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 at Stanford University. 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 Fall 2017 cohort was the fifth group of students to complete Stanford e-Japan.

On August 10, 2018, three of the top students of the Fall 2017 Stanford e-Japan course will be honored at an event at Stanford University. The three Stanford e-Japan honorees—Amane Kishimoto (Kyoto Prefectural Rakuhoku Senior High School), Yurika Matsushima (Keio Girls Senior High School), and Jun Yamasaki (Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen Senior High School)—will be recognized for their coursework and exceptional research essays that focus respectively on “Open Innovation: A Secret to Silicon Valley’s Success,” “Employment Measures for People with Disabilities: A Comparison Between Japan and the U.S.,” and “The U.S. Education System: Lessons to be Learned from Japan.” Miteki Ochi (Keio Girls Senior High School) received an Honorable Mention for her research paper on “Working in the 21st Century: Innovations and Flexible Work in a Digital Society.”

Applications for the Fall 2018 session of Stanford e-Japan will be accepted from April 1 through May 15, 2018, and will be available for download at the following link: http://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/fellowship/stanford-e-japan

The Fall 2018 session will run from August 27 to December 21, 2018.

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—SPICE: Offering teacher institutes since 1973—

In 1973, the roots of the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) were established with the creation of the Bay Area China Education Program, which focused on the development of K–12 curriculum materials and teacher professional development. Only a year prior, President Richard Nixon had made his historic trip to China and many American students were able to view contemporary images of China on television for the first time in their lifetimes. Teachers who attended SPICE institutes on China in the 1970s often commented that they were at a loss about how to teach about China.

Forty-four years later, a new generation of educators expressed similar sentiments at a SPICE institute. However, the challenge wasn’t so much about the teaching of China but rather the teaching of North Korea. Thus, when Pulitzer Prize-winning author Adam Johnson spoke about his book, The Orphan Master’s Son, a New York Times bestselling novel about North Korea, teachers were riveted by his comments. Teachers were interested not only in ways that his novel could help them better understand contemporary North Korea but also in ways they could use the book to help their students gain a more balanced view of North Korea. The 22 teacher participants received copies of The Orphan Master’s Son to use in their teaching and were offered two SPICE curriculum units titled Inter-Korean Relations: Rivalry, Reconciliation, and Reunification and Uncovering North Korea.  

Co-sponsored by the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA), the SPICE summer institute, July 24–26, 2017, had the objectives of (1) deepening teachers’ understanding of Asia, U.S.–Asian relations, and the Asian-American experience; (2) providing teachers with teaching resources; and (3) creating a community of learners. The institute featured lectures by Stanford faculty (like Johnson), U.C. Berkeley faculty, and other experts on a range of Asia- and Asian-American-related topics closely aligned with the History-Social Science Framework for California Public Schools standards, which were recently revised. Interactive curriculum demonstrations by SPICE staff were also offered.

One such standard focuses on recent economic growth in China. Following a lecture by Thomas Fingar, Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center Fellow, on “Recurring Themes in U.S.–China Relations,” a curriculum demonstration on the SPICE curriculum unit, China in Transition: Economic Development, Migration, and Education, was offered by its author, Rylan Sekiguchi of SPICE. One teacher remarked, “I teach about China, and it was so helpful to hear someone with such deep expertise [Fingar] speak about U.S.–Chinese history in a way that enriches my knowledge and understanding to bring back some bigger themes to my teaching. I can’t wait to bring this content back to my students [through the SPICE curriculum].” Other scholarly lectures on Japan and Korea were also followed by curriculum demonstrations by SPICE staff. This coupling of lectures and curriculum demonstrations has been a hallmark of SPICE since its inception.

Updated History-Social Science Framework standards on the Asian-American experience were also addressed at the institute. Dr. Khatharya Um, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, introduced the diverse cultural and historical backgrounds of the Asian-American student population which often comprises a significant percentage of students in schools in areas like the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. She emphasized the importance of acknowledging individual circumstances in minority student populations and breaking down commonly cited stereotypes of Asian Americans as being a critical element of effective teaching. One of the topics that she addressed was stereotypes of Japanese Americans that arose following the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor. Her lecture was coupled with the sharing of first-hand experiences by Dr. Joseph Yasutake, who was interned at the age of nine. Dr. Yasutake’s talk stimulated discussions on civil liberties, race relations, discrimination, and American identity among the teachers. “Hearing history from one who has experienced it as well as studied and taught the history is really wonderful,” said one institute participant. “This combination brings a great amount of authority and well as authenticity to the narrative he [Yasutake] provides.” The SPICE curriculum unit, Civil Rights and Japanese-American Internment, was recommended as a resource for teachers.

The institute brought together both experienced mentor teachers and those new to the field. Naomi Funahashi, who organized and facilitated the institute, remains in communication with many of the teachers and has noticed that a community of learners, who are committed to a long-term exploration of Asian and Asian-American studies, has grown from the institute. She reflected, “One of the unexpected outcomes of the institute was the recommendations that many of the teachers have written in support of their students’ applications to my online class on Japan called the Reischauer Scholar Program. My hope is that some of my students will someday attend SPICE institutes as teachers and that SPICE institutes will continue to serve teachers as they have since 1973 for many decades to come.”

SPICE is currently recruiting teachers to attend its 2018 summer institute for middle school teachers (June 20–22, 2018) and summer institute for high school teachers (July 23–25, 2018).

To stay informed of SPICE-related news, follow SPICE on Facebook and Twitter.

"Although peace was the prevailing theme of the opening night at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the air in the VIP box was charged with awkwardness and intimidation," said researchers at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center in a recently published article. "The real test for Moon's leadership begins now."

The full article in East Asia Forum is available here.

Jonathan Rodden started his academic career at MIT, and joined the Stanford political science faculty in 2007. In 2012, he founded the Stanford Spatial Social Science Lab, which is a center for research and teaching dedicated to the use of geo-spatial data in the social sciences. Jonathan’s recent work focuses on the geography of economic production and political competition, especially in industrialized societies. He has written a number of journal articles examining the spatial arrangement of voting behavior in Europe, North America, and Australasia since the industrial revolution. He has also written a series of related papers on redistricting and partisan gerrymandering.

Jonathan is currently completing a book manuscript, tentatively titled Why Cities Lose, which is scheduled for publication by Basic Books in early 2019. He argues that ever since the rise of manufacturing in the late 19th century and the accompanying construction of dense working-class housing, the support base of left parties has been primarily urban. Over time, these parties came to adopt a variety of additional policy platforms having less to do with the rights of manufacturing workers, and more to do with the interests of urban groups including social progressives and more recently, educated workers in knowledge-intensive industries. Along the way, urban-rural political polarization has grown, not just in the United States but also in countries like the United Kingdom and Canada.

As a result of this process, Rodden shows that votes for left parties have become highly concentrated in city centers, while votes for right parties are more evenly distributed in space. Rodden explains that when winner-take-all electoral districts are drawn, as in Britain and its former colonies, this geography leads to a substantial advantage for parties of the right in achieving legislative representation. He demonstrates that urban-rural polarization—and a bias against urban parties—is less likely to emerge in multi-party systems like those of Continental Europe. His book concludes by exploring implications for policy, as well as for debates about redistricting and electoral reform.

Jonathan has also been working for two decades on a set of issues related to political and fiscal federalism. While some of his ongoing work focuses on fiscal decentralization in developing countries, he has also been involved in debates about the European debt crisis and reforms to the Eurozone, and recently presented the Pierre Werner Chair lecture at the European University Institute in Florence as part of a project called “A Dynamic Economic and Monetary Union” (ADEMU). In this lecture and an accompanying policy paper written for the European Parliament, Rodden extracts broad lessons from other federations, including the United States and Canada, for some of the design challenges facing the European Monetary Union.

Last night, SPICE Director Gary Mukai was formally conferred the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays, for his lifelong contributions to the promotion of friendship and mutual understanding between Japan and the United States.

The Order of the Rising Sun is a decoration in the Japanese honors system that dates back to 1875. It was established as the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, and it recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to Japan or its culture. It is one of the highest decorations conferred by the government.

Dr. Mukai accepted the decoration in a ceremony at the residence of the Honorable Jun Yamada, Consul General of Japan in San Francisco. Also in attendance were Dr. Mukai’s family, present and former colleagues at Stanford, key supporters of SPICE, and many other friends in the U.S.–Japan field.

Before presenting the decoration, Consul General Yamada recognized Dr. Mukai for his steadfast commitment to U.S.–Japan relations, praising both his career in cross-cultural education at SPICE as well as his decades-long support of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program, a program supported by the Japanese government.

Dr. Daniel Okimoto, Stanford Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Dr. Mukai’s longtime friend and mentor, also addressed the evening’s guests. He commended Dr. Mukai’s trailblazing educational work in U.S.–Japan relations, including his development of numerous SPICE curriculum guides on Japan for K–12 classrooms and his creation of the Reischauer Scholars Program and the Stanford e-Japan Program—a pair of nation-wide online courses that teach American and Japanese high school students about each others’ countries.

During the ceremony, Mukai informed Consul General Yamada that the award is the greatest honor of his life and thanked him for his unwavering support of SPICE’s efforts to educate students in Japan and in the United States, and also thanked Dr. Okimoto for his 30 years of mentorship.

To read the Consulate’s announcement of the recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, visit http://www.sf.us.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/17_1103.html.

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“I don't think [young South Koreans] necessarily want reunification,” APARC director Gi-Wook Shin tells an audience during the World Affairs panel, “Responding to North Korea: South Korea’s Olympic Olive Branch and US Cyber Warfare Options." Joined by Ambassador Kathleen Stephens, the two spoke with World Affars CEO Jane Wales about many of the issues facing the Korean peninsula as it prepares for the start of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics

The conversation is also available as a downloadable podcast