School Senior Tyler Finkel Studies in Japan
By Karen Gould

“High school is pretty much the same everywhere,” said Mackinac Island senior Tyler Finkel upon his return from Japan, where he had been an exchange student for the last 10 months.

Well, not exactly.

The school day schedule is similar, though little else, he explained.

Tests scores determine class grades; there is no homework. Every student is given a number, and although the teachers know each student’s name, their seats correspond to their number, said Mr. Finkel.

“They have really advanced science and math classes,” he noted. “They’re very difficult.”

To get to school, Mr. Finkel got up early each morning to catch the train, which was one hour away from the home of his host family.

He stayed with the Nanabara family, who have three children. Their daughter, Hiromi, had been an exchange student to Mackinac three years ago, which is when they got to know each other. The family lives in Osaka, which has a approximately eight million people, is 325 miles south of Tokyo, and more than 6,500 miles from Mackinac Island.

“I had a really good host family,” he said. “They were really good parents, brothers, and sister.”

This was Mr. Finkel’s second trip to Japan. During his first visit in 2003, he spent two weeks as an exchange student in Shiga, an inland city in an area of with more than 22 million people. He said the numbers of people didn’t bother him during his first visit or this one.

“There’s still enough room to get away,” he said.

His host family didn’t use a clothes washer and dryer, and, because washing by hand is hard work, he said, he was happy to let his host mother do the washing. He happily admitted he only had to wash his own clothes a couple of times.

“They stick a hose in a bathtub and do laundry,” he added. “They don’t use a dryer, either. They air dry all their clothes.”

Mr. Finkel said his favorite food was Korean, and for the most part, he didn’t mind Japanese food, although he got tired of some items.

“I had a little too much rice, fish, and seaweed,” he said. “They are big on vegetables and not so much on meat. I missed meat a lot.”

Mr. Finkel spent two years studying Japanese through the Mackinac Island Public School interactive television program, in a class broadcast from Pickford High School with Keith Krahnke as the instructor.

He said he can speak enough to get by, but because the people don’t speak textbook Japanese, it was easier for him to listen than to speak. Writing Japanese was the most difficult for him.

“Even though it was hard, sometimes, I never wished I hadn’t done it,” he said. “I’m glad I did it. I loved it there.

He kept in touch with his family on Mackinac by e-mail and occasional telephone calls.

Tyler’s mother, Pam, is the art teacher at Mackinac Island Public School and his father, Lee, is the manager of the hardware store at Union Terminal Piers. He also has a younger sister, Jane, who is in the eighth grade at the Island school.