As a young student in San Jose in the 1960s and early 1970s, I used to see Norman Mineta on occasion in San Jose’s Japantown. Once at Jackson Barber Shop in Japantown, Norm was on the barber chair. After he left, barbers Takeo and Atsuo Fukuda asked me if I knew who he was. I didn’t, and Takeo told me that he was Norman Mineta, vice mayor of San Jose. That was the first time that I sat next to him, and the last time (photo above) was on September 20, 2019, just a few months prior to the pandemic.

Since that day at Jackson Barber Shop, I recognized Norm whenever I saw him in Japantown, in the San Jose Mercury News, and in the national news. Whenever I met with him as mayor, congressman, or secretary, I was struck by how he remembered members of my family in San Jose. His capacity for empathy is something that I have admired since my youth and aspire to in my adulthood. Norm’s passing on May 3, 2022 prompted me to recall our work together on several education-focused projects that were deeply personal to him and to me.

Norm’s life story—including his family’s incarceration in Heart Mountain Relocation Center by the U.S. government during World War II—is eloquently captured in the remembrance, “Remembering Mineta as unselfish American,” which was written by Daniel Okimoto, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University. Norm’s life is also brilliantly captured in the film, Norman Mineta and His Legacy: An American Story, by Dianne Fukami and Debra Nakatomi, Mineta Legacy Project. According to Fukami and Nakatomi, the film is about injustice and redemption, and Norm’s burning desire for all people to be treated equally. That desire was influenced greatly by his childhood incarceration experience. I often heard Norm talk about the anguish and heartbreak he felt as a 10-year-old when his family was taken from their San Jose home in 1942 and he was forced to leave behind his dog, Skippy.

In the early 2000s, I consulted with him about SPICE’s curricular work on a comprehensive curriculum unit that focused on the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and a teacher’s guide for the film, Uncommon Courage: Patriotism and Civil Liberties, directed by gayle yamada. The curriculum helps to raise public awareness concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices experienced by certain communities—something that Norm experienced first-hand as a child. The teacher’s guide helps teachers to set the context for and to debrief the viewing of the film that tells the story of the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) during World War II and the Allied Occupation of Japan. Approximately 6,000 MIS soldiers, primarily Japanese American, fought for the United States in the Pacific, interrogating Japanese prisoners, translating documents, intercepting communications, and infiltrating enemy lines. Many of the soldiers volunteered from the incarceration camps. While developing the guide, I spoke to Norm about many of the MIS soldiers whom he knew and also about his experiences as an intelligence officer in Japan and Korea in the 1950s.

When I was a board member of the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation, Norm (as one of the founding members of the Memorial) supported the development of educational resources on the Memorial in Washington, DC, which I developed back in the early 2000s with Kerry Yo Nakagawa, Director, Nisei Baseball Research Project. Norm’s quote is inscribed on one of the walls of the Memorial. It reads,

In addition, my colleague, Rylan Sekiguchi, and I had the honor of working in collaboration with the Mineta Legacy Project—specifically with Norm, Dianne Fukami, Debra Nakatomi, and Amy Watanabe—on the development of a comprehensive web-based curriculum called “What Does It Mean to Be an American?” Inspired by the life and career of Norm, the six themed lessons are: Immigration, Civil Liberties & Equity, Civic Engagement, Justice & Reconciliation, Leadership, and U.S.–Japan Relations. Norm also joined Sekiguchi and members of the Mineta Legacy Project in introducing the curriculum at several venues, including the U.S.-Japan Council annual conference in Tokyo (November 2018); National Council of History Education conference in Washington, DC (March 2019); Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California (April 2019); and the National Council for the Social Studies annual conference in Austin, Texas (November 2019). Note: The photo above was taken at the National Council of History Education conference, Washington, DC; Secretary Norman Mineta with Nakatomi (left) and Fukami (right) and Sekiguchi.

Lastly, in spring of 2021, I was asked by Stanford’s Center for East Asian Studies for recommendations for a keynote speaker for the CEAS commencement. The first person who came to mind was Norm, and he accepted CEAS’s invitation. I will always remember his important words—that there are two things to always cherish and to hold dear to your heart no matter what the situation. These are your name and integrity.

During the keynote address, my mind periodically drifted back to my first encounter with Norm at Jackson Barber Shop. Today, May 30, 2022, Memorial Day, I walked past the location of where Jackson Barber Shop once stood. I recalled the first time that I saw Norm and remembered Atsuo and Takeo, who are shown in the photo (1950s) above where Takeo (near the window) is cutting my father’s hair and Atsuo is cutting the hair of one of my father’s best friends. Takeo and Atsuo’s family was in the same block as my father and his family in Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona. Takeo used to cut my hair, and I remember talking with him about one of my relatives, Hachiro Mukai, who was drafted into the U.S. Army from Poston and was killed in action in France. Norm wanted Hachiro’s story (and others like it) to be transmitted to future generations. I will always remember that and his support of SPICE’s educational efforts over the years. Note: Photo of Jackson Barber Shop, courtesy Chiyo Fukuda.

At the COPANI XX conference in San Francisco, I shared the photo of Jackson Barber Shop with Norm and we shared not only some sadness about the bygone years of many Japantown businesses but also some laughter too, as he said that I still needed a haircut.

In 2015, SPICE launched Stanford e-Japan, an online course for high school students in Japan that is generously supported by the Yanai Tadashi Foundation, Tokyo, Japan. The two key objectives of Stanford e-Japan are to introduce the students to U.S.–Japan relations and to also encourage the students to consider studying in the United States. Since then, many Stanford e-Japan alumni have spent time or are spending time studying at U.S. colleges as exchange students and as four-year undergraduates. The two Stanford e-Japan instructors are Waka Brown (spring course) and Meiko Kotani (fall course). On May 13, 2022, Brown organized and facilitated a session that introduced her students to opportunities to study abroad.

The session began with comments by Chizuru Sasada, Senior EducationUSA Advisor of Fulbright Japan; Vincent Flores, EducationUSA Regional Educational Advising Coordinator for Northeast Asia and the Pacific; and Kaede Ishidate, an intern at EducationUSA and student at Harvard University. EducationUSA is a U.S. Department of State network of international student advising centers in many countries and territories that provides free advice and comprehensive information to prospective students wishing to study at U.S. colleges and universities. Sasada and Flores offered advice on studying abroad and noted, “There’s nothing like ‘being there!’” and fielded questions from the Stanford e-Japan students on topics such as college application essays, balancing extracurricular activities, and letters of recommendation.

After the comments by Sasada, Flores, and Ishidate, the Stanford e-Japan students were offered the opportunity to meet with Japanese students who are currently studying at colleges abroad in breakout groups. The breakout groups were led by the following college students:

• Ryusei Best Hayashi (University of California, Berkeley) is majoring in Business Administration and Political Science and was a participant in the Stanford e-Japan Spring 2020 course. He is half-Mexican and half-Japanese, and was born in Mexico. He studied at Aoba-Japan International School, Tokyo.
• Anna Matsumoto (Stanford University) is studying Mechanical Engineering. She is a Yanai Tadashi Scholar and is from Tokushima, Japan. She attended Tokushima Bunri High School, Tokushima. The New York Times featured her in an article in 2021.
• Ayano Shirakawa (University of British Columbia, Canada) participated in the Stanford e-Japan Spring 2019 course and is studying at UBC Sauder School of Business majoring in Commerce and minoring in Law & Society. She was born and raised in Kobe, Japan, and attended the Canadian Academy.
• Keilyn Tai (Brigham Young University) grew up in Hong Kong before moving to Japan to attend high school at Shibuya Makuhari Senior High School, Chiba, Japan. She participated in the Stanford e-Japan Fall 2020 course. She is considering Computer Science as a major.
• Hannah Tauchi (University of California, San Diego) is majoring in Bioengineering with a focus on biotechnology. She participated in the Stanford e-Japan Spring 2017 course and was a student at Futaba High School, Tokyo. She is a Yanai Tadashi Scholar.
   

Reflecting on the breakout sessions, the Stanford e-Japan students shared takeaways from their discussions about the college admission process. These included:

• Scholarship opportunities such as the Yanai Tadashi Foundation International Scholarship Program
• Extracurriculars and internship programs
• Mental health and life-study balance
• Initiative-taking
• English abilities
• Liberal arts colleges vs. research universities
   

In closing, Brown underscored the importance of the takeaways, encouraged her students to explore new opportunities, and also reassured them that it is okay if they as high school students do not yet know what they want to do in their lives. She also noted the importance of a good “college fit.” Reflecting upon the session, she noted, “I am so grateful to Sasada-san, Vincent, Kaede, the Yanai Scholars, and Stanford e-Japan alumni for the insight that they provided my students. I wish that I had such invaluable advice when I was a high school student.”

Reflecting on the session, Ishidate noted, “I was very impressed by the students from the Stanford e-Japan program who were all highly motivated and eager to ask questions about study abroad opportunities in the U.S. It was encouraging to see that they have access to the right resources and even more, that they have the mindset to expand their horizons and pursue their goals. While I was only able to speak with them for a short amount of time, I myself felt inspired by the students to continue my own academic journey!”

The following is Part 8 of a multiple-part series. To read previous installments in this series, please visit the following articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7.

Since December 8, 2020, SPICE has posted seven articles that highlight reflections from 57 students on the question, “What does it mean to be an American?” Part 8 features eight additional reflections.

The free educational website “What Does It Mean to Be an American?” offers six lessons on immigration, civic engagement, leadership, civil liberties & equity, justice & reconciliation, and U.S.–Japan relations. The lessons encourage critical thinking through class activities and discussions. On March 24, 2021, SPICE’s Rylan Sekiguchi was honored by the Association for Asian Studies for his authorship of the lessons that are featured on the website, which was developed by the Mineta Legacy Project in partnership with SPICE.

Since the website launched in September 2020, SPICE has invited students to review and share their reflections on the lessons. Below are the reflections of eight students. I am grateful to Dr. Ignacio Ornelas, Teacher, Willow Glen High School, San Jose, California, and Aya Shehata, Hilo High School, Hawai’i, for their support with this edition. The reflections below do not necessarily reflect those of the SPICE staff.

Renn Guard, North Carolina
Americans often have the privilege of being a part of many communities that help define themselves as complex, unique individuals. The past few years have demonstrated that our communities define America, a prospect that can be both concerning and hopeful. After the 2021 Atlanta spa shooting, many questioned what “Asian American” has meant and what it could mean. I observed the Asian American community connect over both their pain and frustration with the current state of the country and their hopes for a brighter future. Outside the Asian American community, many other groups, both intersecting and not, also came to sit in solidarity, reminding me that American values are rooted in communities that uphold understanding, inclusivity, and respect.

Emi Hiroshima, California
By many, America is known as the “Land of Opportunity.” Certainly, this is what my great grandparents thought when they immigrated to the U.S. from Japan in the early 1900s. Although some may say it’s a less than ideal place to live, I think it provides more opportunities than other countries for those willing to try. In some countries, it is difficult for a woman to pursue certain careers or even to receive an education. They aren’t given the opportunity to even try. I believe America has a long way to go in terms of gender equality or equality for all, but women are surrounded with more chances because of others who pushed for women’s rights throughout history. In America, we are not guaranteed success, but we are provided the opportunity to always try.

Keona Marie Matsui, Hawai’i
To me, being American means being free. I am free to embrace my Japanese and Filipino heritage. I am free to learn and celebrate other cultures. I am free to express myself through my physical appearance and my words. I am free to speak another language and learn many more. I am free to take advantage of the opportunities in America. But being an Asian American means that I’m stuck between identities. I was born in America, half Filipino and half Japanese, but I wasn’t born in either country. I don’t speak Tagalog or Japanese fluently; I speak English. I’m not blonde-haired or blue-eyed. I grew up in Hawai’i, surrounded by people with similar situations. Our unique experiences and identities are what make up America—and what makes us American.

Jyoti Souza, Hawai’i
That is a complicated question. Some glorify being American because they immigrated from impoverished home countries. Others are ignorant to this country’s history and its current situation, or they simply do not care. For me, this country acted as a home for my grandparents who immigrated from poverty in South America. Though I am grateful for America’s seemingly open arms, it has changed vastly or never changed at all. More people are fighting against laws and bias in our government. The LGBTQ+ community asks for more freedom, African Americans demand justice, and people opposed to an election attack the White House. Some people call themselves American because of their skin color and label any others as outsiders or invaders. On the surface, being American seems like freedom and justice for all, but deep inside, it’s anything but.

Sharika Thaploo, Ohio
Growing up as a first-generation immigrant in America, the idea that America was built on the great enlightenment ideals of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” was drilled into me. But to me, America meant assimilation through what I had learned from my experience in this country. I initially believed that to succeed and prosper socially I would have to discard parts of my identity that were essential to my culture. I spent time adjusting to what I believed it meant to be American. But gradually, I saw the way my identity as an Indian American affected all my decisions and my worldview. To me, being an American is bringing ideas and cultural identities into this country to make yourself and the people around you better.

Taelynn Thomas, California
I view the term “American” as an identity. American is a label that represents that you are proud of what America is as a whole and that you stand with this country. A part of identifying as American means being aware that America, as a country, is not perfect and there are still challenges people face based on their race, social status, and more. This is not to say that we don’t try to fix issues in our society. There are programs that provide help for people with lower income. So, no, America isn’t perfect. But the American people can help change it in a positive way. So, when someone asks me what it means to be American, I say an American is a person who is proud of this country but still understands that we need change and is not afraid to help change this country for the better.

Hector Vela, California
Being American is a title but, to me, it’s an idea. In our history, many ethnicities from across the world came to the “land of the free,” but at times weren’t treated that way. So, we changed our mindset to include many ethnicities and make it an ideal place for anyone. We evolved because people recognized the flaws and we fixed them. It is up to us to expand the acceptance of different cultures and make a safe place for future generations. What will we do to shape America into something we can be proud and happy of? To say, “I am a proud American,” we must embrace our differences and use them to make America an ideal and safe place for everyone now and in the future.

Katherine Xu, Ohio
For me, the inherent beauty and ongoing question of being an American is embodied in our country’s motto: E pluribus unum (out of many, one). We are a group of individual “I’s” who have agreed to band together as a “we.” However, the issue has been to constantly question who is (or is not) included in that “we,” and how we redefine and reimagine it. Overall, we’ve succeeded in developing a better comprehensive knowledge of ourselves and acceptance of one another. However, we have historically wavered and are now at a crossroads: will we progress toward a broader meaning of “we” or will we regress to a narrower one? That is essentially the question—with all of its aspirations and fears—at the core of what it means to be an American, both personally and collectively.

 

SPICE is currently accepting applications for the Fall 2022 term of the China Scholars Program, an intensive, college-level online course on contemporary China for U.S. high school students. The China Scholars Program (CSP) is open to rising 10th, 11th, and 12th graders across the United States.

Stanford University China Scholars Program for high school students
Fall 2022 session (late August through December)
Application period: April 25 to June 15, 2022

Designed to provide high-achieving high school students a rich and comprehensive online learning experience, the CSP offers college-level instruction provided by scholars from Stanford University and other top-tier colleges and universities that is unparalleled in other distance-learning courses for high school students. During the synchronous virtual classroom sessions, students engage in live discourse with Stanford professors, leading scholars from other universities and organizations, and former diplomats. This unique opportunity to learn directly from noted scholars at the cutting edge of their fields is a distinctive element of the China Scholars Program. Students who complete the course will be equipped with a rare degree of expertise about China and international relations that may have a significant impact on their choice of study and future career.

“This program has been one of the most enriching and fun ones I’ve gotten the chance to participate in,” said Sana Pandey, a recent alum of the program. “I’m beyond grateful to have had the opportunity. Especially during the chaos of COVID and the initial phases of quarantine, CSP was an amazing anchor and a way to make sure I was intellectually engaged while the rest of the world seemed to stagnate. I honestly loved every second.”

More information on the China Scholars Program is available at http://chinascholars.org. Interested high school students should apply now at https://spicestanford.smapply.io/prog/china_scholars_program/. The deadline to apply is June 15, 2022.

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The China Scholars Program is one of several online courses offered by SPICE, Stanford University.

Mayor Norihiko Fukuda of Kawasaki City—the sixth most populous city in Japan—spoke during the closing ceremony of Stanford e-Kawasaki on March 29, 2022. The ceremony marked the end of the third-year offering of Stanford e-Kawasaki, which is taught by Instructor Maiko Tamagawa Bacha. Nineteen students representing Kawasaki High School and Tachibana High School successfully completed the course and each received a certificate from Mayor Fukuda as Bacha announced each student’s name.

Stanford e-Kawasaki focuses on two themes, entrepreneurship and diversity. In Mayor Fukuda’s comments to students, he noted that with people coming from across and outside of Japan to Kawasaki, the city has developed to become a city of 1.54 million people and one of the most diverse cities in Japan. Given this, Fukuda underscored the importance of having students value diversity, and stated, “I want young people in Kawasaki to appreciate this core value.” He continued,

This year’s course featured a diverse group of speakers, including a panel of Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program alumni who spoke about diversity in the United States. The panelists included Jeffrey Fleischman, Cerell Rivera, and Kai Wiesner-Hanks, who spoke on topics such as ethnic diversity, gender equality and identity, religious diversity, and cultural diversity. Bacha is a former Advisor for Educational Affairs at the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco and one of her major responsibilities was overseeing the JET Program. She commented, “It was particularly gratifying for me to provide a platform for JET alumni to continue to offer their support to students in Japan.” Other sessions were led by Dr. Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu who addressed the central question, “What is diversity?,” and also discussed diversity issues in Japan, and Stanford graduate student Alinea Tucker, who spoke on “Black Lives Matter.”

In the area of entrepreneurship, Miwa Seki, General Partner, M Power Partners, provided perspectives as an investor, and Sukemasa Kabayama, Founder and CEO of Uplift Labs, shared his journey as an entrepreneur in Japan and in the United States.

A highlight of the closing ceremony was the announcement of the two honorees of Stanford e-Kawasaki. They are Sayaka Kiyotomo from Kawasaki High School and Anne Fukushima from Tachibana High School.

Reflecting on the three years of teaching the course, Bacha noted, “Since the inception of Stanford e-Kawasaki, Mayor Fukuda’s unwavering commitment has without a doubt contributed greatly to the success of the course. The students and I have always felt his support.” After the ceremony, Mayor Fukuda brought the students to one of his meeting rooms and engaged them in informal discussions. His formal and informal comments were very inspirational to the students.

I am most grateful to Mayor Norihiko Fukuda for his vision and for making this course possible. I would also like to express my appreciation to Mr. Nihei and Mr. Katsurayama from the Kawasaki Board of Education; and Mr. Abe, Mr. Tanaka, Mr. Kawato, and especially Mr. Inoue from Kawasaki City for their unwavering support. Importantly, I would like to express my appreciation to Principal Iwaki and his staff of Kawasaki High School and Principal Takai and his staff from Tachibana High School for their engagement with Stanford e-Kawasaki. An article in Japanese about the closing ceremony that was published by Kawasaki City can be found here.

For 25 years, Education About Asia Editor Dr. Lucien Ellington has interviewed the winners of the Franklin R. Buchanan Prize, awarded annually to recognize an outstanding pedagogical, instructional, or curriculum publication on Asia designed for K–12 and college undergraduate instructors and students. The 2021 winner was SPICE’s Rylan Sekiguchi for the online curriculum package What Does It Mean to Be an American? This was the third time that Sekiguchi has won the Prize.

Developed by the Mineta Legacy Project in partnership with SPICE, this free educational curriculum offers six lessons for educators, high school students, and college students to examine what it means to be American. The six lessons focus on immigration, civil liberties & equity, civic engagement, justice & reconciliation, leadership, and U.S.–Japan relations.

The six standards-aligned lessons use primary source materials, interactive exercises, and personal videos that connect to students’ lives and showcase a diverse range of American voices—from young adults to former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, whose replies to “What does it mean to be an American?” are highlighted here.

The full interview can be found here.

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

In August 2022, top students of the Spring 2021 the Fall 2021 Stanford e-Japan course will be honored through an event at Stanford University.

The three Fall 2021 honorees—Yohei Kiguchi (Chiba Prefectural Chiba Senior High School, Chiba), Mio Kobayashi (Shirayuri Gakuen, Tokyo), and Tomoka Matsushima (Senri International School, Osaka)—will be recognized for their coursework and exceptional research essays that focused respectively on “The Key to Japan’s Diversity,” “Laws: Advocates or Enemies of Equality?” and “The First Ladies of the United States: The Ever-Evolving Role of Societal Influence and Issues.”

Ayuki Ichikawa (Keio Senior High School, Kanagawa) and Saya Miyake (Keio Girls High School, Tokyo) received Honorable Mentions for their research papers that focused respectively on “Peer Counseling: A Solution to the Identity Crisis Problem with Students in Japan” and “Future-Oriented Democracy: A New Proposal to Tackle Silver Democracy in Japan and the United States.”

In the Fall 2021 session of Stanford e-Japan, 26 students successfully completed the course. The students represented the following schools: Chiba Prefectural Chiba Senior High School (Chiba); Hibarigaoka Gakuen Senior High School (Hyogo); Hiroshima Jogakuin High School (Hiroshima); Hokkaido Kushiro Koryo High School (Hokkaido); Kasukabe High School (Saitama); Keimei Gakuen (Tokyo); Keio Girls Senior High School (Tokyo); Keio Senior High School (Kanagawa); Kyoto Prefectural Rakuhoku Senior High School (Kyoto); Matsuyama Higashi High School (Ehime); Mita International School (Tokyo); Musashi High School (Tokyo); Nagasaki Prefectural Isahaya High School (Nagasaki); Niijima Gakuen (Gunma); Nirayama High School (Shizuoka); Oita Hofu High School (Oita); Okayama Joto High School (Okayama); Okinawa Shogaku High School (Okinawa); Senior High School at Otsuka, University of Tsukuba (Tokyo); Senri International School of Kwansei Gakuin (Osaka); Shirayuri Gakuen High School (Tokyo); Tennoji Senior High School, Osaka Kyoiku University (Osaka); Tohoku International School (Miyagi); Tokyo Gakugei University International Secondary School (Tokyo); Toyo Eiwa Senior High School (Tokyo); Waseda University Senior High School (Tokyo); and Yashiro High School (Nagano).

For more information about the Stanford e-Japan Program, please visit stanfordejapan.org. The application period for Fall 2022 will begin July 1, 2022.

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

Through the droning mumble of a crowd, I heard the faint sound of a shamisen. A loud smack followed by excited shouts distracted me; a sumo wrestler meandered away from the scene. The unfamiliar talking robots, bunraku puppet theater performances, and sumo wrestling that I first encountered at the “Bridges to Japan” cultural exhibit at the Indiana State Fair fostered a general interest in East Asia, which later evolved into a passion for Japan, U.S.–Japan relations, and international affairs.

Entering high school, I read every book on Japan in my local library and developed a passion for Shingon Buddhism. Joining the Reischauer Scholars Program (RSP), an online program for U.S. high school students nationwide to learn about Japan and U.S.–Japan relations, gave me the opportunity to turn my passion into a career.

Across the program’s 13 units, I learned about Japan’s modern history, culture, politics, and society. Along the way, I developed an interest in the program’s namesake—U.S. Ambassador to Japan Edwin O. Reischauer. Lectures from national renowned scholars on U.S.–Japan relations and conversations with Japanese students in the RSP’s sister program, e-Japan, let me compare the public education systems of the U.S. and Japan and better understand my background as a homeschooler from the American Midwest. As I presented my end-of-course research for the RSP to former Consul General Jun Yamada and Ambassador (Ret.) Michael Armacost, I knew I wanted to dedicate my life to U.S.–Japan relations, driving me to pursue a career in international affairs inspired by Ambassador Reischauer’s legacy.

I have drawn from what I learned in the RSP every day since completing the program. Majoring in East Asian Languages and Cultures at Indiana University, the RSP provided me with a strong foundation to study and research the political and economic environment of East Asia. Working at U.S. Embassy Tokyo, I used my knowledge of U.S.–Japan trade relations when writing one pagers and daily action reports for the Embassy’s Economic Section. At the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), I directly contributed to the sustainment of Amb. Reischauer’s legacy by conducting research on East Asian political economy and technology policy with the center’s director—the last PhD student of Amb. Reischauer. I never would have known about these opportunities without the RSP.

As I begin working with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Japanese Affairs this coming summer, I will try to continue honoring the Reischauer legacy through my work. The RSP fundamentally changed the course of my life and set me on the path I walk today. It gave me the tools and knowledge I needed to succeed and gave me exposure to Japan during my high school studies that wouldn’t have been possible in-person in my home state of Indiana. For any high school student interested in East Asia, there is no better way to learn about Japan, U.S.–Japan relations, and East Asia.

Yo-Yo Ma conceived Silkroad in 1998 “as a reminder that even as rapid globalization resulted in division, it brought extraordinary possibilities for working together. Seeking to understand this dynamic, he recognized the historical Silk Road as a model for cultural collaboration—for the exchange of ideas, tradition, and innovation across borders. In a groundbreaking experiment, he brought together musicians from the lands of the Silk Road to co-create a new artistic idiom: a musical language founded in difference, a metaphor for the benefits of a more connected world.”[1] The Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education has been collaborating with Silkroad since 2002.

On April 6, 2022, Silkroad will be performing at Stanford University. Silkroad Ensemble: Home Within will feature Syrian-born clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh and Syrian Armenian visual artist Kevork Mourad. Azmeh’s and Mourad’s bios on the Silkroad website read in part:

Hailed as a “virtuoso, intensely soulful” by The New York Times and “spellbinding” by The New Yorker. Syrian-born, Brooklyn-based genre-bending composer and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh has been touring the globe with great acclaim as a soloist, composer and improviser… He is a graduate of The Juilliard School, the Damascus High Institute of Music, and Damascus University’s School of Electrical Engineering. Kinan holds a doctorate in music from the City University of New York.

Kevork Mourad was born in Kamechli, Syria. Of Armenian origin, he received an MFA from the Yerevan Institute of Fine Arts and now lives and works in New York. His past and current projects include the Cirène project with members of Brooklyn Rider at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the multimedia play Lost Spring (2015) with Anaïs Alexandra Tekerian, at the MuCEM, Gilgamesh (2003) and Home Within (2013) with Kinan Azmeh in Damascus and at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, among others…

In 2016, SPICE developed a study guide to accompany Art in a Time of Crisis, a conversation between Kinan Azmeh and Yo-Yo Ma about what it means to create art in the face of crisis and violence at home. The interview and study guide are recommended for music, social studies, and language arts courses at the high school level and above. Please note that neither the interview nor study guide delves into the specifics of the Syrian uprising in March 2011 and the Syrian Civil War.

The focusing questions in the study guide are:

• What is the meaning of “crisis”?
• What are some examples of times of crisis?
• What are some ways to deal with crisis?
• What role can art play during times of crisis?
• What can an individual do to help facilitate change?
   

I believe that comments from Kinan Azmeh and Yo-Yo Ma can inspire youth to consider the importance of these questions in their lives and the relevance of these questions to the events unfolding in the world today and to consider art as a form of soft power. I admire how they seek to empower and offer youth hope. During a segment of the interview, Yo-Yo Ma asks,

Kinan Azmeh replied, “Absolutely. But... the first thing on your mind is not ‘Let me create beauty.’ I think creating beauty or whatever moves people [is] the side effect of you being passionately involved in doing what you’re doing.” After students view the interview, I wonder how they might reply to Yo-Yo Ma’s question.

On March 22, 2022, APARC's Japan Program welcomed a delegation from the Embassy of Japan in the United States and the Consulate-General of Japan in San Francisco, including Ambassador Koji Tomita and Consul-General Hiroshi Kawamura, who met with a joint panel of scholars and administrators from Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley for a discussion about fostering a greater understanding of Japan studies in the United States.

APARC Deputy Director and Japan Program Director Kiyoteru Tsutsui presented data on enrollment and employment statistics for Japanese studies in higher education. According to the report, Japanese studies have been in a slow state of decline since the late 1980s, when many in the United States viewed Japan as an economic threat and the country was not as well-understood as it is today. Despite this decline, students today are still very interested in studying Japan and are eager to visit the country.

Naomi Funahashi, Manager of the Reischauer Scholars Program and Teacher Professional Development at the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE), presented outcomes from SPICE's outreach efforts and promotion of Japanese studies in the K-14 context. Funahashi indicated strong interest in and engagement with SPICE curricular units focused on Japan and with its local student programs in six regions, one university, and two high schools in Japan.

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Professor Junko Habu, Chair of the Center for Japanese Studies (CJS) and Professor of Anthropology at UC Berkeley, along with Kumi Sawada Hadler, Program Director of CJS, described logistical challenges Japan scholars have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the inability to access the country under lockdown, and indicated that, across the board, universities are not providing as much support for Japanese studies as they used to, especially in terms of endowed faculty positions and departmental "slots" specifically for Japan specialists.

Ambassador Tomita and Consul-General Kawamura agreed that more support was needed to bolster scholarships of Japan. Ambassador Tomita stated that over his long career, he has seen the theoretical focus of Japan studies in the United States shift away from bilateral relations between the two countries toward the region at large. He noted that the public discussion is increasingly directed at Japan as part of a broader complex of nations in East Asia. Consul-General Kawamura indicated that the pandemic has posed a host of challenges for his office but that Japan will continue to open its doors to scholars in the future. 

The meeting concluded with a reaffirmation of the longstanding and crucial relationship between the two nations and of the importance of Japan studies in the United States in fostering fruitful collaboration between the two nations.