Applications opened today for Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan (SeEJ), an online course conducted in English to foster Japanese students’ creative thinking and innovative problem-solving skills to address social issues. SeEJ is offered twice annually in the fall and spring by the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) at Stanford University and the non-profit organization e-Entrepreneurship in Japan. It is open to Japanese students in their first and second years of high school. The fall 2023 course will be taught by Irene Bryant and will run from late October 2023 through February 2024. 

The application form is now live at https://forms.gle/3JFWsxxq4AB12qKE9. The deadline to apply is September 8, 2023 23:59 Japan Time. 

SeEJ offers students an opportunity to engage with various scholars and entrepreneurs from Stanford University and beyond through its virtual classes, which are held twice a month on Sundays. The course will culminate in an individual research paper and final group projects. Students who successfully complete the course will receive a Certificate of Completion from SPICE and NPO e-Entrepreneurship.

“When I came across this program, I had to look up what the word ‘entrepreneurship’ meant,” said Juria Kawabe, a student in the summer 2022 session of SeEJ. “Three stimulating months later, I now have a clear vision of what entrepreneurship is, a goal that I desire to achieve, and a countless amount of information about our world’s issues.” 

For more information about Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan, visit the program webpage. Interested high school students should apply online by September 8, 2023. 

Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan is one of several online courses offered by SPICE.  To stay updated on SPICE news, join our email list or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Applications opened recently for the Fall 2023 session of the Stanford University Scholars Program for Japanese High School Students (also known as “Stanford e-Japan”), which will run from the end of September 2023 through the end of February 2024. The deadline to apply is August 12, 2023.

Stanford e-Japan
Fall 2023 session (September 2023 to February 2024)
Application period: June 30 to August 12, 2023

All applications must be submitted at https://spicestanford.smapply.io/prog/stanford_e-japan/ via the SurveyMonkey Apply platform. Applicants and recommenders will need to create a SurveyMonkey Apply account to proceed. Students who are interested in applying to the online course are encouraged to begin their applications early.

Accepted applicants will engage in an intensive study of U.S. society and culture and U.S.–Japan relations. Government officials, top scholars, and experts from Stanford University and throughout the United States provide web-based lectures and engage students in live discussion sessions.

Stanford e-Japan is offered by the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE), Stanford University. Stanford e-Japan is generously supported by the Yanai Tadashi Foundation, Tokyo, Japan.

For more information about Stanford e-Japan, please visit stanfordejapan.org.

To stay informed of news about Stanford e-Japan and SPICE’s other student programs, join our email list or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

SPICE offers separate courses for U.S. high school students. For more information, please visit the Reischauer Scholars Program (online course about Japan), the Sejong Korea Scholars Program (online course about Korea), and the China Scholars Program (online course about China).

In March 2022, SPICE released Introduction to Issues in International Security, an online lecture series that was developed by Irene Bryant in consultation with the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). Four CISAC scholars are featured in accessible video lectures that aim to introduce high school students to various global security issues. 

• Biosecurity, by Dr. Megan J. Palmer, Executive Director of Bio Policy and Leadership Initiatives at Stanford University, Adjunct Professor in the department of Bioengineering, and Affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation
• Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide, by Dr. Norman Naimark, Professor of History and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
• International Security and North Korea’s Nuclear Program, by the Honorable Rose Gottemoeller, former Deputy Secretary General of NATO and Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
• Terrorism and Counterterrorism, by Dr. Martha Crenshaw, Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies 

In spring 2023, Dr. Ignacio Ornelas Rodriguez, teacher at San Jose’s Willow Glen High School and lecturer at the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford, introduced Introduction to Issues in International Security to a group of students at Willow Glen High School. Rodriguez’s course culminated in the second International Security Symposium that was held on May 24, 2023. Three representatives of CISAC gathered online with the students. The representatives were Professor Naimark, Post-Doctoral Fellow Dr. Laura Courchesne, and Associate Director of Administration and Finance Kelly Remus. The objectives of the symposium were to offer students a chance to interact with scholars in the field of international security and to learn from the scholars about careers in the field.

During the symposium, Naimark and Courchesne shared thoughts on a teacher(s) in high school or a specific event(s) in high school that had a significant impact on their academic careers and professional careers. This was followed by student presentations, during which the students were given the opportunity to present on one of the four topics covered in Introduction to Issues in International Security. Each student presentation was followed by a question-and-answer session with Naimark, Courchesne, and Remus. 

After the symposium, Rodriguez commented:

I was thankful for the opportunity to provide this educational outreach and collaboration with SPICE. The students are enrolled in the Two-Way Bilingual Immersion program at Willow Glen High School and are highly skilled, analytical, and critical thinkers. They were inspired by the opportunity to learn from Stanford scholars and experts in international security. I look forward to providing more outreach and continuing to collaborate.  

Given the success of the second symposium, CISAC and SPICE hope to expand on the lecture series, which is part of their DEI-focused efforts, and reach more underrepresented minority students. CISAC and SPICE are grateful to Rodriguez for his extraordinary work with the students and to SPICE Event Coordinator Sabrina Ishimatsu for her meticulous planning of the symposium. 

To stay informed of SPICE news, join our email list and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Applications opened this week for Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan (SeEJ), an all-English online course to foster Japanese students’ creative thinking and innovative problem-solving skills to address social issues. SeEJ is offered twice annually in the fall and spring by SPICE and the non-profit organization e-Entrepreneurship in Japan. The instructors are Irene Bryant (fall) and Makiko Hirata (spring). It is open to Japanese students in their first and second years of high school. The spring 2023 course will run from early July through September.

The application form is now live at https://forms.gle/C8gTBAae71yHi5bZ8. The deadline to apply is June 19, 2023 23:59 Japan Time.

SeEJ offers students an opportunity to engage with impactful entrepreneurs from California and beyond through its virtual classes offered twice a month on Sundays. The course will culminate in an individual research paper and final group research projects, the latter of which will be presented at the last virtual class of the course in September. Students who successfully complete the course will receive a Certificate of Completion from SPICE, Stanford University, and NPO e-Entrepreneurship.

Testimonials from recent alumni attest to the transformative experience that the course has offered students since its inaugural year in 2020. Yura Mizutani (fall 2022 SeEJ) wrote about how the course introduced her to more complex, layered, and multidisciplinary approaches to addressing social issues. “Before joining Stanford e-Entrepreneurship, I was passionate about solving social problems from a public policy perspective. Participating in the program has broadened my world enormously, as I have learned that there are many ways to solve social problems from an entrepreneurial perspective as well.”

For more information about Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan, visit the program webpage. To apply, submit the online application by June 19.

Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan is one of several online courses offered by SPICE.

To stay updated on SPICE news, join our email list and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The following is a guest post written by Sarah Sumire Nomoto, who participated in the G7 Hiroshima Junior Conference in Hiroshima Prefecture. Sarah was a participant of the fall 2022 Stanford e-Japan course, which was taught by Meiko Kotani.

I am Sarah Sumire Nomoto. I am 17 years old, and I was born and raised in Hiroshima. My father is American, and my mother is Japanese. In this post, I would like to share thoughts on my experiences at the G7 Hiroshima Junior Conference, which was held from March 27th to 30th, 2023, and was organized by the Citizens Council for the Hiroshima Summit. 

In advance of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, this conference had the aim to have young people from the G7 countries come together to consider, discuss, and deepen understanding about international issues and initiatives and forge a resolution from the perspective of youth. There were 24 high school students participating, including 12 Japanese students from Hiroshima Prefecture and 12 students from the remaining G7 countries: France, the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Italy, and Canada. We were divided into three groups: (1) Peace; (2) Sustainability; (3) Diversity and Inclusion. Because of my background as a Japanese American living in Japan and my mother’s involvement in LGBTQ+ issues in Japan, I have been interested in the topic of diversity from an early age, which led me to join the diversity group.

On the first day, we went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum and listened to a story from a hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor)—something I have experienced many times as a student in Hiroshima. I knew from the Stanford e-Japan program that American students are usually taught the reasons of the bombings, but little of the impact. Then, I saw a lot of G7 country participants getting shocked by the hibakusha’s story and the museum exhibits. After this experience, we talked together about finding the difference between “knowing” and “realizing.” This was exactly the point I had tried to make in my Stanford e-Japan research paper which was coming true in front of me at the G7 Hiroshima Junior Conference.

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The second day marked the start of our group’s focus on the theme of diversity. We went on a study tour which was meant to broaden our cultural horizons. However, we learned and realized that Japanese societal views are often limited to cultural and ethnic diversity, and other critical issues such as gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, disabilities, and generational differences are less discussed. We felt that the perspectives of how our society sees diversity and inclusion must be expanded. 

On the third day, as youth representatives of the G7 countries, we presented our final outcome to Hiroshima Prefecture Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki. We recommended and demanded that youth play key roles in the discussions surrounding diversity and inclusion, as there are many crucial issues that must be addressed now. When we talked about and created our document, I realized how valuable the Stanford e-Japan program had been in preparing me to be involved in discussions like this.

I am currently doing the International Baccalaureate program in high school, and my dream is to raise people’s awareness of global issues through film production. I would like to continue my efforts based on what I have learned at this conference and through Stanford e-Japan.

The following is a guest article written by Yujia Zhai, PhD student at Zhejiang University and Special Research Student at the University of Tokyo. Zhai 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 SPICE Director Dr. Gary Mukai and former CASEER  Director Dr. Hideto Fukudome. SPICE will feature several student reflections on the course in 2023.

Last fall, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Visiting Fellow Gary Mukai, Professor Hideto Fukudome, and several distinguished guest speakers introduced a range of important topics and research hotspots in the field of international and cross-cultural education. This learning journey provided me with a great deal of inspiration, and the discussion with the speakers left a lasting impression on me.

During one of the classes, we discussed the gender gap in STEM education as well as gender inequality in employment, which prompted me to consider the underlying reasons behind these gender inequality phenomena. Even though there are undoubtedly socio-cultural factors at play, I would like to re-examine the issue from the perspective of curriculum based on my research expertise. 

As the main carrier of school education and the primary tool for disseminating human social culture, state-mandated curriculum essentially reflects the values and interests of the dominant class in society and assists to maintain the existing social hierarchy. Obviously, studying gender inequality in the curriculum, particularly fathoming the role of the curriculum in the reproduction of gender culture and its operating mechanism, will be of great significance to the reconstruction of school curriculum culture and the richer realization of gender equality education.

After careful inspection of the reality of Chinese education, I have noticed that gender inequality exists in several areas including curriculum content selection, the teaching process, and evaluation methods. Besides their higher representation in Chinese school textbooks, males are more often depicted as knowledgeable and highly capable people who are engaged in creative and indispensable jobs, whereas females are portrayed as ignorant and ill-informed, holding low-status, auxiliary roles, and frequently appear in domestic contexts. This gender discourse—imperceptibly suggested by the content of the textbooks—is continuously instilled in students’ minds, potentially shaping their thoughts and behaviors in the future.

In addition, different expectations held by teachers depending on gender will result in divergent interaction and evaluation methods adopted in common classroom settings. Male students are more frequently called on to answer questions in classrooms and assigned tasks that require more physical strength and intelligence, whereas female students are assigned simple and tedious tasks that only require attention and patience. What’s more, it might seem quite inexplicable that teachers may not hesitate too much to give criticism or punishment to male students, which possibly could be regarded as concern, love, or motivation for female students. In essence, these actions will ultimately lead to the separation of male and female students in the process of learning, inherently causing serious consequences for the students’ future intellectual development, academic achievements, and career choices.

To address the issues outlined above, we must strive to eliminate the influence of traditional gender ideology on the curriculum via regarding gender equality as the primary principle and basis for the selection of curriculum knowledge. Curriculum experts, local education administrators, gender research experts, women’s federation staffs, female teachers, representative matriarchs, and female students should all be involved in the development of curriculum, ensuring that both men and women have equal rights to behave and speak. Only by promoting a culture of gender equality and advocating the concept of gender equality through curriculum reform can we create a gender-equal school environment, achieve true educational equity, and advance the harmonious development of society.

The following is a guest article written by Jonas Timson, a graduate student at the University of Tokyo. Timson 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 SPICE Director Dr. Gary Mukai and former CASEER Director Dr. Hideto Fukudome. SPICE will feature several student reflections on the course in 2023.

Last fall, I enrolled in the course “Introduction to International and Cross-Cultural Education.” The reason why I took this course is that I was genuinely curious about how international and cross-cultural awareness and understanding is actually taught academically. As a person born in a bicultural family, international and cross-cultural understanding has been a concept surrounding me naturally in some sense, and I wasn’t completely sure whether I had been giving careful consideration regarding its true nature. 

Two of the most impressive aspects of this course were (1) the stories of Chinese and Japanese immigrants’ footpaths to the Angel Island Immigration Station—through which thousands of Asian immigrants passed—and (2) the background of Japanese war brides. During the lectures on these two topics, I thought of the following questions: How did Chinese immigrants contribute to the development of the Transcontinental Railroad? How did the detainment and interrogation of Chinese at the Angel Island Immigration Station affect them? What was the fate of Japanese immigrants and their descendants during World War II? What was life like for Japanese women who married American soldiers after World War II? How are people today helping to educate and enlighten others about these experiences? 

While contemplating these questions, I realized that every person who appeared in the stories that were shared had also helped to shape America, and none of them can be ignored. In Japan as well, there are cases where people from foreign countries—such as immigrants in ancient times and foreign inhabitants in the Meiji Era—have contributed to the development of the country. Also, it is a fact that many immigrants are taking part in Japanese society today, including the labor industry. Through this class, I could apply what I learned from the course to the context of Japan today. The course also made me realize that these people and their various contributions to Japanese society should not be ignored.

However, even if we accept such an understanding, it is not easy to develop empathy for those who are different from you. I suppose that the ability to see oneself in others is important to develop and increase mutual understanding. In order to do so, starting from knowing oneself is important. Looking at not only one’s footpath, but also one’s country will help to raise awareness and make oneself better. In fact, by practicing “mindfulness,” that is to say, by improving self knowledge, we can certainly pay attention to others and embrace them. The session on mindfulness given by the guest teacher, Dr. Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu, gave the class many hints for practicing mutual understanding.

We also learned about culturally relevant curriculum in this course. According to UNESCO (2023), culturally relevant (or responsive) curriculum is “a curriculum that respects learners’ cultures and prior experiences and it acknowledges and values the legitimacy of different cultures—not just the dominant culture of a society—and encourages intercultural understanding.” As I mentioned previously, the class gave me an opportunity to learn about Japanese and Chinese immigrants, Angel Island, Japanese war brides, and other related topics. Taking a look back at my family’s history, my ancestors were also immigrants to America. My father is also an immigrant to Japan. They must have overcome lots of hardships to settle and make a stable life in the new countries to which they moved. I have been conscious about my roots, but through this course, I came to understand my roots more deeply and to more fully appreciate immigrants in the society around me as familiar and highly relevant. Indeed, this course was deeply culturally relevant to me.

Japan is becoming increasingly diverse. The number of immigrants and the number of children born in multicultural families is gradually increasing. The foreign population in Japan reached a record high of 3,070,000 at the end of December 2022 (NHK World-Japan News, 2023). Japan is literally moving towards a multicultural symbiosis society stage by stage. It is important for all of us to aim for a better society of well-being in our lives by being conscious of diversity and inclusion.

Lastly, I happened to meet a graduate student from another school at the University of Tokyo the other day. Like me, he was also born in a multicultural family. I am somewhat older than him, but though we had just met, I was surprised to hear what he said. “Thanks to the great efforts of predecessors who were born in multicultural families like you, Japan today is now in a more culturally aware age for people born under a similar situation. You are also one of them. I owe you very much.” This is actually what I have been thinking every day towards members of multicultural families in Japan who came before me. Yes, today’s society is built upon the effort of predecessors. I didn’t think I was going to hear those kinds of words from a younger person, but by his words, I thought I might have been contributing a little to the cultural diversity and inclusiveness of Japanese society. 

The course “Introduction to International and Cross-Cultural Education” had a very great impact on me. By applying what I’ve learned effectively, I hope to live as one who contributes positively to cross-cultural awareness and diversity and a society based on inclusiveness through mutual understanding. 

References: 

“Number of foreign nationals in Japan climbs to record high of over 3 million,” NHK World-Japan News, 24 March 2023. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230324_21/.

“IBE Glossary of curriculum terminology,” UNESCO Digital Library, 24 March 2023, https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000223059.