November 2017

Newsletter
The KKC Fellowship Program
Since 1980, more than 700 U.S. and Canadian social
studies teachers have taken part in the KKC Study Tourto Japan. The program aims to deepen participants’
understanding of Japan and contribute to international
mutual understanding across the Pacific.
(Tokyo Stock Exchange)

One of the highlights of the ２０1７ KKC
Japan Study Tour was teaching at Japanese schools. The fellows taught Japanesehigh school students at Mejiro Kenshin
High School in Tokyo and Yokkaichi HighSchool in Mie Prefecture.
Four fellows taught at Mejiro Kenshin HighSchool on a variety of topics including theagricultural economy and history of California's Central Valley, American Indians
before 1492, the culture and festivals(Mardi Gras) of Louisiana and the geographic importance of the Mississippi River, and U.S. politics focusing on voting
age, voter turnout, and citizen engagement. At Yokkaichi High School, fellows
gave lessons on U.S. geography.
They also visited Tokyo Metropolitan
Koishikawa Secondary Education Schooland had a roundtable discussion with Japanese teachers.

The 2017 KKC Japan Study Tour

(teaching at Japanese schools)

Other visits included:-Benesse Corporation-East Japan Railway Company-Honda’s Suzuka factory-McKinsey & Company-Ministry of Education, Sports, Culture
Science and Technology (MEXT)-Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)-National Institute of Populationand Social Security Research-Sony Corporation-Tezuka Production(Japanese manga-anime company)-Tokyo Stock Exchange-U.S. Embassy
The fellows also had the chance tohave a discussion with Diet member Mr.
Taro Kono, who is now serving as the Foreign Minister of Japan. They also met with
political analyst Mr. Ataru Takizawa to discuss Japan’s history and talked about(Ise-jingu shrine & Tokyo station with East Japan Railway Company)

the Japanese youth with Ms. Akiko
Konishi of Toray Corporate BusinessResearch Inc..
On the last day of the program,fellows participated in a symposium
titled “Challenges of U.S.-Japan
People-to-People Exchange”.
Cultural programs included a visit
to the Sky Tree, watching a kabuki
performance, making a Japanesefolding screen, a homestay with aJapanese family and a 3 day trip toIse in Mie Prefecture.

(Making folding screens)1

A Life Changing Experience
Jacqueline Dukes, 1999 KKC Fellow

My experience with the program in1999 was life changing. Among themost significant influences was brainstorming with teachers from five different countries while viewing Japan up
close and personal. Upon return, I conducted workshops at my school and atlocal libraries. I shared what I learned
with others who were interested in theculture. I participated in a history
class in which Japan and China werediscussed in depth.
I was so impressed with the culture,
I decided to spend more time teachingin another country. Luckily an opportunity to return to Japan as an assistant language teacher was presented
to my school district in 2000. I
seized the opportunity and it was oneof the most memorable experiences
I've ever had. I worked in Ginan-Cho,Hashima Gun in Gifu Prefecture. While

there, I worked with students from pre-school through junior high, helped aprivate student prepare for an overseas experience, and tutored someemployees at the city hall. I got topractice my Japanese and I picked up
on local gossip. I made friends withsome local women, and during
my three years I experienced so much
more than I could have ever done onmy own.
Beyond the classroom duties, I facilitated several other experiences withthe students. I helped my Japanese students visit Cuyahoga National
Park (Ohio) for art camp three summers in a row. I ensured the camp wasprepared for diet, basic communicationphrases, and interests of students. I
helped prepare students for the experience, plus homestays with families in
my home district. A few teachers took
advantage of my presence in Japan, so
their students had exchange partners.
I wrote a column for the town paperthat reflected my observations aboutliving abroad. The information waspublished in a bilingual column called"Hello Jakki."

While in Asia I had tons of opportunities to visit other countries, andonce my curiosity had been aroused,I sought to experience as much ofAsia as possible. I witnessed student
unrest in Hong Kong, after being
returned to China. I was personallyinvited to visit Thailand by a young
man I met. So, of course I did thefollowing Christmas and New
Years. I also went to Bali, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, andAustralia. My daughter and I drove
around Hokkaido with little moreguidance than instructions from theconcierges in our hotels, since I
could not read the map. Those journeys were the beginning of a decadeof travel when not at work, and interacting with numerous cultures. My students were taught
basic Japanese, and because I
have more than a cursory understanding of Japanese culture,
any information I share is based
upon fact or experience--notgossip, speculation or stereotype. I had good models, so I too
have tried to have better understanding of all cultures I discuss withstudents. Students have informedme that this has made a difference.

The KKC Fellowship Broadened My World
Marcy Grayson, 2011 KKC Fellow
When I was selected for the 2011
fellowship, I was so excited! I had
been teaching for 13 years at thatpoint, all in the same school district:a large, mostly white, middle-class,suburban school. I had traveled toCanada a couple of times, but traveling to Japan was the first time I
would go somewhere that required apassport. It was a big deal for me. I
had a personal connection to Japan we had hosted a wonderful Japaneseexchange student in 2003, and she
was living in Osaka. I was looking
forward to possibly seeing her, andcatching up with her as an adult. I
was also teaching American History,and I was excited to be able to seesome of the places that we talkabout, and get a different perspectiveon the world wars, the opening ofJapan to the western world, and other areas of overlap that we learned in
my history classes.
From the moment I got off theplane, my life was changed. We weregreeted at the airport by a KKC representative, who got us squared awaywith train tickets, cab fare, and directions to the hotel, but then left us on
the train to get to the next stop. It

felt somewhat like an episode of"Amazing Race", as we fretted about
missing Tokyo Station. Then when wegot off the train, a kind stranger realized that we were looking for where togo, and he walked us to a taxi stand,spoke to the drivers, and made sure
we were on the right path. This wasjust the first of many encounters we
had where regular Japanese citizens
went out of their way to help us andensure that we were taken care of. My
biggest fear was the language barrier,but even when people didn't speak
English (and my Japanese was verylimited), I realized that people werekind, friendly, and helpful. This opened
my eyes to a whole world of travel andopportunities that I had been missing.
I got to see my exchange daughter
Ryoko, which was lovely, while we werein Kyoto. I also was able to go to Hiroshima, visit the Peace Museum, andhear a survivor of the bombing speak.
We met the mayor, who shared his vision for nuclear disarmament with us.
It was an experience that I was able toshare with government and community
leaders when I returned to Michigan,
and it definitely impacted the waywhich
I was able to teach about the bombingof Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Being
able to describe the city, and sharemy photos and experiences, allowed students the ability to ask
more questions that I could actually answer from first-handknowledge. Our guides while wewere in Japan were incredibly
knowledgeable and helpful, providing us with historical backgroundand the importance of the various
shrines, castles, and temples that
we visited. I was able to expand
my knowledge of some religious
and cultural beliefs, and that information has also been helpful formy students, as we have studied
various topics in history. I haveeven been able to incorporate mytrip to Japan into my math courses, because my homestay family inOsaka took me to a famous shrine
where a version of the Pythagorean Theorem was worked out, independently of Pythagoras, and I've
been able to share photos of theproblem-solving that took place
there.
More than anything else, I
would say that the trip to Japan broadened my world.
2

Development of a Sister-School Relationship with Japan
Patrick Whelan, 2012 KKC Fellow

I can say with some certainty
that my experience with theKKC fellowship proved transformative in my professionallife.
On the last day of our stay inJapan, I met an ambitious Japanese teacher who was intrigued by
my presentation on global education. Together we worked on a
combined project involving her
English students writing Englishlanguage brochures on their school
trip to Hiroshima. We just finished
our fourth year of partnering on
this project with Japanese students
writing in English with my students
reviewing, critiquing, and ranking
their efforts.
Growing out of this project
has emerged a fully developed
sister-school relationship. For
three years students from theShibuya Junior-Senior High Schoolin Tokyo have visited my school ofSaint Stephen's in Bradenton, Florida and had home stays with ourstudents. Each of their stays has
dealt with different issues of global
peace and human rights. For example, they have visited and en-

gaged in a workshop at a nearby Holocaust Museum, they have been partof a round table discussion with
American military veterans, they havemet "dreamer" students who are college-bound but undocumented, theyhave visited a charter school for atrisk students, and they have hadlunch with Chinese students at ourschool to discuss (rather emotionally)
their countries' shared history of conflict. Since I teach at a pre-k through12 school, I make sure that students
from all divisions have a chance tomeet our Japanese sister school students. As a result of this outreach,
the Japanese government has recognized Shibuya Junior Senior HighSchool as a "super global school" andhas awarded a nationally top honor
for its global education.
In May this year, I led a group ofour students to Japan for home stays
and experiences at Shibuya Junior
Senior High School in Tokyo. Our students helped to teach English to seventh graders, worked in small group
to discuss school life, and engaged inclassroom discussions on views ofAmerican exceptionalism and Japanese culture. I made a point of having

my students visit several of the sameplaces that I visited five years before
when I was with KKC.
So, each year since I did my KKC
fellowship, I have hosted a Japaneseteacher in my house. Each has become a close friend. I still hear fromJapanese students who visited ourschool from two or three years ago
who talk about what an importantmoment our visit was in their senseof self. Many hundreds of my students have heard from the Japanesestudents about issues such as nuclear
proliferation and Japanese identity.
None of this would have been possible without the generosity of KKC.

A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity
Lois McFadyen Christensen, 1993 KKC Fellow
Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham
The fellowship was a once ina lifetime opportunity. My
memories, connection with Japanese families, teaching, andunderstandings were all profoundly affected by the fellowship. The ultimate product was aHyperstudio presentation about
Japan from a child’s view-point.
However, over the years, I utilized
myriad treasures from my educative trip in teaching lessons,presentations and seminars. This
experience influenced my teachingwith preservice and inservice teachers, colleagues at conferences, andinteractions over 20 years. The
homestay with Noriko Kobayashi wasmore than appreciated. She came to
the US and visited me in 1995. I
kept in touch with her over years andthe last communication was following
the earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
Now I will have to reestablish communication again as this KKC honor isresurrected from writing this shortsummary.

3

Congratulations to Aaron LevesqueWinner of the Best Lesson Plan of the 2016 Fellows

Aaron Levesque, a Social Studies
Teacher of New Hampshire, wasselected among the 2016 KKC Fellows for writing the best lessonplan titled “Climate and EnergyPolicy”.
He taught an entire unit revolving around Japan as a model. In it,
his class began by first debating
and then looking at the sciencebehind the issue of climate change.
Then they looked at some ofJapan's current economic and political issues, as well as public opinion
on the issue of nuclear power. Students then researched and createdtheir own action plans for Japan onwhat they thought was the best
option for Japan to move forward
on energy policy. The class spent
about 4 weeks on this, and students presented their findings toeach other in class.
This lesson plan can be downloaded at:www.kkc.or.jp/english/fellowship/lessonplan/(Lesson Plan)(Student writing sample)

One of our friends working close with KKC, who grew up in Canada
said “Tokyo is an ordered chaos”. How “ordered” is it? Aren’t Japanese quiet and neutral faced, what’s so “chaotic”?
Hi, I joined KKC this April and saw my colleagues run the 2017
Fellowship program. Even for a Japanese like me, the contents
looked exciting, well balanced and comprehensive to know about
Japan and ourselves. We visited public and private schools in Tokyoand in the countryside, so that Fellows can see the various ways ofeducation and compare with each other. We also learned from major industries, government officials, lawmakers and institutions studying on social trends. Not only learning indoors but we also went
outside to visit historical venues and wandered around the town tohave meals. Let’s see where we will go next year!
Thinking of the 700 Fellows feeling Japan a little closer than before
and telling what they saw to their students, it is my greatest honor
to take over this role to meet the next group of Fellows next June inTokyo!
Thanks to our partner the National Association of Japan-America
Societies’ help, we will start announcing the details of the 2018 tourat the 97th NCSS Annual Conference in San Francisco. Check ourexhibition booth, we look forward to seeing our future Fellows there!

Hiroto ARITA
Senior Fellow
Keizai Koho Center

Japan Study Tour: www.kkc.or.jp/english/fellowshipContact us at: fellowship@kkc.or.jp
Japan Lesson Plans can be downloaded at:www.kkc.or.jp/english/fellowship/lessonplan/4