On Monday, January 12 and Thursday, January 15, 2026, children from Kodomo Gakushu Kyoshitsu, a Japanese language school in Hawaii, and Kyoshin Nursery School HOPPA in Japan (HOPPA Karasuma Kyoto Hotel and HOPPA Setagaya Kyodo) took part in their third online cultural exchange lesson.
This time, the theme was “American Christmas and Japanese New Year.” Through gifts, holiday foods, traditional decorations, and seasonal games, the children shared the joys of winter in both the United States and Japan using Japanese and English.
The smiles on their faces and the many voices saying, “Wow!” and “Really?” across the screen made this a truly special time.
Main Activity: A Winter Memory Game, “Hide-and-Seek Quiz”
As in previous sessions, the children were very excited about the popular memory game, the “Hide-and-Seek Quiz.”
The teacher first played a 30-second video, and one by one, different items related to American Christmas and Japanese New Year appeared on the screen.
Items from the American side (Hawaii):
- reindeer
- Santa Claus
- Christmas wreath
- poinsettia
- Christmas tree
- elf
- cookies
- turkey
- mashed potatoes
- candy cane
Items from the Japanese side:
- osechi
- kadomatsu
- kagami mochi
- kite flying
- ema
- omamori
- spinning top
- fukuwarai
- karuta
- shishimai
When some of the items were hidden, the children in Hawaii asked questions in Japanese such as:
- “Is there osechi?”
- “Was the kadomatsu hidden?”
- “That mochi-like thing with a mikan on top… kagami mochi?”
Meanwhile, the children from HOPPA in Japan answered in English with questions like:
- “Is there a reindeer?”
- “The Christmas tree?”
- “Did you hide the turkey?”
The children were thrilled and full of curiosity. They said things like:
- “Poinsettia is a flower?”
- “Does kite flying really go up in the sky?”
- “The elf is so cute!”
There were many words that were new to them, so they kept asking each other,
“What is this?”
and
“How do you say this in Japanese?”
In this way, they naturally learned more and more vocabulary while enjoying the game together.
The children laughed especially hard when talking about the smiling faces in fukuwarai, and they were also very excited when they learned that turkey means shichimencho in Japanese and talked about holiday foods.
Warm Moments at the Beginning and End with Songs and Self-Introductions
At the start of the lesson, the children sang the usual “Hello!” song, and this time the teacher even provided live musical accompaniment.
There was also a relaxed conversation time where the children talked about their own experiences with Japanese New Year and Christmas in Hawaii through simple questions and answers.
For example:
- “What did you get for Christmas?”
- “What did you eat for New Year’s?”
The children in Hawaii worked hard to ask their questions in Japanese.
The children in Japan tried their best to answer in English.
Then the Japanese side asked questions in English as well.
For example, when they asked:
“What did you eat on Christmas Day?”
one of the children in Hawaii answered in Japanese:
“I ate cookies!”
The fact that conversations can happen in both languages is one of the special strengths of bilingual education at our Hawaii Japanese language school. It also means that the children are able to learn twice as many new words through real interaction.
The Magic of This Exchange
One of the most wonderful things about this exchange is how naturally the children learn vocabulary through play.
By discovering the culture of Christmas gifts and holiday meals in the United States, as well as the meaning of family time and traditional customs during Japanese New Year, the children’s worlds continue to grow wider.
When children begin to feel,
“The other culture is interesting!”
that feeling becomes the starting point for friendship, respect, and a more global way of thinking.
We hope to see everyone again in the 2026 school year for the next round of lessons. We are already looking forward to seeing even more growth, confidence, and smiles from the children.
At Kodomo Gakushu Kyoshitsu, our Japanese language school in Hawaii, we will continue offering these fun online Japanese lessons and cultural exchanges between Japan and the United States.
If you are interested, please feel free to contact us anytime.