Twenty Japanese students from Kanagawa Sogo Sangyo High School visited Whitman this week as part of a Japanese exchange program. The students are staying with host families, shadowing Whitman students and exploring aspects of American culture, including barbecues, laser tag and karaoke.

The exchange students, who are currently on spring break, will travel to New York City March 24 and sightsee before going home.

Japanese teacher Yuki Moorman started the exchange program 24 years ago and said she feels it’s important for students to feel comfortable in and understand Asian culture.

“75 percent of the [world’s] population and land belongs to Asians, so for Americans who only know English and the romance languages, their knowledge is only 25 percent,” Moorman said. “Students who are taking Japanese, Chinese and Arabic are very global people.”

In July, 17 Whitman students will travel to Japan and participate in a four-week exchange where they will stay with host families in Kanagawa, Tokyo and Okinawa Island.

In Japan, high school is not mandatory education, and students are required to take an entrance exam before enrollment in high school, Moorman said. Course objectives are much stricter in Japan, whereas in America, more time is devoted to elective courses.

Junior Caroline Torrey, who has traveled to Japan through the exchange program and is hosting a student this week, said Japanese students are much more disciplined than their U.S. counterparts.

“They have a specific way of speaking to and treating others that isn’t apparent in American culture,” Torrey said.

But she said she did notice many similarities in the lifestyles of American and Japanese teenagers.

“The students in Japan also have to struggle with balancing their time between studying and relaxing,” Torrey said. “They have a lot of American influences in their personal lives, such as clothing choice, music and favorite foods.”

Japanese exchange student Taiki Honda said he wanted to come to America to improve his English, and while here, he has come to enjoy certain aspects of American culture, while he was baffled by others.

“My favorite part of America is the freedom,” Honda said, “The rules are lenient and people seem to do what they like here,” he said. “My least favorite is the large serving size. The small sizes here are equal to the large in Japan. It’s tiring to try to eat the entire size.”