This paper examines how social isolation in a non-Anglophone context where English is not the main language of instruction for local students but is for international students, has unintended consequences for social capital formation among the latter. What factors influence international student network formation in such places where linguistic barriers are institutionalised and what are their consequences not only during college but beyond, in shaping students’ career plans? Using qualitative interview data with 67 international (originating from Asian countries) and domestic students in Japanese universities, we find that such institutional barriers negatively promote greater isolation of international students but positively encourage the formation of diverse multinational ties – a process through which international students gain ideas, confidence and direction regarding their post-graduation career plans to work transnationally.
As a high school student in San Jose in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I used to see Norman Mineta on occasion in San Jose’s Japantown. Once at Fukuda Barber in Japantown, Mineta was on the barber chair. After he left, barbers Takeo and Atsuo Fukuda asked me if I knew who he was. I didn’t, and Takeo told me that he was Norman Mineta, vice mayor of San Jose. Since that day, I recognized Mineta whenever I saw him in Japantown, in the San Jose Mercury News, and on television. In 1971, Mineta became mayor of San Jose, and in 1974, he ran successfully for the U.S. House of Representatives. He was reelected ten more times. Mineta also served as President Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Commerce from July 2000 to January 2001 and President George W. Bush’s Secretary of Transportation from January 2001 to August 2006. Never did I imagine that our paths would cross professionally through my work at SPICE. From 2017, SPICE curriculum designer Rylan Sekiguchi assumed the responsibility of authoring lesson plans for a project called “What Does It Mean to Be an American?”—a free web-based curriculum toolkit inspired by Mineta’s life and career.
As a 10-year-old Japanese American boy in 1942, Norman Mineta was powerless when his country imprisoned him and his family in a fit of wartime hysteria. But nearly 60 years later, he sat at the highest levels of government as the United States reeled from 9/11 and began experiencing a new hysteria. In times of crisis like these, how has the institution of civil liberties been affected by individuals like Mineta whose voices guide government policy, and how have those changes impacted the lives of Americans? This was the central question that Mineta and Sekiguchi focused their comments on during their National Council of History Education session, “Civil Liberties in Times of Crisis,” on March 16, 2019.
"Civil Liberties in Times of Crisis" session at the 2019 NCHE conference, led by Rylan Sekiguchi and Secretary Norman Mineta.
The 30 teachers in attendance were first offered a preview by Sekiguchi of the soon-to-be released “What Does It Mean to Be an American?” The lesson plans, explained Sekiguchi, consist of six independent learning modules that examine a key theme from Secretary Norman Mineta’s life and career: immigration, civil liberties and equity, civic engagement, justice and reconciliation, leadership, and U.S.–Japan relations. The lessons were developed in consultation with Mineta and the Mineta Legacy Project team, including Dianne Fukami and Debra Nakatomi, who were also in attendance. Fukami and Nakatomi are the producers of the documentary film, Norman Mineta and His Legacy: An American Story.
Following the curriculum preview, Mineta reflected upon his life and highlighted the striking parallels between the hysteria following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the hysteria following 9/11. His memories of the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor seemed to be seared in the back of his mind as he spoke, as he vividly recalled seeing his father cry for the first time and wondering where his neighbor of Japanese descent had suddenly been taken, and by whom. (He later learned it was the FBI.) A short time later, Mineta and his family were also evicted from their home in San Jose, California and incarcerated in Heart Mountain, Wyoming, as part of what is often called the mass internment of Japanese Americans.
Mineta also shared his memories of the morning of 9/11—being informed as Secretary of Transportation of the first plane hitting the twin towers, watching the live broadcast as the second plane hit, and then being called to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, a bunker-like underground structure that lies below the White House. He recalled how he had asked one of his chiefs to draw up the new flight security guidelines that would govern aviation henceforth, and the first bullet point was “No racial profiling will be used.” He also vividly recalled how President George W. Bush, in the aftermath of 9/11, firmly declared that the United States would not let what happened to Norm and his family (following the Pearl Harbor attack) happen again. “You could’ve knocked me off my chair with a feather!” Mineta reflected.
Deborah Rowland with Secretary Norman Mineta
Following the session, comments from teachers underscored the success of the session. “A number of participants said they’d never seen anything like our lessons before. One teacher told us that even though she expected our session would be her conference highlight, she was still overwhelmed!” reflected Sekiguchi. “That was so heartening to hear. I hope everyone in our session felt that way. Even more than that, I hope they feel inspired to educate the next generation about the importance of civil liberties and share these lessons from Secretary Mineta’s life.” Deborah Rowland was among the teachers who attended the conference. She tweeted, “Such a privilege to visit with this incredible man today. Norman Mineta, former Secretary of Transportation, former Secretary of Commerce, former Congressman, former childhood detainee of Executive Order 9066, always an American.”
The documentary film Norman Mineta and His Legacy: An American Story will receive a national PBS airing on May 20. Fukami and Nakatomi hope that the film and lesson plans become widely used in U.S. schools and carry on the legacy of Norman Mineta. They noted, “They are important tools to help young students grapple with the divisiveness in U.S. society today and to underscore the critical importance of considering civil liberties-related issues in U.S. history as well as today.”
I had the privilege of attending several screenings of the film. At the San Jose screening, it was gratifying to listen to tributes to Mineta from people who represent San Jose’s diverse communities, and it was especially moving to witness them and numerous Japanese Americans in attendance give a standing ovation to Mineta following the screening. An old family friend in attendance used to also frequent Fukuda Barber and we boasted about how our barber used to also cut the hair of Norman Mineta.
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Secretary Norman Mineta with Debra Nakatomi (left) and Dianne Fukami (right) and Rylan Sekiguchi
On January 18, 2019, Stanford Global Studies and the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) hosted a book talk by Professor Michael McFaul. McFaul served for five years in the Obama administration, first as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council (2009–2012), and then as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2012–2014). He is also one of several contributing scholars to Inside the Kremlin, SPICE’s lesson plan on Soviet and Russian history. McFaul’s talk was given to approximately 30 community college and secondary school educators from the San Francisco Bay Area. Three of the educators—Nancy Willet, Phillip Tran, Don Uy-Barreta—are 2018–19 Stanford Education Partnership for Internationalizing Curriculum (EPIC) Fellows, and this article highlights their reflections.
Ambassador McFaul has described From Cold War to Hot Peace as “three books in one.” First, it is a book that explains the arc of U.S.–Russia relations since the end of the Cold War. Second, it a book that describes the “reset” in U.S.–Russia relations and its aftermath during the Obama presidency. Third, it is a book about McFaul’s life that describes how his involvement with the debate team at Bozeman High School, Montana, sparked his interest in Russia and led to his subsequent study of Russia at Stanford University, Oxford University, and in Russia itself. During his talk, he touched upon all three.
McFaul’s reflections not only provided the educators with important content on U.S.–Russia relations and insights from his youth to his ambassadorship, but also prompted the educators to consider effective teaching and pedagogical strategies. McFaul’s use of storytelling, presentation of multiple perspectives, emphasis on interdisciplinarity, and sharing of first-hand accounts gave the educators a glimpse into McFaul not only as an academic and diplomat but as a teacher.
EPIC Fellow Nancy Willet, Co-chair of the Business & Information Systems Department, College of Marin, noted, “I was most impressed with Ambassador McFaul’s engaging storytelling. His first-hand insights of his time spent studying and working in Russia challenged some of my misguided assumptions and helped expand my understanding of the complexities of U.S.–Russia relations. I grew up during the Cold War and the Ambassador disrupted some of my deep-rooted misconceptions about the former Soviet Union and further opened my mind for a more nuanced understanding.” In a follow-up communication, Willet said that she is devouring From Cold War to Hot Peace and plans to share McFaul’s scholarly insights with her law students—particularly when discussing democracy and rule of law—here and abroad.
EPIC Fellow Philip Tran, Instructor of Business, San Jose City College, remarked that “Ambassador McFaul’s talk reinforced the complicated notion of human relations and the importance of an interdisciplinary study of it—including political science, business, economics, etc. Interdisciplinarity is a key to grasping a better understanding of human relations.” He continued by noting that the biggest take-away from McFaul’s talk was that it cautioned him as a teacher to “refrain from the natural ‘knee-jerk’ reactions and to seek a deeper understanding of the situation from all sides…. Even though Ambassador McFaul is a subject matter expert on U.S.–Russian relations, he displayed humility and acceptance of ambiguity in his responses to some of the toughest questions regarding the U.S. relationship with Russia and Vladimir Putin.”
EPIC Fellow Don Uy-Barreta, Instructor of Economics, De Anza College, reflected upon the significance of sharing first-hand experiences with students. He noted that “Reading about Ambassador McFaul’s experience is very informative, but being able to ask questions and hearing it from the source is a whole different level of experience. As he was telling us about his days in Russia, it felt like I was right next to him, and it gave me goosebumps.” Uy-Barreta found inspiration in McFaul’s talk as he prepares for his presentation on global economics at the EPIC Symposium on May 18, 2019 during which the 2018–19 EPIC Fellows will present their research at Stanford.
McFaul has given numerous talks on From Cold War to Hot Peace but this was the first geared to an audience of educators. As I observed his talk, I was primarily attentive to the pedagogical strategies that he utilized to engage the educators. For me, his effective teaching made the history and insights in From Cold War to Hot Peace come alive and feel more like “four books in one.”
This book talk was made possible by a U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant that provides professional development opportunities for K–12 teachers and community college instructors. Among these opportunities is EPIC, a program that provides one-year fellowships to community college instructors. Title VI grant collaborators include Stanford Global Studies (SGS), SPICE, Lacuna Stories, andthe Stanford Graduate School of Education’s Center to Support Excellence in Teaching. SGS’s Denise Geraci and SPICE’s Jonas Edman organized and facilitated the talk by Ambassador McFaul.
Why does cellist Yo-Yo Ma refer to the Silk Road as the ‘Internet of antiquity’? What is globalization? What is economic interdependence? What are diversity and inclusion? These are some of the questions that high school students from Yokohama Science Frontier High School (YSFH) considered during a visit to the San Francisco Bay Area in January 2019. Alumni of the U.S.-Japan Council’s TOMODACHI Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) and SPICE staff encouraged the students to critically consider the questions during their visits to Facebook, Apple, and Stanford University.
Prior to their arrival, YSFH students shared their goals for the trip. YSFH student Ken Horikoshi, who aspires to become a robotics engineer, noted, “I will need communication skills, skills of thinking deeply, and of course, knowledge about space or robotics to make my dreams come true. So, I’d like to make an effort to improve these skills.” With the students’ goals in mind, ELP Chair and SPICE’s Rylan Sekiguchi organized visits to Apple and Facebook and assisted with a one-day seminar at Stanford.
Derek Kenmotsu talks with students and teachers on Apple campus.
ELP alumnus Derek Kenmotsu, Global Supply Manager of Apple’s World Wide Operations, guided the students on a brief tour of Apple campus and led a discussion that helped them understand the economic interdependence of the world by focusing on Apple’s manufacturing and worldwide sales in countries like China and Japan. The importance of addressing diversity and inclusion in the workforce was underscored by ELP alumna Mana Nakagawa, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy and Operations Lead of Facebook, as she toured the students around Facebook headquarters. Nakagawa has helped to scale Facebook’s women’s community and business resource groups globally. Her comments prompted students to consider the value of inclusivity and cognitive diversity to companies like Facebook that serve a global audience. YSFH student Taishi Chijimatsu, who is involved with his school’s IT club and interested in pursuing computer programming as a career, was especially grateful for having the chance to visit Apple and Facebook as it gave him a first-hand glimpse into what it is like to work for a global company.
Mana Nakagawa gives students and teachers a tour around Facebook headquarters.
During the seminar at Stanford, SPICE staff introduced the YSFH students to SPICE lessons from Along the Silk Road to illustrate that globalization is not just a modern phenomenon. The staff noted that in some ways, the ancient Silk Road was the first real conduit of globalization, as it connected vast lands into a trade network that spread goods, beliefs, and technologies far from their areas of origin. ELP alumna Naomi Funahashi, instructor of SPICE’s online course on Japan, illustrated this by showing how musical instruments were carried along the Silk Road and gradually adapted to cultural and geographic features of local environments. She mentioned, for example, similarities and differences of lutes that can be found in Europe, China, Korea, and Japan. She also noted a description of the Silk Road by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, founder of Silkroad, who has described the Silk Road as the “Internet of antiquity”; expounding upon this notion, Sekiguchi and SPICE’s Jonas Edman noted that by studying about the Silk Road, we can gain historical insights into how the contemporary stage of globalization is changing our world and our lives.
A highlight of the seminar featured the YSFH students giving presentations on their science-related research to the SPICE staff and visiting scholars at Stanford from Japan. YSFH student Kazuhiro Okada’s presentation on his ambition to design underwater cities stretched the audience’s notions of globalization and interconnectedness. One commented, “It would be interesting if you could someday design a subway stop under the ocean between Aomori Prefecture and Hokkaido.”
The ELP identifies, cultivates, and empowers a new generation of leaders in the U.S.–Japan relationship. Chair Sekiguchi, other ELP alumni, and SPICE staff extended this mission to the generation behind them. YSFH teacher Nobuyo Uchimura described the experiences that they provided her students as very precious ones that expanded their learning beyond the confines of a classroom, and YSFH teacher Yukimasa Uekusa noted his desire to prioritize programs such as this into the future.
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Yokohama Science Frontier High School students at Stanford University
Stanford e-Japan is an online course that teaches Japanese high school students about American society and culture and U.S.–Japan relations. The course introduces students to both American and Japanese perspectives on many historical and contemporary issues. It is offered biannually by the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE). The Fall 2018 cohort was the seventh group of students to complete Stanford e-Japan.
In August 2019, three of the top students of the Fall 2018 Stanford e-Japan distance-learning course will be honored at an event at Stanford University. The three Stanford e-Japan Day honorees—Sakura Hayakawa (Katoh Gakuen Gyoshu Senior High School), Ryotaro Homma (Kaisei Senior High School), and Taiki Yamamoto (Ritsumeikan Uji Senior High School)—will be recognized for their coursework and exceptional research essays that focused respectively on “Importance of Youth Political Participation and Citizenship Education,” “The Abolition of the Electoral College: A Synthesis of the Positive Aspects,” and “The U.S.-Japan Alliance: Is a New Framework Necessary?”
Mayu Fujinami (Keio Girls Senior High School) and Tatsuya Sugiyama (Saitama Prefectural Urawa High School) received Honorable Mentions for their research papers on “The Importance of Paternity Leave for Gender Equality” and “Design Thinking: Lessons from the U.S.,” respectively.
Applications for the next session of Stanford e-Japan (Spring 2019) are currently being accepted through February 24, 2019. More information is available at stanfordejapan.org.
Stanford e-Tottori is a distance-learning course sponsored by the Tottori Prefectural Board of Education and the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE), Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. Tottori Governor Shinji Hirai and Superintendent Hitoshi Yamamoto of the Tottori Prefectural Board of Education were instrumental in its establishment. Offered for the first time in 2016, Stanford e-Tottori presents a creative and innovative approach to teaching Japanese high school students about U.S. society and culture.
Hana Hirosaka of Tottori Higashi High School with SPICE Director Gary Mukai
Stanford e-Tottori instructor Jonas Edman recently recognized three of his top performing students for their exceptional coursework. They are James Banville (Tottori Keiai High School; Principal Shigeo Nikaido), Hana Hirosaka (Tottori Higashi High School; Principal Masato Omuro), and Kosei Kamada (Tottori Nishi High School; Principal Eiju Yamamoto). Since the launching of Stanford e-Tottori, Edman has encouraged his students to think in an internationally minded manner—that is, to consider different points of view and to realize the importance of diversity and cross-cultural communication. Reflecting upon his former students over the first two years of Stanford e-Tottori, Edman noted that “James, Hana, and Kosei were always open-minded to various points of view and demonstrated strong critical thinking skills… and I was also impressed with their regular attendance in class despite their extremely busy schedules. I am so proud of all of the Tottori students’ accomplishments, but those of James, Hana, and Kosei especially stood out.”
James Banville with Principal Shigeo Nikaido of Tottori Keiai High School
Each of the honorees received a plaque from SPICE/Stanford University, and Edman expressed his hope that this honor would help them with university admissions as well as inspire them to someday study in the United States. As part of the admissions process to Waseda University, Banville spoke about what he learned in Stanford e-Tottori during an interview. He was admitted to Waseda and will begin his freshman year this spring. Hirosaki and Kamada are now in the midst of the university application process and they, too, plan to showcase their participation in Stanford e-Tottori.
Takuya Fukushima, Office Director of the English Education Advancement Office of the High School Division at the Tottori Prefectural Board of Education, expressed his profound gratitude to Edman and feels that these honors have made Stanford e-Tottori more visible in Tottori Prefecture. “With wonderful guidance and skilled facilitation, Edman-sensei has done a great job to foster the students’ interest and participation in discussions… the students’ positive attitude and willingness to participate in lessons was something that I had been long waiting for. It was the moment when I could feel, ‘Oh, Stanford e-Tottori rose one step higher.’”
Stanford e-Japan is currently accepting applications for the Spring 2019 session, which runs from April 22 to August 23, 2019. The deadline to apply is February 24, 2019.
Now in its eighth session, Stanford e-Japan is SPICE’s online course for high school students in Japan. Accepted students engage in an intensive study of U.S. society and culture and U.S.–Japan relations. Ambassadors, top scholars, and experts throughout the United States provide web-based lectures and engage students in live discussion sessions.
This year, Stanford e-Japan has moved to an online application system. All applications must be submitted at https://spicestanford.smapply.io/prog/stanford_e-japan/ via the SurveyMonkey Apply platform. Applicants and recommenders will need to create a SurveyMonkey Apply account to proceed. Students who are interested in applying to the program are encouraged to begin their application early.
Honorees of the first Stanford e-Japan cohort in 2015, instructor Waka Takahashi Brown, and SPICE Director Gary Mukai. The honorees are (left to right) Seiji Wakabayashi (now enrolled at Boston University), Hikaru Suzuki (now enrolled at the University of Tokyo), and Haruki Kitagawa (now enrolled at Keio University).
Stanford e-Japan is a distance-learning course sponsored by the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE), Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University. The Spring 2018 session was supported by the Capital Group and the Stanford Silicon Valley-New Japan Project, Japan Program, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, FSI. Offered for the first time in 2015, Stanford e-Japan presents a creative and innovative approach to teaching Japanese high school students about U.S. society and culture and U.S.–Japan relations, and most importantly, the course introduces both U.S. and Japanese perspectives on many historical and contemporary issues. The Spring 2018 cohort was the sixth group of students to complete Stanford e-Japan.
In August 2019, three of the top students of the Spring 2018 Stanford e-Japan session will be honored at an event at Stanford University. The three Stanford e-Japan Day honorees—Naoya Chonan (Waseda University Senior High School), Miki Fujito (Senri International School of Kwansei Gakuin), and Luana Ichinose (Shibuya Senior High School)—will be recognized for their coursework and exceptional research essays that focused respectively on “Two Possible Ways to Adopt a Flipped Learning Method into Japanese High School Classrooms,” “Differing Views on the A-bomb in Japan and the U.S.,” and “A Comparative Analysis of the Right to Resist in Japan and the U.S.”
Anna Oura (Tokyo Gakugei University International Secondary School) received Honorable Mention for her research paper on “A Comparative Study on Japanese and U.S. History Textbooks.”
Applications for the Spring 2019 session of Stanford e-Japan will be accepted online from January 10 to February 24, 2019.
To stay informed of news about Stanford e-Japan and SPICE’s other programs, join our email list and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
"Civil Liberties in Times of Crisis" session at the 2019 NCHE conference, led by Rylan Sekiguchi and Secretary Norman Mineta.
Deborah Rowland with Secretary Norman Mineta
Derek Kenmotsu talks with students and teachers on Apple campus.
Mana Nakagawa gives students and teachers a tour around Facebook headquarters.
Hana Hirosaka of Tottori Higashi High School with SPICE Director Gary Mukai
James Banville with Principal Shigeo Nikaido of Tottori Keiai High School
