By Andy Anderson | Project Leader
Seven Richmond, VA students are currently in Ishinomaki for the return of the Summer, 2012 exchange of seven of Taylor's Junior High School students to Richmond! You can see their activities so far during the trip and keep up with them at www.facebook.com/taylorandersonmemorialfund. They are in Japan from July 28th to August 3rd.
We were excited to hear a few months ago from the Tokyo YMCA that the Tokyo YMCA and the Ishinomaki families were ready for the return trip this summer. The Ishinomaki students and Tokyo YMCA chaperones were hosted by Ambassador Fujisaki at his residence in 2012. The Taylor Anderson Memorial Fund and the Tokyo YMCA invited students from the 2012 Richmond homestay families to participate. The Tokyo YMCA has a branch YMCA in Ishinomaki and they created the “Ishinomaki International Youth Program” which includes two days of homestays with Taylor's students families and participating in the Ishinomaki YMCA booth at the Kawabiraki Festival and visiting people in temporary housing.
TOMODACHI helped with the Taylor Fund/Tokyo YMCA exchange program the summer of 2012 (http://usjapantomodachi.org/programs-activities/taylor-fundymca-youth-exchange-program/). You can see more of their experience at https://taylorymcaexchange.shutterfly.com/ (the pictures with Ambassador Fujisaki are wonderful – he gave the students a quiz in one of the grand rooms in the residence). Now in 2014, the Richmond students met with former Ambassador Fujisaki who is now a professor at Sophia University in Tokyo and went to the Tokyo TOMODACHI office on July 29th.
Arigato gozaimasu to the Tokyo YMCA for all of their planning and paying for expenses in Japan and ANA for providing discount tickets on their wonderfully hospitable airline!!!
This is a great opportunity for Taylor’s students and the Richmond families that hosted to complete their exchange. A year ago it did not seem possible because the Ishinomaki families did not feel they were in the position to accept return guests. Today, July 30th, 2014, they are there!
We've uploaded a couple of photos from their first day in Tokyo, but the best is yet to come in Ishinomaki so please follow on Facebook.
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