NAST History

I led my first homestay tour in 1993 for Father Johannes Schubert to North Vancouver, BC, Canada for the Nanzan Association of International Cultural Exchange (NAICE). I immediately fell in love with the whole experience of showing young Japanese students my home country and culture. After another tour to Denver in 1994, Father Schubert of Nanzan and founder of NAICE was gracious enough to allow me to organize a tour to Vermont under the NAICE banner in the summer of 1995. NAICE continued to offer tours under the NAST (North America Study Tour) banner. In 2000, we began going to Canada and then in 2003 to Riverside, California.

The summer of 2011 will mark the 40th and 41st homestay programs I have organized (37th/38th by NAST). Thus far a grand total of 934 students have particiapated in these tours. It gives me great satisfaction to know that these students experienced some of the most wonderful memories of their lifetime on NAST tours!

The mission of NAST is to:

1) Offer Japanese university students an educational and economical homestay and English study experience in a safe Christian home-stay environment through a Catholic-Church based school and family placement system.
2) Recruit high quality host families who will take the student into their home and into their hearts allowing them to experience North American culture.
3) Offer an intensive English language program that will help the student get the most out of their homestay and help them to learn more about North American culture.
4) To also offer an extensive interesting and exciting sightseeing/study tour program to exciting and educational destinations such as New York, Washington, Boston, Los Angeles, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas Disneyland, Disney World etc.

Finally, when possible, NAST generously donates to several worthy charities including: Catholic Charities, OxFam, UNICEF & CanHelp Thailand. To date these donations have totaled well over 4 million yen ($45,000 USD).

YEAR / # of students / Destination (sm=Summer sp=Spring)
sm1995 - 28 (Essex Jct, Vermont)
sm1996 - 40 (Essex Jct, Vermont)
"NAST" BEGINS
sm1997- 36 (Essex Jct, Vermont)
sm1998 - 18 (Essex Jct, Vermont)
sm1999 - 16 (Richmond, Vermont )
                28 (North Vancouver, Canada)
sm2000 - 28 (North Vancouver, Canada)
sm2001 - 23 (Richmond, Vermont )
                13 (North Vancouver, Canada)
sm2002 - 27 (Richmond, Vermont )
                24 (North Vancouver, Canada)
sp2003 - 43 (Riverside, California)
                21 (Aldergrove, Canada)
sm2003- 28 (Essex Jct, Vermont )
               22 (North Vancouver, Canada)
               15 (Aldergrove, Canada)
sp2004 - 38 (Riverside, California)
                26 (Abbotsford, Canada)
sm2004- 13 (Essex Jct, Vermont )
               18 (North Vancouver, Canada)
sp2005 - 35 (Riverside, California)
               35 (Abbotsford, Canada)
sm2005 - 16 (North Vancouver)
                (VT Cancelled)
sp2006 - 41 (Riverside, California)
               34 (Abbotsford, Canada)
sm2006 - 16 (Richmond, Vermont)
sp2007 - 10 (Riverside, California)
                22 (Abbotsford, Canada)
sm2007 - 23 (North Vancouver, Canada)
sp2008 - 15 (Riverside, California)
                26 (Abbotsford, Canada)
sm2008 - 30 (Richmond, Vermont)
sp2009 - 18 (Abbotsford, Canada)
sm2009 - 18 (Abbotsford, Canada)
sp2010 - 28 (Riverside, California)
                15 (Abbotsford, Canada)
sm2010 - 8 (Richmond, Vermont)
sp2011 - 10 (Abbotsford, Canada)
                29 (Riverside, California)
sm2011 - 10 (Richmond, Vermont)
               5 (Leamington Spa, England)

TOTAL = 949 HAPPY MEMORIES!!