Kanto Students Arrive on LMU Campus

Continuing a 30+ year tradition, 30 students and 2 teachers from Kanto International Senior High School in Tokyo, Japan arrived on the campus late the night of March 21. The annual visit to Lincoln Memorial University, first begun in 1979, takes on special significance this spring because of the devastating earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster that devastated Japan only 10 days prior to the visit. Saddened by the disaster back home but unfazed and determined to carry out their mission of study, travel, and immersion into American culture, the excited students were greeted Monday night by Curt Klinghoffer, LMU Program Director, JoAnn Russell, Assistant Coordinator, and Ruikun Chen and Chinami Arai, Kanto Program alumni and current LMU students. For Japanese chaperone teacher Mr. Yokoshiro Takeshita (affectionately known to students and staff as "Mr. T"), it is the sixth visit to the LMU campus, and for his colleague, Naoko Yamane, it is her very first trip. Knoxville media, responding to the widespread interest in the improbable visit, was on hand to cover the first days of the Kanto students' LMU experience. See news story link below. http://www.wbir.com/news/article/162920/2/Quake-doesnt-delay-Japanese-students-East-Tennessee-trip