The Stanford Program on International and Cross-cultural Education (SPICE) honored two of the top students of the 2010 Reischauer Scholars Program (RSP) at the RSP Japan Day event at Stanford University on August 16, 2010. The RSP, an online course on Japan and U.S.-Japan relations that is offered to high school juniors and seniors across the United States, recognized the students based on their coursework and exceptional research essays.

The event featured opening remarks by Gary Mukai, SPICE Director; Acting Consul General Hideyuki Mitsuoka, Consul General of Japan in San Francisco; and Professor Emeritus Daniel Okimoto, Stanford University. The program was highlighted by presentations by student honorees Rachel Waltman and Jiyoon Lee, who wrote research essays on changing roles of women in the workplace in Japan, and media censorship following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Named in honor of former Ambassador to Japan Edwin O. Reischauer, a leading educator and noted scholar of Japanese history and culture, the RSP annually selects 25-30 exceptional high school juniors and seniors from throughout the United States to engage in intensive study of Japan. Through Internet-based lectures and discussions, the program provides students with a broad overview of Japanese history, literature, religion, art, politics, economics, education, and contemporary society, with a focus on the U.S.-Japan relationship. Prominent scholars affiliated with Stanford University, the University of Tokyo, the University of Hawaii, and other institutions provide lectures and engage students in online dialogue. The RSP received funding for the first three years of the program from the United States-Japan Foundation. Funding for the 2007 and 2008 RSP was provided by the Center for Global Partnership, the Japan Foundation.

The RSP will begin accepting applications for the 2011 program in September 2010. For more information about the RSP, visit www.reischauerscholars.org or contact Naomi Funahashi, RSP coordinator, at nfunahashi@stanford.edu.

During a recent trip to Seoul, May 23–31, 2010, SPICE Director Gary Mukai gave a guest lecture on "19th and Early 20th Century Asian Immigration to the United States" to Hanyang University students enrolled in "Introduction to Comparative Education," which is offered through the College of Education. Professor Rennie Moon (Stanford, PhD ‘09, International Comparative Education) is the instructor of the course. Mr. Mukai encouraged the students to think about similarities and differences between Asian immigrant experiences in the United States with immigrant experiences in contemporary South Korea. Mr. Mukai was especially impressed with the students' comprehension of English. He said, "South Korea should be proud to have students of the caliber of those whom I met in Professor Moon's class."

In addition to her professorship, Professor Moon serves as a curriculum consultant to SPICE. She and others on the SPICE staff (Joon Seok Hong, HyoJung Jang, Se-Woong Koo, and Rylan Sekiguchi) are developing a comprehensive curriculum unit, "Inter-Korean Relations: Rivalry, Reconciliation, and Reunification," for U.S. high school students. This curriculum unit is part three in a three-part Korea-focused series. Part one is titled "U.S.-South Korean Relations" and part two is titled "Uncovering North Korea." Shorenstein APARC and Korean Studies Program Director Professor Gi-Wook Shin, who serves as the primary advisor of the series, is confident that the three-part series will heighten American students' knowledge of and interest in Korea-related issues. He stated, "This series is the first of its kind for U.S. high schools. Educating young Americans about the Korean peninsula and U.S.-Korean relations is critical to the future of the United States." 

Mr. Mukai commented, "When I think about people making a difference in U.S.-Korean relations, I think of scholars like Professor Moon and Professor Shin who educate students on both sides of the Pacific about the critical importance of U.S.-Korean relations." Mr. Mukai hopes that some of Professor Moon's students will consider attending graduate school at Stanford University.

On March 26, 2010, SPICE received the 2010 Franklin Buchanan Prize at the Association for Asian Studies annual conference in Philadelphia. The Buchanan Prize is awarded annually to an outstanding curriculum publication on Asia designed for any educational level, elementary through university. SPICE was recognized for its two-part Korea-focused series, U.S.-South Korean Relations and Uncovering North Korea. The primary authors of the series were Rylan Sekiguchi and Joon Seok Hong. Contributing authors were Rennie Moon and Gary Mukai. Rennie Moon attended the AAS conference to receive the prize on behalf of SPICE. Professors Gi-Wook Shin and John W. Lewis served as primary advisors for the two-part series.

The Buchanan Prize committee noted the following about the two-part series: "In U.S. classrooms, very little is taught about the Korean peninsula, unless it involves the Korean War. This series fills that gap by focusing on a broader perspective and looking at the social, economic, political and cultural development of this region over the past fifty years."

This is the fifth time that SPICE has won the Buchanan Prize since it was established in 1995. The Association for Asian Studies is a scholarly, non-political, non-profit professional association open to all persons interested in Asia and the study of Asia.

On September 7th and 8th, 2009, SPICE director Gary Mukai visited three public high schools in Okinawa as well as the Okinawa AmerAsian School. Most of the students at the Okinawa AmerAsian School have American fathers and Okinawan/Japanese mothers. While visiting the four schools, Gary had the chance to talk with many classes of students about what they would like American high school students to know about Okinawa. SPICE plans to develop a short documentary on AmerAsians during the next year and a comprehensive curricular unit on U.S.-Okinawan relations in the near future.

On September 3 and 4, 2009, SPICE director Gary Mukai and SPICE curriculum consultant Rennie Moon participated in an international academic conference called "Reflections and Prospects of the Understanding Korea Projects," in Seoul. The conference was sponsored by the Academy of Korean Studies.  A primary focus of discussion was on how Korea is being taught in various countries around the world. Gary and Rennie shared an overview of the SPICE curricular unit, U.S.-South Korean Relations, which was written by SPICE curriculum specialists Joon Seok Hong and Rylan Sekiguchi. Stanford Professor Gi-Wook Shin served as the primary academic advisor.