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Okinawa Education Initiative
(Japan-U.S. Joint Initiative)

21 July, 2000
North American Affairs Bureau
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan

  1. The East-West Center (EWC)* of Hawaii has made a proposal to both Japan and the United States for the establishment of the Okinawa Education and Business Initiative.
    *Note: Located in Honolulu City, Hawaii in the United States, the EWC is an international educational research organization established in 1960 by the U.S. Congress. EWC had close relations with Okinawa before its reversion to Japan and accepted more than 400 fellows of Okinawan origin from the 1960s until the beginning of the 1970s.
  2. The United States has secured the budgets in the following organizations to support the acceptance of graduate students from Okinawa to EWC and other institutes. President Bill Clinton announced this in the address at the Cornerstone of Peace in Okinawa.
    A.     United States (U.S. Department of Defence):   U.S.$ 150,000
    B. EWC: U.S.$ 25,000
    C. Okinawa EWC alumni group U.S.$ 25,000
  3. Japan has also welcomed the decision by the United States, and so that this can be a joint initiative, has decided to dispatch three researchers from Okinawa to the EWC, making use of fellowships offered by the Japan Foundation.
  4. In his speech, President Clinton expressed his hope to dedicate this Initiative to the memory of the late former-Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.
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