Recently, Southwest High School welcomed students from Kasugaoka High School in Ibaraki, Japan, Minneapolis’ sister city. Ibaraki is a suburb of Osaka. When the host families first met their students on Friday, March 28, there was an air of nervousness. When it was over, on Thursday, March 6, many tears were shed by the host and guest students. The next day, The Navigator interviewed Luca Cavalletti (‘25), Kaysa Welsh (‘27), and Eli Merkovich (‘26), each of whom hosted a guest student from Ibaraki.
The Nav: What was your guest student’s name?
LC: Akane.
KW: Nonoka.
EM: Sawa Tokunaga.
The Nav: What did your student enjoy the most during their time here?
LC: A Minnesota United game.
KW: I think sledding.
EM: Being with my little sister. They had a lot of fun.
The Nav: What was the most unique meal you had with your student?
LC: Pea risotto. That was gas as ****.
KW: We made homemade pasta.
EM: We all made okonomiyaki with her, because she brought some of the ingredients, so that was probably the most unique meal. That was really good.
The Nav: How have your perceptions of Japanese people changed?
LC: Nothing really. They’re chill.
KW: I just learned a lot about Japanese culture in general. It’s cool, I like to see how it’s similar to American culture and also how it’s different.
EM: The way that you are taught to speak Japanese in America is very different from what they say in conversation, like a lot of the words are different. They never say “Daisuki”, they say “Mecha suki”.
The Nav: What English word did you teach your student?
LC: “Snowplow” maybe. I wanted to teach her how to dap somebody up but then I kinda forgot. So unfortunate.
KW: “You betcha.”
EM: Everything here and there. Whenever she would not know a word, we would tell her and give her a definition.
The Nav: What conversation did you have with your student that you remember?
LC: I can’t think of anything.
KW: We taught each other a lot of games, so I was just talking about the games.
EM: We were outside at Kenny, and all in Japanese, she explained this plan where we would bury my body [in the snow] so it looked like she was holding a head, and I understood everything she was saying in Japanese, and I was like “Dang, I might actually be cracked at this language.”
The Nav: How are you feeling now that they are gone?
LC: It was fun having them here. It was good.
KW: It’s sad, but I hope I can see her again sometime.
EM: Sad, but you always gotta appreciate that it happened. My little sister was devastated, she was sobbing. I’m sad that she’s gone, but happy that it happened.
