September, with its falling leaves and rain, is typically the time local students return to school, but it’s also time for exchange students from Wadayama, Japan, to visit Chehalem Valley Middle School.
Months after CVMS canceled its spring trip to Japan following the devastating earthquake and tsunami, a batch of Japanese students landed in Yamhill County for a short stay to polish their English skills and immerse themselves in American culture. And for one Japanese ninth-grade student the trip means a lot of baseball.
Koichiro Sugai, 14, stayed with Kevin Brown and Annie Kosanovic-Brown on their farm in rural Newberg. After a few days spent stateside, the highlight of Sugai’s trip had been a Seattle Mariners game where he saw Ichiro Suzuki play.
“I like Ichiro,” Sugai said, adding that he had a plethora of pictures of the player to take home. Sugai plays baseball in Japan and practiced with the Browns’ elder son, Branko, 13, and his JBO team. Branko said he would like to participate in next spring’s trip to Japan.
While the family had received some information on what to expect, hosting Sugai has been full of surprises. “It’s pretty much like having a baby. You take it home for the first time and say, ‘Now what do you do?’” Annie Brown quipped.
The only request the family made was for a baseball player. Branko, who is a pitcher, said that Sugai “is a good power hitter.” Sugai said that the game was played very much the same in his home country and Branko agreed that on the field “there is really not much difference in how he plays.”
Branko, who’s never been outside the United States, said he would like to participate in the trip in order to be “going to a different country and eating different kinds of food like sushi and playing on their baseball team.”
