The Center for Global Partnership

In October 2005 the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP) launched a small-scale initiative to provide $5,000 grants to enhance understanding about Japan at the K-12 level in the Southern United States, an area with little previous exposure to Japan.

During the first year of the program eleven projects were funded, ranging from a professional development workshop for K-12 teachers in Alabama to an artist residency project in North Carolina to a Japanese spring festival in Texas. All of the projects reached out to local communities and involved parents, teachers, students and school administrators coming together to learn more about Japan.

Due to the overwhelming success of the projects, in April 2006 CGP decided to offer the program again, this time opening the initiative up to the Midwestern United States in addition to the South. During the ensuing year CGP funded eighteen projects in the South and Midwest. The following are profiles of some of the most innovative education projects from the past year.

In Oxford, Ohio, more than 400 participants, drawn from several communities in Southwest Ohio and East Central Indiana, gathered for “Ohanashi,” a cultural and literary discovery festival consisting of traditional Japanese storytelling (ohanashi) and “discovery” stations on Japanese culture, including food, crafts, and performing arts

During the festival, 30-60 audience members – both parents and children -- came together to hear traditional Japanese stories and folk tales read aloud by a range of readers including students and teachers. Other festival participants enjoyed the interactive “discovery” stations, including sushi-making and kite-making., Through these stations they gained more in-depth knowledge of various aspects of Japan, including arts, geography, and cuisine.

In order to ensure a strong turnout, Project director Frances Yates recruited Miami University student volunteers from the Japanese language department, the education honor society and elsewhere, as well as teachers and school administrators from local communities.

The teachers’ role was especially important, according to Ms. Yates, as teachers “became a conduit for our publicity.” The event was also mentioned in a local online community news source as well as local radio.

The project clearly had a community-wide impact. One example of this is that a local language program for gifted youngsters in 2^nd – 5^th grades saw the Japanese language rise from 2^nd least popular to second most popular, no doubt attributable in part to the festival.

Due to its overwhelming success, Ms. Yates has plans to make Ohanashi an annual festival, and also to create a “how-to” guide for undertaking an Ohanashi-style festival.

In Madison, Wisconsin, K-12 educators gathered at a workshop entitled “From Ukiyo-e to Anime: Using Art & Popular Culture in Your Classroom to Explore Mutual Cultural Influences Between Japan and the U.S.” The event was held in conjunction with the Chazen Museum’s exhibition “Color Woodcut International: Japan, Britain and America in the Early Twentieth Century.”

Hope Rennie, Assistant Director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, led the workshop, which offered a wide range of lectures on topics such as Japanese history, arts, and pedagogy. Teachers also received a gallery tour of the exhibition led by a museum print curator, and Ms. Rennie gave a presentation on the K-12 curriculum guide that would accompany the Chazen exhibit. In addition to the curriculum guide, teachers received 19 slides of key art works from the exhibit and a CD containing the woodcut prints being exhibited at the Chazen museum.

In describing the workshop, Ms. Rennie stated that project organizers used a three-prong strategy. The first was to convene a focus group of K-12 teachers to develop a concept based upon teacher interests. The second strategy was to tie the themes of the workshop to local resources and examine the ways in which local surroundings (i.e. Madison, WI) are linked to Japan. A third aim was to have a contemporary focus while linking the contemporary to history.

In terms of impact, a total of 1100 students received tours of the woodcut exhibition, along with 275 adults. Building on the project’s success, the Chazen museum and the University of Wisconsin-Madison are planning to hold future workshops in order to build and sustain teacher and student interest in Japan.

In Augusta, Georgia, Communities in Schools, a nonprofit organization, worked in coordination with Tubman Middle School to hold a “Children’s Day” festival in May 2006 to explore Japanese culture. The festival was the culmination of a six-month comprehensive educational program for middle school students to enhance their knowledge of Japanese culture, including language, creative arts, drama, food, reading and writing. 75 students enrolled in the six-month program, which was funded by a grant from Communities in Schools, and the festival itself was attended by 600 students and 75 teachers and staff.

In preparation for the festival, the Children’s Day project borrowed 25 paintings, 50 kimonos and several kites from the Japanese Consulate in Atlanta, taking advantage of a resource (Japanese consulates) available to many local communities. Local Japanese restaurants prepared food for the event, and local Japanese college students taught participants how to use chopsticks.

During the festival itself, traditional Japanese stories were performed, a martial arts demonstration was held, and dance, drum and koto were all featured. Special guests included the Deputy-Consul General of Japan ( Atlanta) and representatives from the Mayor of Augusta-Richmond office. Greg Davis, a counselor at Tubman Middle School and the Project Director, noted that the wide array of events offered during the festival – from storytelling to dance to song to drum to martial arts – helped to sustain students’ interest. “We had middle-schoolers who were not used to sitting still literally riveted for 2 ½ hours,” he said.

The event received coverage from local television, radio and print media, and was ultimately so successful that the City of Augusta-Richmond officially proclaimed May 12, 2006 as “Children’s Day.”

In rural Ohio, Professor Hiroaki Kawamura of the University of Findlay led a project to integrate Japan into the elementary social studies curriculum in two schools in Hancock County. A hallmark of the project – and an important key to its success – was the use of local resources in the form of the local Japanese community, Japanese language students and others with knowledge of Japan.

The project combined traditional teacher training workshops with new and innovative ideas, such as a home visit program whereby ten participating elementary school teachers visited the homes of local Japanese families in order to gain deeper insight into Japan and to develop informal partnerships with the local Japanese community.

Another component of the project involved visits to the two elementary schools by University of Findlay Japanese program students, along with Japanese students studying at the university and local Japanese community members. The goal of these visits was to make Japan “real” for the approximately 200 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grade students learning about Japan through actual interaction with Japanese and those studying Japanese.

In terms of sustainability, the project yielded several significant results. The partnership formed between the two Ohio elementary schools and the schools in Japan through scrapbook and video exchange will continue, and there is the prospect of a Japanese students’ visit to Ohio. In addition, students at one of the two Ohio schools began a pen pal project with Japan. Dr. Kawamura was pleased to see these unanticipated developments, noting that some past educational outreach projects he participated in ended as “one-shot projects.” In this case, the project will continue to make an impact for some time to come.

In explaining the success of the project, Dr. Kawamura said that the biggest contributing factor was collaboration with local school teachers, who took the initiative and immersed themselves and their students in the project. Noting the importance of teachers’ role in education projects, Dr. Kawamura stated that “the ultimate goal is to reach children. Teachers are the vehicle that allows us to do it.”