Students from Awara, Japan, toured Florence and the Oregon coast, as part of a weeklong trip to the United States.

Junior high students’ ‘field trip’ brings them to Florence museum.

On Thursday, Nov. 18, Mayor Phil Brubaker welcomed a group of 33 visitors to Florence and the Siuslaw Pioneer Museum that included 12 students from Kanazu Junior High School in Awara, Japan. The students were accompanied on the trip by their teacher, Yumiko Kitajima, and their school principal, Kenichi Takahashi.

The students are hosted by the Yujin Gakuen (YG) Japanese Immersion Middle School, a program of Kelly Middle School in Eugene.

“Each year Japanese students come for a week,” said Jeanne Fuji, one of the YG teachers. “They stay in private homes and participate in numerous activities.”

About half the students visiting the museum were YG 8th graders. Nearly every student —both Japanese and American —came with enthusiasm, questions and cameras. Mana Sugimura does not speak much English but indicated through smiles, head nods, and her camera that she was having a great time. Austin Whitney, a YG student, has been studying Japanese for seven years, has been to Japan, and says it’s good to know another language.

Museum docents provided guided tours, and heritage players — Alyson Scott as Clara Gamble Harding, Annie Schmidt as Lily Cox Hurd, and David Dumas as Indian Dan — provided living history. And the teachers, especially Mariko Maddock from YG, provided translations.

After touring the various rooms of the museum, the group ended up in the meeting room for lunch where Indian Dan regaled them with tales of his adventures.

“I’d hunt seals by lying on the beach with a sealskin over me. When seals would come to check me out, I’d grab my rifle. I was such a good shot, that I’d put in only one cartridge. And I’d always come home with game,” he told the group.

Everyone seemed to enjoy their visit to the museum. The group then headed up the coast to see the sights.