Japan and the United States: Social Issues in Post-Industrial Societies

-- Japan Program for Students 2003 --

In April 2003, twelve students selected from Norman Thomas High School in Manhattan, Poly Prep Country Day School and The Leon M. Goldstein High School in Brooklyn, and Baldwin Senior High School in Long Island went to Japan under the program “Japan & the US: Social Issues in Post-Industrial Societies”.

New York Students at the Tokyo Metropolitan Kokusai High School	New York Students at Saitama Prefecture Wako International High School

This program is an initiative of the American Forum for Global Education, funded by The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership . Students went to two schools in Tokyo area, Tokyo Metropolitan Kokusai High School and Wako Kokusai High School for three-day school visit and five-day home-stay. Moreover, as a collaborative effort between The American Forum and JUCEE (Japan – US Community Education and Exchange ), students had an additional three-day program to visit NGOs and to participate in community service in Tokyo.

Prior to the trip, each student was joined by one or two other students to have engaged in a team research project that studies one of the following social issues: aging populations, unemployment and homeless concerns, disability, and changing families. Each team became involved in volunteer work in places of New York, such as homeless shelters, senior homes, facilities for disabled children, etc., that are congruent to the topics they chose to research. Upon leaving for Japan, students had already a well-defined topic and an elaborate scheme for how to approach their topics in addition to a concrete and experiential body of information about social problems and their solutions in America.
While visiting schools and staying with their host families, students experienced daily life in Japan and attitudes among young people so that they were able to develop first-hand knowledge of Japanese values and lifestyles, working to breakdown persistent stereotypes. They also took advantage of this opportunity to conduct their research for their team projects. They carried out survey, interview, as well as discussion with students, teachers, parents and staff in NGOs.

 

The last day in Tokyo, our group of students joined Japan Food Bank to distribute food donated by Costco to homeless people in Harajuku, Tokyo, along Sumida River. It was an eye opening experience for our students in a realization that the challenges that we are facing in New York is not unheard of in Tokyo no matter how many differences one might name between Japan and the US. There is a lot to share between the US and Japan in order to build a better world for tomorrow.