Moses Lake says 'sayonara' to Yonezawa students
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald Akari Sasaki (15), Sora Goto (15) and Minori Nonomura (15) of Yonezawa prepare to speak at a small get-together celebrating their 10-day stay in Moses Lake as part of the sister city exchange program.
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald Japanese and American flags flutter in the Sunday afternoon breeze.
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald Minori Monomura texts a friend in Japan.
MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake said “goodbye” on Sunday to three special visitors from Japan.
Akari Sasaki, Sora Goto and Minori Nonomura have all spent the last 10 days in Moses Lake, visiting from Yonezawa, Moses Lake’s sister city in Japan. They gathered on Sunday afternoon for a send-off meal with a number of people, including their host families and long-time sponsors of the sister city exchange program, which sends three Moses Lake students to Japan for a little more than a week and brings three Yonezawa teens here.
“People are very friendly here and have very open minds,” Goto, who is 15, said.
He enjoyed kayaking here the most, Goto added, because they don’t have a lake or rivers where “you can do that” in Yonezawa.
“Moses Lake is the only opportunity,” he said. “Yes, I want to come back.”
Krystin Moore, who helps coordinate the sister city program, said the two cities have been sending each other high school students for 8- to 10-day-long visits since 1981.
“Our main goal is to get to know our neighbors more,” she said. “U.S. students spend a week in Japan, and immerse themselves in the culture. And their counterparts come to stay here.”
An essential part of the sister city program, Moore said, is building a relationship and partnership between cities in countries that had, at one time, been adversaries.
Paul Price, a 17-year-old Moses Lake High School student who will start his senior year this fall and who spent more than a week in Yonezawa, said he enjoyed experiencing Japanese culture, particularly the food, and he took great joy in telling everyone what he tried.
“I’m not picky. I like to try new things,” Price said. “I tried mackerel guts, baby sardines, squid tentacles, and eel liver.”
“I hope (Sasaki, Goto, and Nonomura) enjoyed Moses Lake as much as we enjoyed Yonezawa.”
Joining Rice on the exchange visit to Yonezawa were Sherry Gonzalez, 16, and Zach Henninger, also 16.
“I liked meeting new people, and they went above and beyond to make sure I felt comfortable,” Gonzalez said.
During their time in Moses Lake, the three Yonezawa students toured the police department, the fire department (where they got a demonstration of life-saving techniques), the Grant County Sheriff’s office, and the Grand Coulee Dam. They even learned to make pizza at Papa John’s and lattes at Mason’s.
“Ten days passed by very fast,” Nonomura said in her short speech during the gathering. “I had a very good time. People here are very kind, much the same as Yonezawa. Please come visit us.”
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com