Student Tours Japan

Lynn Diana models a yukata, a summer kimono, while traveling in Japan.

Lynn Diana, a resident of Garden City, recently returned from a multi-city, two-week tour of Japan with the People to People student ambassador program.

Ms. Diana traveled with 32 other high school students from Maryland, Florida, New Jersey, North Carolina and Vermont. Starting off in Tokyo, she viewed the Imperial Palace, and later traveled to Mt. Aso, Nagasaki, the island of Hirado and the ancient city of Kyoto. During her visit, Ms. Diana met with Japanese elementary school children, and visited Buddhist and Shinto shrines, as well as a manga (graphic novel) museum.

One of her favorite parts of the trip was her visit to Hirado, where she stayed with two host families, ate octopus head, and observed a gentleman making sea salt from the beautiful waters surrounding the island. She also spent one night in a traditional Japanese inn, where the students wore a Japanese summer kimono, or yukata.

Meeting with people from the Nagasaki Youth Network was another highlight of her trip. According to Ms. Diana, the two groups of young people discussed current events as well as differences in culture. The American students did their best to explain the unknown concept of "fashionably late," to their Japanese counterparts.

Currently entering her senior year at Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, Ms. Diana is active in the school orchestra, playing both the violin and viola. She is also a member of the Quiz Bowl team and the Anime Club, among other activities. A member of the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Garden City, Ms. Diana serves as an acolyte, a Vacation Bible School crew leader and a member of the New Song choir.

The People to People program was established by President Dwight Eisenhower over 50 years ago and students are nominated by school officials, teachers or alumnae of the program.