Japanese Deputy Secretary of Education Tenzo Okumura visited Jefferson today along with other Japanese representatives. After meeting with Principal Evan Glazer, they toured the Neuroscience and Energy Systems technology labs and talked to students in each class about various projects.

Okumura and the other representatives decided to visit Jefferson after hearing about Japanese teacher Koji Otani’s plans to take students to Japan.

“I’m taking 23 students to northern Japan to visit the sites of disaster and Okumura found out about that so he came over,” Otani said. “He’s hoping to start a international project with TJ.”

Seniors Karen Dang and Serena Lei were also present during the tour to help translate and to talk about Jefferson.

“We were both really nervous about the visit but Dr. Glazer kept encouraging us to talk to them,” senior Karen Dang said. “I know I made a lot of mistakes in my formal Japanese but it was still really nice.”