Why is a student excited to meet a Japanese man who was in an internment camp during World War I?

The student is excited to meet a Japanese man who was in an internment camp during World War I because this student and her family had to go to a camp during the war in Cambodia. This student and the Japanese man have many experiences in common. They both had trouble with the food. Their living conditions were horrible, and their fathers were negatively impacted by the experiences in the camps.