The Haddonfield Japan Exchange has received a request to only pair female students with families containing daughters.
The Haddonfield Japan Exchange has alternated every year between sending students to Kasukabe, Japan, and hosting students from the Kasukabe Girls’ Senior High School. For the past 10 years, both male and female students from Haddonfield Memorial High School have visited Kasukabe without issue. However, with Haddonfield poised to host students, the principal of Kasukabe high school, Kogure Yuji, has asked that female students are only hosted by families with daughters.
“The new principal is not comfortable with girls staying at the homes of boys,” said Bill Brown, founder of the Haddonfield Japan Exchange.
The request has cut the Haddonfield Japan Exchange’s number of host families in half, Brown said. The exchange is expecting between 16 and 22 Japanese visitors who will be in town from July 22 to Aug. 3, and it is still looking for families with daughters who have an interest in hosting students. Host families must provide a bedroom or shared bedroom with someone of the same gender.
Additionally, the principal has requested that when Haddonfield sends students to Japan next year, it sends only females. Previously, at least four or five boys have been sent to Japan during each exchange.
Brown said misconceptions about American boys may have led to Yuji’s “overly cautious” decision. To date, the exchange has never had any problems with students in Japan or Haddonfield.
The decision has Brown and the Haddonfield Japan Exchange working with the host family request for this year, but he said the exchange is considering alternate plans moving forward.
Anyone interested in hosting a family should visit http://www.hjex.org.
