Japan quake victims enjoy break in Rotorua | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

Rotorua has been the perfect place to take time out for Japanese students who lost parents and suffered radiation poisoning after Japan's devastating tsunami.

Thirty students aged 12 to 18 from the Tohoku region spent three days sightseeing in Rotorua free of charge, thanks to the generosity of local attractions including Agrodome, Rainbow Springs and Waikite Hot Springs.

The group were hosted at Tangatarua Marae by the Waiariki Institute of Technology English Language Centre with Aorangi Peak, Tamaki Village and Yamoto Japanese Restaurant providing meals.

Sixteen-year-old Ma Ko said she liked Rotorua's nature and beauty and given the opportunity, would love to return to live in the city and learn English.

"My favourite activity was the luge and although I was scared at first of the moko faces, I thought Tamaki Village was awesome," she said.

Tai Shi, 16, said the culture in Rotorua was very different to his own but the people were kind and friendly. His favourite activity had been horse riding at the Farmhouse. Shi Zuka, 17, said the Zorb was so much fun that one day she hoped to bring her family to Rotorua for a holiday.

"The singing at Tamaki Tours was also really beautiful," she said.

The students' trip to Rotorua was organised by Time Out In NZ, a non-profit organisation set up after the earthquakes in Christchurch and Japan.

Co-founder Tosh Aoshima, who chaperoned the students from Tokyo, said they had been very positive considering what they had been through.

He said most had lost parents, siblings and other relatives, their homes had been destroyed and some were suffering from health problems due to severe nuclear radiation leaks from the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

"The generosity and hospitality of the many Rotorua volunteers and businesses who gave their time, food and attractions for the Japanese youth has been amazing," he said.

Bachelor of Maori Development student Joshua Maharangi Khan, who helped host the group, said he had wanted to show them the same manaakitanga (hospitality) the Japanese people had shown his son when he had lived in Japan and attended school there.

"They made me feel happy inside and taught me humility, something the Japanese youth have truckloads of," he said.

The Tohoku group are now in Auckland attending school and staying with host families until they return home on August 19.

More than 15,000 people died and an estimated 8500 are still missing following the magnitude nine earthquake and 37.9 metre tsunami which struck Japan on March 11. More than 200 children lost both parents in the disaster.