On February 22, 2025, three HBA high school students won the 22nd annual Japan-America Society of Hawaii’s (JASH) Japan Wizards Statewide Academic Team Competition (JWC). The win, HBA’s fourth, earned them a free trip to Japan. This year’s event featured over 20 public and private school teams, testing their knowledge of Japanese culture with topics in geography, politics, pop culture, etiquette, and many other categories.
HBA’s Ryder Kadooka, one of the three juniors that made up the team, remembers feeling shocked when he learned that they had emerged as the top scoring team, beating out the runner-up by 10 points. Even though they had spent many months preparing—from August 2025—memorizing trivia and quizzing each other, the win was still a pleasant surprise.
This past summer, Kadooka and his teammates, Lexi Kamikawa and Max Okazaki, claimed their prize and flew to Fukuoka, Japan, with Japanese teacher Elena Yoo as their chaperone. From July 6 to 15, the students had many opportunities to expand their knowledge on Japanese culture and history. Okazaki said, “I enjoyed getting to go to the Fukuoka Foreign Language College and getting to go to their classes.” Besides Fukuoka, the Japanese wizards also visited Nagasaki and took an overnight ferry to Osaka. Kamikawa said, “It was nice to visit the countryside and really get a peek into their culture and lifestyle, especially with a Japanese speaker who could help explain the reasoning for certain things or the significance.” The students also went zip-lining at a Nagasaki soccer stadium. This experience was Kadooka’s favorite part. Yoo was glad to see the students enjoy the reward of their hard work. “I enjoyed spending time with the kids and the feeling of accomplishment and support from the families,” she said.
The four travelers enjoyed a variety of local cuisine during their adventures in Japan. Their favorites include hakata ramen, which is ramen served in a tonkatsu and red miso soup base, a hamburger restaurant where they cooked their own patties on hot stone, freshly pounded mochi, and many pasta restaurants.
Upon returning to Hawaii, each student was required to write a two-page essay for JASH, describing what they learned through the competition and the trip. They also had to create a video about their experience, with the goal of strengthening ties between Japan and Hawaiʻi.
Reflecting on the trip, Yoo said, “I hope and pray that [the students] noticed the differences between Japansese and American culture, even though we’re so heavily influenced by Japanese culture here [in Hawaii]. Things are different, people are different, and even [for] me, I’m so Americanized that sometimes certain things catch me by surprise.”
Yoo also added that she appreciates the opportunities that JASH creates for students in Hawaiʻi. “You get to meet up with fellow high school students and teachers. We’re so privileged; Honolulu is a metropolitan area compared to the rest of Hawaiʻi, so the fact that outer-island schools get to travel here for free just to compete is really kind of encouraging.” Okazaki was grateful for the experience. He said, “I was able to learn a lot more about different parts of Japanese culture that I never would have looked into without this experience, and I hope everyone else did too.”
Kamikawa, too, discovered something new from the trip. She said, “I was able to learn more about the history of Japan, like certain things integrated into Japan, whether it was the way Christianity spread or just different things in general.”
Come February 2026, a new team comprising three current sophomores will compete at the 23rd annual competition in hopes of winning another trip to Japan. Entry to the team is by invitation only. Yoo will likely select students from either Japanese language classes but she will also consider anyone who has a keen interest in learning more about Japanese culture and history. “We have a pretty good chance [of winning,]” she said. “If we enter [again], we will probably win.”
