International Relations to Maizuru - Japan - October 2018

We are the first school from Portsmouth to visit our sister city in Maizuru, Japan. At Mayfield, we have hosted students from Maizuru for the past three years and we received an official invitation from the Mayor of Maizuru in early 2018 to visit the city. Four pupils and two teachers visited Maizuru and Japan from 18th-23rd October 2018 where we had an official meeting with the Mayor, toured two schools and were treated to cultural experiences from the pupils’ perspective, sightsaw many impressive places such as the Kinkakuji Temple and Amanohashidate region.

This was not just a mere school trip; this was developing and strengthening international relations between Portsmouth and Maizuru. Funding was obtained from the Daiwa Foundation and the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation to enable the visit to happen. The visit was planned for 2018 to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the sister city link between the two cities.

We are already looking forward to our visit from more pupils from Maizuru in March 2019.