The Japanese program has been facing a reduction in the number of classes offered even before the fiscal crisis was realized at Northshore School district. When the previous teacher moved to another district in Washington, the Japanese program was the one to be chosen to phase out at IHS. For the 2023-2024 school year, although student interest was there, first year Japanese was not offered. This effectively began the demise of this vibrant program.  As a part of the Pacific Rim, an area replete with a large Japanese community, Japanese culture, Japanese businesses, and Japanese sites, we need to maintain the Japanese Program. In this area, you can find Japanese staple foods and snacks at everyday grocery stores.  We have students who have been influenced by Japanese culture even more so than other cultures through games, manga, anime, our local professional baseball team, and their local bento shop. We make our school diversified by being the only non-western language to be offered in our district. While we believe other programs are also valuable and necessary, we want to preserve the Japanese programs here in Northshore for our students and to help demonstrate our efforts to maintain a strong relationship with our Japanese Sister Cities, Sister Schools, and business partners. Please help us revive the Japanese program at IHS and all Northshore schools for our future generations.

The Japanese Language program at Northshore may be facing some cuts for the following school year. This decision may be made as soon as May 15th. We need your help to prove that this program is important to the students, and that these cuts would affect many students who are passionate learners and care about this program.