Japan & US: Social Issues in Post-Industrial Societies  **New**

Japan Program 2003

Funded by Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership

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2003 Summer Japan Student Program** New** 

Funded by the Freeman Foundation
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From Student Participants of the Japan Program, 2003

 Funded by Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, “Japan & the United States: Social Issues in Post-Industrialized Societies” is a program that encourages young Americans and young Japanese to build a stronger and more sustainable partnership by providing them an opportunity to learn from each other by experiencing each other’s lives and assisting them in their search for new ideas and solutions for social problems commonly faced by both societies. Through a five-day home-stay and school visit program and a three-day program visiting NGOs as well as participating in community service in Japan, a group of twelve New York high school students went to Tokyo, Japan in the spring to continue their team research projects on issues such as aging population, homelessness, disability and family in transition in order to understand the contemporary changes in Japanese society.

In April 2003, the group of twelve students coming from four different high schools – Baldwin, Norman Thomas, Poly Prep, Leon Goldstein – took a trip to Tokyo, Japan. They were divided into two groups and went to two different schools in Tokyo area: Wako International and Tokyo Kokusai. They stayed in the homes of the students from these two schools. Upon returning from their trip to Japan, they were asked to talk about their most memorable experience during their stay in Japan. The following essays are written by some of the participants.

1. What I Have Learned in This Program …
Clemens H. K. Wan
Baldwin Senior High School, Long Island, New York

2. My Host Mother
Laura Ann LaBianca
Baldwin Senior High School, Long Island, New York

3. My Most Memorable Time in Japan
Natalia O. Diaz
Norman Thomas High School, Manhattan, New York

4. One Memorable Day in Japan
Pia V. S. Hurst
Baldwin Senior High School, Long Island, New York

5. My Most Memorable Experience in Japan
Andrew T. Protain
Poly Prep Country Day School, Brooklyn, New York

6. My Host Father
Talia T. Fraiman
The Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences, Brooklyn, New York

7. My Visit in Wako International High School
Sarah Marie Hassan
Baldwin Senior High School, Long Island, New York