Azabu High School

Last week we had a great experience with our Japanese friends from Azabu High School in Tokyo! This visit was through our exchange program with Azabu that has been running for many years now. This year,>there were eight students and two teachers in the group. Mr. Ryutani was visiting Shawnigan for his fourth time and has been a teacher at Azabu for over 30 years. Mr. Yasu, a twenty-five year old English teacher from Azabu, was visiting the school for his first time. The Azabu group’s mission was to have the Shawnigan experience and submerge their students in English speaking culture in Canada. The students from this all-boys school stayed in residence with our students and attended classes, sports, and fine arts along with their Shawnigan hosts. They performed “Japan Night” in the Shaw centre on Wednesday for our community, which was greatly applauded by the Shawnigan Students. The group was also able to attend the Shawnigan Musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” which they thoroughly enjoyed! It was a true pleasure having Azabu at Shawnigan for the week and it was sad to see them depart early Saturday morning.

– Doug Woodlridge