This year, Japanese Honor Society (JHS) set the bar high to help the community. With projects such as 1000 Cranes, hosting foreign exchange students, and Japanese Field Day, this is a club lending a helping hand.
JHS organized for eight students from Kagoshima, Japan to visit Palmetto February 7 through February 9. Miami and Kagoshima are sister cities, which means that the two cities communicate regularly and can facilitate programs between them more easily, such as the student exchange program.
“The purpose of this exchange program, I believe, was to show that even if there is a great distance between our homes, we as people are truly not so different,” junior Anastasia Clegg, secretary of JHS, said.
Clegg explained that the program was meant to create a better bond with Japan. JHS wanted to unite Palmetto’s students with the students from Kagoshima.
“Even though not all the exchange students speak English, we can still communicate through our actions and show these students kindness and friendliness,” Clegg said.
JHS members are passionate about bringing Japanese and American students closer, and hope that more students will begin to appreciate Japanese culture as much as they do.
“Most people think Japanese culture is defined solely by anime and manga. It’s a stereotype,” senior Brian Blum, media specialist of JHS, said. “We want to show everyone that there is so much more to Japan than meets the eye. There’s Japanese fashion, cuisine, lifestyle, sports, martial arts… the list is endless.”
Blum also explained that JHS has been involved in many other projects such as 1000 Cranes, and in the future JHS will hold advanced origami classes and reenact a typical Japanese Field Day.
1,000 Cranes is a project in which JHS sent 1,000 paper cranes to Miami Children’s Hospital to bring faith and happiness to children fighting illnesses. The folding of the cranes is based on an ancient Japanese myth that says if one folds 1,000 paper cranes, they are granted one wish. The JHS members’ wish is to heal and give hope to the children in the hospital. The students worked on the cranes since the beginning of December and they delivered the cranes on February 16.
“Helping others in need is just as rewarding for me as it is the person I’m helping,” Blum said. “The ‘1000 Cranes’ is a symbol of hope, and giving that hope to the people who really need it has made me realize just how lucky I am to have my friends, family and good health.”
The Japanese Field Day will be a presentation of what a traditional field day in Japan would be. The purpose of the field day is to open students’ eyes to other cultures.
“I want to first help the Japanese student and promote Japanese culture,” Mieko Avello, Japanese teacher and sponsor of JHS, said. “Japanese culture is unique and I want to show how great it is.”