Since 1960, the Los Angeles-Nagoya Sister City Affiliation (LANSCA) has been bringing young people from Los Angeles and Nagoya together through its student exchange program, which provides the chance to travel across the Pacific, experience everyday life in their sister city, share their own culture, and make friends along the way.
Guided by Los Angeles and Nagoya chaperones, Student Exchange Program Chair Erika Lopez, Dr. Jose Corado, and Harumi Niikura, LANSCA welcomed four high school students from Nagoya this summer — Mizuki Kuroyanagi, Mizuki Suzuki, Yura Ito, and Junsei Noda — to Los Angeles, where they enjoyed a variety of unique experiences.
During a visit to the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office, the students met with An Tran, executive officer for the Mayor’s Office of International Affairs, confidently putting their English skills to use as they asked questions and engaged in lively discussions.
They also had the opportunity to meet with Deputy Consul General Naoko Kamitani of the Consulate General of Japan in Los Angeles and explore NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The Nagoya students were hosted by past Los Angeles student exchange ambassadors Truman King, Lucas Yung, Spencer Doi, and Maya Strickland, and were also joined by local L.A. Port high school students for a memorable ride aboard L.A. Fire Department Fireboat 2 through the Port of Los Angeles. It was a fun opportunity for students from different backgrounds to spend time together while experiencing a side of Los Angeles they might not otherwise get to see.
Perhaps one of the best parts of the program is seeing where these experiences can lead. Some of LANSCA’s past student ambassadors have stayed involved over the years and are now helping lead LANSCA’s Next Gen Committee alongside its chair, Max Jordan. They remember what it was like to be the student traveling to another country, discovering a different culture and making new friends, and now they want to help give that same experience to others.
Their hope is to open the door for even more young people from Los Angeles and Nagoya to experience each other’s cities and cultures firsthand. More than six decades after the exchanges began, that spirit of friendship continues — with one generation now helping create opportunities for the next.
Visit lansca.org for more information.