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Thirty years ago, Katsusada Hirose spent a year (1993–94) as a Visiting Scholar with the at the (APARC). Hirose represented Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) at APARC and worked closely with the founding director of APARC, now Professor Emeritus Daniel Okimoto. Hirose fondly recalls being able to commute by bicycle to campus. In his last position at MITI in 1999, Hirose held the post of Administrative Vice-Minister of MITI and METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) and after a distinguished career with MITI and METI, Hirose became Governor of Oita Prefecture in 2003. Governor Hirose has also served as the President of the Governor’s Association of Kyushu Region since 2010.

On August 26, 2019, Okimoto organized a California-Japan Governors’ Symposium at 91�Թ� and invited Governor Hirose as well as Governor Ryuta Ibaragi (Okayama), Governor Heita Kawakatsu (Shizuoka), Vice Governor Yutaka Ota (Nagano), and Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki (Hiroshima). The California-Japan Governors’ Symposium was co-hosted by the Silicon Valley Japan Platform (SVJP) and the U.S.-Japan Council. Okimoto serves as Co-Chair of the SVJP Executive Committee.

On the same day as the Governors’ Symposium, 91�Թ� officially launched Stanford e-Oita, an online course that is offered annually to high school students in Oita Prefecture and is taught by Kasumi Yamashita. Former Ambassador to Japan and former APARC Fellow Michael Armacost joined the ceremony and made opening comments, including a statement about how leaders like Governor Hirose have been pivotal in strengthening U.S.–Japan relations. Governor Hirose followed by not only recalling the invaluable intellectual experiences and opportunities to network that his year at Stanford provided him, but also fondly recalling the informal experiences like outings with Armacost at Stanford Golf Course. Stanford e-Oita would not have been possible without the vision and leadership of Governor Hirose.

I had the honor of meeting with Governor Hirose last month in his office in Oita Prefecture and learned that he will be retiring this year after serving 20 years as governor. We were joined by Superintendent Tetsuo Okamoto of Oita Prefecture. When I informed Professor Okimoto of the Governor’s upcoming retirement, he stated, “Governor Hirose is a highly respected political leader who has devoted his long career to public service as a higher civil servant in Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and as the elected Governor of Oita Prefecture from 2003 to 2023, spanning a productive era of two decades. What an extraordinary career and remarkable legacy.”

Stanford e-Oita Instructor Kasumi Yamashita added, “Empowering Stanford e-Oita high school students has been a highlight of my teaching career, and I am grateful to Governor Hirose for his unwavering support and for this opportunity.”

Professor Emeritus Okimoto, Instructor Yamashita, and I would like to wish Governor Hirose a wonderful retirement and look forward to his next visit to 91�Թ�. 

Stanford e-Japan is an online course that teaches Japanese high school students about U.S. society and culture and U.S.–Japan relations. The course introduces students to both U.S. and Japanese perspectives on many historical and contemporary issues. It is offered biannually by the  (91�Թ�). Stanford e-Japan is supported by the .

In August 2023, three of the top students of the Fall 2022 Stanford e-Japan distance-learning course will be honored at a Japan Day ceremony through 91�Թ�. The three Stanford e-Japan honorees—Yukie Arashida (Yonezawa Kojokan High School, Yamagata), Yohkoh Hineno (Tokai High School, Aichi), and Ami Osaka (International Christian University High School, Tokyo)—will be recognized for their coursework and exceptional research essays that focused respectively on “Proposals for Appropriate Employment System: A Comparative Study of Employment Systems Between the United States and Japan,” “Gender Equality: The Potential Incentive,” and “Abortion: The Current System That Is Failing to Protect Women’s Rights in Japan and the United States.” 

Risa Fukushima (Senzoku Gakuen High School, Kanagawa) received an Honorable Mention for her research paper on “The Legitimacy of Implementing Electoral Gender Quota System in the United States and Japan.” Kotaro Tomita (Shibuya Junior and Senior High School, Tokyo) also received an Honorable Mention for his paper on “Saturday Night Live’s Leftward Shift and America’s Political Polarization: How SNL Can Help Unify Americans.”

In the Fall 2022 session of Stanford e-Japan, students from Hiroshima Global Academy (Hiroshima), International Christian University High School (Tokyo), Katoh Gakuen Gyoshu Junior and Senior High School (Shizuoka), Keio Girls Senior High School (Tokyo), Kumamoto High School (Kumamoto), Matsuyama East High School (Ehime), Mita International School (Tokyo), Municipal Urawa High School (Saitama), Okayama Prefectural Okayama Asahi Senior High School (Okayama), Otemaetakamatsu High School (Kagawa), Ritsumeikan Keisho Junior and Senior High School (Hokkaido), Sagami Koyokan High School (Kanagawa), Seikyo Gakuen Senior High School (Osaka), Senior High School at Otsuka, University of Tsukuba (Tokyo), Senzoku Gakuen High School (Kanagawa), Shibuya Junior and Senior High School (Tokyo), Shibuya Kyouiku Gakuen Makuhari Senior High School (Chiba), Shirayuri Gakuen Senior High School (Tokyo), Tochigi Prefectural Utsunomiya Chuo Girls’ High School (Tochigi), Tokai High School (Aichi), Tokyo Gakugei University International Secondary School (Tokyo), Tsurumaru High School (Kagoshima), Waseda University High School (Tokyo), and Yonezawa Kojokan High School (Yamagata) participated in the course.

For more information about the Stanford e-Japan Program, please visit . The application period for the fall 2023 session will begin June 30, 2023.

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By traditional measures, South Korea is not a large country. It ranks 28th in the world in population and only 107th in land mass. Its language is not widely spoken outside the Korean peninsula, and it does not have a large diaspora. Yet since around 2005, it has arguably become the major producer of youth culture in the world. How did this happen?

Stanford professor Dafna Zur has filmed a video to answer that complicated and important question. Dr. Zur is an Associate Professor of Korean literature and culture in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures of 91�Թ�. She specializes in Korean literature, cinema, and popular culture. As part of her research, Dr. Zur has interviewed the main architects of South Korea’s popular culture wave, including SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man and many K-Pop stars.

Stanford’s Center for East Asian Studies and 91�Թ� collaborated on a discussion guide to bring the lessons from Dr. Zur’s video to high school and university students. The video and discussion guide are available for free on 91�Թ�’s Multimedia page. They address the following questions:

• What is popular culture?
• What is soft power, and why is it important?
• How did South Korea become such a successful producer of popular culture in the past 20 years?
• How can we measure South Korea’s success in becoming a popular culture powerhouse? 
• How did South Korea’s popular culture evolve in response to the COVID-19 pandemic? What’s the next stage in its development?
• How easy would it be for other countries to replicate South Korea’s soft power success? 

Because the main vehicle for South Korea’s rise as a soft power giant has been Korean pop music, known as K-Pop, Dr. Zur directs viewers to several music videos that illustrate how K-Pop has evolved since 1997 and where it might go in the future.

She provides deep insight into the building blocks of K-Pop’s success, which she identifies as support from the national government, the kihoeksa (entertainment conglomerate) system, technology, timing, content release strategy, and fan communities. In particular, Dr. Zur explains how the kihoeksa are able to produce high-quality entertainment at a low cost and how their scale has allowed them to invest in new technologies that keep them at the forefront of pop culture production.

The discussion guide provides context for students to understand the complexity in Dr. Zur’s video. In preparation for the video, students take and then discuss a quiz on South Korea’s popular culture. The teacher then defines key terms such as popular culture and soft power and displays charts that show how South Korea’s soft power has increased since 2000. 

Students view Dr. Zur’s video and the accompanying K-Pop music videos as homework and respond to a series of questions on the main themes of the video. During the next class period, they work in groups to develop a plan for another country to elevate its soft power by drawing on what they learned about South Korea’s success. This complex activity requires students to clearly define the factors that have led to the popularity of Korean popular culture, distinguish between the factors they believe are replicable and those that are not, and then adapt this analysis into a set of recommendations for another country that hopes to achieve the same success as South Korea. After groups present their findings to the class, the teacher concludes the lesson by asking students to predict whether South Korea will be able to maintain its soft power dominance into the future. 

The discussion guide contains a complete transcript of the video and is appropriate for advanced secondary students and university students. 

The video lecture and guide were made possible through the support of U.S. Department of Education National Resource Center funding under the auspices of Title VI, Section 602(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965.

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The following is a guest article written by Yuntong Hu, a PhD student at the University of Tokyo. Hu enrolled in a course at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Education called “Introduction to International and Cross-Cultural Education,” which was co-taught by 91�Թ� Director Dr. Gary Mukai and former  Director Dr. Hideto Fukudome. 91�Թ� will feature several student reflections on the course in 2023.

I enrolled in the class “Introduction to International and Cross-Cultural Education” in fall 2022. One of my biggest takeaways from the class is the need to consider cross-cultural education as an essential part of higher education. Lectures by scholars from diverse research backgrounds engaged the students in various discussions that included textbook comparisons among five societies, culturally relevant curriculum, and gender-related issues. The discussions of these and other topics greatly inspired me. 

Concerning topics like textbooks, I have often noticed conflict among different cultures and countries. Miscommunication and misunderstandings seem so commonplace that it has made me wonder whether information on other cultures and countries—provided through formal schooling—has not been provided in a balanced way. By attending the class, I realized that most of us have few opportunities to hear various perspectives on controversial topics in our schooling and that it is often the case that students learn little about other cultures and as a result, lose the chance to reflect more upon their own cultures. 

As an international student in Japan, I am often asked why I chose to study abroad. My answer is always, “I want to look at my country, China, from different perspectives.” By understanding other cultures, we recognize what is unique in our culture. Cross-cultural education can help people realize a more interconnected world where different cultures can coexist and even find benchmarks or commonalities for further cooperation. 

My PhD research topic is related to the development of world-class universities, and in this class, I realized that it is essential to think about universities from a global perspective. Nowadays, many countries consider world-class universities as a type of soft power and encourage them to play a role in the transmission of culture. However, without mutual understanding, people cannot accept different cultures easily. It is important for universities to hold an open attitude toward other cultures before they transmit their notions of culture. 

Globalization is not just about using English in classes or recruiting foreign faculty and asking them to conduct the same research as they did in their own countries. In Asia, many universities pay much attention to numbers, e.g., the number of international members, the number of papers published in English, the number of classes conducted in English. But what about the communication between foreign faculty and local students? What about the campus climate where members representing various cultures can feel comfortable? What about the presentation of diverse perspectives on controversial topics? Beyond numbers, there are many more issues to consider.  

The class provided by 91�Թ�-CASEER helped me consider cross-cultural education in the context of not only pre-collegiate education but also in higher education. Moreover, as a student with cross-cultural experiences, I felt so fortunate to have the opportunity to reflect upon my own education and upbringing again and also to view China from other perspectives.

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The  or “Stanford e-Japan” is an online course sponsored by the  and the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (91�Թ�), 91�Թ�. This online course teaches Japanese high school students about U.S. society and underscores the importance of U.S.–Japan relations. Through Stanford e-Japan, ambassadors, top scholars, and experts throughout the United States provide web-based lectures and engage Japanese high school students in live discussion sessions called “virtual classes.” Stanford e-Japan is now in its 9th year and 16th session overall.

On January 19, 2023, 28 high school students across Japan were notified of their acceptance to the Spring 2023 Stanford e-Japan Program. The online course officially begins on Monday, February 13, 2023, and runs until June 30, 2023. It will include students representing the following prefectures: Aichi, Chiba, Fukuoka, Gunma, Hiroshima, Hokkaido, Hyogo, Kanagawa, Kyoto, Mie, Miyazaki, Nagano, Niigata, Osaka, Saitama, Shizuoka, and Tokyo. In addition to a diverse geographical representation within Japan, the students themselves bring a diverse set of experiences to the program, many having lived overseas in places such as Belgium, China, Egypt, Ireland, the Philippines, and the United States.

The selected Stanford e-Japan high school students will listen to lectures by renowned experts in the field including Professor Emeritus Peter Duus, Professors Kathryn Gin Lum and Dr. Kenji Kushida (91�Թ�), and Professor Phillip Lipscy (University of Toronto) on topics such as “The Atomic Bombings of Japan,” “The Attack on Pearl Harbor,” “Religion in the U.S.,” “Silicon Valley and Entrepreneurship,” and “U.S.–Japan Relations.” Live virtual classes include guest speakers such as Ms. Suzanne Basalla (U.S.-Japan Council), Mr. Vincent Flores (EducationUSA), and Mr. Tameyasu Anayama (Aamilia, LLC).

Many Stanford e-Japan students in the current cohort (as well as past ones) have mentioned their desire to study in the United States. The Stanford e-Japan Program equips many students with the motivation and confidence to do so, in addition to many of the skills they will need to study at U.S. universities and colleges. In addition to weekly lectures, assignments, discussion board posts, group projects, and virtual classes, the program participants will complete a final research paper on a topic concerning U.S. society or the U.S.–Japan relationship.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, some students decided to postpone their dreams of studying outside of Japan,” commented Brown. “Recently, however, interest in attending college in the U.S. seems to be on the rise again, and I’ve encouraged my students to look into the as a means to help make these dreams a reality.”

Stanford e-Japan is one of several online courses for high school students offered by 91�Թ�, including the , the , and the . For more information about Stanford e-Japan, please visit .

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Launched in summer 2022, Stanford e-Sendai Ikuei is a collaborative course between the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (91�Թ�) and Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School. The program offers Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School students the opportunity to develop their English and critical thinking skills while examining their roles on a global scale. Stanford e-Sendai Ikuei is one of 91�Թ�’s local student programs in Japan.

On October 28, I had the privilege of travelling to Sendai, Japan to attend the closing ceremony for the 2022 inaugural class of Stanford e-Sendai Ikuei. The trip was a precious opportunity to meet the students in-person for the first time, after five months of learning together over Zoom. While there, I considered the educational journey the students had taken that led up to this moment of accomplishment.

Stanford e-Sendai Ikuei was designed to challenge students to examine the world from new perspectives as they consider their own role on the global stage. To this end, the class was structured into three main topics: diversity, global citizenship, and entrepreneurship.

For the first topic, students examined diversity through the framework of the United States’ history of immigration and richly diverse population. Guided by guest speakers, the class engaged in thoughtful conversations on why stereotypes take root and how biases grow through systemic oppression. Students analyzed the work done by change makers and activists in the pursuit of inclusion and equity. Finally, students were able to reflect on the concept of identity and contemplate what their unique perspectives bring to the table.

In the second section of the program, students applied their self-reflections and understanding of diversity to discussions on what it means to be a global citizen. Lessons focused on establishing a general understanding of global issues and international collaboration and encouraged students to consider the global issues they hold important. Invited guest speakers generously shared their personal journeys of finding their passions to exemplify how the students might engage with global issues on a local and grassroots scale.

After feeling a bit overwhelmed by the weight of the world, students were eager to understand how to make these problems approachable. In our final unit on entrepreneurship, the class explored how Silicon Valley entrepreneurs applied a growth mindset—which normalizes and embraces failure to achieve success—to stay innovative and reach for new solutions. Students practiced their own innovation skills through Design Thinking and learned how to collaborate as a team to create stronger ideas. Lastly, the students considered how to take care of their mental health and well-being as they pursue their goals through practicing mindfulness and finding supports.

The program culminated in a final research project where students had the opportunity to take a turn in the instructor’s seat and teach the class about the issues that sparked their passion and curiosity. With a 3–5 minute presentation written and delivered in English, students challenged themselves to apply the communication skills, analysis, and self-reflection they had practiced throughout the course. They rose to the challenge with determination and compassion.

During the in-person closing ceremony, students came up one by one to share their reflections and lessons learned. Many of their statements echoed a similar tune—a confession of a nervous and intimidated mindset at the outset of the program, a desire to push themselves in order to broaden their skills and perspectives, and a goal to continue their learning journeys with empathy as their guide. Hearing the inaugural class’s conviction and sense of growth, I am grateful to have been a part of their education as young leaders, and I look forward to seeing where their curiosity takes them next.

I am enormously grateful to all of the Stanford e-Sendai Ikuei guest speakers for their shared knowledge, experience, and mentorship:

• Esther Priscilla Ebuehi, Birth Equity Analyst, Cherished Futures for Black Moms & Babies
• Kenji Harsch, Associate Clinical Social Worker, Fred Finch Youth & Family Services
• Makiko Hirata, Professional Pianist and 91�Թ� Instructor
• Rebecca Jennison, Professor, Kyoto Seika University
• Sukemasa Kabeyama, Co-Founder and CEO, Uplift Labs
• Gary Mukai, Director, 91�Թ�
• Jennifer Teeter, Lecturer, Kyoto Seika University
• Samanta Vásquez, Social Worker, Office of Refugee Resettlement
• Sam Yee, Senior Program Coordinator, GPI US, and the GPI US Design Team
   

I would like to give a special thank you to Principal Takehiko Katoh, the Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School staff, and my partner coordinator at Sendai Ikuei Gakuen Rina Imagawa for their endless support and assistance to make this course possible.

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This fall, Stanford’s Center for Latin American Studies and 91�Թ� released a new video lecture by Professor Will Fowler, a renowned expert on Mexican history who teaches at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. In the lecture, Fowler presents Mexican perspectives on the Mexican–U.S. War of 1846–1848 and the resulting Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which most Mexicans regard as the most tragic chapter in their history. Professor Fowler also reflects on the consequences of the war for Mexico and how the country remembers the war.

In Mexico, this war is usually referred to as “la intervención estadounidense en México” or “la guerra mexicano-estadounidense,” which translates into English as the “U.S. Intervention in Mexico” or “the Mexican–U.S. War.”

The video is an excerpt from a longer lecture that Professor Fowler gave on the Mexican–U.S. War of 1846–1848 for the Center for Latin American Studies on July 27, 2021. A free classroom-friendly discussion guide for this video was developed by 91�Թ� Curriculum Consultant Greg Francis and is available for download . The objectives of the video lecture and curriculum guide are for students to:

• gain an understanding of Mexico’s experience of the Mexican–U.S. War and the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo;
• examine what led to Mexico’s defeat in the war;
• discuss the consequences and legacy of the war from a Mexican perspective; and
• learn the importance of thinking critically about perspectives in their textbooks and classes.

Among the topics of Fowler’s lecture is the legend of the six boy heroes, or the Niños Héroes, that has become the main symbol and memory of the war in Mexico. The two most well-known depictions of the event are a mural on the ceiling of Chapultepec Castle and the Altar a la Patria (Altar to the Homeland) monument, more commonly called the Monumento a los Niños Héroes, both in Mexico City. The guide presents an activity that engages students in an examination of the Niños Héroes.

In addition, the guide engages students in a review of how their history textbooks treat the U.S.–Mexico War. After reading the textbook excerpt, students respond to these questions.

• According to the textbook passage, how did U.S. leaders and the general public react to the U.S. victory in the war?
• What was most surprising or novel to you about the textbook passage?
• Which actors does the U.S. textbook emphasize? How do these differ from the actors that Professor Fowler emphasized?
• Which perspectives does the textbook cover that Professor Fowler did not, and vice versa?

The video lecture and guide were made possible through the support of U.S. Department of Education National Resource Center funding under the auspices of Title VI, Section 602(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965.

I feel it on my 3-minute walk to campus. At times, it is subtle; the quiet yet furious pace of students late for classes in Building 11. At times, it is pretentious; the Shinjuku laughter of the working men and women in their blue suits, escaping their offices for a night of ramen, beer, and karaoke. It is the pulse of the greatest city on Earth. It is the beat of life that I now see, feel, and hear every day in the heart of Tokyo as a freshman at Waseda University.

Where I grew up, there was a beach. My friends and I often spent time there, especially when the pandemic hit Southern California. It was our getaway from the outside world, a sanctuary of calm instilled by the rolling of waves and the bobbing of dolphins. But it was also a haven to find inspiration in the unrelenting freedom of the seabirds, simple creatures finding the courage to spread their wings and trust in the fortunes of the winds to soar above us all.

Driven by this inspiration, I applied to the Reischauer Scholars Program (RSP), knowing the improbability of being accepted into a competitive program at 91�Թ�. I did not have perfect grades nor the brand name of a famous high school. What I did have was the courage to spread my wings and trust in the fortunes of the winds. I had a story to tell, and unbelievably, RSP Instructor Naomi Funahashi chose to listen.

The course was essentially a retelling of my family’s past, beginning with Amaterasu emerging from darkness to losses in battle during the Genpei War. More relevant and recent to the personal connections and experiences of my own parents, we studied about the Zainichi Koreans and incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII. RSP was my history… as well as my future, as it turns out.

RSP ignited the realization of my deep, hidden connections to Japan. Six months after RSP concluded, I successfully applied to four Japanese universities and chose to study International Relations at Waseda University. I spread my wings as broadly as I could, and the winds took me from the quiet San Diego suburb of Carlsbad (think of Mitsuha’s Itomori) to the maze of skyscrapers and shrines that is downtown Tokyo.

It is funny how one seemingly insignificant decision—for me, having the courage to apply to RSP—can change the course of one’s life. It was in RSP that I began to hear the steady pulse of my homeland beckoning my return. It was RSP that gave me the courage to spread my wings. And it was because of RSP that I now find myself breathing in, savoring and experiencing the energy and adventure that is the lifeblood of my new home, the capital city of Japan: Tokyo.

Stanford e-Wakayama is a new distance-learning course sponsored by the Wakayama Prefectural Board of Education and the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (91�Թ�) at 91�Թ�. For its inaugural year, 30 high school students were selected from throughout the prefecture to learn from experts in the United States about various academic fields through a global lens. Stanford e-Wakayama instructor Makiko Hirata recently wrote these reflections about her trip to Wakayama Prefecture to attend the opening ceremony, which was held on September 9, 2022.

Located on the southwestern part of Kii Peninsula, the largest peninsula in Japan, Wakayama Prefecture has been referred to lovingly as “Ki no Kuni” (the land of trees) since the 7th century for its vast forest that covers much of the region. In the self-introductory letters that I had requested, my new students had been telling me about their hometowns, the beauty of nature, the kindness of people, and the sweetness of fruits. So naturally, I was looking forward to meeting my students as much as getting to know their environment during my three-day visit. What I was not expecting, however, was how meaningful this visit would become to me through the exchanges I was to have with the educators.

The morning after my arrival, Mr. Masanori Toda, Teacher’s Consultant, Prefectural School Education Division, Wakayama Prefectural Board of Education—my counterpart for Stanford e-Wakayama—introduced me to many of the people responsible for launching this program. They all shared their perspectives on education, hopes for the future generations, and visions for Stanford e-Wakayama. Through these conversations, I learned about Wakayama’s rich history and felt Wakayama residents’ love and pride for their prefecture. There are many important historical figures who were from Wakayama Prefecture. When Mr. Izumi Miyazaki, Superintendent at the Board of Education, realized that I had not heard of one of these beloved figures, Kumakusu Minakata, he insisted that he gift one of the many books from his personal library about this polyglot Renaissance man to me.

Mr. Yasuhiro Fukano, Manager at the Board of Education, informed me that one of the priorities at the Wakayama Board of Education is to build competence and confidence in their students’ English—a key to helping students become global citizens.

At Wakayama Prefectural Toin High School, Mr. Fujimura, Vice Principal, and Mr. Fujioka, Instructor, accompanied Mr. Toda, Mr. Keiji Yoshida, also from the Board of Education, and me to different classrooms where various subjects were being taught. At the end of our visit, we spent an hour with Mr. Shingo Sasai, Principal, who explained that the school was established in 1879, and the aforementioned Kumakusu Minakata was one of its first graduates. I was especially moved by how frankly Mr. Sasai and his colleagues delved into some of our most challenging issues in education, from how to support diverse gender expressions at schools to establishing healthy boundaries with social media while incorporating IT in the curriculum to cultivate globalization.

At the opening ceremony, all 30 Stanford e-Wakayama students were present in their school uniforms. Ms. Keiko Okano from the Board of Education served as the emcee. Mr. Fukano and Mr. Toda encouraged the students to challenge themselves outside of their comfort zones, but also to trust their own abilities and knowledge. Dr. Gary Mukai, 91�Թ� Director, gave a speech about the importance of critical thinking, diversity, and empathy, offering glimpses into his own Japanese American family’s history. In my own speech, I expressed my gratitude for the information technologies that allow us these virtual international exchanges, but at the same time cautioned how virtual communications are only supplements to the physical sharing of a space and time. I emphasized how I wanted them to get to know me in ways that were only possibly while we were physically together.

As the ceremony came to a close, each student gave a short speech from a lectern to introduce themselves, stating their future dreams and ambitions. I was impressed. After their speech, I gave each student a personalized handwritten card that I had prepared, and shook their hands.

I was quite moved when many students waited to greet me personally and to offer me a hug, after the ceremony. Hugging is not a part of the Japanese culture, so I felt that with those hugs, the students were expressing their willingness to go out of their comfort zones and embrace our journey together.

I already feel that this trip has had a significant impact on how we will relate to each other through the course of this Stanford e-Wakayama program, and possibly beyond. I am grateful.  

Stanford e-Wakayama is currently one of 11 local student programs in Japan offered by 91�Թ�.

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