March 6th

By Ai Ito

Hi my name is Ai. I am a graduate student at Sophia university and I study international relations.

On March 6th, our schedule started with paying a visit to the Maureen and Mike Mansfield

Foundation in the morning. After lunch, our group (group A) headed to Washington CORE, an IT

consulting firm. Later, we had a time for shopping so we went to Trader Joe’s which we LOVED so

much, and finished our day with reporting session in the evening.

At the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, Mr. Benjamin Self, vice president, gave us a brief

introduction about the foundation. He began with talking about the founder, Mike Mansfield, who

was a Congressman served majority leader for such a long time in US history as well as ambassador

to Japan during the 70’s. It was very interesting to know how he developed his interest and affection

for Asia, including Japan and wanted to contribute to reinforce US-Japan tie.

Another thing I found it interesting was how Mr. Self and the foundation are keen to promote gender

equality in the US and Japan. Particularly he mentioned women’s’ working environment issue in

Japan and the fact that the issue is now widely known even outside of Japan was very interesting but

it made me realize how disturbing the situation is.

After lunch, our group visited to Washington CORE, an IT consulting firm. Ms. Kobayashi, a

founder/president of Washington CORE, gave us a speech about her company and her career path.

She mentioned what she thinks important, and she said having gratitude to people around you and

always trying to make one’s best efforts is a key. And as she just said, she showed her gratitude to

have us and hear opinions and questions from us, even though we are the ones who should thank her

to meet us out of her busy, tight schedule. I was simply touched how wonderful person she is.

She talked about many things but what really struck me was what we need to be a global citizen.

One of the elements she introduced was the ability to engage with others. She said actively talking to

other people, asking questions, and showing participation are very important to become a global

citizen and I strongly agree with her. She was concerned about Japanese people’s ability to engage

with others through her job, and I also think it’s a big issue that we need to address (I think

education, especially school curriculum or learning environment at school can play a big role on this

issue.. what do you think, my education major friends?)

with Ms. Kobayashi at Washington CORE

At last, we had reporting session in the evening and shared our experiences of meeting people from

various institutions and visiting historical places past 6 days. Our group particularly talked about our

findings from Japanese Embassy and George Washington University. From Japanese Embassy, we

concluded that PR plays an important role to increase understanding of Japan, and members of

Kakehashi project are the ones who can demonstrate it.

Secondly, we introduced our findings from interaction with GW grad students. Surprisingly many of

GW students have a full-time job while work on their research as grad students. Having working

experience is definitely an advantage to pursue academic career for them because if you work for

GW, part of tuition will be waived, and when you apply to a scholarship you can talk about your

performance at your job, which adds your credibility. On the other hand, a PhD candidate in our

group mentioned that students who pursue academic career in Japan are expected to have lots of

academic achievements (publishing papers in particular) rather than working experience, so it’s a big

difference between Japan and the US.

Then we went on talking about our general impressions of the US after spending time in there for

about a week. We found Americans are generally patriotic but some people have to go through

“identity crisis”. We found it especially by story from Mr. Gerald Yamada, who was born in

internment camp during WW II. He told us about “no no boys”, who said no to the questions posed

by US asking about if they serve for US military and fight against Japanese emperor. Interestingly,

about 70% said yes and merely 5% said no. We learned, at that time, some Japanese-Americans

struggled from having patriotism to the US while they feel they don’t fully belong to the society they

live because they have another identity. And we still see this crisis today in the US or anywhere, so it

was very vital for us to realize this issue. We finished our presentation with our action plans. Our

action plans aim to strengthen Japan-US tie by keeping close touch with GW students and helping

them with their research, sharing our experiences on social media or organizing workshops at school,

etc.

Our presentation at the reporting session. I don’t like bragging but we nailed it!

It was last day for us, and I think it was a great way to conclude our journey in the US. I’d like to

thank GW students (you guys are the best!!), Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, JICE, Sophia

university, and everyone we’ve met during our trip. I will continue to promote Japan-US relationship

and understandings each other.