Karyo High School students learn to make crepes with student chefs from Matthew C. Perry High School at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Dec. 12, 2025. (Janiqua Robinson/Stars and Stripes)
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan — An American high school on this base southwest of Hiroshima has formalized years of informal exchanges with a Japanese public school, signing a sister-school pact aimed at deepening academic, cultural and athletic ties.
Matthew C. Perry and Karyo high schools inked the agreement on Dec. 12 during a ceremony in Perry’s auditorium, where students and teachers gathered to mark the partnership. Perry is part of Department of Defense Education Activity.
“We hope to deepen dialogue that transcends language and cultural differences and to create practical opportunities for mutual learning,” Perry’s principal, Kevin Anglim, told the audience.
Students and staff from Matthew C. Perry and Karyo high schools pose after signing a sister school agreement at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Dec. 12, 2025. (Janiqua Robinson/Stars and Stripes)
Kevin Anglim and Shinichi Murayama, the principals of Matthew C. Perry and Karyo high schools, sign a sister school agreement at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Dec. 12, 2025. (Janiqua Robinson/Stars and Stripes)
Before the ceremony, the Japanese students participated in mini-lessons across multiple subjects, including art, physics, chemistry and a culinary class during which they prepared crepes. Anglim said the sister school agreement formalizes such exchanges, which previously occurred on a limited basis.
“It allows us to increase the cultural exchanges that we’ve had, because before they were more casual,” he said. “This sister school agreement really formalizes that we will increase bonds, and we would increase curriculum, athletic and cultural exchanges.”
The two schools’ relationship began during the COVID-19 pandemic, sustained through online correspondence between students. Perry’s National Honor Society adviser, Nancy Sullivan, and Karyo teacher Hiromi Mitsuda helped coordinate early exchanges that allowed students to practice cross-cultural communication.
“Most students at Matthew C. Perry High School will be in Japan for a time that is limited by the length of their active-duty parents’ rotations. These events and opportunities allow our students to make the most of their time here in Japan,” Sullivan told Stars and Stripes in a Dec. 16 email. “Through cultural exchanges, our students become citizens of the world which in turn makes them better informed and adjusted American citizens.”
American and Japanese students take an art lesson together at Matthew C. Perry High School on Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Dec. 12, 2025. (Janiqua Robinson/Stars and Stripes)
Students benefit from interacting with a variety of people beyond their immediate circle of family and friends, Sullivan added.
“They develop more refined strategies and new approaches to problem-solving which are the necessary skills for this upcoming generation of leaders,” she wrote.
Perry sophomore Matthew Samame, a National Honor Society member, said such programs motivate students academically.
“Every quarter I have to have a 3.5 GPA,” he said. “If I don’t have it, then I could get kicked out of NHS, and for NHS you get a lot of opportunities.”
Anglim said he hopes the agreement leads to expanded programs in the coming years.
“I’m hoping 15, 20 years down the line that we can increase the athletic and academic partnerships,” he said. “We want to increase that cultural bond to break down those barriers and keep up the relationship not only with DODEA, but the installation and between our local community and our school.”
