Do they eat seaweed for lunch? Are the toilets just holes in the ground? Matt Tucker is nervous about going on his Peterborough, Ontario school's exchange trip to Komatsu, Japan. He's also worried about missing tryouts for his softball team, the Sharks.

When he finally takes the plunge, however, he sees lots of his old teammates are going with him--and they've all got their gloves. In Japan he does a lot of new and unexpected things--wears a kimono, participates in a Dragon Dance. Most unexpected of all, however, he plays a lot of ball, which he finds is wildly popular and highly competitive.

Sayonara, Sharks follows the adventures of a group of young ball players who overcome their apprehensions to find out both how different other cultures are from their own, and how similar.