"Ohiyo gozimasu", accompanied by smiles and bows, was the good morning greeting when Japanese tourism officials visited Charlotte Amalie High School on Friday morning.
The group, composed of twenty-one men and two women, was on St Thomas for a fact-finding tour about tourism and community development on islands. The delegation from the National Association for Island Development and National Institute for Japanese Islands, visited Key Largo, Florida last week before arriving in St Thomas.
Armed with cameras and notebooks the group was ushered around CAHS to the Career
Center, the English and Art departments, and the finally the Hotel Training Center. The group's rationale in visiting public high schools, was to compare the educational systems of other island communities with those of their own.
Jeanette Smith, CAHS Principal, along with William Frett of the Department of Education, greeted the polite and attentive visitors in the school's Hotel Training Center. The Hotel Training students hosted a reception for the visitors and prepared a sampling of local dishes. The guests also received complimentary CAHS badges, pocket calendars and pens.
"St Thomas is very beautiful and interesting."offered .Shigeyuki Wakae of Tokyo. When asked how he found the Virgin Islands climate, he immediately said,"Atsui mooshi desu!." (It is sticky hot!)
