AEC Update: 10 weeks to JASC

Hey everyone! Summer is here... for some of us, at least. The AEC will be all over the globe this summer, including Korea, Japan, England, NY and DC. If any JASCers (past and present!) are nearby, any of us would love to meet up!

The last time we all saw each other was during Spring Meeting, in March, at Princeton. We arrived Thursday and stayed up all night reviewing applications... then stayed up the next night discussing RTs... finally, on Saturday night, running on about 4 total hours of sleep each, we shot some video to introduce ourselves to the 62nd Japanese Delegation (this occurred after midnight.)

We all left each other on Sunday, traveling back to our respective universities and heading into Spring Break... JASCing never pauses, though. We were sent into the second half of the semester, doomed to be even more tired than the first... Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad.

Meanwhile, the JEC was busy preparing for Spring Orientation with the Japanese delegation, which took place between May 3-5 in Tokyo. During these few days, delegates met with alumni, had a session with English-speaking students, and had roundtable discussions--photos of RTs will be posted soon!

For those of us in the US, as our finals come to a close, we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and continuing to work towards the 62nd Japan-America Student Conference, aka, the best summer you'll ever have.

On that happy note, time to get to know your AEC!

Intro videos for the AEC are below; the second video is the one we shot for Japadeles, in which we're in a zombie-like state... maybe the JEC can prepare a similar video for us to show everyone during American Orientation!

Introducing... Hiroki Takahashi!

After much ado, allow me to introduce my most wonderful RT partner for the Environment Roundtable... the honorable Hiroki Takahashi!

I asked him some very important questions in order to gain some insight into his interesting persona. Here are his creative responses:

Where do you want to live in the future, and why?

I want to live in New York. When I was a junior high school student, I had a trip to America and visited New York city. There are soooo many energetic office workers who I have never seen in Japan. Since then, I have admired them and want to be like a powerful and intelligent worker in NY.

If you could be a type of food, what kind of food would you be?

If I could be a type of food, I would be an unripened grape. If you find a grape that looks nice, you try to eat it, but this type of grape is so sour...

That is to say, I am seemingly normal student, but my inner self is not normal or mature...><

(Author's note: Untrue--I think if you bit Hiroki, he would not be sour at all. He's quite mature :) )

What was the funniest moment of the 61st JASC?

The homestay was soo fun in the 61st JASC. My homestay partner was David, as you see, he is one of the AEC. My host family were grape farmers, and they lived in the Japanese traditional house.The most impressive event in this Homestay was meal of traditional food, including the bugs...><>

What are you looking forward to in the 62nd JASC?

I am looking forward to having the Homestay! I do not know the American lifestyle, because I have not lived in the USA. What foods do they eat in normal life? How do they spend their Holidays? ....these questions can be answered by my real experience during Homestay. If this sort of Homestay can be realized, I can understand the American culture deeply.

What is the meaning of your name?

My name is Hiroki Takahashi.

My family name is Takahashi. Takahashi means "high bridge", it does not have much implication in it.

My name is Hiroki. Hiroki is expressed in Kanji, 央樹. It means "central big tree."

This origin is simple. My city has a big tree located in the center of city.

The big tree is loved by city's people, so my parents wanted me to be like this tree which is loved by anyone, and so they named me Hiroki.

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As you see, there is a lot going on inside of Hiroki's head... I can't wait to see him again during JASC 62, and for those of you attending this year's conference, you, too, can understand what it is like to be friends with the great Hiroki Takahashi!

Take care,

Leah

Introducing Toru Omiya!

Hello All! I hope everyone is enjoying the arrival of lovely spring these days. I am currently making a sweet escape to California for my spring break, and the weather is awesome as expected☺ !

Today, I would like to introduce my Japanese counterpart, Toru Omiya, to you all. We will be leading the roundtable of Sustainable Regionalism: How can urban cities and rural communities coexist?. To give you his brief background, Toru is a junior at Tokyo University, majoring in City planning, and he has a great sense of music. (he used to be a leading singer in his band!) Here are some answers I got from him about himself. Enjoy!

1. Why did you apply to JASC last year?

There were two main reasons why I decided to apply to JASC.

The first one is simply because JASC seemed to me interesting and attractive.
Before applying, I had joined another international exchange activity as well, which made me find myself loving to exchange my idea with people from different background and eager to know different culture and language.

The second is because I wanted to understand what is “real” America.
To be honest, although I didn't have any friends from the U.S nor any experience of visiting the U.S, I felt like that I didn't like this country at that time, which I think is because I was working on some project as volunteer staff at a NGO which dealt with environmental issues in the developing countries. They always strongly insisted the sins of the U.S government policy for global warming. Then, this kind of way of thinking might affected me.

On the other hand, I felt I should have more communication with people from the U.S, because I am a person who doesn’t like to say something without precise understanding.
At that very moment, I happened to know JASC from one of my best friends, who was engaged in this conference as one of JECs. She proudly explained me about JASC, and said, “Toru, you should apply! I 'm sure that JASC must be a life changing experience for you.”
With her words, I finally made up my mind to apply to JASC last year.


2. What were the most memorable, meaningful experiences you got out of JASC?

It is really difficult for me to choose only one experience out of JASC....
Although so many memorable experiences come upon my mind, I think visiting Japanese local city with Amedeles was one of the most interesting experiences for me.
As third site of 61st JASC, we visited one small rural city, Obuse in Nagano prefecture, where about only 10,000 people live.( This is smallest population in Nagano )

As for me, the scenery in Obuse was normal. Of course, people there welcomed us warmly and there were interesting effort and projects to survive as an autonomous community. Except of that, there was nothing particular that stood out for me in this Japanese rural city.
As for most Amedeles,on the other hand, this experiences in Obuse seemed really moving.
This made me surprised and gave me a chance to rethink the question, “What is the uniqueness of Japan?”

Even now, majoring in Japanese city planning at my university, I still have this question in my mind.


3. What are your favorite things to do?

I love listening to music, watching movies, reading books, taking pictures, talking with friends ....etc...
maybe I like to do.....EVERYTHING! haha

4. What is your vision for the 62nd JASC?

There are two vision for the 62nd JASC.

The first is to make this program like a cafeteria.
JASC is such place that we can talk everything we want, so I'm happy if I could be a kind of bond for each person and make JASC kind of a place where delegates feel at ease to talk with each other.

The second is to make a particular conclusion in my Sustainable Regionalism roundtable.
Our RT topic is really vague and there will be some gaps among members towards the discussion.
So it will be hard to decide on one direction, therefore it must be meaningful if we could do that.
With my greatest buddy Marie, I want to make my RT the best ever.

5. Please give your special message to potential JASCers!:)

Even though there is a quite close relationship between our two countries, it seems most people don' t have any occasion to communicate with each other in person.
JASC must be a really great opportunity for you to know “what Japan is”, “what the U.S is” and “who you are”. I want to persuade you strongly to apply to 62nd JASC!

Hurry up if you want to change yourself :)

1st Japanese Executive Committee Introduction!

Hey Everyone!

Naoki here. The application deadline is less than two weeks away...exciting! Anyway, I'd like to introduce the AWESOME chair of the Japanese Executive Committee, Koichiro Yasukawa. He's currently a senior at Waseda University in Japan. Check out the answers to some (interesting) questions below~

Introduce yourself in two sentences.
Oldest among All ECs. Looks truly old. lol

Why did you apply to JASC 61?
Acutually I applied to JASC 59th, but unfortunatelly I counldn't join
it. So 61st was my second time applying to JASC. I truely interested
in the discussion with foreign student, especially with the student in
America!

What was your favorite moment of JASC 61?
Laundry trip: During JASC we sometimes hang out for finding
Laundry lol and the moment we are on the way for the Laundry is good
time for us to have a lot of casual talk!

If you had an RT what would it be about?
It would be about International Law

What are you looking forward to most in the US
Ummm, to meet a great American delegates and also 62nd AECs !

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
It would be precognition, I really wanna know about the final exam!!!!!!

Message to the delegates?
Let's have fun!

Here is the 8th AEC!

Hello Everyone!

My name is Marie Watanabe (the left one on the picture with my lovely JASC friend, Svet:)) and, yes, I am the last American Executive Committee (AEC) member of 62nd JASC to be introduced on this blog. (I apologize for my rather late appearance...)
I am currently back at Wellesley Collge starting the second semester of my sophomore year. As one of the eight AEC members, I work as a secretary, delegate selection, and a New Orleans co-site coordinator. I will be leading Sustainable Regionalism roundtable with my Japanese counterpart, Toru Omiya aka my "buddy".

To tell you about myself, I will start from my brief background. I was born in Houston, Texas, and grew up in the warm weather until I was 6. Then I moved to LA, California, and Tokyo, Japan, and went to a Japanese school in Tokyo until my sophomore year in high school. Because of these years in Japan, I am fluent in Japanese and familiar with Japanese cultures. (I LOVE everything about Japanese food... can't live without it!) I then moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, and graduated Greenwich High School and came to Wellesley College in Massachusetts. My parents moved back to good old Houston, so now I am back to my roots in the south:)

As a Japanese-American, I lived about half of my life in Japan and another half in the US. In that sense, I feel that I am perfectly bi-cultural and bilingual as I respect and embrace both countries. It is always hard to answer when people ask me questions like "which country do you like better?" or "where is your hometown?" simply because I like both countries and I feel like I have multiple hometowns. (Although I must say that I sometime wish if I could bring the Japanese food and convenient life in Tokyo and the chill, relaxing vibe of Texas and vast areas of space in the US all together...my ideal world)

Participating in 61st JASC was an eye-opening experience for me because it gave me a chance to connect with other intelligent, interesting student delegates as well as prominent leaders in business, government, journalism, and other fields. Most of all, JASC helped me to re-discover Japan through a month-long series of field trips and activities. Before going to JASC, I had an arrogant view that I already knew about Japan enough since I lived in Tokyo for many years and often went back to visit my relatives and friends. BUT, after visiting places that I had never been and seeing and hearing things that I had never known about Japan before, I felt that I had only known a few dimensions of Japan.
This shocked me in a good way. The feeling of ignorance and a sense of admiration to the diversity and richness of Japanese cultures truly inspired me to learn more about Japan. Not only the country, but the people I met through JASC became an invaluable source of inspiration. Some of the 61st delegates had extraordinary backgrounds and stories from the past, and just by listening to them and exchanging ideas with them motivated me to learn more from them.

As a 62nd AEC in the American year, I hope that I could assist this year's delegates to have a memorable, special experience in the US. I hope that both American and Japanese delegates will take something valuable away from the conference and learn new things about the US.

I recently made a trip to New Orleans this past month and got really excited about planning events and schedules for JASC in New Orleans. The city of NO has a lot to offer ranging from Post-Hurricane Katrina situation and historical an cultural aspects, and I think delegates will definitely enjoy the real jazz music and Cajun food in French Quarter:)

Anyway, I hope you consider applying to JASC!
The deadline is approaching soon so hurry up!:P

Japan-U.S. Security Treaty 50 Years On

This past Tuesday marked the 50 year anniversary of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. The last 50 years has seen our (American) relationship with Japan change multiple times and today we may again be in a transition period.

Four of the AECs including myself had the pleasure of attending an event hosted by the Japan-Society in New York City on the day of the anniversary in their building between 1st and 2nd on 47th street. As part of an audience of 60 or so other members, many from businesses and governmental organizations, we were able to see an intergenerational panel discussion about the current and future relationship between the U.S. and Japan. We heard from three speakers who have had an impact on US-Japan relations the past, as well as three younger speakers who look to contribute to the relations in the future.

Some of the talk revolved around the current Futenma issue, but the panelists stressed that the relationship is beyond Futenma. A particularly interesting comment was mentioned by Mr. Evans Revere who proclaimed that the U.S. can only go so far in pressuring Japan and that in the end it is Japan's territory. Although the U.S. Defense Department may not be extremely happy, he again pointed out that our alliance is larger than Futenma. That in itself displays some of the misunderstandings between the two sides since it seems like the Japan side is stuck pondering the implications of the actions they want to take, fearful of how the U.S. may react.

All of the panelists agreed that Futenma is just a bump on the road of our long relationship. A few pointed out that in the past we have had much bigger issues come between our two countries and we still have persevered. Another panelist exclaimed that these bumps were actually indicative of an excellent relationship between our two countries; the turbulence is a result of the high expectations on both sides from each other and the rest of the world.

All in all, I left the event looking forward to the future of the two countries. Although JASC has an incredibly diverse delegate/alumni base, I'm hopeful that we'll be making contributions to the relationship in the future in one facet or another.
:)

You can see the official information (Who the panelists were, etc.) about the event here!
http://www.japansociety.org/event_detail?eid=66675a80

Another Introduction!

(me with my friend Taishi Asano from JASC)

Hello !

My name is Mariama Holman and I am another one of the American Executive Committee members for the 62nd JASC. I am the publications director of JASC. Right now I am a sophomore at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. I am leading the San Francisco Site with my super-fabulous partner, Ikuno Naka. Also, I am the American leader for the Social Entrepreneurship Roundtable, which I co-lead with the "Incredible" Shuta Takada.
I was born in Chicago, Illinois, but I have spent a larger portion of my life in Georgia, therefore, I officially consider myself a southerner. However, I definitely enjoy visiting my family in New York and Chicago during the summer and reacquainting myself with my birth city. Right now, my home is in Atlanta, Georgia, and I am loving it. It has the most INCREDIBLE weather, and I feel sorry for the other AEC’s that are situated in the rust-belt and cannot enjoy a lovely 60 degrees spring...

My interests outside of school and career are dominated by the arts, especially painting and drawing. During my high school years I often drew caricatures or painted faces and bodies at fairs, festivals, and charity events. I especially liked to travel to nursing homes or hospitals and create portraits while being entertained with lively conversation.
Besides the visual arts, I REALLY enjoy music and poetry. I am the host of a Jazz show on my school’s student radio station. You can check out my show times for the upcoming semester at radio.wfu.edu. Additionally, I love to attend spoken word poetry slams at my school and in Atlanta. I have even read a poem or two of my own a few times…

ANY WHO,

I applied to JASC because I am just a naturally inquisitive person… Ha ha ha… Honestly, I thought JASC was a great opportunity for me to travel abroad and meet people from a different background from my own. Since I spent a huge chunk of my life in a small, isolated area of the South- I didn’t often engage in a diverse community. My “international experiences” were pretty limited before JASC. Besides a bathroom break at a gas station on the Canadian border when I was 6, I really hadn’t seen the outside world much…

After taking an incredible class on East Asian History and a Social Problems course in college, I realized that I had a strong interest in the study of globalization and its impacts on economics and society. During my Asian History course I was especially interested in the 1960’s of Japan and the expansion of the economy. This really piqued my interest because my folks raised me on stories about “back in the day,” which often times consisted of their first encounters with Japanese products and culture. I remember hearing about the first Japanese product on the American market- tiny Japanese transistor radios given to all good little boys and girls on Christmas. Or, tales of Speed Racer, Astro Boy, and other early forms of Japanese cartooning.

Back then, I thought it was incredible that Japan became an international economic leader in technological and pop-culture trends that hugely impact daily American life. Experiencing Japanese culture and society first-handedly and making friends from across the world further cemented my interests.

Today, I am still astounded at the great experiences I have had and friends that I have made through JASC. JASC was a great opportunity for me, and I don’t think I have learned half as much in any other month of my teenage life. If you all are looking for an adventure where you learn about yourself as well as the international community, JASC is definitely the place for you to be this summer!

Happy New Year

Peace and Deuces...
Mariama