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When Tsuyoshi Futoo arrived in Minnesota he was surprised that it was so cold. And that was in August.

Futoo, also known as Yoshi to his classmates at Chisago Lakes High School, will find out soon how cold it can really get in Minnesota. The 17-year-old is spending his junior year attending classes at CLHS while staying with his host family, Hans and Karen Jung, who live just outside of Lindstrom.

Futoo arrived August 11 and said his first impression was “it’s very cold here.” His next thought was, “there’s no mountains.”

He said he didn’t know a lot about Minnesota before coming here for the year. “He knew where it was on a map,” host mom Karen Jung said.

When they were back at the Jung’s home and Futoo unpacked, Jung asked Futoo if he had a winter coat, which he didn’t. “Within a week, a package arrived from his mom with a heavy winter coat,” she said.

Despite his aversion to the colder climate of Minnesota, Futoo is looking forward to snowboarding this winter.

Futoo is adjusting well to life in rural Lindstrom, considering he lives with his family just outside of Osaka, Japan, a city with a population of 8.8 million. The suburb where he lives has a population of 30,000.

The Jungs are slowly introducing him to country life. So far, he hasn’t had to milk the family’s one dairy cow, but he has helped stack hay bales.

The family is also trying to plan outings to museums and historical societies while Futoo is here. Futoo is a huge baseball fan, so the Jungs have already taken him to a Twins game and plan to go again next season.

They have made short trips to Duluth to see Lake Superior and into Wisconsin. While he is here, Futoo hopes to take a trip to New York City.

One of his favorite things is music. Futoo is a member of the Chisago Lakes winds and stage bands as well as the marching band, where he plays trombone.

He also auditioned for a role in the school’s upcoming musical, Bye Bye Birdie, along with his host brothers Karl, a senior at CLHS and Kurt, a junior.

All three earned parts in the play. Futoo will perform a small role as a traveler.

Futoo said the students and teachers at CLHS have been helpful to him while he’s adjusting to life abroad.

He said there are differences between the high school and his school in Japan. In his high school, the students stay in one classroom the entire day while the teachers move around the school to teach different subjects.

Futoo’s school building is a little different than CLHS too. “My school is seven stories,” he said.

The students are also not given the option in Japan of choosing their own classes, but the subjects are generally the same as what Futoo is taking at CLHS.

He doesn’t see a lot of difference in a teen’s home life here, either. In Japan, the bathrooms are bigger, he said, and doors to rooms usually aren’t left open. But families watch television and listen to music there, much like here, he said.

Futoo and his friends in Japan have similar activities to teens here. “We hang out, go to movies,” he said.

While Futoo hasn’t ventured to the Mall of America yet, it will probably be on the list of things to do at some point. “He likes clothes shopping, he likes to look nice,” Karen Jung said.

Futoo said it has been challenging to make this trip abroad, but he is enjoying it. He misses the hot springs in Japan and stays in touch with his parents and younger sister by calling them about once a month.

Although he has only been in the U.S. a short time in his first trip here, Futoo is already planning to come back again. Since the typical Japanese winter has lows of only 40 degrees and nearly constant sunshine, he might want to visit Minnesota again only when it’s summer.

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