This July, six Japanese students and an educator from Tokyo's Keio SFC High School traveled to Washington, D.C. for a two-week exchange, where they lived with host families, as part of the TOMODACHI US Japan Youth Exchange Program. While in the US, the Japanese students were joined by six high school students from Washington, D.C. public schools. In November, the D.C. group of students will travel to Tokyo and to the Tohoku region, which was devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
TOMODACHI participants started their first day with skill-building sessions to help them find ways to share their personal stories. During a poetry-writing workshop with spoken word artist George Yamazawa, participants created haiku poems about themselves and their experiences in Washington D.C. The following day, representatives of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting led a training to hone the TOMODACHI students' focus on observational skills like those of a photojournalist and presented the Everyday D.C. photo project. The pictures from the project have been tagged with #everydayDC on Instagram.
During the second week of the exchange, participants developed a better understanding of their potential as leaders in civic engagement and social entrepreneurship. Through visits, presentations, and workshops, students experience civic engagement, are engaged in social entrepreneurship, and dive into the host country's culture.
The TOMODACHI US-Japan Youth Exchange Program provides Japanese and American high school students with a comparative understanding of the social and culturallife in Japan and the USTOMODACHI was developed and implemented by American Councils with local partners Globalize D.C. in the US and the Akira Foundation in Japan. The program is sponsored by the US-Japan Council.