East to West : Japanese Students Start Classes in Southland

As he wolfed down a tuna salad sandwich on Tuesday afternoon, Yoshimitsu Morishita reflected on why he had just traveled 5,500 miles to study English at a former girls parochial school in Studio City.

“I want to play at many things, in many places,” the 17-year-old Japanese high schooler said with the help of an interpreter in his new school’s cafeteria. “I want to see Disneyland, Grand Canyon, Universal Studios.”

For Wataru Shirakawa, 17, taking classes here, at the American branch of his boys preparatory school in Japan, moves him a tiny step closer to his ultimate dream: becoming a lineman for the San Francisco 49ers.

For the more down-to-earth Satoshi Mitsuji, 16, it is an opportunity to get a head start on his future career as a tour guide.

Osaka Sangyo University welcomed the first 45 students to its Los Angeles campus Tuesday, where they will live, eat and study in buildings that housed Corvallis High School until 1987, when declining enrollment forced its closure.

Morishita, Shirakawa, Mitsuji and their classmates from the international program at Osaka Sangyo High School in Osaka will study English, history and culture for 10 weeks at a cost of about $3,500 each. A rotating group of high school and college exchange students from the Osaka area will increase in number until the school hits a maximum enrollment of 120.

Osaka Sangyo is a private educational system in the Osaka area of Japan, which is made up of a four-year university, a two-year junior college, two high schools and a dental hygienist college.

Education experts in the United States and Japan say the Studio City school is part of a growing number of Japanese universities that are opening satellite campuses in the United States. The interest in such ventures is part increased status back home and part realism about the future, they said.

“In Japan, everybody accepts that it is important that people in the next generation should have the wider perspective of a foreign experience, but still it is not easy for the Japanese to get into the American universities . . . because of the language problem,” said Katsuhide Kusahara, a division director at the Japanese Ministry of Education in Tokyo. “This way it is easier for many more Japanese” to study in the United States.

The bus trip from Los Angeles International Airport to the San Fernando Valley was their first glimpse of the country for many of the new students. Things seemed bigger here than in Japan--buildings, freeways, even dogs.

But it was not entirely foreign.

“We see a lot of broadcasting about American cities and American customs on television in Japan,” Mitsuji said. “It’s actually sort of the same . . . like ‘Miami Vice.’ ”

There were some differences. The students had been told to leave their high-necked, military-style uniforms at home, so they chose dark suits and white shirts, with the school crest sewn onto the blazer pocket.

“It’s more American, more casual,” said Shozo Yamamato, executive vice president of Osaka Sangyo University, Los Angeles.

Then there was the first lesson in American culture: how to make a Western bed, starting with crisp white sheets and ending with a Southwest-patterned bedspread.

“At home they are using futons , no beds,” Yamamato said.

Initially, Studio City residents had some qualms about the Japanese school’s interest in the property, primarily because of the secrecy surrounding the purchase, said Polly Ward, Studio City Residents Assn. president.

After some homeowners were flown to Japan to tour the campus, they began to soften to the idea of preserving the site.