{"id":76997,"date":"2026-08-19T23:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T23:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/76997\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T23:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T23:38:09","slug":"japanese-exchange-students-return-to-salmon-arm-after-pandemic-cancellation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/76997\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese exchange students return to Salmon Arm after pandemic cancellation"},"content":{"rendered":"

After six years of missed trips, a Japanese exchange program with a treasured history is back up and running in Salmon Arm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The long-running exchange program out of JL Jackson Secondary School was cancelled and lost funding during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Pam Chudiak, a retired vice-principal and teacher in Salmon Arm.<\/p>\n

“I just feel so strongly about this program, the importance of it, what it does for our students, the benefits that it gives our students, on both sides of the ocean,” said Chudiak, who continues to volunteer with the exchange program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The program began in 1990 when Salmon Arm entered into a friendship agreement with the Japanese town of Azuma<\/a>. In 2005, Azuma and two other towns amalgamated, forming Salmon Arm’s current sister city of Inashiki.<\/p>\n

\"Students<\/p>\n

Students made chocolate chip cookies on the second day of the exchange. (Jacqueline Gelineau \/ CBC)<\/p>\n

Each year since the friendship agreement was signed, students from each city would be partnered up with their exchange “twin.” In the spring and fall respectively, they would fly across the ocean to spend about two weeks living with each other’s families and doing activities with the other exchange students.<\/p>\n

Now, after a six-year hiatus \u2013 and on a reduced budget \u2013 a group of eight Japanese students are back exploring Salmon Arm. In the spring, their Salmon Arm twins will fly to Japan to visit Inashiki.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Salmon Arm students applied for the program last year. Most have already completed a Japanese class, and others will take one this year.<\/p>\n

\"Ryon<\/p>\n

Ryon Ready, a teacher at JL Jackson Secondary School and a former Japanese exchange student, is now on the exchange program committee. (Jacqueline Gelineau \/ CBC)<\/p>\n

“It’s great. We’re on day two and it’s been wonderful so far,” said Ryon Ready, a teacher at JL Jackson Secondary and a former Japanese exchange student who is now on the exchange committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a shy teenager, Ready only signed up for his school’s Japanese class as a backup elective. He never intended to participate in the exchange.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It probably became the favourite class that I was taking in high school. And I met my best friend there and I’m now the godfather of her daughter,” said Ready.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"JL<\/p>\n

JL Jackson teacher Ryon Ready (second row, third from the right) was an exchange student when he was in high school. (Ryon Ready\/Submitted)<\/p>\n

He said the trip was a significant milestone in his life. It forced him out of his shell and is part of what inspired him to become a teacher. Now, his classroom is adorned with origami made by his French immersion students.<\/p>\n

“I wanted to bring that passion for language and culture into my teaching. It’s really cool to get to incorporate those pieces of myself into my teaching.”<\/p>\n

He said organizing the exchange after the budget cuts has been challenging, and has only been possible with the community support they have received.<\/p>\n

“It’s really worth it when you get to see it start paying off,” said Ready.<\/p>\n

Throughout the week, the students will go camping as a group and will have the opportunity to spend time with their host families doing quintessential Salmon Arm activities like fishing and hiking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The students have already toured Salmon Arm’s city hall and downtown streets. They then visited JL Jackson Secondary to make cookies and tie-dye shirts with their twins.<\/p>\n

\"Students<\/p>\n

Students from Inashiki, Japan, are visiting Salmon Arm, B.C., as part of an exchange program. (Ryon Ready\/Submitted)<\/p>\n

“I’m super grateful for this opportunity,” said Sabine Bukmeier, a Grade 12 student at JL Jackson Secondary.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s so cool that this is like something that a small town like Salmon Arm does, and that we can have friendships between different countries that are so far away.”<\/p>\n

She plans to bring her twin, Juria Kiuchi, to the drive-in theatre in Enderby and to the Enchanted Forest roadside attraction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kiuchi said even though the trip has just begun, she is already having an amazing time, and is very grateful for the opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After six years of missed trips, a Japanese exchange program with a treasured history is back up and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49360,49364,8,17,49362,49363,49361,49359,3719],"class_list":["post-76997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-exchange-program","tag-jacqueline-gelineau","tag-japan","tag-japanese","tag-japanese-class","tag-jl-jackson-secondary","tag-ryon-ready","tag-salmon-arm","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}