The Japanese exchange students headed back  to Toyama, Japan Thursday after a two-week stay with their host families from San Dieguito Academy.

Besides eating pizza and going to the beach, the exchange students shared in many SDA activities, such as going to Tuesday’s baseball game and attending the first ever track meet hosted on campus. The students also gave many cultural presentations, and answered several questions posed by psychology teacher James Hrzina’s sociology class so that his students could learn about the differences between the  two cultures.

For many Mustangs, the highlight of the Japanese exchange students’ visit was a demonstration of Japanese dance and music at the PAC, in which SDA students were taught a dance and allowed to try out their freshly acquired moves in front of a crowd of their cheering peers.

Japanese exchange student Yurika Katayama said that she went to “the beach, shopping” and even ate pizza for the first time which she claimed was “very good.”

Although Katayama said California was “very fun” and at the beach, “It was the first time I saw a very beautiful sunset,” she and her friend Asuna Noda agreed their favorite part of the trip were the SDA students. “Everyone was very friendly, so we enjoyed the students.”