John Muir Middle School celebrated their thirteenth Japan Day celebration with Sister School Rebun High School on Friday, September 18. The students and staff at Muir, and their families, hosted 13 visiting Japanese students and their chaperones during their visit to the United States.
Coordinated by Muir teacher Ted DeVirgilis, the annual Japan Day celebrations in September have provided a cultural education for all Muir Middle School students, since 2012. Some Burbank students have gone on to seek further adventures in international exchange, and for most, the experiences have provided enrichment and a view into other humans’ lives.
“First, let me say that I am so grateful to the ten Muir families who hosted the 13 students from Rebun High School,” commented DeVirgilis. “The Rebun kids all had smiles in the mornings, having had a great time with their Muir families, and there were many tears shed… when they had to say goodbye after six nights of hosting.”
“The Muir host families showed the best of Burbank and once again demonstrated why Muir is ‘Famous for Friendliness,'” he continued. “And a big shout out to Shauna Belavek and the Muir Fundraising Committee who supported the exchange and provided a lovely Armenian-Mediterranean lunch for the students on Japan Day.”
Rebun Island’s fishing industry has been negatively affected by rising sea temperatures, leading to many families leaving the island for work elsewhere. The two-week Rebun International Exchange Program was created to encourage students to stay on the island by giving them the opportunity to learn abroad and take their knowledge and experience back to Rebun.
When the exchange program first began in 2012, the island school was down to one or two students per grade level. For the past several years, in part due to this program, there are between 13-20 students per grade level at Rebun High.
The entire tenth grade class makes this trip to Los Angeles and Muir. This year, the students visited Joshua Tree National Park, in addition to a Dodgers’ game, the California Science Center and other points of interest. The island of Rebun is a national park, so the Rebun group always visits different U.S. National Parks each year.
“Wow, this thirteenth Japan Day was maybe my favorite one, and definitely the one with the most relaxed, positive vibes. Instead of having a top Japanese artist or performer at the school assemblies, this year was all about the students from Rebun,” commented DeVirgilis. “After I showed photos of the previous thirteen Muir Japan Days, which truly showed the impact of our friendship, the students gave a presentation about the life, food culture, climate, and unique flora of the island.”
“Giving a presentation to strangers is one of the toughest things a person can do, but the fact that they gave theirs with such excitement and positivity in a foreign language – in front of a combined 1,400 people – was incredible. The audience had smiles on their faces and hooted with excitement when occasional ‘Quizzes’ would pop up in the presentation asking for their answers about what sea urchin was the most popular on the island. The Muir students were a great audience.”
“Finally, the students danced the Soran Bushi that Hokkaido is famous for. For the first time, Muir’s ASB students and a few brave sixth graders in my Japanese Culture Wheel Class learned the dance the past week, so that they were able to dance along with our guests from Rebun.”
The dance is performed every year by the visiting Rebun students, in celebration of their island’s fishing heritage. Rebun Island is Japan’s northernmost isle and is reachable by ferry from Hokkaido.
“There was so much interest from seeing Muir students dance with the Rebun group, albeit in the auditorium pit while Rebun students were on stage, that I expect the whole school will want the opportunity to learn the dance at next year’s Muir Japan Day.”
“The audience and I honored the amazing Dr. Akiko Agishi, who started this Rebun exchange program and thankfully chose to walk into Muir in 2012 to invite Dr. Miller and Muir to be a part of it. She looked quite proud at what our friendship had achieved on Friday. Here’s hoping that our friendship with Rebun High School continues long into the future.”
In previous years, Muir students have been able to learn about sushi making, kirie paper cutting, ikebana, shamisen, Japanese calligraphy, tea ceremony, origami, Japanese stone carving, yosakoi dance, and taiko drums.
The two-week Rebun International Exchange Program is supervised by Akiko Agishi, president of Creative Enterprise International Inc and creator of Aurora Foundation/Japanese Language Scholarship Foundation.
