THOUSAND OAKS : Japanese, U. S. Students Pair Off at School

Pointing to a postcard in his folder Friday, 18-year-old Robbie Scherrei found that he had something in common with 17-year-old Megumi Ochiai of Japan. Scherrei’s postcard was from Disneyland, as was a colorful button pinned to Ochiai’s knapsack.

“I was showing her that we’re going to Disneyland for our graduation night,” said Scherrei, one of about 100 Thousand Oaks High School students paired with visiting Japanese teen-agers from Kyomo High School in Japan.

Despite a language barrier, some students managed to find mutual interests using pantomime, dictionaries and broken English.

“The most fun is when you get your point across,” said Scherrei, who was sitting with Megumi in folding chairs listening to a student jazz band.

The cultural exchange began about 8:30 a.m. when the Japanese students arrived on a chartered bus about 45 minutes ahead of schedule. Touring the campus, the Japanese took a look at classrooms, art studios and athletic facilities on the sprawling 2,500-student campus.

Speaking through an interpreter, 17-year-old Takayuki Matsumoto said he was most surprised by the large grassy areas on campus. Many high schools in Japan, he said, resemble vertical office buildings.

Many of the Japanese students did have one thing in common with their American counterparts: a love of jeans, baggy clothes and the hip-hop look.

“It looks so American, but they have their own flair,” said senior Bekah Estrada, who was paired with Katsumi Igarasai.

“They’re into this big retro-’70s thing I really dig.”

Although the visit to Thousand Oaks had been scripted ahead of time, improvisation was called for when a bomb threat forced early dismissal of the Moorpark Road campus Friday afternoon.

After receiving an anonymous call reporting explosives in a school locker, officials sealed off one end of the campus. The sheriff’s bomb squad then used a robot to open the locker. It contained textbooks, papers and personal belongings.

“I think some kid might have heard a joke and someone else called it in,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Warren said after the incident was over. Authorities said they had no reason to believe that the threat was related to the Japanese students’ visit.

Lois Conrad, a science teacher who coordinated the visit, said the Japanese students were not told of the bomb threat because many were already nervous about crime and violence in the United States. The students were simply told that school would end early because of a power failure. “They didn’t know the difference,” she said. “They didn’t know what the schedule was.”

The Japanese teen-agers’ visit to Thousand Oaks was part of a four-day trip planned for 500 students from the same school. Another group of 100 students visited Rio Mesa High School near Oxnard on Friday.