Haddonfield residents, during the next few weeks, you may discover that we have a few visitors strolling the streets of the borough and visiting our many shops and restaurants. You will be able to identify them as guests from Sendai, Japan. These 18 boys and girls are part of the Haddonfield Japan Exchange and will be arriving on Friday, July 12.
They will be hosted by some of our neighbors, who are the backbone of the program, and without whom there would be no exchange. During their visit, the HJE committee will be providing daily activities such as tours of Haddonfield landmarks like the Indian King Tavern Museum, the historic Philadelphia area, visiting the Jersey shore, bowling, river tubing and many other activities. We will culminate the experience with the annual Sayonara dinner at Tavistock, before the students return home.
In 2020, a select group of Haddonfield Memorial High School students will return the visit by heading to Sendai, where they will share time with a Japanese host family. Just as our Japanese guests experience the American lifestyle, next year our students will gain insight into life in Japan – where there are many differences but also many similarities.
Please demonstrate our Haddonfield hospitality by greeting our guests from Sendai with words of welcome in their native tongue by saying “yokoso,” or “welcome.”
Bill Brown
