On October 24, 2019, 23 students and five chaperones from Okinawa Prefectural Kaiho Senior High School in Okinawa, Japan, visited CMA Tacoma Plant in Washington as part of KAKEHASHI (meaning “building bridges” in Japanese) Project. They travelled to the Greater Seattle Area, touring Japanese companies with strong relationships with the United States.
KAKEHASHI Project is a people-to-people exchange program between Japan and North America and its objectives are to promote mutual trust and understanding among the peoples of Japan, the United States and Canada, and to build a basis for future friendship and cooperation. The project is conducted by Japanese government (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), and the visit was requested by the Consulate-General of Japan in Seattle, who were pivotal in arranging this event.
After we gave a presentation about Toray Industries, Inc. and CMA, the students took part in a science class, conducted in Japanese and English, which included the chance to try out a water filtration experiment. The students had a great time filtering water from orange juice, and many of them had thoughtful and insightful questions. They also listened to a career paths presentation, given by several of CMA’s Japanese employees, who spoke about their careers and how they ended up working for Toray. At the end, a Q&A session was held, allowing students to ask employees questions about life in America, and about their careers. The visit was rounded off with a group photo.
The visit was a big success, and we are very honored to host this event and looking forward to seeing them again.
