Haddonfield says goodbye to Japanese exchange students

Last year, students from Haddonfield Memorial High School traveled to Japan and stayed with host families as part of the borough’s Japan exchange program.

This year – for the first time since 2019 – the Haddonfield Japan Exchange welcomed 15 students from that country to stay with borough host families for 10 days. They returned home after a farewell party at Tavistock Country Club.

Bill Brown, founder of the exchange, said there were a number of unforeseen difficulties in bringing the students here. They were scheduled to arrive on July 19 for a 12-day trip, but the schedule went to seven after the CrowdStrike software breakdown that same day left computers and programs around the world inaccessible.

Instead, the Japanese students arrived on July 23 around 1:30 a.m.

“They were scheduled to leave for Washington D.C. at 7 a.m. (on Tuesday),” Brown explained. “So they barely got home, met their host family, got in bed and had to get up and travel to Washington D.C.”

Initial exchange plans had included classes in American History at borough hall and the Indian King Tavern, a walking tour downtown and a visit to the firehouse. They had to be scrapped due to the flight delay. But over the next seven days, the Japanese students still got to experience a number of activities: a baseball game, picking corn and potatoes at Johnson’s Farm, exploring the historic sites in Philadelphia and a trip to the Battleship New Jersey in Camden.

Many of the students knew each other from the trip Haddonfield students made to Japan. This year, borough families returned the favor.

“The host families are the backbone of the exchange,” Brown noted. “Without them, we don’t have an exchange. And they were very flexible with changing the times, rescheduling things, getting the students to different locations at different times.”

Eiko Tsubaki, one of two adult Japanese chaperones who accompanied the exchange students, acknowledged that one of the main differences between the two trips was that in Japan, the programs are all done through schools. Here, the program is organized by the nonprofit Haddonfield Exchange rather than the school district.

“Everybody’s going to go back and have a bit more of a unique experience,” said Lea Jacovini, treasurer of the exchange and a host parent. Her daughter traveled to Japan last year and stayed with a student named May and her family; this year, May stayed with the Jacovinis.

While the Haddonfield Japan Exchange – founded in 2006 – has served to connect students, it has also created opportunities for parents to build new relationships. Jacovini recalled that she and May’s mom exchanged letters throughout the year to keep in touch.

For high-school grad Kathryn Hirst and Sendai Ikuei Gakuen student Misaya Tanaka, the trip offered an exciting chance to reconnect.

“She’s like my Japanese sister,” Hirst said. “And I’m like her American sister.”

For more information on the Haddonfield Japan Exchange, visit https://www.hjex.org/.