stone. The school, inaugurated by President of Mexico Luis Echeverría, and by Secretary of Education of Mexico Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, opened in September 1977. The governments of Japan and Mexico accredited the school. The Nisei in Mexico were the primary party who had the school built because they wanted their children to have the Japanese cultural heritage. In 1984 the high school was inaugurated. Takeo Fukuda, the Prime Minister of Japan, visited the school that year. The school, which covered kindergarten through secondary school, eventually gained over 1,000 students, including Mexicans, Nikkeijin, children of Japanese business owners resident in Mexico, and children of Japanese diplomats. Daniel M. Masterson, author of The Japanese in Latin America, wrote that it "became one of the most prestigious schools" in Mexico. According to the Mexico Journal, because President of Mexico Carlos Salinas de Gortari sent his children to the school, people within Japan perceived the Liceo Mexicano Japonés as being the best school in Mexico. Salinas said that he sent the children to the school because the Japanese culture has an emphasis on design and discipline. At the time the Mexican government was expanding trade with Japan, and Japanese influence was increasing in Mexico. At the time the Mexican authorities were taking efforts to attract further Japanese economic activity. In 1997, there was an accusation that a preparatory level student sexually assaulted a primary level student. The accused student was expelled due to parental pressure. The Juvenile Board did not find the student guilty. The Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor fined the school for cancelling a trip of that student, giving the school a penalty of 1.870 million pesos. In November there were accusations that government officials with children enrolled in the school pressured the school to expel the accused student. In 1997 the city of Nagoya, which was celebrating its 20th anniversary of sister city relations with Mexico City, began its exchange with the school. From then on, the school on an annual basis sends a cultural exchange group to Nagoya. Curriculum and academics The school has two sections: The Mexican section with Spanish-language classes and a curriculum according to the Mexican Secretariat of Public Education (SEP) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and the Japanese section with classes in Japanese and a curriculum according to the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Most classes for Mexicans are