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Aylie Guyodo Oyama
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The following reflection is a guest post written by Aylie Guyodo Oyama, an alumna and honoree of the Fall 2023 Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan Program. Aylie is a disability rights advocate and is currently a student at the British School in Tokyo, Japan.

I am beyond thrilled to pen down my thoughts and gratitude for the incredible learning opportunity I’ve had during the Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan (SeEJ) program. My experience has been nothing short of amazing, from the instructors and my fellow classmates to our guest speakers, the teaching methods, and more. All of these elements made my educational journey such an inspiring and meaningful one.

I first joined the program with the aim of deepening my understanding of the world’s issues that have both global and local significance in our lives through the lens of an entrepreneur. It far exceeded my expectations. I learned that the term social is inextricably linked with the concept of entrepreneurship. Most importantly, I developed a sense of global citizenship and responsibility, which has changed the way I see the world and approach different perspectives and solutions. It helped me appreciate how vital it is to live in alignment with what matters most to us as a person, as a member of our community, and as a responsible global citizen. I learned that entrepreneurship is about what you are passionate about in helping others and bringing about positive change. It means recognizing the interconnectedness of our actions with the well-being of communities, the environment, and society at large. This program has instilled in me the importance of ethical decision-making, sustainability, and the pursuit of ventures that prioritize positive contributions to the world and in others’ lives.

The course aligned perfectly with my passion for helping others. Being a disability advocate is something I’m very passionate about. I chose to share my experience of living with a non-apparent disability in the hope that it will help others. I was an aspiring ballet dancer for as long as I can remember. A few years ago, however, I sustained a severe injury, making me rely on a wheelchair and leaving me with a lasting disability. Accessibility became a significant struggle for me. It really changed me completely as a person. This challenging experience provided me with a glimpse into the reality faced by disabled individuals and broadened my perspectives on attitudes and approaches to issues related to disability.

I am therefore on a mission to make a positive impact, foster understanding, support those facing adversity, and improve the lives of disabled individuals for the better. I hope to raise awareness and help flip the narrative toward viewing disability as ability and seeing people with disabilities as contributors to society.

My individual research paper, which is a major component of the SeEJ program, explored disability inclusion and particularly inclusive entrepreneurship as one possible solution and a key pathway to providing equal opportunities and participation for people with disabilities. I am also a big believer in the power of technology and innovation, especially disability tech, and I believe that social innovation can really transform people’s lives, particularly by improving accessibility and social inclusion. This was the central theme of the final group project that my classmates and I chose to work on. We had a lot of fun working as a team to come up with our vision for a more inclusive future and pitch our cutting-edge assistive technology prototype to “investors” to empower the community of visually impaired and blind people and provide them with newfound independence, safety, and confidence in navigating the world.

With the deep opportunities that the SeEJ program has given us, I have come to greatly appreciate the individuality and diversity of others. Working with people of different backgrounds helps to foster deeper interpersonal understanding and collaboration and creates conditions that are conducive to creativity.

Moreover, I really enjoyed the different workshops and group projects, as they were highly interactive and engaging. The step-by-step human-centered design thinking process was such an eye-opener for me. I realized how empathy and collaboration are critical in the process of understanding and meeting the needs of others, as well as prototyping, testing, and getting constant feedback to improve your solutions.

Overall, I am leaving the program with so many powerful insights and a determination to apply those valuable takeaways on my ongoing path to achieving my goals and dreams and growing as a person. One of my favorite inspiring quotes was from Sukemasa Kabayama, one of our guest speakers and co-founder and CEO of Uplift, who gave us this advice: “Be comfortable with the uncomfortable so that we see life as more interesting and richer!” If this resonates with you like it did with me, I enthusiastically recommend the Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan program!

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Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan honorees with their instructors
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Ceremony Held for the Top Students in the 2022 Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan Courses

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Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan honorees with their instructors
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Fostering the Entrepreneurs and Innovators of Tomorrow

On August 11, 2021, SPICE honored the top students in the 2020 Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan Program in a virtual ceremony.
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Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan student Naho Abe in Mexico City
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Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan: Fostering Innovative Ways to Address Social Issues

The following reflection is a guest post written by Naho Abe, an alumna of Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan.
Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan: Fostering Innovative Ways to Address Social Issues
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High school student Aylie Guyodo Oyama reflects on her transformative educational experience in Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan, and on connecting entrepreneurship with her passion for helping others.

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Irene Bryant
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It’s hard to believe four years have passed since I nervously logged on to meet the first fall Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan cohort. As I prepare to start my fifth year and reflect on the recent fall course that concluded in February, I am filled with a profound sense of growth and gratitude. Each year has been a journey of learning and discovery, not just for my students, but for myself as well.

Seeing the growth and development of my students over the course of just four months has been incredibly rewarding. From timid beginnings to confident presentations and impactful research papers, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing their transformation firsthand. Students not only engaged with complex social issues intellectually but also connected with them on a deeply empathetic level.

Koki Ukai shared his thoughts on the course. “While I thought I knew about the society we live in, participating in this program made me realize that the world is filled with much more complex issues that have not yet been addressed or even recognized. Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan has broadened my perspectives to be aware of these problems and taught me the power of social entrepreneurship in tackling them.”

The course underscores the role of empathy in problem-solving via design thinking. But one of the most impactful lessons I’ve learned from my students is the importance of empathy and vulnerability in creating a supportive learning community. This year, in particular, I was inspired by the way students embraced these values, sharing their personal stories of loss and hardship with courage and openness. Some students also initially hesitated to broach sensitive topics due to emotional discomfort. However, upon hearing their peers’ presentations, they recognized the value of sharing their perspectives on difficult topics to raise awareness about these issues. Their willingness to be vulnerable with one another fostered a sense of connection and solidarity within our virtual classroom. 

To further emphasize the significance of sharing our stories, I invited guest speakers to practice mindfulness with the class. These moments of openness created a safe space for students to express themselves authentically and recognize the common humanity that binds us all together. And it has reinforced my belief in the importance of nurturing not just academic skills, but also resilience, empathy, and a sense of social responsibility.

I also never cease to be amazed by the innovative ideas and boundless energy that my students bring to the table. Their fresh perspectives and willingness to think outside the box and being a part of a student’s “aha moment” inspire me to push the boundaries of my own thinking and how I approach teaching. 

Yuzuka Seto also shared her thoughts. “Participating in Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan has imbued my Sunday mornings with anticipation, and has brought me invaluable insights and experiences. When I shared my passion-driven ideas and inquiries with Ms. Bryant, she graciously introduced me to a film aligned with the subject. The film not only expanded my perspectives and deepened my interests but also enabled me to discover a sense of purpose and responsibility in a new field.” For our student-led session, Yuzuka, along with Aylie Guyodo Oyama, gave a lesson on Single Mothers and Child Poverty in Japan, which was unfamiliar to most students.

I’m humbled by the lessons I’ve learned from my students and the impact they’ve had on me as an educator and as a person. Teaching this course has been a transformative experience, and I look forward to many more years of inspiring the next generation of social entrepreneurs. I’m grateful to everyone who has supported this program. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Gary Mukai and Mr. Yusuke Ed Matsuda for their vision and leadership and our fall Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan donors, Noriko & Norman Chen and Mako & Andy Ogawa, for their continued support. I’d also like to thank Maiko Tamagawa Bacha and the eEntrepreneurship teaching team for their help in shaping this course.


 

Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan is currently accepting applications for fall 2024.

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

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Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan student Naho Abe in Mexico City
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Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan: Fostering Innovative Ways to Address Social Issues

The following reflection is a guest post written by Naho Abe, an alumna of Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan.
Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan: Fostering Innovative Ways to Address Social Issues
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Course instructor Irene Bryant reflects on four years of empowering Japan's changemakers and social entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

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Gary Mukai
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During a visit to Okayama Prefecture in 2019, members of the Okayama Prefectural Board of Education kindly brought me to Korakuen Garden, one of Japan’s three most celebrated gardens that dates back to the 17th century. I was especially struck by a unique bridge called Yatsuhashi (“eight bridges”), that consists of eight planks used to cross a pond. The name “yatsuhashi” comes from the Heian period (794 to 1185) collection of poems and narratives, The Tales of Ise

 

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8-plank bridge in a Japanese garden

When I think of the academic and professional pathways taken by Mariko Yang-Yoshihara, who works as an instructor and an education researcher for SPICE, I think of Yatsuhashi, which  I crossed in Korakuen Garden. (Photo above: Yatsuhashi at Korakuen, Okayama; photo courtesy Gary Mukai.)

As a graduate of the all-girls Sacred Heart Schools in Tokyo, she was nurtured to think as a global citizen and remain committed to the promotion of women’s empowerment. Since obtaining a B.A. in Literature from the University of the Sacred Heart in Japan, she has stayed actively engaged in the alumni network. I think of her years at the Sacred Heart institutions in Tokyo as the first academic plank that she crossed, navigating herself into the wider world.

The second academic plank that she crossed was in the United States where she earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine, and an M.A. and a PhD in Political Science from Stanford University. Her dissertation focused on the administration of Japan’s technology and science policy, and her PhD advisor was Professor Daniel Okimoto. Yang-Yoshihara’s encounter with the ecosystem and educational approaches in Silicon Valley has laid the foundation of her commitment to cultivating the future generation of innovative and empathetic thinkers. To put it differently, her focus on innovation and education form the materials that make up the many planks that she would traverse in the subsequent years.

In 2016, she co-founded with Professor Rie Kijima (PhD, Stanford, 2013) SKY Labo, a non-profit organization which provides educational programs that embrace design thinking as a pedagogical approach, aiming to foster empathy, promote humanistic perspectives, and inspire youths to become change makers. SKY Labo’s inquiry-based program, designed to challenge the STEM gender gap in Japan and shift the perceptions of young women toward technology and engineering, obtained official support from the Gender Equality Bureau of Japan’s Cabinet Office in 2019 and received the Semi-Grand Prix of Nissan Foundation’s Rikajyo Ikusei Sho (Award Promoting the Next Generation of Women in STEM) in August 2022. Yang-Yoshihara co-authored with Kijima a book on STEAM education and design thinking, 世界を変えるSTEAM人材―シリコンバレー「デザイン思考」の核心, which was published by Asahi Shinbun Press in 2019. The book is in its second printing and was translated into the Chinese language as 硅谷是如何培养创新人才的 by the Zhejiang People’s Publishing House (浙江人民出版社) in 2021. I see SKY Labo serving as the third plank of yatsuhashi that she is traversing.

Also in 2016, Yang-Yoshihara co-organized the Stanford-Silicon Valley U.S.-Japan Dialogue: Womenomics, the Workplace, and Women and published the final report. This conference and final report—which I see as her fourth plank—was with the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center or Shorenstein APARC, where she had once worked as a doctoral researcher, a recipient of the Barbara Hillman Research Fellowship, and a third term participant of the Asia Pacific Scholars Program. She continues to collaborate with many of the conference presenters and also Professor Kiyoteru Tsutsui, Japan Program Director, Shorenstein APARC.

Since joining SPICE in 2019, Yang-Yoshihara has utilized inquiry-based pedagogy to design, develop, and teach innovative online courses and seminars on subjects including social entrepreneurship, gender equity, and sustainability. Mariko designed and co-instructs the Stanford-Hiroshima Collaboration Project on Entrepreneurship (SHCPE), a graduate course for the Hiroshima Business Management School at the Prefectural University of Hiroshima. She has also developed a course on entrepreneurship and sustainability education in collaboration with Eikei University, Hiroshima Prefecture’s new liberal arts college. She also served as the inaugural instructor and now as an advisor to Stanford e-Eiri, a high school course that explores the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a special focus on gender equity. The current Stanford e-Eiri instructor is Mia Kimura. I see Yang-Yoshihara’s teaching engagements at SPICE as the fifth plank of her yatsuhashi.

In addition to her role at SPICE, Yang-Yoshihara is a Visiting Professor at Tohoku University, serving as a faculty member of the School of Engineering and an academic advisor to graduate students in the Department of Management Science and Technology. She gives lectures to engage Japan’s future engineers and aspiring scientists to think at the crossroads of STEM and humanities, an approach she calls STEAM. This sixth plank illustrates how she tries to transmit her knowledge and experiences to inspire the next generation beyond the SPICE audiences. 

 

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promotional image for a book

Her research has been guided by a keen curiosity at the intersection between innovation and education. Her scholarly works can be found in volumes by academic publishers such as the MIT Press and the Tokyo University Press, as well as in peer-reviewed journals including the International Journal of STEM Education, Thinking Skills and Creativity, and Administrative Sciences. Most recently, she co-edited The Emerald Handbook of Research Management and Administration Around the World (2023, Emerald Publishing), collaborating with Dr. Simon Kerridge (University of Kent) and Dr. Susi Poli (University of Bologna). This book stands as the most comprehensive work to date on professionals in research management and administration (RMAs), providing insights and observations offered by 127 researchers and practitioners representing 50 countries across Africa, North America, South America, Asia, Australasia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the Middle East. Evident in the unprecedented scale of the book is Yang-Yoshihara’s aspiration to contribute to the future generation of innovative change-makers. The ebook edition is Open Access and freely available to read online. This seventh plank that she is navigating, focusing on research, is quickly expanding with participation from people worldwide. (The book cover above was reproduced with permission from Emerald Publishing Limited.)

As for the eighth plank, I am very much looking forward to what lies ahead as she continues to drive ideas where education, innovation, and research intersect. 

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At the Hiroshima Prefectural Government Offices, with Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki and Professor Katsue Edo from HBMS
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Inquiry-based Entrepreneurship Education: Reflections on Creating and Instructing SPICE’s Design Thinking-Guided Online Program for Adult Learners
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University of the Sacred Heart in Japan and Stanford University alumna serves as a bridge to students and scholars in Japan and other parts of the world.

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Gary Mukai
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Launched in fall 2019, Stanford e-Hiroshima is offered by the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) in collaboration with the Hiroshima Prefectural Board of Education.


When asked in a 2013 interview with the Stanford Graduate School of Business about the impact he would like to have on the world, Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki (MBA, ’95) stated, “In my current capacity as governor I would like to create social and economic systems that would continuously create innovation and entrepreneurship. This will enhance our ability to create sustainability, wealth, security, and safety.” Six years later during the California-Japan Governor’s Symposium at Stanford, Yuzaki again spoke about his desired impact specifically in the context of Hiroshima–Silicon Valley relations. To achieve this, Yuzaki knew that a global mindset in students in Hiroshima would need to be cultivated, and with his vision, Stanford e-Hiroshima was launched in fall 2019.

With the cultivation of a global mindset as an objective, Stanford e-Hiroshima Instructor Rylan Sekiguchi invited two young Japanese entrepreneurs in the United States to speak as part of the 2020–21 course. The first speaker was Risa Ishii, Senior Partnerships Manager at Plug and Play Tech Center, a company in Silicon Valley that fosters innovation and supports entrepreneurs from around the world. The second speaker was Takaho Iwasaki, Founder and CEO of MajiConnection, a company in Honolulu, Hawaii, that aims to support entrepreneurs, innovators, and businesses in Japan and Hawaii in building relationships with each other.

Ishii’s talk was called “What I’ve Seen in Silicon Valley: Its Special Ecosystem and What We Can Learn from It.” She was born in Shizuoka Prefecture and graduated from high school in the United States and from Waseda University in Tokyo. Ishii spoke about the uniqueness of the Silicon Valley ecosystem and underscored the diversity of its workforce and critical availability of venture capital. In referencing the “Silicon Valley mindset,” she advised, “Don’t think that you are too young or that you do not know enough to do anything. Just act and see what happens. It’s okay to fail … and be open to adjusting.” Concerning Plug and Play, she noted that it aims to reform the corporate mindset to promote collaboration with startups. A chart that surprised the students was one which showed that in the 1990s, Japanese companies accounted for eight of the ten largest in the world; today, no Japanese companies remain in the top ten. Given this, she stressed that Japan needs to encourage study abroad opportunities and to welcome more students to Japan as a way to attract global talent. Ishii closed by stressing that students need to “think of how each one of us can contribute to the society and look into unique opportunities in areas that Japan has strengths, like disaster management and prevention and caring for the elderly.”

Iwasaki’s talk was called “Why I Am Supporting Startups in Hawaii.” Iwasaki was born in New York and raised in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. She studied at International Christian University in Tokyo and also received an MBA from the University of Hawaii, Manoa. She interned at Plug and Play where she met Ishii. While in Silicon Valley, she decided that she wanted to help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in rural areas and strongly believed she could do this in Hawaii. She founded MajiConnection in 2019 and her first event was “Island Innovation Demo Day,” a pitch event during which Hawaii-based startups pitched ideas to Japanese investors and companies. The event inspired Hawaii startups to go to Japan and Japanese companies to come to Hawaii. “A lot of people never believed that I could make it successful because Hawaii had never been a business place for Japanese SMEs,” commented Iwasaki. Despite this, she succeeded by cultivating a global mindset among SMEs in Hawaii and Japan. She also noted the conducive environment in Hawaii for doing business with Japan (e.g., manageable time difference, managing the relatively low language barrier, and strong Asian cultural influences). She closed by noting, “I strongly believe that if Hawaii and Japan work together on common problems, we can tackle a lot of real problems that cannot be solved by ‘continental startups’ [those on the U.S. mainland] in areas like high-cost and non-sustainable energy, marine debris and plastic waste, agriculture and food self-sufficiency problem, and tourist-based economies.”

Iwasaki’s comments prompted a student to remark on a challenge that places like Hiroshima and Hawaii face with young people moving to larger metropolitan areas like Tokyo and on the U.S. mainland, respectively. Iwasaki commented that indeed many young people in Hawaii seek higher education and more diverse types of employment on the U.S. mainland. That said, she noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have returned to Hawaii because of the lower rates of COVID-19. She noted that this trend may happen in Japan as well because of the high costs of living in big cities like Tokyo and the increased reliance on and acceptance of telecommuting in the workplace.

Another student piggybacked on this point in asking about students moving from Hiroshima to bigger cities like Tokyo for higher education and Ishii’s concern about the decline of Japanese students going abroad to study. The student pointed out the financial burden of living abroad in the United States. Ishii noted that the Japanese government realizes that Japan needs to send more people abroad and encouraged students to look into scholarships and fellowships that are available in Japan, like Tobitate, the Yanai Tadashi Foundation’s International Scholarship Program, and those offered by universities in the United States.

Keeping in mind the geographic similarities of Hawaii and Japan as islands, one student pointed out the relationship between the UN Sustainable Development Goals and companies in Hiroshima and asked how companies in Silicon Valley and Hawaii are helping to reach the SDGs. Ishii pointed out efforts on the part of companies like Google and Tesla that are trying to go carbon neutral. Iwasaki noted that transporting oil to Hawaii is very expensive and this has prompted many people to consider the importance of sustainable energy.

After reflecting upon the comments by Iwasaki and Ishii, Hiroshima Board of Education Superintendent Rie Hirakawa added, “I hope that all students—and especially girls—are inspired by young women entrepreneurs like Takaho Iwasaki and Risa Ishii. I am just one of two female prefectural superintendents in Japan and hope that Japan’s new global mindset will underscore the importance of diversity, including more opportunities for women.” Yuzaki agrees and in the 2013 interview noted, “I believe diversity is very important in an organization.” To this point, Ishii reflected, “As a girl who grew up in a rural area, I understand the importance of filling in regional gaps in terms of education, not only domestically but also internationally. I was able to feel the positive energy through my monitor from the students of Stanford e-Hiroshima and I hope that they will continue to drive themselves to create changes in society.” Iwasaki echoed Ishii’s sentiments and added, “I really enjoyed teaching and talking with the students of Stanford e-Hiroshima and was very impressed by how passionate they are to study and try to contribute to their community. I hope we can continue this program for those students and would like to be part of it again.”

SPICE is grateful to Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki whose vision made this course possible and to Superintendent Rie Hirakawa of the Hiroshima Prefectural Board of Education for her leadership. SPICE also extends its appreciation to Teacher Consultant Rika Ryuoh for her unwavering support of Stanford e-Hiroshima.

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Stanford e-Hiroshima is an online course for high school students created by SPICE and Hiroshima Prefecture
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Stanford e-Hiroshima is an online course for high school students in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, that is sponsored by the Hiroshima Prefectural Government.

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Mariko Yang-Yoshihara
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Last fall, SPICE provided me an opportunity to design and organize its first post-collegiate online course. The Stanford-Hiroshima Collaborative Program on Entrepreneurship (SHCPE’s Japanese-friendly pronunciation, “shu-ppe”) was conducted in collaboration with the Hiroshima Business and Management School (HBMS) at the Prefectural University of Hiroshima (PUH). HBMS offers the only Master of Business Administration (MBA) program in Japan’s western region of Chugoku and Shikoku. Interacting with amazing individuals on both sides of the Pacific, this unique experience brought me priceless moments.

Innovation in Itself

SHCPE, a course to help nurture entrepreneurial thinking, was an innovation in itself. The program was born out of Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki’s vision to design and implement a social challenge to help accelerate Hiroshima’s regional growth. Harnessing the resources of Stanford and Silicon Valley, the new online class was launched to empower the students and to revitalize the business sector in Hiroshima. SPICE created the curricular content and HBMS provided the learning environment designed to maximize the academic experience for the students. As the course’s curriculum designer, I leveraged the expertise of my fellow SPICE online instructors and applied design thinking, a method developed by Stanford faculty, practiced widely in Silicon Valley, and popularized globally to understand the end-user, challenge our assumptions, and reconstruct alternative perspectives to generate innovative ideas.

Bridging Silicon Valley and Hiroshima

SHCPE’s 18 MBA students in Hiroshima met every Saturday morning for three hours from September 28 to November 16, 2019 to connect online with Japanese entrepreneurs, professionals, and scholars in Silicon Valley. The first virtual class focused on discussing the mindset expected for the course as well as the conceptual framework. In the following six weeks, we welcomed guest speakers who shared their diverse experiences. What were their prior experiences, expertise, and insights? What resources did they have to achieve their goals? What were the major promoters and impediments to their journeys? Through active exploration of these questions, the students were exposed to real-life case studies to analyze Silicon Valley’s ecosystem and think critically about entrepreneurial competence and qualification. The course was conducted entirely in Japanese.

The guest speakers engaged and energized the HBMS students. Akira Onozato spoke about the evolution of Silicon Valley over the past three decades. His diverse experiences as a serial entrepreneur painted a rich picture of the San Francisco Bay Area’s growth cycle. Akira’s story provided a great segue to Rika Nakazawa’s lecture on the mindset and culture surrounding startups. Rika highlighted grit, tolerance of failure, and branding as important assets of successful entrepreneurs. Dr. Fumiaki Ikeno spoke on the landscape and trends in the medical device industry. He pointed to Japan’s declining productivity and economic competitiveness and discussed the persistent fear of failure as a major impediment to promoting entrepreneurship. As an active venture capitalist on both sides of Pacific, Seiji Miyasaka explained the funding schemes and financial cycles surrounding the investment climate of startups. Using case studies, he highlighted the role of investors who act as coaches to aspiring entrepreneurs. Tatsuki Tomita’s definition of a startup was shaped by his own experiences of starting multiple companies. His discussion of the pivot pyramid provided a visual guideline for how startups can experiment with ideas and find their product-market fit. Tasha Yorozu shared her expertise as a legal counsel, walking through the steps of starting a business in Silicon Valley. Along with Jumpei Ishii, a visiting legal counsel from Japan, Tasha further discussed their observations of successful startup practices and common pitfalls. The diversity of SHCPE guests represented the vibrant Silicon Valley community. 

Active Learning and Knowledge Construction

While these professionals provided informative accounts of their expertise, SHCPE’s ultimate goal was to help each HBMS student to develop a mindset of an active learner. The MBA students were constantly challenged to think critically about the weekly theme, and work in pairs or teams to discuss assigned topics. The experience offered a dynamic and interactive learning environment for the Japanese students in their 30s, 40s, and 50s who had been accustomed to traditional lecture-style formats. SHCPE’s curriculum based on design thinking adopted an inquiry-based learning pedagogy, which engaged every student through weekly assignments and in-class discussions. During the first class, the students were informed that SHCPE would not teach them entrepreneurship. Instead, this course would provide them with the opportunity to reconstruct their knowledge of entrepreneurship and innovation based on what they observe, hear, and feel during the class. In addition, the students were required to provide feedback after each class, which was utilized to redesign the lesson plans for the following week.

This active and experiential mindset was envisioned by Dr. Gary Mukai, Director of SPICE and a renowned Japan–U.S. educator. “At SPICE, we provide students an opportunity to own their learning experience. Education is about empowering the students,” Dr. Mukai asserts. This tradition comes from the American philosopher and education reformist John Dewey, who said, “I believe finally, that education must be conceived as a continuing reconstruction of experience; that the process and the goal of education are one and the same thing.” SHCPE’s inaugural curriculum aimed to implement this philosophy through direct, real-life interaction with founders and movers in Silicon Valley, and through the iterative process to deconstruct and reconstruct their knowledge on entrepreneurship.

Innovation Through Education

What SHCPE aimed to achieve was innovation through education. The weekly three-hour online class was roughly divided into three parts: guest lecture, class discussion, and interview. Prior to the interview session, a pre-assigned team of three students met with me in a separate online room and brainstormed their interview questions. For the majority of the students, it was their very first time to formally interview a person, and the experience brought a novel learning opportunity to think critically about entrepreneurial competence. Many commented on the challenge and the excitement of getting to know strangers by engaging them in a thoughtful conversation. The weekly interview highlighted the philosophy, aspiration, and raw sentiments of the guest speakers, evoking passion, energy, and empathy among the students.

Stanford-Hiroshima Collaborative Program on Entrepreneurship (SHCPE) staff with Ken-ichi Nakamura, President of the Prefectural University of Hiroshima SHCPE 2019 team with Ken-ichi Nakamura, President of the Prefectural University of Hiroshima
Through observations and discussions, the SHCPE participants built their own knowledge and understanding of what constitutes entrepreneurship. To conclude the eight-week course, I had the chance to visit Hiroshima to offer the last SHCPE class in person, and to observe first-hand their reaction to the curriculum design. Meeting the students as well as the HBMS faculty and staff who supported SHCPE, was an incredibly rewarding experience. My class focused on education and empowerment. The students discussed in teams how they might develop a curriculum to promote entrepreneurship in Hiroshima. Much to everyone’s delight, one of the students expressed his hope to apply what he learned in this course and serve as an angel investor to support local startups. The class culminated with a closing ceremony during which each student was presented an official Certificate of Completion. My trip to Hiroshima also provided a valuable opportunity to visit Governor Yuzaki as well as PUH President Ken-ichi Nakamura, who emphasized the importance of adding a real-life, global perspective to the HBMS curriculum. Programs such as SCHPE were made possible through these leaders’ foresight and support.

SHCPE strived to adopt the pedagogy of active learning and the toolsets of design thinking to implement Governor Yuzaki’s vision of “learning innovation.” The course appears to have succeeded in helping to realize his vision as one student reflected upon his experience:

This class does not intend to offer answers [to the question what entrepreneurship is]. Instead, it urges the students to constantly think on their own and engage themselves in learning. This is very different from the Japanese traditional pedagogy, which relies on rote memorization and mechanical process of practice problems. This class highlighted the fundamental difference in the philosophy of how we look at education, and I enjoyed this eye-opening experience.

SHCPE ’19 concluded with much enthusiasm. SPICE looks forward to continuing its partnership with HBMS to build upon the invaluable lessons learned from the inaugural program. With Stanford e-Hiroshima, an online course for high school students managed and taught by my colleague Rylan Sekiguchi, SPICE will continue its efforts to empower the people in Hiroshima.

Acknowledgement

I am greatly indebted to Dr. Gary Mukai for providing me this invaluable opportunity. Special thanks go to Carey Moncaster, Dr. HyoJung Jang, Jonas Edman, Meiko Kotani, Naomi Funahashi, Rylan Sekiguchi, Sabrina Ishimaru, Dr. Tanya Lee, and Waka Takahashi Brown for their valuable comments on the preliminary curriculum. I thank all of my colleagues at SPICE for their support and encouragement throughout the process.

My special gratitude goes to Akira Onozato, Dr. Fumiaki Ikeno, Jumpei Ishii, Rika Nakazawa, Seiji Miyasaka, Tatsuki Tomita, and Tasha Yorozu who took the time out of their busy Friday evening to participate in the virtual classroom. Their contagious enthusiasm energized the students.

Last but not least, I would like to express my deep appreciation to my collaborators at HBMS. I thank Professor Katsue Edo for his hard work and commitment to implement the program, Professor Yasuo Tsuchimoto for his technical expertise and dedication to administer the distance-learning, Professor Narumi Yoshikawa for supporting in-class discussions, and Kazue Hiura, Yoshihiko Oishi, and Kenji Okano for their capable assistance and thoughtful arrangements. Last but not least, my heartfelt congratulation goes to the 18 MBA students who successfully completed SHCPE ’19. The inaugural class will always have a special place in my heart.


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On August 26, 2019, SPICE/FSI served as the Stanford University host of the California-Japan Governors’ Symposium, which was co-hosted by the U.S.-Japan Council (USJC) and the Silicon Valley Japan Platform (SVJP). Four governors and one vice governor from Japan were in attendance along with dignitaries from California.

 

Dignitaries from Japan
Mr. Katsusada Hirose, Oita Prefecture Governor
Mr. Ryuta Ibaragi, Okayama Prefecture Governor
Dr. Heita Kawakatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture Governor
Mr. Yutaka Ota, Nagano Prefecture Vice Governor
Mr. Hidehiko Yuzaki, Hiroshima Prefecture Governor

Dignitaries from California
Ms. Eleni Kounalakis, California State Lieutenant Governor
Mr. John Roos, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan
Mr. Tomochika Uyama, Consul General of Japan in San Francisco

 

The goal of the Symposium was to create an opportunity for leaders from Silicon Valley and Japan to come together, reinforce relationships, consider new ways of thinking, initiate dialogue, and catalyze outcomes that benefit both the United States and Japan. USJC President Irene Hirano, California State Lieutenant Governor Kounalakis, and Ambassador Roos set the context for the Symposium by highlighting the interdependence of Japan and California broadly—and Silicon Valley specifically—historically, economically, and socially.

The Symposium featured one panel and two sessions. First, Stanford Emeritus Professor, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center Co-Founder, and Co-Chair of the SVJP Executive Committee Dr. Daniel Okimoto moderated a panel that featured the governors and the vice governor sharing some of the challenges and opportunities in their prefectures with a special focus on their prefectures’ relationship with Silicon Valley and institutions of higher learning like Stanford. Second, SPICE Director Dr. Gary Mukai moderated an education-focused session that explored issues at the intersection of education and global citizenship. SKY LABO Co-Founder Dr. Rie Kijima and SKY LABO Co-Founder and SPICE Instructor Dr. Mariko Yoshihara Yang spoke about their work in fostering the next generation of innovative human resources in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education with special attention to girls’ and women’s education. They were followed by Governors Hirose, Ibaragi, and Yuzaki, who shared education-related priorities and concerns in their prefectures, e.g., declining school enrollment especially in rural areas, low numbers of Japanese students choosing to study abroad, and empowering Japanese students with global points of view. Third, Dr. Devang Thakor moderated a healthcare-focused session. Stanford Associate Professor Phillip Yang, a cardiologist, and Dr. Caleb Bell, G4S Capital and Ikigai Accelerator, shared comments on the application of AI and machine learning to medical diagnosis and treatment. Also in the session, Governor Kawakatsu and Vice Governor Ota shared reflections on health-related topics such as aging societies, the rising cost of healthcare, and prevention and wellness.

In his closing comments, Okimoto noted that he hopes to convene another symposium with the governors from Japan in three to five years. The goal of the symposium would be to share and discuss the progress that has been made since last month’s gathering.

Over the next three to five years, SPICE plans to do its part—in at least five areas—in terms of building upon the discussion from the education-focused session. First, later this month, Mukai will be offering the first class of Stanford e-Oita, an online class on U.S. society and culture that SPICE will offer to high school students in Oita this fall. Second, Rylan Sekiguchi, Instructor of Stanford e-Hiroshima, will begin instruction from this fall of an online class on U.S. society and culture that SPICE will offer to high school students in Hiroshima. Third, Yang will be visiting Hiroshima in November to meet Governor Yuzaki as well as to offer the final class of the Stanford-Hiroshima Collaboration Program, which will be offered to MBA students at the Prefectural University of Hiroshima and other universities also from this fall. Fourth, SPICE will continue to assist Okayama Prefecture and Shizuoka Prefecture on their educational efforts in areas like sister city school programs and engaging their students in Stanford e-Japan, a national online class that SPICE offers to high school students throughout Japan. Stanford e-Japan is taught by Waka Takahashi Brown and Meiko Kotani. Fifth, SVJP Executive Director Kenta Takamori and Mukai recently shared reflections on the Symposium and their work with the prefectures on NBC Bay Area. They hope to continue to inform the broader Silicon Valley community of the outcomes of the Symposium.

 

Five Japanese governors and California lieutenant governor Kounalakis convene at Stanford University for the California-Japan Governors’ Symposium.
Professor Okimoto, Governor Yuzaki, Governor Kawakatsu, Ms. Hirano, Lieutenant Governor Kounalakis, Governor Ibaragi, Governor Hirose, Vice Governor Ota

 

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The stars have finally aligned to enable SPICE to launch its first online course in China, Stanford e-China—an interactive, virtual class for Chinese high school students. Many factors now make this venture possible: access to China’s education system via partners on the ground in country; capable virtual technology; compelling student interest among Chinese high school students to study abroad at universities like Stanford; and the identification of a highly qualified instructor.

The inaugural Stanford e-China online course, Technologies Changing the World: Design Thinking into Action, will start in Winter 2020, open to enrollment of high school students throughout China. Students will explore cutting-edge technologies that are defining the future and providing exciting areas for academic study, professional opportunities, and entrepreneurial innovation. Focusing on the fields of green tech, finance tech, health tech, and artificial intelligence, students will engage in live discussion sessions (“virtual classes”) and real-time conversations with Stanford University scholars, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, as well as American high school students.

Carey Moncaster, Stanford University, and Julia Gooding, BE Education, at the International Association for College Admissions Counseling (ACAC) Conference 2019, London, Canada Carey Moncaster, Stanford University, and Julia Gooding, BE Education, at the International Association for College Admissions Counseling (ACAC) Conference 2019, London, Canada
While collaborating with Study Abroad Director Emma Vanbergen and China Director of International Education Julia Gooding at BE Education, it became clear that Chinese students seek hands-on projects with real-world impact. As China leads the way in many technological fields from green tech to artificial intelligence, a key challenge in developing this online course has been finding a framework that encourages students to analyze challenges facing each of the technologies highlighted in the course and then brainstorm innovative solutions. To showcase the dynamic research and teachings at Stanford University, SPICE honed in on Design Thinking, a creative-thinking and problem-solving framework very active throughout campus and Silicon Valley.

As a final project, Stanford e-China students will delve into an area of personal interest in one of the technology fields, applying aspects of the Design Thinking framework, to develop a prototype pitch. The top three students from each course will be invited to Stanford University to present their pitches and sharpen Design Thinking skills with Stanford practitioners in person. Design Thinking is a very hands-on, interactive, team-based experience that is dependent on critical feedback from other people. Translating the Design Thinking concepts online, with students, scholars, and practitioners virtually scattered across the world presents an exciting opportunity to create curriculum that effectively introduces the skills and mindset.

SPICE is drawing on the expertise of Mariko Yoshihara Yang and Rie Kijima, co-founders of SKY Labo and long-time collaborators with SPICE and the Stanford Graduate School of Education. The technologies explored in this course—green tech, finance tech, health tech, and artificial intelligence—have timely, global impact. The contributors to the Stanford e-China’s development span the world as well—from Stanford to Britain, China, and other countries of Asia. The Stanford e-China course is informed by over 16 years of SPICE online course offerings for high school students in other countries in Asia as well as throughout the United States. Stanford University scholars will also play pivotal roles as lecturers and guest speakers on the course’s leading technological fields and related pressing issues.

SPICE Director Gary Mukai recently noted, “The roots of SPICE date back to the establishment of the Bay Area China Education Project (BAYCEP) at Stanford University in 1973. Since then, SPICE has produced curriculum materials on China and hosted teacher professional development seminars on China for teachers in the United States, and more recently has offered an online course on China for high school students in the United States—all with the goal of helping Americans better understand China. I am delighted that 46 years since the establishment of BAYCEP, Stanford e-China has become a reality and for the first time in its history, SPICE will be working formally with students in China. SPICE is grateful to be collaborating with BE Education in this initiative.”  

The inaugural 10-week course will be offered in Winter 2020. Shorter 4- to 6-week courses will be offered in Summer 2020. Course details and application deadlines are available at http://stanfordechina.org. The online course is offered in English. Stanford e-China students should expect to allot 3–4 hours per week to complete the lectures, virtual classes, discussions, readings, and assignments. Although participation in virtual classes (held on Saturday mornings) is mandatory, students will be able to structure the other work around their individual schedules.

Carey Moncaster is developing the course as the Stanford e-China instructor. After graduation from U.C. Berkeley, Carey lived and worked in China throughout the 1990s as the country embarked on monumental economic changes. This experience was followed by graduate studies in East Asian Studies at Stanford University and her initial work with SPICE. She has launched educational programs for U.S. high school students throughout Asia, and most recently returns to SPICE from Seattle’s high-tech world of start-up ventures.

For more information, please contact Carey Moncaster, Stanford e-China instructor, at cmoncaster@stanford.edu.

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