Iwakuni City, Japan (May 30, 2018) —Marine Corps Air station Iwakuni residents visited Tsuzu Elementary School for the 13th Community Cultural Exchange in Iwakuni City, Japan, May 26, 2018.
The Cultural Adaptation Program hosts a community cultural exchange six times per year, taking station residents to Tsuzu Elementary, to share each other’s culture through cooking classes and arts and crafts.
“Usually Tsuzu Elementary provides a craft class and a cooking class,” said Mikie Watanabe, a cultural adaptation specialist with Marine Corps Community Services. “This time the U.S. provided a cupcake decorating class, and the Japanese kids were so excited to see American culture.”
The volunteers from MCAS Iwakuni and students from the school played games, decorated cupcakes and ate lunch together.
Yoraios Pacheco, a resident of Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, taught the cupcake decorating class to volunteers and students.
“My favorite part was getting to interact with another culture,” said Pacheco. “I decorated cupcakes with the students and taught them how to prepare the piping bags.”
Activities like this help bring the MCAS Iwakuni community closer to the local Japanese through sharing cultures and experiences with one another.
“The cultural adaptation program takes people off base and gives them the opportunity to go out and see new people,” said Watanabe. “It really feels like we are all part of our Iwakuni community.”