Eighteen students from Nishiokoppe, Japan, took off for home today after a three-day, jam-packed tour of Juneau as part of an exchange program.

This is the 17th year students have come from Nishiokoppe to visit the community, which also includes a stay with a host family. The exchange has been coordinated by Midori Buzzell, who worked with Annie Calkins — then Juneau School District Superintendent and previous Alaska Department of Education and Early Development language and fine arts specialist — to get the program going.

Buzzell said a Juneau teacher goes to Nishiokoppe to teach English for two years and has been doing so for 17 years. Then the students come to Juneau in the summertime for a rapid immersion visit.

Calkins said that for a period of time, the U.S. made an effort to link schools with Japan. Hokkaido, the northern most island in Japan, has a sister-state/province relationship with Hokkaido.

Calkins said that at one point, there were 89 Alaska sister-school connections with Alaska.

“This exchange is the best we have with Nishiokoppe,” Calkins said. “It is the legacy of that effort at the state level. The intent was to create lifelong friendships and deepen cross-cultural understanding so there would be more exchange with Alaska and Japan.”

Buzzell said Nishiokoppe pays for the students’ trip.

The 18 Japanese students were clearly having a good time, along with about eight local students on Thursday. They had spent the morning at the Mendenhall Glacier — and saw a bear — and enjoyed waffles and sandwiches at the Southeast Waffle Company.

The rest of their afternoon was also packed with visits to Glacier Seafoods, a whale-watching tour with Allen Marine, a tour of DIPAC and another night with their host families. Wednesday had been just as activity-filled, with a morning shopping jaunt through downtown, a tour of the Governor’s Mansion and Alaska State Museum, pizza at Bullwinkle’s Pizza Parlor, activities at Zach Gordon Youth Center, a trip up the Mount Roberts Tramway and a host family pot luck at Harborview. On Tuesday, when the students arrived, the district held a welcome reception at the Prospector for the students and local families.

At Thursday’s lunch, Mayor Bruce Botelho also welcomed them to the community, giving them Juneau lapel pins.

He asked them what they’re favorite thing had been (the food). And what surprised them the most (the glacier).

Kikukawa Yamato said his favorite was the food.

“Waffles,” he said smiling.

As far as what surprised him, it was the glacier trip but also how cold it is, Kikukawa said through an interpreter.

Osawa Nagisa enjoyed rock climbing and Nagaya Rena also enjoyed the food, but she also enjoys taking pictures of the food, they said through Buzzell, who interpreted their Japanese into English.

The girls were both surprised by the communication.

“Very interesting communication,” they said through an interpreter. “Everybody says ‘hi’ and (has) a smiling face.”

They said when they go home they will tell people about Juneau’s food and nice people.

Joann Rieselbach, a chaperone, said her husband Kurt had done the exchange to Japan and their son had been in kindergarten with the some of the Japanese students in the group visiting this week.

Joyce Kitka, community schools director with JSD, said the exchange provides a lot of learning for both sides.

“I think it gives us an insight to their culture, it also gives us insight to them when our teacher goes over,” she said. “It gives a lot of insight to our teachers and get a look at their education system.”

Kitka said the students were also wonderful guests and appreciative of everything people did for them. Kitka said the Juneau community is also highly supportive of the program, everything from significantly reduced ticket prices to free tours and things as small as complimentary cookies.

“Juneau has embraced this quite well,” Kitka said. “We’ve always got to thank them.”

• Contact reporter Sarah Day at 523-2279 or at sarah.day@juneauempire.com.