Students Japan

A Japanese college student was shot in the chest and seriously wounded Friday in what police said was a carjacking. Kouichi Takemoto, 26, had pulled into his apartment parking lot and was sitting in his car at about 1 a.m. when he was confronted by two masked men, police said. He turned over his money and was getting out of the car when he apparently yelled for help and was shot.

When Takahiko Someya first became admissions officer at Tokyo's private Toyo University, the position was about as demanding as the proverbial Maytag repairman's job. Applications poured in, high schools begged him to take their graduates, and selecting an incoming class was a simple case of comparing test scores. His ample free time was filled with golf, tennis, diving and hang gliding. A decade later, Someya is up at 5 a.m.

After two weeks of training, seven Japanese students are hoping that construction skills they have learned at Orange Coast College will soften the impact of future disasters like the recent earthquake in Kobe, Japan. The students today will finish a two-week course on light steel-frame residential construction.

An Orange County teacher will visit Japan next month as one of 600 educators and school administrators from across the country chosen for the Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program. Lorraine Passero, a social studies teacher at Serra Catholic School, will leave in early October for one week in Tokyo and two weeks in the Japanese state of Toyama. "This trip will give me a chance to teach from a solid life experience, not just from a book," said Passero, a teacher since 1972.

Yuka Ogawa recalls the horror of watching her native Kobe, Japan, burn after the earthquake more than a year ago. Another child, Jonathan Rohde, says he "flashes" from time to time on his own nightmare--the Northridge earthquake. Young survivors of those disasters are sharing their experiences this week as Japanese students visit with students of John A. Sutter Middle School in Winnetka.

Yuka Ogawa recalls the horror of watching her native Kobe, Japan, burn after the earthquake more than a year ago. Another child, Jonathan Rohde, says he "flashes" from time to time on his own nightmare: the Northridge earthquake. Young survivors of those disasters are sharing their experiences this week as Japanese students visit with students of John A. Sutter Middle School in Winnetka.

Seven-year-old Gaku Fujimoto suffered 18 months of bullying and brutality in silence, the eyesight in his left eye eventually failing from the repeated pummeling. Nightmares tormented him. He hinted at suicide. The Kobe boy wrote anguished diary entries, including one in which he implored: "Please look at the many injuries on my hands and feet. Teacher, please help me quickly. I will be safe every day if I die."

The 12 Japanese student nurses took off their watches, earrings, bobby pins and other metal objects, then stepped into a room to view a piece of high-tech medical equipment. Inside the room at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, the students were amazed to learn about the magnetic resonance imaging system that takes computer-enhanced images of the body.

When Takahiko Someya first became admissions officer at Tokyo's private Toyo University, the position was about as demanding as the proverbial Maytag repairman's job. Applications poured in, high schools begged him to take their graduates, and selecting an incoming class was a simple case of comparing test scores. His ample free time was filled with golf, tennis, diving and hang gliding. A decade later, Someya is up at 5 a.m.

An Orange County teacher will visit Japan next month as one of 600 educators and school administrators from across the country chosen for the Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program. Lorraine Passero, a social studies teacher at Serra Catholic School, will leave in early October for one week in Tokyo and two weeks in the Japanese state of Toyama. "This trip will give me a chance to teach from a solid life experience, not just from a book," said Passero, a teacher since 1972.

Hiroyuki Tazaki doesn't have full command of the English language, but he didn't need an interpreter to translate his coach's body language after getting thrown out stealing in his first American high school baseball game. "[Tazaki] missed a sign and he took off, trying to steal a base with our No. 4 batter up," Montclair Prep Coach Marc Saraceno said. "He ran us right out of the inning. He obviously knew I was not too happy. Let's just say I was in a little state of unhappiness."

Talk about your cross-cultural experiences: Japanese exchange students at an American high school making French fries, onion rings and potato chips. That was the scene in a Thousand Oaks High School cooking class Friday, but somehow--amid the grease, starch and salt--friendships blossomed. "I like it here--the people are very nice," said Feilang Tseng, 16, a potato in one hand and salt on her fingers. She is one of 27 exchange students visiting Southern California from Osaka.

A San Pedro gang member was convicted in the execution-style murders of two Marymount College students from Japan, crimes that stunned that country and prompted condolence calls from President Clinton and U.S. diplomats. After about four hours of deliberations, a Long Beach Superior Court jury found Raymond Oscar "Mugsy" Butler, 21, guilty Wednesday on two counts of first-degree murder. Butler faces the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Yuka Ogawa recalls the horror of watching her native Kobe, Japan, burn after the earthquake more than a year ago. Another child, Jonathan Rohde, says he "flashes" from time to time on his own nightmare--the Northridge earthquake. Young survivors of those disasters are sharing their experiences this week as Japanese students visit with students of John A. Sutter Middle School in Winnetka.

Yuka Ogawa recalls the horror of watching her native Kobe, Japan, burn after the earthquake more than a year ago. Another child, Jonathan Rohde, says he "flashes" from time to time on his own nightmare: the Northridge earthquake. Young survivors of those disasters are sharing their experiences this week as Japanese students visit with students of John A. Sutter Middle School in Winnetka.

For 24-year-old Yuko Terayama of Sendai, Japan, there was only one place in the world--literally--where she wanted to get married: in a small church in a residential Camarillo neighborhood. So, defying family traditions, the former exchange student persuaded her parents, fiance and future in-laws to fly 5,300 miles to Camarillo for the ceremony. On Tuesday afternoon, Terayama, now an advertising agent for Nissan, fulfilled her dream.

A San Pedro gang member was convicted in the execution-style murders of two Marymount College students from Japan, crimes that stunned that country and prompted condolence calls from President Clinton and U.S. diplomats. After about four hours of deliberations, a Long Beach Superior Court jury found Raymond Oscar "Mugsy" Butler, 21, guilty Wednesday on two counts of first-degree murder. Butler faces the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Talk about your cross-cultural experiences: Japanese exchange students at an American high school making French fries, onion rings and potato chips. That was the scene in a Thousand Oaks High School cooking class Friday, but somehow--amid the grease, starch and salt--friendships blossomed. "I like it here--the people are very nice," said Feilang Tseng, 16, a potato in one hand and salt on her fingers. She is one of 27 exchange students visiting Southern California from Osaka.

After two weeks of training, seven Japanese students are hoping that construction skills they have learned at Orange Coast College will soften the impact of future disasters like the recent earthquake in Kobe, Japan. The students today will finish a two-week course on light steel-frame residential construction.