I was going to say NBA basketball, but…
If it’s still winter enough, take them skiing. But you might want to prearrange this as it’s probably going to be expensive (although much cheaper than in Japan).
If you’re precip has been anything like ours (CA), you’ll be skiing on Independence Day.
Ooh, too soon.
I was going to suggest a BBQ but someone already did that.
Another activity would be miniature golf.
Mexican food in rare in Japan.
A barbecue would be good, with thick steaks.
I’m sure your friend has all the necessary information, but I found a guide from F4. The suggest:
Library
Schools
Churches
Capitol—our government
Sports events
Zoo, museums
Picnics or camping
Youth clubs and activities – Don’t forget 4-H!
County fairs
Grocery stores
Department stores
Industry or factories
Watch newspaper for events and ideas
Country, farm, ranch
My very first thought was “shooting range”.
I know my boy would love that. (‘Course the worry wart in me says “don’t let a bunch of kids play with guns!”)
Seattle, right? What about the Duck tours?
Might be a fun experience for them. Although there are a few operating around Japan.
Kinda depends on what part of Japan they’re from (urban or rural, etc).
If you like, I could run suggestions by my (small-town suburbanite) kids.
We’re in the Kansai region, where zoos are utter crap. (Although the aquariums are quite good.)
So if you’ve got a decent zoo and you’re kids are from this area, might be worth a shot.
Sit in front of the TV with a remote. Shop at WalMart. Order a pizza. You know, just the typical, regular things Americans do in order to count their lives as fulfillilng.
And now for something completely different-- birds and wild flowers are conspicuous things that are completely different in North America, from what are in Japan. Get field guides and go out to rural areas and identify birds and flowers. You might even learn something uniquely American for yourself. And your Japanese guest will go home with a new interest and awareness that will will inspire him for the rest of his life.
I think this activity would be quite safe, actually. Most people when shooting a gun for the first time won’t be careless or trigger-happy; they’ll actually be quite intimidated by the kick and loud report of the gun, especially if big rifles. No doubt there’ll be plenty of instructors on hand, and newbies will probably be over-cautious rather than under-cautious (isn’t it true that police officers are more likely to be involved in a careless gun mishap in their 4th year than their 1st year, due to familarity-carelessness?)
When I was 12 I was with a group of Taiwanese children in Pennsylvania at a gun range, and everyone did it safely, and the OP is talking about high schoolers here, significantly older and more mature folks.
I should be clear that we’re actually on Vashon Island, so the “look at a cow” and “look at some trees” and “go on a boat on Puget Sound” part is covered. However, I have no idea where these kids are from, if they’re small town or big city, so maybe they’ve seen a tree already. But even so, Vashon is going to be a lot more rural than anywhere in Japan.
I don’t know how much this applies to Japanese teenagers, but adults would want to get photos of themselves with famous landmarks in the background. Give them the opportunity to do that for all the famous Seattle landmarks. Pictures of Mt Rainier will probably be popular, too. Whale watching might be a good activity. But I’ll still stick by skiing, as that is very popular in Japan, and US resorts are probably a lot better.
Pet peeve of mine. It’s “Pike Place.” That’s the name of the street the market is on. It isn’t/was never owned by Pike. There’s no apostrophe and there’s no “s.”
The cherry blossoms are about to bloom on the quad at UW - depending on the teenager that will be cool or a complete waste of time. Then you can let them loose on the Ave for a while. They’ll probably be ok.
The Roastery is the other Starbucks location that’s now constantly full of tourists, they might like it there.
Apparently the Sounders fans put on quite a show and their season has started up again.
I used to work with a few Japanese guys and they loved the shooting range. They also really enjoyed celebrating American holidays. The best is if there is a parade and/or fireworks involved.
(Googles pictures of Vashon Island)
OK. I don’t know about Japanese school kids, but I would absolutely love to visit that place.
Actually, I bet my artsy junior high school daughter would love it too.
Do some outdoors stuff: boating, fishing, day camping.
How could they not love it? It looks like a slice of paradise.
If you don’t want to risk real bullets flying around there’s always paintball. Not sure what your weather is supposed to be like while they’re there though.
I would be careful about taking these kids to a shooting range. It’s possible that some of their parents would not approve. Perhaps they could email or text their parents to get an OK first?
When my son was 12 or so, a Chinese classmate of his had visitors from China. My son invited them all along for our Sunday funday (shared custody thing).
We took a case of clay pigeons and went to a spot where we could shoot. I gave some instructions with my son’s friend translating. The kids had a great time, then we went for ice cream.
I heard later, from my ex, that the kids’ parents were kind of upset.
Yeah, I kind of get the feeling that while the kids (boys in particular) might get a kick out of gun toting, some of their parents might not be too happy about it.
Frankly, I think they’d enjoy a baseball game; Mariner’s that is.
As a Canadian, a shooting range would do nothing for me.
Parks and museums on the other hand would be fantastic.
I was originally on board with the range day thing, but I put myself in the shoes of the parent. I’m a range rat with a collection of fun range firearms, but I would be very concerned about someone I didn’t know taking my boy to the range. I’m paranoid about firearms safety and I don’t know anything about what** Lemur866**'s standards are.
I was thinking miniature golf, I think someone else mentioned that too.