Matthias and host brother When I was 16 I spent a month in Sweden, chosen as one of a dozen U.S. Girl Scouts to participate in an international exchange. I still remember it as one of the most momentous experiences of my life. I stayed with host families, practiced my school-learned German for the first time with someone my own age (a Swiss Girl Scout, who remains a good friend to this day), and lived in two Scout camps, where I learned-much to my delight-that scouting in Sweden is co-ed.I was reminded of my teenage experience on June 20, when I traveled to Hiratsuka outside Tokyo to meet my 15-year-old son Matthias, who had just spent more than a week participating in a Sister City exchange program along with 20-some other kids from our home town. In the course of the week, Matthias had visited local schools, traveled overnight to Nikko, lived with a host family, eaten sushi from a conveyor belt, soaked in a hot-spring bath, and seen the big Buddha in Kamakura. In July, a group of Japanese students from Hiratsuka will visit our hometown of Lawrence, where they will have the opportunity to live with host families and learn first-hand about daily life in America.
Matthias and Japanese host family There are more than 200 Sister City relationships between U.S. and Japanese cities similar to the one Lawrence has with Hiratsuka. In many cases, the two cities have similar characteristics, such as the port cities of Seattle and Kobe, the balmy climates of Miami and Kagoshima, or the mountainous terrain surrounding Denver and Takayama. But the absolute best thing about a Sister City relationship is the international exchange it nurtures, particularly among teenagers like my son. Because students live with families, they experience the culture much more intimately-not to mention more inexpensively-than they would as a tourist, and in many cities there are scholarships available to aid students who would otherwise never have the chance to travel abroad.
Kansas teenagers in Japan I'll bet that many American scholars who are experts on things Japanese first traveled to Japan as teenagers or university students. When I came to Japan for the first time in my 20s, I had no idea I would one day write a guidebook on Japan. When I spent that one month in Sweden, I had no idea it would awaken a desire in me to travel the world. Who knows-for Matthias and the other Kansas teenagers in Hiratsuka last week, their trip to Japan might be the beginning of a whole new journey.
