One Cupertino-Toyokawa Sister City Student Delegate's Journal

Every year, the Cupertino-Toyokawa Sister Cities organization coordinates with its counterpart in Japan to arrange for a group of Cupertino middle school student delegates to travel to Toyokawa, Japan and stay with local families. The delegates are encouraged to journal their activities and memories of the trip. Here is the journal from Anish Lakkapragada.

Stepping into Japan for the first time, we didn’t have the slightest clue about all the fun and excitement that was awaiting us. After a brief sightseeing tour in Nagoya, we headed to Toyokawa where we were warmly welcomed by our host families.

The next day, we visited Toyokawa City Hall and the mayor’s office. In the evening, the mayor and the host families threw a lavish welcome banquet to officially invite us to Toyokawa. Over the first two days, we were immersed in Japanese culture by spending memorable time with our host families. Our host family took us to Okazaki Castle, a Japanese Kendo fight, and many delicious restaurants.

The next few days we attended Kanaya Junior High School. It was truly an incredible opportunity to experience and be able to compare US and Japanese schools. I was amazed to learn that the tasty and healthy lunches were served by students themselves.

After a bittersweet farewell to Toyokawa, it was time to head to the cities of Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara via a zooming bullet train. Countless more memories were forged there. We got to try our hand at woodblock painting, visited Osaka castle and a fun deer park.

As I was immersing myself into Japan’s charming culture, I realized that this trip offered me more than I could ever learn from a textbook. I realized that people are the same everywhere regardless of language, culture, or ethnicity. And that was truly the essence of this trip.

Anish Lakkapragada