Peppy Kids glad to make local friends on Saipan

“I’m glad to make friends on Saipan,” said 10-year-old Ikakeyama Satochika during the lunch break of Saturday’s Mini Olympics that was as part of the 2005 Pacific-Peppy Weekend at the Oleai Sports Complex.

Satochika is from the Ishikawa Prefecture and he is one of the 176 Japanese children who visited island who are members of the Peppy Kids Club in Japan.

The Japanese delegates are on the island for a three-day “Summer Fun Event” that started last Friday. He, through EIC administration officer Tomoko Shimizu, told Saipan Tribune that it is his first time on Saipan and before he did not know anything about the island. He said he is very happy to be on the island and play with local kids.

Eleven-year-old Shiori Sotozaki also said it is her first time to be in the CNMI. The Hokkaido native she said she likes Saipan’s warm weather, because she said even during the summer time, her home city remains cold.

Sotozaki said at first she felt shy meeting local kids, but later she found out that it was full of fun. “I had fun with Saipan kids,” she said.

The event that started last Friday is a cultural exchange program among children of different cultures, said SECI officer Irene Cruz. She said they hope to bridge friendship between kids from Saipan and Peppy Kid Club members from Japan.

Some 200 children from the CNMI are participating in the cultural exchange program. Vanessa Lumactod, 10 years old from Koblerville, said she had fun playing sports with the Peppy Kids. She played basketball and tug-of-war with the Japanese delegates. She said she had fun learning some Japanese words though she also said the words are confusing.

Another Koblerville resident Carlos Cervania, said the Japanese kids are very competitive based on his play with them. “They’re very good in sports,” he said. He added that the Japanese kids could be great partners in sports. Cervania said he also had fun playing with them and finally he said he and friends hope that the kids will come back again for more fun and games.

The delegates convened at the Oleai racetrack at 10am where they held warm-up exercises and calisthenics. The event started with the Mukade or the Caterpillar competition followed by the Basketball Shoot-out competition. The event also had Bring-Me competition among the children, also tug-of-war.

The Peppy Kids Club members will leave the island today and head back to Japan. Cruz said another batch of members would be arriving for another cultural exchange in August.