Saipan to become mandatory field trip site for 20K Yokohama students

The CNMI will soon replace Okinawa as host to more than 20,000 Japanese high school students when they make their annual mandatory exposure trips.

Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela welcomed yesterday morning two Japanese principals at his office, together with some Japanese high school students from the Tsurumi Kogyo High School.

Yokohama Association principals Junichi Watanabe and Yasuki Takahashi met with the mayor to inform him about the decision by the Yokohama principals’ association to make Saipan a mandatory destination for more than 15 high schools in Japan. This would equate to the schools sending 15,000 to 20,000 high school students every year to the CNMI.

“Your visit today is a true reflection of your effort to establish a mutual relationship between the city of Yokohama and the respective school institutions that you represent and the people of Saipan and the entire CNMI,” Tudela said.

The mayor added that the meeting would foster a spirit of oneness, especially in the area of education.

“We welcome the arrival of your students to join our own students at Marianas High School and other high schools when opportunities permit,” Tudela said.

Oceanview Development Corp. president Joseph T. O’Rayeh, who was also present during the presentation, said the other student destination has always been Hokkaido.

O’Rayeh said the two Japanese principals also wanted to explore the possibility of Japanese high school graduates pursuing college education in the CNMI as a transitory step to making it to U.S. mainland colleges and universities.

He said that, due to the stringent admission in universities and colleges in Japan, thousands of Japanese student achievers could not attend higher education due to stiff competition.

The Japanese principals saw the potential of taking the first two years of college studies in the CNMI. O’Rayeh said this would be an opportunity for them to prepare for their junior years in the U.S. mainland. Since English is the primary language spoken on the island, these Japanese students will have more time to learn the language prior to their continuing education in the United States.

The college education opportunity would mean hundreds of Japanese students taking higher education in the CNMI, said O’Rayeh.

Also present in the meeting yesterday were Mike Wakatsuki, Takahashi Miwoko, Miyasaka Takahiko, Izawa Kayoko, Sone Masato, Seki Shuichi, Nozawa Kazuma, Morita Naoyosi, and Ito Daiki.