OUTBOUND Yakima to Yamate Yokohama Japan

The Yakima School District is grateful for our long standing relationship with Yamate Gaukin High School and our community partners who financially contribute to the program. For the 2025 exchange, the district will pay zero.

The Yakima School District will purchase Travel Guard insurance that includes travel protection, medical assistance protection, and more to protect from unfortunate situations. We will provide you with a Travel Guard identification card and a statement of benefits.

Should a student require medical attention in Japan, however, they will pay for that service out of pocket or borrow from a chaperone, with the student's family reimbursing the chaperone immediately upon return.

You must have proof of an active passport by May 1, 2025. Passports can take 8 weeks to receive. That means you should apply for your passport by March 1, 2025.

If you have missed this date, you need to pay to expedite your passport application.  If a letter from the coordinator will help in this process, we are happy to provide that for you.

The Japanese will require YAKIMA students traveling to Japan to have two COVID shots. No exceptions.   Japanese students traveling to YAKIMA in April will have two shots. Host families in Yakima are not required to be vaccinated. 

No. Because the seniors graduate in June, they are no longer active students and, therefore, no longer covered by our insurance.

They certainly can host Japanese students in April of 2025 (and build friendships for a lifetime!). 

No. This is an immersion program where your student will become a member of the Japanese family for two weeks. Only brief daily contact is recommended with family back home in the way of phone or digital check-ins.

Applications will close when spots are full.  To secure a spot, students must apply and pay a deposit by April 1, 2025 of $1200. The remaining payment (approximately $1200 but we will know for sure when the flights are booked), plus proof of an active passport is due May 1, 2025.

Payments can be made at the Yakima School District financial services department at 101 N 4th Avenue.

Please note that to be eligible to travel to Japan in July/August of 2025, the expiration date of your passport will need to be February 2026 or later.

YSD students in good academic and attendance status and with principal approval (class of 2025 first, then 2027, 2028) will have priority, siblings of past travelers will have priority, and families who hosted in April will have priority. Other local districts are welcome to send active students if space permits and if their district's superintendent has contacted the coordinator.