The following is Part 1 of a two-article series on facilitating cross-cultural online learning.

COVID-19 has now extended into most communities around the world, and we are only just beginning to understand the depth and breadth of its impact. Here at SPICE, our hearts and minds are especially focused on the effects that this global pandemic is having upon students. School closures and remote learning are becoming the norm as people are being asked—and in many cases, required—to maintain “social distancing” in order to prevent an even more rapid spread of the disease.

Every day there are more resources becoming available for teaching and learning online in the COVID-19 era. Many educators are struggling with how to adapt their teaching to the digital environment, while also striving to take full advantage of their new online context. We would like to share a few tips that we have learned from our own experiences with leveraging online teaching to forge international student connections, in hopes of encouraging others to develop similar cross-cultural online experiences for students on a global scale.

First, let me describe our own context for teaching online at SPICE. SPICE has been engaging high school students in the United States in online learning since 2004, when our first cohort of the Reischauer Scholars Program (RSP) began its intensive study of Japan and U.S.–Japan relations. When we launched a counterpart to the RSP in 2015—the Stanford e-Japan Program, an online course on U.S. society and culture and U.S.–Japan relations taught to high school students in Japan—we began to explore ways in which these two cohorts of students could come together and learn directly from and with one another. Just as the RSP students are spread across the United States, the Stanford e-Japan students are distributed across the islands of Japan. The diversity of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences that these students bring to their cohorts is one of the richest and most valued aspects of SPICE’s online teaching initiatives.

We wanted to give our RSP and Stanford e-Japan students an opportunity to come together and discuss their shared experiences, concerns, and anxieties within the contexts of their new realities. How is the COVID-19 pandemic impacting daily life in their respective societies and communities? What are the local and national government responses to this crisis? How are their schools managing the closures, and how is it impacting their future education plans and prospects? These were among the many topics discussed by students across the Pacific at a recent virtual event.

On Friday, March 20 at 7:00pm PDT (which was 11:00am on Saturday, March 21 in Japan), 45 students from across Japan and the United States came together in a Zoom virtual classroom (VC) session to meet, chat, share, learn, and listen. Below are a few best practices that we implemented in this recent session, and that we hope will be helpful for others when considering pedagogical strategies for engaging students in international and cross-cultural online discussions.

1. Prepare students in advance

To make for a rich and productive session, it is crucial that students come to the session well prepared and ready to engage actively. Prior to the session, all students were sent an agenda and asked to prepare at least two questions for small-group discussion. We also asked for student volunteers from each course to serve as small-group discussion leaders; half from RSP, half from Stanford e-Japan. Simple guidelines for moderating the discussion were sent to the discussion leaders in advance, including the following:

• Begin by identifying yourself as the small-group discussion leader.
• Facilitate self-introductions.
• Be mindful of encouraging all students to participate and voice their opinions and perspectives.
• Remind everyone of the agenda and the time allotted for small-group discussion.

2. Set basic ground rules for discussion

For online discussions in general—and especially for discussions in a cross-cultural setting—it is important for students to know what to expect and understand what is expected of them. In our case, because communication styles and norms—particularly in group settings—tend to be quite different in Japan and the United States, we have found it helpful to address these differences up-front to alleviate potential cross-cultural misunderstandings. Following brief introductions by the RSP and Stanford e-Japan course instructors, we began the session by taking a few minutes to highlight key differences in cross-cultural communication styles. For example, students in the United States tend to be less comfortable and/or familiar with silence or pauses in conversation, while students in Japan are often used to allowing for more time and space to think before speaking up.

3. Divide students into small groups

While student discussions can certainly be facilitated in one large group, we highly recommend dividing students into smaller groups if your software allows. (In Zoom, use the “Breakout Rooms” feature to do this.) In our experience, small groups create an environment that fosters dialogue that is more student-centered, dynamic, and inclusive—and therefore more meaningful to students. We have found that group sizes of five to eight work well. With 45 students in attendance at our recent session, we decided to divide students into six small breakout rooms in Zoom, each with a mix of students from the United States and Japan. All groups held their discussions in English, with the exception of one bilingual group comprised of American students fluent in Japanese and Japanese students fluent in English. With about seven or eight students in each group, each student had ample opportunity to actively engage in discussion and share his or her perspectives and experiences with one another. Each group was preassigned a topic/theme for discussion: COVID-19 (two groups), U.S.–Japan politics and economy, Japanese pop culture, Japanese language, and education.

4. Assign roles

In addition to the discussion leader role, students were also asked to assign a notetaker/reporter in each small group. For groups with an RSP student leader, a Stanford e-Japan student was asked to report back to the main group at the end of the session, and vice versa for groups with a Stanford e-Japan leader.

5. Support student discussion

Once students’ discussions are underway, periodically check in on each group and provide support as needed. We use Zoom for our virtual class platform, which allows for the host to hop between the breakout rooms throughout the duration of the session. While we prefer to allow for the small-group discussions to remain student-centered and student-led, there are times when a teacher might jump into a small group and either notice that a particular student is dominating the discussion, or that there are extended silences. It would be appropriate here for a teacher to send a private message to the discussion leader with some guidance and support as needed.

6. Debrief as a class

Save time at the end of class to reconvene students as a large group and share out to each other. In our case, the notetaker/reporter for each small group presented a short summary of his or her group’s discussion and some time was allowed for comments from the whole group following each presentation. While there were five different topics assigned to the six groups, it was interesting to see that all of the groups ended up discussing the impact of the COVID-19 situation at some point during their time together. Dedicating time to this whole-group debrief enabled students to learn about different perspectives and varied comparative responses to COVID-19, and it created a valuable opportunity for students to forge a cohesive virtual community of their own.

Concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, of course, hovered above all of us during the session and one of the big “take-aways” for the students was how interdependent and interconnected the world is. The anxieties of suddenly transitioning to online learning, being separated from friends and classmates, and not knowing how this pandemic might impact their prospects for higher education are shared by high school students everywhere. With many students transitioning to some form of remote learning, this could be an ideal time for young people to reach out across cultural and societal boundaries and deepen their international and cross-cultural awareness and understanding, and for schools to consider offering opportunities for these virtual connections to be made.

For more information about the Reischauer Scholars Program or the Stanford e-Japan Program, please visit our programs’ webpages at reischauerscholars.org and stanfordejapan.org. SPICE also offers other online courses to U.S. high school students on China (China Scholars Program) and Korea (Sejong Korea Scholars Program), and an online course to Chinese high school students on the United States (Stanford e-China Program).

To stay informed of SPICE news, join our email list and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Related articles:

• SPICE’s Stanford e-Japan Instructor Waka Takahashi Brown Honored with the Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award
• Stanford e-Japan: My Window to the Wider World
• Honoring High School Students from Japan and the United States: A Glow for Global Peace
• The RSP: A Stepping Stone in My Journey with Japan
• Yanai Tadashi Foundation and SPICE/Stanford University

In Summer 2020, three of the top students of the Fall 2019 Stanford e-Japan distance-learning course will be honored at an event at Stanford University. The three Stanford e-Japan Day honorees—Ayano Hirose (Okayama Sozan High School), Chisaki Sano (Gunma Kokusai Academy), and Natsumi Shindo (Keio Girls Senior High School)—will be recognized by Stanford e-Japan Instructor Meiko Kotani for their coursework and exceptional research essays that focused respectively on “Three Basic Ways to Promote Cross-Cultural Understanding in Japanese Education,” “U.S.–Japan Relations: Economic Interdependence Seen in 7-Eleven Operations,” and “The U.S.–Japan Security Alliance: Its Preservation and the Responsibilities of Both Countries.”

Yuta Myojo (Rikkyo Ikebukuro High School) received an Honorable Mention for his coursework and research paper on “How Could Japanese Society Achieve Increased Biculturalism: From the Aspects of Education Reform and Self-Awareness.”

In the Fall 2019 session of Stanford e-Japan, students from the following schools successfully completed the course: Aiko Gakuen (Ehime), Gunma Kokusai Academy (Gunma), Hiroshima High School (Hiroshima), Hiroshima Prefectural Hiroshima Junior/Senior High School (Hiroshima), Hitachi First Senior High School (Ibaraki), Ichikawa Junior and Senior High School (Chiba), Keio Girls Senior High School (Tokyo), Keio Senior High School (Kanagawa), Mita International High School (Tokyo), Nishiyamato Gakuen High School (Nara), Okayama Prefecture Asahi Senior High School (Okayama), Okayama Sozan High School (Okayama), Rikkyo Ikebukuro High School (Tokyo), Ritsumeikan Uji High School (Kyoto), Sendai Shirayuri Gakuen (Miyagi), Senior High School at Otsuka, University of Tsukuba (Tokyo), Senior High School at Kyoto University (Kyoto), Shibuya Kyouiku Gakuen Shibuya Senior High School (Tokyo), Shibuya Makuhari Senior High School (Chiba), Shirayuri Gakuen Senior High School (Tokyo), Takada High School (Mie), Takatsuki Senior High School (Osaka), Tokyo City University Senior High School (Tokyo), Waseda University Senior High School (Tokyo), Yokohama Science Frontier High School (Kanagawa), and Zushi Kaisei High School (Kanagawa).

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 online 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).

Related articles:

• Spring 2020 Session of Stanford e-Japan Online Course Begins
• Winners Announced for the Spring 2019 Stanford e-Japan Award
• SPICE’s Stanford e-Japan Instructor Waka Takahashi Brown Honored with the Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award
• Stanford e-Japan: My Window to the Wider World

The Stanford Center at Peking University (SCPKU), the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), and the APARC China Program jointly hosted a workshop on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in early March. The workshop, held on March 2 and 3, welcomed researchers from around the world with expertise in the Initiative. Unfortunately, because of the rapidly developing health emergency related to the coronavirus, participants from not only China, but also Japan, were prevented from attending. As described by Professor Jean Oi, founding director of SCPKU and the China Program, and Professor Francis Fukuyama, director of CDDRL and the Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy, who co-chaired the workshop, the meeting aimed to provide a global perspective on the BRI, consolidate knowledge on this opaque topic, and determine the best method and resources for future research.  

The workshop began with presentations from several of the invited guests. Dr. Atif Ansar from the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School kicked off the first day by describing not only the tremendous opportunity that the BRI presents to developing economies, but also the serious pitfalls that often accompany colossal infrastructure projects. Pointing out the poor returns on investment of mega infrastructure projects, Ansar examined the frequest cost and schedule overruns, random disasters, and environmental degradation that outweigh the minimal benefits that they generally yield. China’s own track record from domestic infrastructure projects does little to mitigate fear of these risks, Ansar claimed. In response, he urged professional management of BRI investments, institutional reforms, and intensified deployment of technology in BRI projects. Dr. Ansar was followed by Dr. Xue Gong of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Dr. Gong’s analysis centered on the extent to which China’s geopolitical motivations influenced its outward foreign direct investments (OFDI). Although her research was still in the early stages, her empirical analysis of China’s OFDI inflows into fifty BRI recipient countries from 2007-2018 nevertheless revealed that geopolitical factors often outweigh economic factors when it comes to China’s OFDI destinations.

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Professor Curtis J. Milhaupt and Scholar-in-Residence Jeffrey Ball, both at Stanford Law School, followed with individual presentations on the role of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in the BRI and the emissions impact of the BRI on climate change, respectively. Professor Milhaupt  characterized Chinese SOEs as both geopolitical and commercial actors, simultaneously charged with implementing Party policies and attaining corporate profits. Chinese SOEs are major undertakers of significant overseas BRI projects, acting not only as builders but also as investors, partners, and operators. This situation, Milhaupt asserted, carries significant risks for SOEs because these megaprojects often provide dismal returns, have high default rates, and can trigger political backlash in their localities. Milhaupt highlighted the importance of gathering firm-level data on businesses actually engaged in BRI projects to better infer geostrategic, financial, or other motivations. Jeffrey Ball turned the discussion to carbon emissions from BRI projects and presented preliminary findings from his four-country case studies. He concluded that, on aggregate, the emissions impact of the BRI is still “more brown than green.” Twenty-eight percent of global carbon emissions may be accounted for by BRI projects, Ball asserted, underscoring the importance of the BRI to the future of global climate change.

The day concluded with presentations by  Michael Bennon, Managing Director at the Stanford Global Projects Center, and Professor David M. Lampton, Oksenberg-Rohlen Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Bennon first presented findings from two empirical case studies of BRI projects and then went on to describe how the BRI is now practically the “only game in town” for infrastructure funding for developing countries. Lengthy environmental review processes at Western multilateral banks have turned the World Bank, for example, from a lending bank into a “knowledge bank,” he argued. He also highlighted that, in general, economic returns on BRI projects for China are very poor, even though recipient countries may accrue macroeconomic benefits from these projects. Finally, Professor Lampton turned the discussion back to Southeast Asia, where China is currently undertaking massive cross-border high-speed rail projects through eight ASEAN countries. He described how each host country had varying capacity to negotiate against its giant neighbor, and how the sequential implementation of these cross-border rail projects also had varying impacts on the negotiating positions of these host countries. BRI played out differently in each country, in other words, eliciting different reactions, push-backs and negotiated terms.

The second day of the workshop was dedicated to working toward a collaborative approach to future BRI research. The group discussed the key gaps in the existing research, including how to know what China’s true intentions are, how to measure those intentions, who the main players and their interests in both China and the host countries are, and even what the BRI is, exactly. Some cautioned that high-profile projects may not be representative of the whole. Participants brainstormed about existing and future sources of data, and stressed the importance of diversifying studies and seeking empirical evidence.

Following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, I recall being astounded that the iconic arches and pillars of Stanford University—though damaged—didn’t collapse or fall during the powerful earthquake. Wooden supports were inserted below the arches and remained for years while retrofitting took place. Since then, the arches and pillars have symbolized for me the stability and the security of the foundation of Stanford University. During yet another unstable time in 2020, this symbolism has once again taken on critical significance here and abroad.

In 1989, the World Wide Web was yet to be born, so obviously SPICE did not offer online classes to students in the United States, let alone to students abroad. SPICE’s first online course, the Reischauer Scholars Program, was launched in 2004. RSP Instructor Naomi Funahashi introduces topics related to Japan and U.S.–Japan relations to high school students in the United States. In 2015, SPICE launched Stanford e-Japan, an online course on U.S. society and culture and U.S.–Japan relations that Waka Takahashi Brown and Meiko Kotani offer to high school students in Japan. Since then, several other regional classes have been launched, including Stanford e-Kawasaki in 2019.

Stanford e-Kawasaki is an online course for high school students in Kawasaki City that is jointly offered by Kawasaki City and SPICE. Stanford e-Kawasaki Instructor Maiko Tamagawa Bacha provides students with an introduction to diversity and entrepreneurship in the United States and equips students with substantive knowledge about U.S. culture and society that may have a significant impact on their future choice of study and career.

The inaugural Stanford e-Kawasaki course began in October 2019 and culminated this month with presentations of final research projects by students from Tachibana High School and Kawasaki High School, the two participating schools in the inaugural course. Leading scholars from Stanford University and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs—including Dr. Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu from Stanford and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Sukemasa Kabayama, CEO and Co-Founder of Uplift, and Rika Nakazawa, VP Strategy and Business Development at Atheer—led online class discussions and not only encouraged students to critically think about diversity and entrepreneurship in the United States but also in Japan. These discussions helped students to conceptualize topics for their final research projects.

The research projects were varied and included a comparative analysis of college admissions in the United States and Japan, an examination of psychological issues affecting youth in the United States and Japan, and a discussion about whether a Silicon Valley-type ecosystem can be created in Japan. The students’ presentations were not only content rich and creative but also effectively engaged the audience, which included Vice Principal Akihiro Igarashi of Tachibana High School, Miyuki Kitamura of Kawasaki City, SPICE Instructors Carey Moncaster, Rylan Sekiguchi, and Kasumi Yamashita, Bacha, teachers from both high schools, and me. Bacha reflected, “Though my students were not able to make their presentations physically in front of audiences [as originally planned] due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, I was grateful to have had the chance to virtually observe all of the presentations from Colorado along with my colleagues in California, Hawai‘i, and Washington. I was especially impressed with my students’ demonstrated growth in their English-speaking abilities and confidence. Especially gratifying was to witness students asking each other questions.”

Vice Principal Igarashi noted, “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity given to the Tachibana High School students to join online class discussions led by leading scholars in the United States… As I watched them passionately delivering their final research presentations that they worked hard on, I could tell that they gained unique experiences which they cannot experience in regular school classes. By comparing Japan and the United States in their research projects, I am sure that they discovered new things about their own country, Japan… I believe from the bottom of my heart that the online classes and assignments given by this course will empower the youth of the future.”

While listening to the presentations, I was struck by how well the students engaged the audience. In my final comments, I commended their use of several effective presentation techniques, such as the following.

• Emphasis on interdisciplinarity in their research
• Incorporation of multiple perspectives
• Voice projection
• Use of images, including photos, drawings, statistics, and graphs
• Signposting
• Embedding questions for the audience in the presentation, e.g., Can we create a Silicon Valley in Japan?
• Providing historical context
• Definition of complex terms

In addition, for the first time since SPICE launched online courses, I felt a deep sense of satisfaction from knowing that we could bring some stability and security to the lives of students who could no longer physically go to school. The students gushed with enthusiasm despite their nervousness.

Mizuho Toyama, a Teacher of the English Department at Kawasaki High School noted, “We were so excited about our students’ online presentations this morning. What they did was tremendous and the experience they went through—I am sure—has become their priceless treasure… They learned not only English as a foreign language but also, more importantly, stepping out of their ‘comfort zone’ to seek advanced levels of learning. Raising cultural awareness with peers and also sharing thoughts without racial biases is an excellent source of learning. I am thankful for this program for encouraging students to be more openminded.”

Erica Oh, an American Assistant Language Teacher of English at Kawasaki High School, also commented on Bacha’s course. “Again, thank you and your staff, especially Maiko Tamagawa Bacha, for the awesome opportunity you have given our students to learn more and think outside their cultural box. It was an absolute delight for me to be able to witness their growth. I hope Stanford and Kawasaki stay in partnership and that this program continues.” For one of the online classrooms that focused on diversity, Bacha invited former Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program Assistant Language Teachers—John Branderhorst, Jeffrey Fleischman, Ryan Moore, and Cerell Rivera—to share their perspectives. “Bringing Americans and Japanese together—albeit virtually—at a time like this is invaluable,” commented Bacha.  

Students who successfully completed the course will earn a Certificate of Completion from SPICE/Stanford University on March 26, 2020 during a virtual closing ceremony. Mayor Norihiko Fukuda will make opening comments. In addition to SPICE staff, others who will be in attendance are Hisashi Katsurayama from the Kawasaki Board of Education and Katsuyoshi Abe, Yoshitaka Tsuchihama, and Miyuki Kitamura of Kawasaki City, all of whom have been unwavering in their support of Stanford e-Kawasaki.

When SPICE launched its online courses, I never imagined that the SPICE instructors would be reaching many students whose school lives were disrupted by a pandemic. I feel indebted to FSI Director Dr. Michael McFaul and FSI Deputy Director Dr. Kathryn Stoner for their support during this unstable time and enabling SPICE to help add some stability and security to students’ lives.

To stay informed of SPICE-related news, join our email list and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Related article:

• Stanford e-Kawasaki: The Vision of Mayor Norihiko Fukuda

The Stanford University Scholars Program for Japanese High School Students or “Stanford e-Japan” is an online course sponsored by the Yanai Tadashi Foundation and the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE), Stanford University. This online course teaches Japanese high school students about U.S. society and underscores the importance of U.S.–Japan relations. Through Stanford e-Japan, ambassadors, top scholars, and experts throughout the United States provide web-based lectures and engage Japanese high school students in live discussion sessions called “virtual classes.” Stanford e-Japan is now in its 6th year and 10th session overall.

The selected Stanford e-Japan high school students will listen to lectures by renowned experts in the field including Professor Emeritus Peter Duus, Professor Kathryn Gin Lum, and Dr. Kenji Kushida (all at Stanford University) on topics such as, “The Atomic Bombings of Japan,” “The Attack on Pearl Harbor,” “Religion in the U.S.,” and “Silicon Valley and Entrepreneurship.” Live virtual classes include guest speakers such as Ms. Suzanne Basalla (Toyota Research Institute), Ms. Maiko Cagno (U.S. Consulate, Fukuoka), and Dr. Makiko Oku (Co-Founder, KiKO Japan).

Many Stanford e-Japan students in the current cohort (as well as past ones) have mentioned their desire to study in the United States. The Stanford e-Japan Program equips many students with the motivation and confidence to do so, in addition to many of the skills they will need to study at U.S. universities and colleges. In addition to weekly lectures, assignments, discussion board posts, and virtual classes, the program participants will complete a final research paper on a topic concerning U.S. society or the U.S.–Japan relationship.

“I’ve encouraged my students to seriously consider undergraduate studies in the United States and to look into opportunities like the Yanai Tadashi Foundation Scholarships,” commented Stanford e-Japan Instructor Waka Brown. “Many e-Japan alumni have gone on to study in the United States, either for their entire college experience or for shorter overseas study opportunities. A couple of them received full scholarships, thanks to The Yanai Tadashi Foundation.”

Stanford e-Japan is one of several online courses for high school students offered by SPICE, Stanford University, including the Reischauer Scholars Program, the China Scholars Program, the Sejong Korean Scholars Program, and Stanford e-China. For more information about Stanford e-Japan, please visit stanfordejapan.org.

To be notified when the next Stanford e-Japan application period opens, join our email list or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Related articles:

• Winners Announced for the Spring 2019 Stanford e-Japan Award
• SPICE’s Stanford e-Japan Instructor Waka Takahashi Brown Honored with the Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award
• Stanford e-Japan: My Window to the Wider World
• The Yanai Tadashi Foundation and Stanford e-Japan: Cultivating Future Leaders in Japan

Last fall, SPICE provided me an opportunity to design and organize its first post-collegiate online course. The Stanford-Hiroshima Collaborative Program on Entrepreneurship (SHCPE’s Japanese-friendly pronunciation, “shu-ppe”) was conducted in collaboration with the Hiroshima Business and Management School (HBMS) at the Prefectural University of Hiroshima (PUH). HBMS offers the only Master of Business Administration (MBA) program in Japan’s western region of Chugoku and Shikoku. Interacting with amazing individuals on both sides of the Pacific, this unique experience brought me priceless moments.

Innovation in Itself

SHCPE, a course to help nurture entrepreneurial thinking, was an innovation in itself. The program was born out of Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki’s vision to design and implement a social challenge to help accelerate Hiroshima’s regional growth. Harnessing the resources of Stanford and Silicon Valley, the new online class was launched to empower the students and to revitalize the business sector in Hiroshima. SPICE created the curricular content and HBMS provided the learning environment designed to maximize the academic experience for the students. As the course’s curriculum designer, I leveraged the expertise of my fellow SPICE online instructors and applied design thinking, a method developed by Stanford faculty, practiced widely in Silicon Valley, and popularized globally to understand the end-user, challenge our assumptions, and reconstruct alternative perspectives to generate innovative ideas.

Bridging Silicon Valley and Hiroshima

SHCPE’s 18 MBA students in Hiroshima met every Saturday morning for three hours from September 28 to November 16, 2019 to connect online with Japanese entrepreneurs, professionals, and scholars in Silicon Valley. The first virtual class focused on discussing the mindset expected for the course as well as the conceptual framework. In the following six weeks, we welcomed guest speakers who shared their diverse experiences. What were their prior experiences, expertise, and insights? What resources did they have to achieve their goals? What were the major promoters and impediments to their journeys? Through active exploration of these questions, the students were exposed to real-life case studies to analyze Silicon Valley’s ecosystem and think critically about entrepreneurial competence and qualification. The course was conducted entirely in Japanese.

The guest speakers engaged and energized the HBMS students. Akira Onozato spoke about the evolution of Silicon Valley over the past three decades. His diverse experiences as a serial entrepreneur painted a rich picture of the San Francisco Bay Area’s growth cycle. Akira’s story provided a great segue to Rika Nakazawa’s lecture on the mindset and culture surrounding startups. Rika highlighted grit, tolerance of failure, and branding as important assets of successful entrepreneurs. Dr. Fumiaki Ikeno spoke on the landscape and trends in the medical device industry. He pointed to Japan’s declining productivity and economic competitiveness and discussed the persistent fear of failure as a major impediment to promoting entrepreneurship. As an active venture capitalist on both sides of Pacific, Seiji Miyasaka explained the funding schemes and financial cycles surrounding the investment climate of startups. Using case studies, he highlighted the role of investors who act as coaches to aspiring entrepreneurs. Tatsuki Tomita’s definition of a startup was shaped by his own experiences of starting multiple companies. His discussion of the pivot pyramid provided a visual guideline for how startups can experiment with ideas and find their product-market fit. Tasha Yorozu shared her expertise as a legal counsel, walking through the steps of starting a business in Silicon Valley. Along with Jumpei Ishii, a visiting legal counsel from Japan, Tasha further discussed their observations of successful startup practices and common pitfalls. The diversity of SHCPE guests represented the vibrant Silicon Valley community. 

Active Learning and Knowledge Construction

While these professionals provided informative accounts of their expertise, SHCPE’s ultimate goal was to help each HBMS student to develop a mindset of an active learner. The MBA students were constantly challenged to think critically about the weekly theme, and work in pairs or teams to discuss assigned topics. The experience offered a dynamic and interactive learning environment for the Japanese students in their 30s, 40s, and 50s who had been accustomed to traditional lecture-style formats. SHCPE’s curriculum based on design thinking adopted an inquiry-based learning pedagogy, which engaged every student through weekly assignments and in-class discussions. During the first class, the students were informed that SHCPE would not teach them entrepreneurship. Instead, this course would provide them with the opportunity to reconstruct their knowledge of entrepreneurship and innovation based on what they observe, hear, and feel during the class. In addition, the students were required to provide feedback after each class, which was utilized to redesign the lesson plans for the following week.

This active and experiential mindset was envisioned by Dr. Gary Mukai, Director of SPICE and a renowned Japan–U.S. educator. “At SPICE, we provide students an opportunity to own their learning experience. Education is about empowering the students,” Dr. Mukai asserts. This tradition comes from the American philosopher and education reformist John Dewey, who said, “I believe finally, that education must be conceived as a continuing reconstruction of experience; that the process and the goal of education are one and the same thing.” SHCPE’s inaugural curriculum aimed to implement this philosophy through direct, real-life interaction with founders and movers in Silicon Valley, and through the iterative process to deconstruct and reconstruct their knowledge on entrepreneurship.

Innovation Through Education

What SHCPE aimed to achieve was innovation through education. The weekly three-hour online class was roughly divided into three parts: guest lecture, class discussion, and interview. Prior to the interview session, a pre-assigned team of three students met with me in a separate online room and brainstormed their interview questions. For the majority of the students, it was their very first time to formally interview a person, and the experience brought a novel learning opportunity to think critically about entrepreneurial competence. Many commented on the challenge and the excitement of getting to know strangers by engaging them in a thoughtful conversation. The weekly interview highlighted the philosophy, aspiration, and raw sentiments of the guest speakers, evoking passion, energy, and empathy among the students.

SHCPE 2019 team with Ken-ichi Nakamura, President of the Prefectural University of Hiroshima

SHCPE strived to adopt the pedagogy of active learning and the toolsets of design thinking to implement Governor Yuzaki’s vision of “learning innovation.” The course appears to have succeeded in helping to realize his vision as one student reflected upon his experience:

This class does not intend to offer answers [to the question what entrepreneurship is]. Instead, it urges the students to constantly think on their own and engage themselves in learning. This is very different from the Japanese traditional pedagogy, which relies on rote memorization and mechanical process of practice problems. This class highlighted the fundamental difference in the philosophy of how we look at education, and I enjoyed this eye-opening experience.

SHCPE ’19 concluded with much enthusiasm. SPICE looks forward to continuing its partnership with HBMS to build upon the invaluable lessons learned from the inaugural program. With Stanford e-Hiroshima, an online course for high school students managed and taught by my colleague Rylan Sekiguchi, SPICE will continue its efforts to empower the people in Hiroshima.

Acknowledgement

I am greatly indebted to Dr. Gary Mukai for providing me this invaluable opportunity. Special thanks go to Carey Moncaster, Dr. HyoJung Jang, Jonas Edman, Meiko Kotani, Naomi Funahashi, Rylan Sekiguchi, Sabrina Ishimaru, Dr. Tanya Lee, and Waka Takahashi Brown for their valuable comments on the preliminary curriculum. I thank all of my colleagues at SPICE for their support and encouragement throughout the process.

My special gratitude goes to Akira Onozato, Dr. Fumiaki Ikeno, Jumpei Ishii, Rika Nakazawa, Seiji Miyasaka, Tatsuki Tomita, and Tasha Yorozu who took the time out of their busy Friday evening to participate in the virtual classroom. Their contagious enthusiasm energized the students.

Last but not least, I would like to express my deep appreciation to my collaborators at HBMS. I thank Professor Katsue Edo for his hard work and commitment to implement the program, Professor Yasuo Tsuchimoto for his technical expertise and dedication to administer the distance-learning, Professor Narumi Yoshikawa for supporting in-class discussions, and Kazue Hiura, Yoshihiko Oishi, and Kenji Okano for their capable assistance and thoughtful arrangements. Last but not least, my heartfelt congratulation goes to the 18 MBA students who successfully completed SHCPE ’19. The inaugural class will always have a special place in my heart.

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.

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When I first visited Kawasaki City, I was immediately struck by the multicolored character for 川or “kawa” (river) in the Chinese characters for川崎 (Kawasaki) that appears on signs, buildings, posters, and even storm drain covers. I learned from Kawasaki Mayor Norihiko Fukuda that the multicolored 川 symbolizes the importance that Kawasaki City places upon diversity.

Kawasaki City is a large industrial city in the greater Tokyo area with a population of approximately 1.5 million, making it Japan’s sixth most populous city after Tokyo. It is one of Japan’s most ethnically diverse cities. Many Japanese multinational companies are based in Kawasaki. In 2014, the U.S. multinational company Johnson & Johnson opened the Tokyo Science Center in Kawasaki.

With the vision of Mayor Fukuda and support from Kawasaki City, SPICE has launched Stanford e-Kawasaki, an online course that is offered to high school students in Kawasaki. Stanford e-Kawasaki’s main course topics are diversity and entrepreneurship. Stanford e-Kawasaki Instructor Maiko Tamagawa Bacha recently noted, “The Kawasaki students have shown strong interest in these timely and relevant topics and are always actively engaged in discussions. One of the great things about Stanford e-Kawasaki is that it provides a place where students feel free and encouraged to express themselves. It also provides an important opportunity for students to reflect on their own society by learning about the United States. I look forward to our continued learning together for the rest of the course.” The course began in fall 2019 and a closing ceremony will be held in March 2020.

Maiko Tamagawa Bacha

Like Bacha, Mayor Fukuda has also done formal studies in the United States. As a graduate of Furman University in South Carolina, Mayor Fukuda experienced life in the United States firsthand. Mayor Fukuda reflected, “I am grateful to SPICE at Stanford University… for starting this program for high school students in Kawasaki City. I am encouraged to learn that the students are actively learning and engaged in discussions on topics related to diversity and entrepreneurship. I strongly hope that they will grow to be men and women of high caliber, who are keen to experience their lives with broad perspectives.” With the presence of many multinational corporations in Kawasaki, Mayor Fukuda witnesses the interdependence of Japan and the world every day and fully appreciates the significance of topics like diversity and entrepreneurship to the U.S.–Japan relationship.

The SPICE staff would like to express its appreciation also to Hisashi Katsurayama from the Kawasaki Board of Education and Yoshitaka Tsuchihama and Miyuki Kitamura of Kawasaki City and for their unwavering support of Stanford e-Kawasaki.

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