Japanese Exchange Students Visiting Yakima Valley

79 students from Yamate High School in Yokohama Japan are visiting the Yakima Valley for the next two weeks. The students are part of an exchange program through the Yakima School District. District spokesperson Kirsten Fitterer says the students are staying with 40 host families in the Yakima Valley. "We have partnered with West Valley, East Valley, La Salle, Selah and Naches in addition to Davis and Ike which is the Yakima School District and so we really have Yamate kids attending school throughout the valley for the next two weeks."
The students are spending the next weeks getting an idea of what life is like in America. The students will hold a special cultural show for the community on April 26 at Eisenhower High chool from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.  It's a free show and open to the public.
In July more than 30 students from Yakima will travel to Japan for the same cultural visit. The exchange program started in Yakima in 1974.