A group of Manitoba 4-H students have returned from an exchange trip to Japan this month.

Ten members, along with a pair of chaperones, were selected to experience Japanese culture for two weeks.

Trevor Carlson is Head Leader of the Elm Creek 4-H Beef Club and was the representative for Manitoba on the trip. Carlson said he was asked to chaperone the trip, and that it was a great experience.

The cities visited included Tokyo, Sendai, Koriyama and Fukushima.

“Some of the sight-seeing we did was quit incredible. We did have the opportunity to go to a couple of the areas that were hard-hit by the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, that was quit a sight to see some of the damage from that and the rebuilding that's going on.”

Carlson said the group stayed with host families and used trains, subways, and a chartered bus as transportation.

He added using Google Translate was a huge help for communicating with the families.

“The kids were in school for the second week, they had the opportunity to go to a Japanese high school,” he said.

A photo of Tokyo took from the Skytree tower

He explained the trip is paid for as a 'thank-you' by the York-Benimaru Foundation, which sends 20 Japanese students to Manitoba every year to learn about North American Culture.

Every second year Manitoba 4-H students can apply and interview for the chance to experience Japan through the foundation.

In the past, Carlson's family hosted some of the exchange students from Japan.

He said the Japanese visitors got to experience combine riding, cattle shows, hauling bales, checking cattle pastures, museums, baseball games, folklorama, and northern lights.

The Japanese contingent will arrive in Manitoba for the 2017 trip on Wednesday and stay until August 18.

4-H member Caleb Genes at a school in Japan