From June 6 to June 19, the 2016 Japan Studies Institute (JSI) provided an intensive course on Japan for non-Japan specialist academicians from around the United States. During the two-week program held at San Diego State University, Deputy Consul General Izuru Shimmura served June 16 as lecturer to open one of the sessions.
This year 13 scholars, arriving from nine U.S. states and representing about as many different disciplines, came to learn daily from Japan specialists through 26 sessions on topics varying from Art to International Business, from Philosophy to How to Plan a Japanese Film Course. They engaged in workshops like sumie brush painting, tea ceremony and California roll making and attended Japanese language classes, film screenings and field trips.
For the session on Japanese Government Organizations, Deputy Consul General Izuru Shimmura spoke on the topic, “Japan & the United States: Neighbors Across the Pacific.” He reviewed the recently concluded Ise-Shima G-7 Summit hosted by Japan followed by U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Hiroshima, touched on Prime Minister Abe’s visit to the United States in April-May 2015, and discussed Japan’s current and 11th term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. He then let professors know how they could connect with Japan-related organizations in the U.S. once they returned home, and how their students might do so through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program or MEXT government scholarships.
Japan Studies Institute is a program of the 420-university-strong American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and held each summer at SDSU. JSI, as did its predecessor the Japan Summer Institute from its initiation by the late Japanese historian Dr. Alvin D. Coox in 1987, seeks to provide non-specialists with an opportunity to get to know Japan quickly but intensely, such that they might integrate Japan-related topics or examples into their curriculum afterward. The Consulate General sincerely appreciates the JSI’s organizers and supporters, including the Nippon Foundation; the scholars who are interested in deepening their understanding of Japan; and especially SDSU Professor and Institute Director Dr. Yoshiko Higurashi.
For more information: http://www.aascu.org/programs/JSI/
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