Every summer for the past five years, Diamond Bar High School math teacher Shari DeCambra has taken a new group of students on journeys to places around the globe: Central America, Italy, Belize, Greece and Costa Rica. This summer, the tradition continued with atrip to Japan.

She was joined by chaperones and fellow math teachers Margaret Ku and Isabella Chiang, 23 DBHS students, 13 alumni, two Murrieta Valley High School students and a Japanese-speaking tour guide. They spent 10 days from July 21 to Aug. 1 visiting various cities and attractions.

Their trip began in Tokyo, where they stayed for nine days. While there, they visited the city’s DisneySea Resort.

“[The resort] was really fun, I actually really liked it cause it was different from regular Disneyland, like all the rides were different and they had like different types of food there, and popcorn everywhere and I really liked that,” junior Jennifer Nie said.

Though their hotel was in Tokyo, they also visited other cities such as Osaka, where they saw the Great Buddha and watched an indoor baseball game.

“It was my first baseball game and it was right next to the mall and… they did this really cool thing where in the middle of the game they all had their team’s colors as balloons, and they would all let it go after the song ends, so I thought that was really memorable,” Nie said.

At Japanese baseball games, the crowd practices a tradition in which they release balloons of their team’s color into the air. Halfway through the game, the group saw it in action.

In Hakone, where the group stayed in a traditional Japanese hotel for one night, they took a cruise on Lake Ashi and a cable car ride to see Mt. Fuji in its entirety.

“Hakone was a very beautiful place, we were always surrounded by nature,” Chiang said.

In the hotel, the group slept in traditional Japanese style rooms. Students wore their kimonos throughout the hotel and everyone sat on the floor to eat a Japanese dinner together.

DeCambra and the students concluded their trip in Kyoto, where they visited the Rokuon-ji and a monkey park. Also known as Kyoto’s Golden Pavilion, the Rokuon-ji is a Buddhist temple located in a strolling garden full of lush scenery.

“My next trip for summer 2019 is to Croatia and Budapest. I picked these places because most people have never traveled to them. Also, one of my most favorite places is the Greek Isles and Croatia is suppose to be as beautiful as the Greek islands. I have also heard great things about Budapest,” DeCambra said via email.

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