We often speak about U.S.–Japan relations in grand terms that focus on links between our countries. But the heart of our connection is personal—innumerable interactions between Japanese and American citizens who recognize the national and the individual benefits of such links… This is what gives Japan Day its special significance.

—The Honorable Michael Armacost, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan

The Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) honored top students of the Reischauer Scholars Program (RSP) and Stanford e-Japan at “Japan Day 2017”—an event held at Stanford University on August 11, 2017. The RSP honorees were Tuvya Bergson-Michelson (Lick-Wilmerding High School, San Francisco, CA), Mallika Pajjuri (Dublin High School, Dublin, CA), and Evan Wright (homeschool, Greenwood, IN), and the Stanford e-Japan honorees were Reon Hiruma (Waseda University Senior High School, Tokyo), Saya Iwama (Takada High School, Mie Prefecture), Mako Matsuzaki (graduate of Keio Girls Senior High School, Tokyo), and Alisa Tanaka (graduate of Keio Girls Senior High School, Tokyo).

Japan Day 2017 began with opening remarks by the Honorable Jun Yamada, Consul General of Japan in San Francisco, who commended the students for their study of U.S.–Japan relations and underscored the importance of educational programs such as the RSP and Stanford e-Japan in strengthening cross-Pacific relations. "There is no better investment for the future of Japan–U.S. relations," he noted, "than in educating and empowering the most promising of our youth, who will become the leaders of the future."

Stanford e-Japan Instructor Waka Takahashi Brown and RSP Instructor Naomi Funahashi presented overviews of the two programs and recognized the honorees for their outstanding academic performance and research papers. The students then took to the podium one by one to present their research to an audience of over 40 people, which included the Honorable Michael Armacost (former U.S. Ambassador to Japan), Ai Hiyama (Advisor for Community Affairs, Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco), and Maiko Tamagawa (Advisor for Educational Affairs, Japan Information and Cultural Center, Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco).

The honorees’ presentations spanned a wide range of topics related to U.S.–Japan relations, including immigration, social media, LGBTQ issues, entrepreneurship, politics, cross-cultural education, and the environment. In several cases, these topics coincided closely with the work and expertise of audience members, making for fruitful conversation and welcome synergies. During his presentation on “Cross-Cultural Education: An Unconventional Path to Immigration Reform and Economic Prosperity in Japan,” Evan Wright spoke about the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program and its role in promoting grassroots and cross-cultural international exchange between Japan and other nations. Tamagawa was pleasantly surprised to hear Wright’s comments, as she oversees the JET Program at the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco. Wright hopes to participate in the JET Program after graduating from college.

For the students, a major highlight of the day was simply the chance to meet each other in person, after interacting intensively for months in an online-only context. Seeing the students connect with each other in person was also especially gratifying for the instructors. “One of the most rewarding things for me,” commented Funahashi, “is to see the depth of the connections that are established between RSP and Stanford e-Japan students, and how much they learn from one another. In addition to discussing American and Japanese perspectives on various aspects of contemporary society, education, politics, historical memory, and diplomacy, some students develop friendships that last far beyond their participation in these courses.” Brown agreed, adding, “For my students, having the opportunity to interact with peers from the United States was one of the highlights of the program. To see all the RSP and Stanford e-Japan award winners honored at the same event was extremely rewarding.” Ambassador Armacost emphasized the importance of building real person-to-person connections, too. “Personal relationships are deepened by a shared knowledge of language, culture, and history. But they depend ultimately on awareness of the value of personal ties, a proliferation of friendships, and a sustained effort to cultivate and maintain them through events such as Japan Day.”

Following the formal program, the students and their families took a tour of Stanford University campus. Honoree Mako Matsuzaki commented on how much she enjoyed the tour and regrets not having more time to talk with her American peers. She also somewhat jokingly noted, “I can’t imagine how Stanford students can actually study very seriously with so many temptations! (The good weather, many places to nap, frisbees, cycling, and being close to beaches.)” Funahashi and Brown hope that the friendships that have blossomed among their students will continue to strengthen the ties between the United States and Japan.

SPICE has received numerous grants in support of the RSP (since its inception in 2003) from the United States-Japan Foundation, the Center for Global Partnership (The Japan Foundation), and the Japan Fund, which is administered by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. Stanford e-Japan (since its inception in 2015) has been supported by a grant from the United States-Japan Foundation.

The National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) and the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) present a unique professional development opportunity for middle and high school teachers of world geography, world history, world languages, religion, economics, and language arts/literature.

Seminar topics cover East Asian geography, culture, religion, politics, history, literature, and art. The seminar series includes (1) lectures by Stanford scholars, (2) curriculum presentations by SPICE, (3) talks by authors of literature, (4) curricular applications for the classroom, (5) discussions of the Common Core State Standards. SPICE‘s teacher-centered professional development offers new perspectives, collaborative discussions, and the best scholarship and pedagogy available for promoting globally-minded classrooms.

Applications now available (priority given to early applicants).

NCTA Middle School (postmark by December 16, 2016)

NCTA High School (postmark by January 27, 2017)

2017 Seminar Schedule:

Breakfast and lunch are provided.

• Middle School Sessions: January 18, February 8, March 8, March 29
  Full-day Wednesday sessions at Stanford University (January–April 2017), and one follow-up morning session on April 26.
   
• High School Sessions: February 10, March 3, March 24, April 14
  Full-day Friday sessions at Stanford University (February-April 2017)

Benefits of Participation:

• Content lectures on East Asia from Stanford faculty and other leading experts in the field
• $250 professional stipend upon completion of all five sessions and seminar requirements
• Optional three units of credit through Stanford University Continuing Studies
• Excellent selection of free materials for classroom use
• Discount on future curriculum purchases

Jonas Edman
Middle School Seminar Coordinator
P: 650.725.1480
F: 650.723.6784
jcedman@stanford.edu

For four decades since 1976, the SPICE staff has worked with many centers of Stanford Global Studies (SGS)—including the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Center for East Asian Studies, Center for Latin American Studies, and Center for African Studies—on innovative educational outreach efforts. The 2015–16 academic year was no exception.

During 2015–16, SGS’s Education Partnership for Internationalizing Curriculum (EPIC) Fellowship Program supported nine community college faculty from Foothill College and the College of San Mateo. The inaugural cohort of EPIC Fellows collaborated with SGS, Lacuna, and SPICE on projects aimed at internationalizing course curricula and producing innovative curricular materials for use in community college classrooms.

SPICE's Jonas Edman worked with two EPIC Fellows, Michele Titus and Tania Beliz from the College of San Mateo. As EPIC Fellows, Titus and Beliz received stipends and access to Stanford Library resources. In addition to producing the projects, they participated in monthly meetings, served as liaisons to their college, presented their work at their college, and shared their projects at the EPIC Fellows Symposium, which was held on May 14, 2016. In addition, the EPIC Fellows were invited to attend half-day seminars that featured talks by Francis Fukuyama (governance), Walter Falcon (food security), and Gordon Chang (U.S.–China relations) and curriculum demonstrations on all three topics by Edman.

The EPIC Fellows Symposium, which featured presentations by the nine EPIC Fellows, was attended by over 50 California community college instructors from as far north as Shasta College in Redding to Santa Ana College and Santa Monica College in southern California. The presentations by Beliz and Titus during the Symposium stimulated a robust discussion.

Beliz focused her EPIC project on integrating the latest research on biodiversity and food production into her biology classes. Her work in utilizing technology to infuse international perspectives on this research into her classes inspired community college instructors to take a close look at the syllabus of one of her courses. In reviewing her syllabus, she explained that since the College of San Mateo enrolls significant numbers of students of Filipino descent, she was prompted to integrate a lecture on research on biodiversity from a scholar from the Philippines in her curriculum. Reflecting upon her experience as an EPIC Fellow, Beliz noted, “There are different and varied ways, and different depths of internationalizing curriculum. It depends on our course objectives, our vision of the message we want to impart to our students, and our own experiences in the international community… EPIC made the internationalizing of my biology classes possible in providing a platform for the project to take shape and be implemented.”

Titus’ participation in the EPIC Fellowship Program provided her with the opportunity to internationalize and revitalize the curriculum for her cultural and physical anthropology courses. Specifically, “ethnicity of diet” was investigated cross-culturally and internationally, with a special emphasis on the Tongan and Tongan-American student population at College of San Mateo. Her work with a very diverse student body prompted questions from community college instructors on topics such as culturally sensitive curriculum and culturally relevant pedagogy. Titus noted, “The EPIC Symposium was a showcase of faculty presentations that reflected the evolution of courses to broader, more global perspectives. It was a great opportunity to share my own project and to enjoy feedback from others.”

Titus, Beliz, and other EPIC Fellows appreciated the importance placed upon active and collective participation in the EPIC Fellowship Program. This may have contributed to the steady growth since fall 2015 of a community of learners comprised of the EPIC Fellows and SGS, Lacuna, and SPICE. Beliz commented, “I found our exchange of ideas thought-provoking, and after every conversation I was able to come up with more ideas about possible paths to follow. It helped that I was teaching a summer class, so after our conversations I could implement one or two of our ideas.” Titus noted, “I worked most closely with Tania Beliz… but also interacted regularly at seminars with the other faculty from the colleges and university. The Stanford group was supportive and inspiring, helping me shape my ideas into something meaningful for students.”

Most of SPICE’s work with SGS over the past 40 years has focused on elementary and secondary schools. The 2015–16 collaboration with SGS on the EPIC Fellows Program and the 2011–14 focus on the promotion of human rights education at community colleges (Stanford Human Rights Education Initiative or SHREI) have helped SPICE to expand its reach to community colleges throughout California. The EPIC Fellowship Program and SHREI could serve as models for other research universities in the United States that are recipients of U.S. Department of Education Title VI grants. To receive news about the EPIC Fellows Program, please visit SGS’s “Community Engagement” webpage. 

On May 27, 2016, President Obama will become the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima. In light of this historic visit, SPICE hosted a webinar on May 23, 2016, which featured the talk, “Beneath the Mushroom Cloud,” by Clifton Truman Daniel, grandson of President Harry S. Truman and author of Growing Up with My Grandfather: Memories of Harry S Truman. Following a question and answer period with Mr. Daniel, SPICE staff shared classroom resources (Sadako’s Paper Cranes and Lessons of Peace and Divided Memories) that introduced diverse perspectives on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

RELATED CLASSROOM RESOURCES

Hiroshima: Perspectives of the Atomic Bombing
Divided Memories: Comparing History Textbooks
Examining Long-term Radiation Effects
Nuclear Tipping Point (video)
Sadako's Paper Cranes and Lessons of Peace
Reflections from an Atomic Bomb Survivor (video)

This webinar is being offered in collaboration with the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia, which is funded by the Freeman Foundation. The NCTA is a multi-year initiative to encourage and facilitate teaching and learning about East Asia in elementary and secondary schools nationwide.

Thirty sophomores and juniors in Osaka, Japan, recently completed the inaugural Stanford e-Course on Global Health for Takatsuki Senior High School. The course, jointly developed and offered by the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) and Takatsuki Senior High School, provided students with a broad overview of the importance of global health with a special focus on a few pioneering examples of international work conducted by researchers at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University and the Stanford University School of Medicine. The course provided students of Takatsuki High’s Global Advanced Course with unique opportunities to interact with top global health researchers including the following: Scott Rozelle, PhD, the Helen F. Farnsworth Senior Fellow at FSI and Co-director of the Rural Education Action Program; Kathryn M. McDonald, MM, Executive Director of the Center for Health Policy and the Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research at Stanford (CHP/PCOR); Phillip C. Yang, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine); C. Jason Wang, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics; Nomita Divi, Project Manager of the Stanford India Health Policy Initiative; and Karen Eggleston, PhD, Director of the Asia Health Policy Program, and Center Fellow at CHP/PCOR.

From September 2015 to February 2016, the students participated in eight web-based lectures, or “virtual classes,” in English and had the opportunity to engage the guest lecturers in question and answer sessions. The virtual classes covered a variety of topics ranging from stem cell research to building a health care system from scratch. The students completed reading and homework assignments for each topic.

“Teaching this course, I felt the students were given the unique experience to practice and improve their English language abilities in the context of global health and they rose to the challenge. And the guest lecturers were excellent role models to my students,” commented course instructor Sabrina Ishimatsu. “They provided non-Japanese perspectives on global health that may have a strong influence on students aspiring to attend medical school or to pursue their studies in other health-related fields.”

The course’s distinct mix of content with cross-cultural and linguistic aspects was also appreciated by Tsuyoshi Kudo, Takatsuki’s Vice Principal. “Through this course the students learned it is possible and it is enjoyable to learn something new in English,” he said. “I think education at school is to help students realize their potential. In this sense, I feel very pleased that SPICE/Stanford and Takatsuki were able to offer this great course.”

Following his talk on stem cell research, guest lecturer Phillip C. Yang, MD, said, “I truly enjoyed the online experience with the students, and they were very intelligent, inquisitive, and conscientious. During the Q&A their questions were very insightful and relevant. I appreciate the opportunity to experience this unique teaching method.”

The primary aim of the course was to nurture future global leaders who have a profound awareness of the significance of global health. Students who successfully completed the course earned a Certificate of Completion from SPICE, Stanford University.

For more information, please email Sabrina Ishimatsu, course instructor, at sishi@stanford.edu.

On February 12, 2016, the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) and Stanford Live (in collaboration with the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia) co-hosted a teacher professional development seminar that focused on the Silk Road. The seminar was held just prior to a Stanford Live performance by the Silk Road Ensemble at Stanford Bing Concert Hall on February 24, 2016 and a student matinee on February 25, 2016. Made up of performers and composers from more than 20 countries, the Silk Road Ensemble was formed under the artistic direction of Yo-Yo Ma in 2000.

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Jonas Edman (SPICE) and Ben Frandzel (Stanford Live) organized the day-long seminar. The morning featured a two-part lecture by Professor Emeritus Albert E. Dien, Stanford University. Part one focused on a general overview of the history and geography of the Silk Road and part two focused on a specific introduction to the religions along the Silk Road. Dr. Dien highlighted religion as an example of the many ways that the Silk Road helped to facilitate cultural exchange for millennia, resulting in the tremendous diversity one witnesses today in the region.

The afternoon featured a presentation and performance by composer and santur player Faraz Minooei, and a curriculum demonstration by SPICE staff. Minooei gave an overview of how the Silk Road played a role in the transmission of musical tradition, and also shared his personal story from his birth and childhood in Tehran, his immigrant experience in the United States, and his musical discoveries along the way. In particular, he shared his reflections on his deep spiritual desire to study music, seeing music as an “unexplainable souvenir from the eternal truth.”

Reflecting on Minooei’s presentation, Frandzel commented, “Faraz’s presentation really embodied the ways in which the Silk Road’s tradition of cultural exchange is a living story that continues to this day. His performances of Persian classical music and of his own compositions were entrancing, ear-opening experiences. As Faraz discussed his background and the musical forms that feed into his current work, his personal history and music seemed to encapsulate, in a fast-moving way, the kinds of cultural mixing that would have happened along the historic Silk Road. In our teacher workshops, we aim to provide teachers with arts-based teaching tools, and also to provide a larger social and cultural context for the art forms under discussion. The wonderful opportunity to partner with SPICE on the workshop, and the presence of this fascinating and brilliant musician, made this so much more possible.”

The curriculum demonstration was led by Rylan Sekiguchi, Naomi Funahashi, and Johanna Wee, who introduced both print- and web-based materials from the curriculum unit, Along the Silk Road, which were developed in collaboration with the Silk Road Ensemble and Dr. Dien. The 20 teachers in attendance interactively engaged with the materials and each received a complimentary copy of the curriculum unit as well as a large wall map of the Silk Road. The development of such materials has been a hallmark of SPICE for 40 years. The materials help to make content from teacher professional development seminars accessible to students.

Following the seminar, Edman reflected, “It is always such a pleasure to share with teachers the curriculum we produce here at SPICE. And to be able to collaborate with Stanford Live on a professional development workshop in conjunction with the Silk Road Ensemble’s visit to Stanford was a wonderful opportunity and experience. The Silk Road—with its themes of cross-cultural communication, exchange, and understanding—seems like an ideal topic for middle school students trying to understand today’s globalized world. We hope the speakers and pedagogical strategies and materials shared at the workshop will help teachers bring the topic to life in the classroom!”