Stanford e-Japan is an online course that teaches Japanese high school students about U.S. society and culture and U.S.–Japan relations. The course introduces students to both U.S. and Japanese perspectives on many historical and contemporary issues. It is offered biannually by the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE). Stanford e-Japan is currently supported by the Yanai Tadashi Foundation.

In Summer 2021, top students of the Spring 2020 and the Fall 2020 Stanford e-Japan courses will be honored through an event at Stanford University.

The three Spring 2020 honorees—Minami Matsushima (Senri & Osaka International Schools of Kwansei Gakuin), Yuna Naoi (Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya High School), and Kenta Yoshii (Shukutoku Junior and Senior High School)—will be recognized for their coursework and exceptional research essays that focused respectively on “The Price We Pay for Men to be Men: Toxic Masculinity in the United States,” “Online Secondary School Education in Japan and the U.S. Amid the COVID-19 Crisis,” and “In Search of a Realistic Substitute for U.S. Extended Deterrence for Japan.”

Risako Nomura (Yokohama Senior High School of International Studies) received an Honorable Mention for her research paper on “How Untranslatability Between Japanese and English Fosters the U.S.–Japan Relationship.”

The three Fall 2020 honorees—Coco Kawaguchi (Keio Girls Senior High School), Sotaro Kunieda (Suwa Seiryo High School), and Yun-Tzu (Allison) Lin (Canadian Academy)—will be recognized for their coursework and exceptional research essays that focused respectively on “To Infinity and Beyond! National Survival in the Era of Venture Space Development,” “Fostering Social Enterprises in Japan: Lessons from the United States,” and “Nuclear Deterrence Theory: An Evaluation of Its Effectiveness in Preventing Future Deployment of Nuclear Weapons.”

Satoru Uchida (Tokyo Metropolitan High School) received an Honorable Mention for his coursework and research paper on “What the Japanese Government Should Do Immediately to Protect Children’s Human Rights.”

In the Spring 2020 session of Stanford e-Japan, students from the following schools completed the course: Aoba Japan International School (Tokyo); Clark Memorial International High School (Osaka); Hiroshima Jogakuin Senior High School (Hiroshima); Hiroshima Prefectural Junior/Senior High School (Hiroshima); Kaijo High School (Tokyo); Kamakura Gakuen High School (Kamakura); Katoh Gakuen Gyoshu Senior High School (Shizuoka); Keio Girls Senior High School (Tokyo); Kurume University Senior High School (Fukuoka); Meikei High School (Ibaraki); Municipal Urawa High School (Saitama); Musashino University Chiyoda High School (Tokyo); Nirayama High School (Shizuoka); Okayama Prefectural Okayama Asahi High School (Okayama); Seigakuin High School (Tokyo); Senior High School at Komaba, University of Tsukuba (Tokyo); Senior High School at Otsuka, University of Tsukuba (Tokyo); Senri & Osaka International Schools of Kwansei Gakuin (Osaka); Shibuya Makuhari Senior High School (Chiba); Shukutoku Junior and Senior High School (Tokyo); Tokyo Gakugei University International Secondary School (Tokyo); Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya High School (Tokyo); Tokyo Metropolitan Ryogoku High School (Tokyo); Urawa Minami High School (Saitama); Waseda University Senior High School (Tokyo); Yokohama Senior High School of International Studies (Kanagawa); Yonezawa Kojokan High School (Yamagata); and Zero High School (Fukushima).

In the Fall 2020 session of Stanford e-Japan, students from the following schools completed the course: Canadian Academy (Hyogo), Doshisha International High School (Kyoto), Fukushima Prefectural High School (Fukushima), Hamamatsu Nishi High School (Shizuoka), Hiroo Gakuen High School (Tokyo), Hiroshima Prefectural Hiroshima Senior High School (Hiroshima), Fukuoka Prefectural Kaho High School (Fukuoka), Kaichi Junior/Senior High School (Wakayama), Kamakura Jogakuin (Kanagawa), Keio Girls Senior High School (Tokyo), Kyoto Prefectural Rakuhoku Senior High School (Kyoto), Miyagi Prefectural Sendai Nika High School (Miyagi), Musashino University Chiyoda High School (Tokyo), N-High School (Okinawa), Otaru Choryo High School (Hokkaido), Seikei High School (Tokyo), Seisho High School (Nara), Senior High School at Otsuka, University of Tsukuba (Tokyo), Shibuya Makuhari Senior High School (Tokyo), Suwa Seiryo High School (Nagano), Takada Senior High School (Mie), Tokyo Gakugei University International Secondary School (Tokyo), Tokyo Metropolitan Hitotsubashi High School (Tokyo), Tokyo Metropolitan Ryogoku High School (Tokyo), Tsurumaru Senior High School (Kagoshima), and Waseda University Senior High School (Tokyo).

For more information about the Stanford e-Japan Program, please visit stanfordejapan.org.

To stay informed of news about Stanford e-Japan and SPICE’s other programs, join our email list and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

SPICE offers separate courses for U.S. high school students. For more information, please see the Reischauer Scholars Program (online course about Japan), Sejong Scholars Program (online course about Korea), and China Scholars Program (online course about China).

On March 26, 2021, a virtual award ceremony was held to honor SPICE’s Spring and Fall 2019 Stanford e-Japan honorees and 2020 Reischauer Scholars Program honorees. The honorees performed at the highest levels of their courses as determined by Stanford e-Japan Instructors Waka Brown and Meiko Kotani, Reischauer Scholars Program Instructor Naomi Funahashi, and research paper review committees.

Spring and Fall 2019 Stanford e-Japan Program Honorees

• Ayano Hirose (Okayama Sozan High School, Okayama)
• Rinko Kawamoto (UWC ISAK Japan, Nagano)
• Yuta Myojo (Rikkyo Ikebukuro High School, Tokyo), honorable mention
• Renee Ohnuki (Senior High School at Sakado, University of Tsukuba, Saitama)
• Chisaki Sano (Gunma Kokusai Academy, Gunma)
• Natsumi Shindo (Keio Girls Senior High School, Tokyo)
• Kota Watanabe (Waseda University Senior High School, Tokyo)
• Isshin Yunoki (Kaisei Academy, Tokyo), honorable mention
   

2020 Reischauer Scholars Program Honorees

• Brandon Cho (The Nueva School, California)
• Sara Fujimori (Menlo School, California)
• Noah Harrigan (Great Valley High School, Pennsylvania), honorable mention
• Kristie Moore (Irvine High School, California), honorable mention
• Tyler Vold (Kamiak High School, Washington), honorable mention
• Amy Joy Zhai (Richard Montgomery High School, Maryland)

Image

The Honorable Toru Maeda, Consul General of Japan in San Francisco, made opening comments and underscored the students’ critical roles as future leaders in both countries and key players in the U.S.–Japan relationship. He noted, “By enrolling in and completing these programs, you have demonstrated initiative and determination to further your understanding of Japan and the United States. I strongly encourage you to continue your studies. I hope that this experience will inspire you to consider a career involving Japan and the United States… The continued strength of our government, business, and culture relations will be determined by the coming generations.” Consul General Maeda’s comments perfectly set the stage for the presentations by the honorees.

The honorees’ presentations focused on their course research projects that included U.S.–Japan relations in the areas of technology, security, and economics; Japanese education-related topics such as language learning for foreign students and cross-cultural understanding; identity issues and Zainichi Koreans; and topics that are regularly in the news such as Hollywood films, nuclear power and energy policy, and immigration. Their presentations were followed by the presentation of plaques by Brown, Kotani, and Funahashi.

Professor Rie Kijima (PhD, Stanford ’13) of the University of Toronto commented, “There is no doubt that the honorees of Stanford e-Japan and the RSP will use the experience they gained from participating in SPICE’s programs to engage in further research and activities that will bring greater awareness of and appreciation for the social, economic, political, and cultural contexts unique to the United States and Japan.” She continued, “What I am most impressed about the honorees of the Stanford e-Japan and the RSP programs are the quality of their research papers and their persuasiveness in conveying their main argument to a larger audience.” Brown, Kotani, and Funahashi hope that their students will have the opportunity to study with scholars like Kijima in their college years—scholars who would encourage them to explore careers involving Japan and the United States, a hope expressed by Consul General Maeda.

I was in touch with each of the honorees following the ceremony and they all expressed their gratitude to their instructors and the supporters of the courses. The Yanai Tadashi Foundation is the supporter of Stanford e-Japan, and Chikano Shiroma and Daisuke Kato represented the Yanai Tadashi Foundation during the ceremony. Naoaki and Yuka Mashita are the current supporters of the Reischauer Scholars Program. These courses and the ceremony would not have been possible with their support.

This op-ed by Kiyoteru Tsutsui originally appeared in Nikkei Asia.

As the summer of racial unrest forced America to confront its racist past and present yet again, a book by Heather McGhee, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, which documents how racial division prevents Americans from uniting to lift everyone's lot, has attracted a good deal of attention.

From welfare to education to policing, Americans have generally supported policies that lifted the white middle class. But as the middle class has become more racially diverse, politics has become a divisive zero-sum game, with many whites seeing government spending as shifting money away from them toward minorities, even if whites also benefit.

This politics of racial division forecloses a social consensus that could boost the U.S. as a whole, leading to flagging social infrastructure, sputtering criminal justice system reform and challenges in offering broad economic support even to counter the pandemic.

This is not a problem unique to the United States. Social scientists have studied the relationship between racial division and low levels of public goods provision in multiple countries and established that ethno-racially heterogeneous societies tend to provide less in the way of public services.

Plagued by suspicions that some groups might benefit more than others, diverse societies tend to have greater difficulty in reaching consensus and working together on a strategy for economic and social development that would improve everyone's lives.

On this count, Japan is at the other end of the spectrum. More ethno-racially homogenous than most other advanced democracies, Japan has fared well when it comes to providing public goods such as efficient public transportation systems, low crime rates and universal health care.

Japan is often quick to reach a broad consensus about government spending on public services, since people generally feel that everyone benefits if they all support each other. Strong social cohesion, facilitated by the relative homogeneity of the population, enables this social consensus that supports spending on public goods.

The flip side of this coin is Japanese society's persistent resistance to diversity and disruption. Used to the comfort of living and working with similar people, Japan has been criticized for its reluctance to accept immigrants.

In response, the Japanese government has rather clumsily allowed immigrant workers in recent decades, first encouraging the migration of Japanese-Brazilians on the basis of shared ethnic roots that were supposed to make it easy for them to assimilate.

Learning that the reality of Japanese-Brazilians' life in Japan did not support this idea, Japan then adopted trainee programs to bring in foreign workers on a temporary basis. With the emphasis squarely on the temporary nature of their stay, those who came to Japan under this scheme could not contribute toward the country's long-term diversity.

Faced with a declining population, Japan needs immigrant labor, and its business leaders have consistently supported accepting more migrant workers. In addition to addressing the labor shortage, a more diverse workforce would likely stimulate innovation and facilitate adaptation to changing economic environments. Much social science research has demonstrated positive relationships between diversity and innovation.

Yet Japan's leaders are having a hard time pressing ahead. While it is easy for the public to come to a consensus for policies that boost all Japanese, it has proved difficult for them to support any policy that would undermine Japan's homogeneity.

Aside from ethnic diversity, Japan's consensus-oriented society is generally resistant to change. Valuing the protection of all members, companies have been slow to streamline and transform their operations to adapt to the changing economic environment, resulting in the prolonged economic decline since the 1990s.

While Brazil is home to the world's largest overseas Japanese population, many Japanese-Brazilians who moved to Japan discovered it was not easy for them to assimilate.

Urged on by American consultants, Japan imported America's neoliberal economic model to revitalize its economy through this period, and the lifetime employment and seniority-based salary system has given way to a rise in temp workers and various attempts to introduce a merit-based salary system. These efforts have not met with much success, leaving behind a questionable legacy, including the suppression of wages after the labor shortage of recent years.

In the U.S., racial division undermines the provision of public goods that would reduce economic inequality. But its acceptance of diversity contributes to innovation and economic revitalization that keeps the U.S. at the vanguard of a new economy.

In Japan, ethno-racial harmony facilitates public goods provision that prevents economic inequality from spiraling out of control. But aversion to diversity and dissent makes it difficult to accept much-needed immigrant labor and to adapt to changes in the economic environment.

In both countries, these characteristics are ingrained into their social fabric and resistant to change. However, the two largest economies with a democratic polity have much to learn from each other, and they should work together to find solutions for their problems.

Otherwise, China's nondemocratic model could become the dominant model for economic success, with its top-down forced consensus and suppression of diversity.

Democracies have long proven better at correcting their mistakes and adjusting to changes in their environment. As the two largest democratic economies in the world, the U.S. and Japan should be able to overcome the cost of racial division and the cost of homogeneity respectively even if it takes decades to achieve that.

On March 11, 2011, Koide Hiroaki was in his laboratory in Kyoto, Japan. It was a gray, wet afternoon, and the 61-year-old nuclear engineer was hard at work when the earthquake hit. Fifteen miles beneath the surface of the sea, one tectonic plate rumbled beneath another. A slippery clay layer helped the great pieces of crust slide, releasing centuries of stress. The seabed rose up 16 stories, and slipped sideways 165 feet.

Read the rest at National Geographic

[Subscribe to our newsletters to get updates on our experts' latest research.]

Published in APARC’s in-house series, the book is the second volume resulting from APARC’s Stanford Asia-Pacific Research Innovation project. It collects the research findings of participants at the project’s third conference that was held in South Korea in June 2019.

James Liang, a research professor of economics at Peking University and a leading scholar of demographics and social studies, opened the event by situating the discussion about population structure in the context of the U.S.-China technology race. China is quickly catching up with the United States in the quality of its talent pool and the number of its labor resources. It will continue to outpace and surpass the United States in talent and innovation power in the next 10-20 years, Liang says.

China, however, is on a demographic cliff, facing severe population aging and low fertility rates. Its population of young workers aged 25-44 year-olds is projected to decline much faster and sooner than its overall population, leveling out against the labor and innovation gains the United States makes through the inflow of international talent into U.S. universities and entrepreneurial ventures. To sustain its long-term growth in labor quality and innovation, China will need higher birth rates and additional talent gains through migration, argues Liang.

James Feyrer’s book chapter examines the macroeconomic relationship between workforce demographics and aggregate productivity in Asia. Feyrer confirms that the high-income Asian nations like Japan and Korea, and even some middle-income countries of the region, will no longer enjoy a “demographic dividend” boosting aggregate productivity. However, he finds that the negative consequences of shifting to an older population structure may be less severe than previously projected, and even weakening with time. Feyrer believes this may be a result of improved food security and better overall health experienced by old cohorts in childhood, reinforcing the long-reaching impacts of healthcare on societal well-being.

Joon-Shik Park focused on the specific challenges facing Korean society, where birth rates have dropped severely. These historic declines continue to contribute to rising social and political unevenness across Korean society today. Initially seen most visibly in rural areas and smaller villages, Park’s now sees this unevenness affecting the dynamics of medium-sized towns and more urban areas as well. Korea and other aging societies must find viable solutions to address these issues if they are to prevent demographic divides from hobbling development and innovation, Park says.

Closing the book launch event, APARC Research scholar Kenji Kushida offers perspectives from rapidly aging Japan. where the challenges of shrinking and aging populations, rural-to-urban population distribution, and labor shortages spur advances in technology and innovation. Kushida documents this trend across multiple sectors.

He shows that drone technology has increased the productivity of short-staffed surveying firms, while AI-assisted industrial machines allow a broader range of laborers to work in manufacturing. Even in traditionally human-dominated environments like nursing homes, staff increasingly use robots to help improve the physical and mental well-being of elderly patients. Rather than strictly retarding growth, Kushida makes the case that demographic challenges serve as a catalyst for the development and implementation of new technologies.

As the research collected in Demographics and Innovation in the Asia-Pacific demonstrates, the challenges facing aging Asian societies are complex, but there is reason to look to the future with optimism. As the editors of the volume state in their introduction to the book, “Few concepts are as critical for sustained improvement in living standards as innovation.” New technologies and solutions will be foundational to addressing the challenges of the new demographic frontiers many societies are now approaching.