RLCC Welcomes Exchange Student

She arrived in the United States August 20th and will be here for 10 months. Yuma decided to be a foreign exchange student in the U. S. because her mom was an exchange student in Red Lake Falls in 1991-1993. Bobbi Aakhus was her mom’s best friend. 

Japan’s currency is the yen. In Japan they speak Japanese and have four alphabets including Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji, and Romaji. Yuma’s native language is Japanese and she also speaks English. She is taking French at RLCC.

Japan has four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The temperature in spring is about 15-20 degrees Celsius, summer is about 30-40 degrees Celsius, autumn is about 10-15 degrees Celsius, and in winter it’s about -10 to -5 degrees Celsius. Japan’s summer months have high temperature and high humidity. In the beginning of summer, all areas have a rainy season. Typhoons generate from the end of summer to beginning of autumn. Japan has many active volcanoes and experiences frequent earthquakes due to them being by the Circum-Pacific earthquake zone.  

In Japan they have very healthy food. They have sushi, tempura, udon, soba, and sashimi, etc. Japanese restaurants in the U.S are very different compared to Japan, and she doesn’t care for the food. Her country has some of the same restaurants as America such as McDonald’s and Starbucks, which is her favorite. Yuma also said they have Tokyo Disneyland and Universal Studio Japan in Osaka.

Yuma is Shinto and Buddhist. There are 120 million people in Japan; 100 million are Shinto, and 80 million are Buddhist. There are a lot of people who are both religions. The New Year is one of the most important holidays in Japan. Many companies and schools are closed for one week or more to celebrate. During New Year they eat Osechi-ryori and go to Shinto shrine where you wish for health and happiness.  

What Yuma thinks would surprise Americans the most about Japan is about their bathrooms and that they have 10 minutes between classes at school. In Japan the shower and bath are separate, but in America the shower is part of the bath.  Also in Japan they have a Genkan, which is a small hall at the front entrance of a house where people take off their shoes before entering the house. 

At Yuma’s school in Japan they wear uniforms and can’t wear makeup or paint their nails. They also cannot dye their hair, or wear earrings. They can’t bring their phones to school. To get to school they ride a train. Yuma has only one classroom and one teacher. 

What Yuma has enjoyed most about being here so far is going to the lake and going for a boat ride. She has also gone to Grand Forks to go shopping. Yuma also enjoyed eating Oreo ice cream cake and going to a pool party. 

While in America Yuma hopes to see the Mall of America, to travel to Tennessee, and to see American singer Becky G. Yuma previously has been to Guam, Hawaii, Texas, North Dakota, and Minnesota. 

We would like to welcome Yuma and hope she has a good time at our school.