On March 6, King’s Academy students participated in a virtual cultural exchange session with high school students in Japan. Organized by the City of Tokyo Board of Education, the session involved the participation of students from two schools in Tokyo: Fussa High School and Ueno High School. Jordan’s Ambassador to Japan Her Excellency Lina Annab also attended to deliver opening remarks.

King’s students and their Japanese counterparts gave presentations about their schools and countries, followed by a question-and-answer session to learn more about their respective lives and cultures. The session concluded with a special segment during which the Japanese students asked questions about Palestine and Gaza as they expressed interest in learning more about the situation.

King’s students participating in the session were Hala Badran ’27, Hussam Abuarrah ’25, Roaa AlHasanat ’24, Saja Aggad ’24, Sadeen Alsheikh Hassan ’27 and Tala Aldaher ’24. Faculty member Ryuji Yamaguchi acted as interpreter between Japanese and English, while Dr. Ethan Jerome, head of the Department of History, Religion and Society was on hand to provide his expertise on Palestine. Also present was Dr. Yutaroh Oki, a professor at Kyushu University and director of J-MENA, a project that connects students in the Middle East North Africa region with Japanese universities.