Sixteen Nagoya high school students and two principals paid a courtesy visit to the City of Sydney’s Council Chambers on 25 August as part of their study tour to Australia.
Every year around this time (during Japanese summer holidays), students from Nagoya come to Sydney to experience life in Australia through homestay, going to school, and language lessons. This is all part of the international exchange and sister city relationship between Sydney and Nagoya, forged over many years by both cities’ representatives.
At afternoon tea in the City of Sydney’s Chambers, the visitors listened to welcome addresses by Councillor Robert Kok and President of the Sydney-Nagoya Sister City Committee David Butcher. Head of the delegation, Kikuzato High School Principal Yuji Kato, and student representative from Midori High School Haruka Shimizu, each thanked their hosts in their speeches, delivered in impeccable English.
As this year marks the 30th anniversary of the first koala coming to Japan, the group also visited Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, sister zoo of Nagoya’s Higashiyama Zoo, where they learned about the native habitat and life of these furry creatures. At an event planned for later this year at Higashiyama Zoo to mark the 30th anniversary of koalas arriving in Japan, the students will report what they learned during their research at Taronga Zoo.
