Educational Outreach

Educational Outreach projects seek to promote awareness of international issues in American and Japanese communities, and to foster a sense of global citizenship among children and young people. School-oriented projects are directed at primary and secondary education, and are carried out by school districts, universities, and nonprofit organizations in the US and Japan. They seek to improve existing curricula, provide access to materials where availability is an obstacle, and enable teachers to introduce global issues into the classroom.

At the time of CGP's establishment, publicly funded educational resource centers in the US had begun to suffer from funding cutbacks that threatened their ability to continue distributing innovative curriculum materials for global education. One of these centers, the Five College Center for East Asian Studies in Northampton, Massachusetts, received funding from CGP in JFY1994 to maintain and build on its collection of teaching materials on Japan, as well as support for full-time staff to train teachers and recommend specific materials to New England educators. At a national level, Indiana University's National Clearinghouse for US-Japan Studies has been developing a database and information retrieval service for educators with up-to-date information on educational materials and resources on Japan. The Clearinghouse has also established one of the first Internet sites for the distribution of educational materials.

Advances in teaching technology have created a need for more interactive and engaging area studies curricula. In an effort to develop more up-to-date materials for global education, the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) began in JFY1994 to develop an innovative pre-collegiate teaching unit on the Pacific Rim environment. Utilizing simulations and multiple perspectives, the unit aims to encourage critical thinking by students and introduce a range of interrelated fields the environment, economics, history, and the arts in the course of a unit on rice production in Asia.

Updating curricula for a changing world requires more than new materials and teacher training. CGP grants also help educators and policy makers share insights and experiences on educational reform issues, and in JFY1994 the Public School Forum of North Carolina received funding to carry out a fact-finding and network-building mission to Japan. The project team, which includes the state Governor and educational and business leaders, follows a six-month study period in the US with a tour of Japanese schools and a series of meetings with educational authorities to discuss Japanese approaches to common challenges. When the participants return to the US, they will share their findings with local educators toward the possible development of new initiatives. This approach complements the efforts of the Matsuyama International Education Center, which is continuing to develop an educational network promoting new curricula for global education along the American model. Linking the Inland Sea region of Japan with educators in the United States, the network is a collaborative effort with the American Forum for Global Education in New York.

Education is a lifelong process, and a well-informed population is one of the keys to effective democracy. Public Outreach projects are directed at communities and regions that stand to benefit from greater exposure to international discourse. Implemented by universities, national educational organizations, cultural institutions, world affairs councils, and Japan-America Societies, they address both long-term issues of culture and perception as well as contemporary public policy issues, in a context of direct relevance to regional communities in both countries.

Beginning in JFY1994, the Japan-America Society of the State of Washington joined with its sister Societies in California and Oregon to carry out a series of seminars and public forums on Asia-Pacific and global issues, in communities around the West Coast. At the events, Local citizens were able to share perspectives with prominent Japanese and Asian government, business, and community leaders, while the participants in turn gained insight into the opinions of regional America. In Washington, DC, the joint Center for Political and Economic Studies sponsored a Japanese researcher-in-residence to study the interaction between expatriate Japanese and African-American communities in the US, in an effort to promote understanding of America's diversity in Japan, and to encourage social and business ties in the US. The researcher then presented her findings to diverse public audiences in both countries.

To foster greater coordination among nonprofit outreach organizations, CGP also supports activities that build networks for the sharing of programs and expertise. In JFY1994, the Japan-America Society of Hawaii received funding for the "1995 International Symposium of Japan-America Societies," a first-time gathering of the leaders and general membership of 47 Japan-America and America-Japan Societies from both countries. At the conference, participants discussed their experiences promoting cross-cultural understanding through public programs, and opportunities for involving younger leaders in both countries. Through the meeting the participants were able to lay the groundwork for future collaborative initiatives.

CGP hopes that educational outreach projects can encourage participation by organizations and groups not usually involved in US-Japan exchange, and places priority on projects that display ethnic, regional, and gender diversity. Priority is also given to projects that facilitate interdisciplinary cooperation across a range of fields, and that address contemporary issues in the US-Japan relationship.