroshima Boys Choir, reciprocal visits by individuals and city officials from Naka and Obninsk, Russia, the other Oak Ridge sister city.
Many people who have traveled with SCSO groups have returned on their own to continue the friendships made during the exchanges, the release stated.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Oak Ridge, Japanese sister city trips resume
