Taste of Kiwi for Japanese

IAIN McGREGOR/Waikato Times

EAST MEETS WEST: Children from Thames South school, left, welcome their Japanese guests. From right, seated, grandfather Hiroshi Ito with grandsons Daichi and Taiga Sato, and Ren Kanemaru. Back, from right, Takiko Osawa, Keiko Tamura and Shino Kanemaru. Cameraman Kim Seungjin is standing.

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Thames will be in the spotlight in Japan thanks to a visit by a Japanese group and film crew. Denise Irvine reports.

Tokyo and Thames are a long way apart, but millions of Japanese television viewers will soon get a picture of life in the Coromandel Peninsula township.

Tokyo-based Fuji TV this week had a team following a group of Japanese grandparents visiting Thames with their grandchildren for a taste of Kiwi. The party of four adults and five children arrived from Tokyo on Wednesday, with Fuji TV field producer Maiko Nishibashi and a film crew recording their meetings and greetings.

The visit was arranged by the English Voyage Academy, which runs language schools in Whitianga and Thames; academy principal Eriko McLean said the families would stay two weeks, with Fuji filming their first three days.

Ms Nishibashi said Fuji TV was looking for an interesting overseas education story to cover, and the grandparent/grandchild experience seemed like a good one.

Ms Nishibashi said Fuji also filmed the children before they left Tokyo: "I wanted to see the changes between Tokyo and now."

On Thursday morning, the party was greeted at Thames South Primary School with a powhiri. At a briefing beforehand, grandmothers Keiko Tamura and Takiko Osawa quickly practised a Japanese song for kids and adults to perform, complete with hand actions and nervous giggles.

Mrs Tamura and grandson Naoki Emoto had spent their first night at host Kaye Smith's home, enjoying a Japanese meal she had prepared. With Mrs McLean translating, Mrs Tamura says there was "a nice warm feeling" in the home.

Thames South school principal Mike Lander welcomed the visitors, and children from four classes sang waiatas. Then they formed a line to hongi their guests as the television crew zoomed in.

The Japanese children, aged between seven and 13, will attend the school each morning while the adults take English language classes. In the afternoons, they'll all get together for activities including a visit to a donkey farm, an afternoon at Waiomu Beach and a bush walk.

Ms Nishibashi said the Kiwi experience would screen on Tokudane, a morning television feature with an estimated 12 million viewers nationwide.

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