JETs on Japan
Publication Series
JETs on Japan is a partnership between USJETAA and Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA (Sasakawa USA) that features JET alumni perspectives on a variety of topics relevant to US-Japan relations. The publication elevates the awareness and visibility of JET alumni working across diverse sectors and provides a platform for JET alumni to contribute to a deeper understanding of US-Japan relations from their fields.
*Published articles are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of USJETAA or Sasakawa USA.
Recent Publications
Past Publications
2024 Publications
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January 2024
Erik M. Jacobs (Hyogo, 2013-2016)
National security and economic issues have dominated the United States-Japan relationship in the postwar era. Science and technology (S&T) policy has received much less public attention, but it has played an important role in U.S.-Japan relations. In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly emerged as an S&T focus for both national security and economic policy in the United States and Japan. AI, and other emerging technology issues, are likely to play a larger role in U.S.-Japan relations in the years to come.
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February 2024
Gabe Baskin (Nara, 2021-2022)
Masters of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of MichiganLunch should be a difficult subject. Crafting inclusive, sustainable, and healthy school lunch policies is not easy. For all its strengths, Japan faces challenges it must address within its own lunch system. Some teachers, for example, criticize requiring students to help clean, taking away from classroom education time. Japan could learn from the United States’s free lunch offerings, a practice some municipalitiesin Japan are beginning to implement. (26) If, however, U.S. educators want to make the next generation of American youth healthier, more equitable, more knowledgeable, and more community-centered, they can draw a great deal of inspiration from Japan’s school lunch system.
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March 2024
Alyssa Cantrell (Akita, 2016-2019)
Immigration Counselor, Purdue UniversityIn this article, JET Program alumnus Alyssa Cantrell reflects on the ability of music to bring together and forge a relationship between two completely different people regardless of nationality, native language, or past experiences. She also places a strong emphasis on the growing importance of our attention to these kinds of individual stories as our nations’ leaders increasingly make decisions that affect civilians on a global scale.
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April 2024
Jayson Vosz (Kochi, 1995-1997)
teacher & translatorFor our author and JET alum turned Buddhist monk, Jayson Vosz (Kochi, 1995-1997), Zen Buddhism became the vehicle to truly know and understand Japan for what it is. This JETs on Japan article focuses on his belief that with deeper knowledge and understanding of Zen Buddhism, comes an opportunity to further Japan-U.S. relations.
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May 2024
Kelsey Lechner (Tochigi, 2015-2017)
Language, Education & International Development Specialist, St. Mary’s UniversityHuman trafficking is a global problem, and it is usually incredibly difficult to tackle due to its underground nature. It is often termed “slavery” or “modern slavery” and may include forced labor, sexual exploitation, servitude, and even organ removal. This crime impacts virtually every country in the world, including Japan and the United States. While both countries have some policies in place to prevent and prosecute human trafficking crimes and protect victims, these policies and their implementation could be greatly strengthened. Furthermore, increased cooperation between Japan and the United States on the international stage could help tackle the problem in the Asian region more effectively.
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October 2024
Ian Wong (Nagasaki, 2022-2023)
On April 27, 2023, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan gave a speech at the Brookings Institution where he identified two crucial issues facing America: the hollowing out of America’s industrial base, and intensifying competition with China. These challenges, Sullivan argued, called for a rethinking of American domestic and foreign policy. What exactly did Sullivan mean?
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December 2024
Jennifer Jakubowski (Hokkaido, 1995–1997)
Managing Director, Bridges to JapanBy a multitude of measures, Japan and the United States are among the most polar-opposite cultures on the planet. Japanese society dates back millennia; the United States, by comparison, is but a teenager. Japan embodies one of the most homogeneous populations in the world; the United States is the quintessential melting pot. The axis on which Japanese society rotates is one of group-based mentality and behavior; the United States foremost fosters and rewards individualism. Hierarchy has a long and prominent role in Japan; competition and meritocracy have largely driven the American narrative. Such contrasts represent a mere glimpse of the fuller picture.
2023 Publications
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February 2023
Will Nelson (Aomori 2017-2019)
Japan has a key role to play if there is a U.S.-China conflict over Taiwan. Japanese policymakers overall recognize the vital interests at stake in the event of a People’s Republic of China (PRC) invasion. While they have clearly communicated this to U.S. policymakers and are taking steps to increase Japan’s defense capabilities, a pacifist constitution and wary public may constrain Japan from taking action. Therefore, continued clear and consistent messaging to the Japanese public is necessary to help reinforce Japan’s preparations for any such contingency, and informal U.S.-Japan collaboration is urgently needed to identify current gaps in alliance management. These two steps will not only help Japan prepare for any Taiwan contingency, but also likely help prevent one from occurring.
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April 2023
David Boling (Ibaraki, 1988-1989)
Director, Japan and Asia Trade, Eurasia Group
Former Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for JapanAfter teaching as a JET Program participant in Ibaraki Prefecture in the late 1980s, David Boling worked as chief of staff for a congressional member, managed a U.S.-Japan exchange program, and emerged as one of the leading figures in US-Japan trade circles, serving as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Japan in the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations. He played a frontline role in negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement, and the U.S.-Japan Digital Trade Agreement. In this issue of JETs on Japan, he reflects on how American perceptions of Japan and bilateral trade relations have dramatically shifted over the past four decades.
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July 2023
Dustin Dye (Okayama, 2008-2011)
Transfer & Agreement Project Manager University of Missouri-Kansas CityAs borders closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, educators scrambled to replace U.S.- Japan study abroad programs and in-person exchanges with online programming. This highlighted the potential of online education and forever changed U.S.-Japan exchange. JET alum Dustin Dye analyzes the three main modes of online education and interviews leading Japanese and American experts about what has worked well and what flopped. This article serves as a companion piece to another JETs on Japan essay, “Translating JET Skills into International Virtual Learning Programs: Three Model Initiatives,” in which Jonathan Brewster and Anne Hooghart detail the online exchanges that they have personally overseen.
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July 2023
Jonathan Brewster (Shiga, 2007-2010)
Anne Hooghart (Shiga, 1989-1990)Two JET alumni, Anne Hooghart and Jonathan Brewster, launched a series of online educational exchanges when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down in-person exchanges. In this article, they explain the challenges they faced, what succeeded, and how their programs can be models for US-Japan exchange going forward. This article serves as a companion piece to another JETs on Japan essay, Dustin Dye’s “Online Education as a Component of U.S.- Japan Relations,” which gives an overview of the types of online initiatives that are transforming the world of US-Japan education.
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July 2023
Dylan Rhoads (Yamanashi, 1996-1999)
Program Manager, Strategic Initiatives
Nintendo of AmericaIn a thought-provoking essay, JET Program alumni Dylan Rhoads (Yamanashi 1996-1999) reflects on what Americans and others should learn from the respect and value that Japanese culture accords food, from the cultivation stage through its preparation and consumption. His experiences in Japan opened his eyes to the need to cherish food and reduce waste, and he argues that climate change and environmental degradation now make it all the more important to take lessons from Japanese food culture.
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August 2023
Gil Breit (Gunma Prefecture,1989-1990)
Over the past three decades, U.S.-Japan security cooperation has deepened in important ways, and issues surrounding American bases in Japan, naval coordination, and cooperation on missile defense have attracted a great deal of public attention. However, efforts to strengthen alliance cooperation in outer space have been largely overlooked, even by Japan experts. In this essay, JET Program alumnus Gil Breit (Gunma, 1989-1990), a counterterrorism expert, outlines how U.S.-Japan defense cooperation on outer space has evolved and why growing coordination to protect satellites, defend against space-based weaponry, and other outer space initiatives are such an integral part of the bilateral alliance.
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October 2023
James Gannon (Ehime, 1992–1994)
Senior Fellow, Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE/USA)
Vice Chair, USJETAADespite early criticism from home and abroad, Japan has quietly responded better than every other major rich country to the COVID-19 pandemic, limiting its death rate to less than one-fifth that of the United States. In this essay, Japan expert Jim Gannon (Ehime, 1992–1994) draws on nearly two decades of experience working on global health issues to analyze how Japan managed do better than so man other countries in protecting its citizens and what the United States and the rest of the world can learn from this in order to be better prepared for the next pandemic.
2021 Publications
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Spring 2021
Jeanne Beck (Nagano, 2008-2011)
Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) and alumni are valuable sources of knowledge on workplace relations in Japanese schools. Despite the long history and large number of participants and alumni of the JET Program, limited research on and with JET ALTs and alumni has been conducted. In this paper, I will recount the process of turning a replication study project for a graduate-level sociolinguistics class into a JET-themed qualitative study, highlighting the connections found between the participants and my own experience on JET. These findings have not only shed light on many research gaps, but also opened the door to my research in Japan.
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Spring, 2021
Lillian Rowlatt (Niigata, 2003-2005)
Japan’s agriculture industry faces challenges from a shrinking and aging farming population, an overwhelming presence of small-scale farms, and inefficient structural and political issues. Yet against this backdrop, an opportunity arises for Japan to preserve and support its agricultural communities by increasing the awareness of its traditional cuisine, sharing its philosophies around food and farming, and decreasing restrictive trade barriers with the U.S.
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Spring 2021
Tracy Gopal (Shiga, 1992-1993)
Mounting research indicates that gender diversity on boards is correlated with superior financial performance and governance oversight. Gender diversity fosters innovation, improved risk oversight, and a greater focus on workforce diversity issues. As board gender diversity has become a global issue, and governments, exchanges, and investors around the world have taken significant actions, Japan remains behind on board gender diversity. Historically, Japan was only held to local market standards. The rationale for not expecting Japan to rise to higher global standards included a lack of female talent and culture. However, this historical rationale is no longer valid. The concerns expressed over lack of female talent are no different than those heard when Norway instituted 40 percent gender quotas in 2003 and when California instituted gender quotas in 2018. If the definition of a qualified director is expanded and global boundaries are eliminated, then Japan has sufficient female candidates to fill board positions. For these reasons, certain leading investors and proxy advisors have changed their proxy voting policies to require Japanese companies to have at least one woman on the board. Higher standards for gender board diversity are necessary to shift ingrained cultural gender stereotypes, maximize the usage of talent, and harness the merits of board diversity.
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Spring, 2021
Erik Jacobs (Hyogo, 2013-2016)
This article demonstrates the significance of U.S.-Japan collaboration across the space, science, and technology sectors. It offers an overview of U.S.-Japan science and technology (S&T) relations over the years, showing how the relationship has grown from its formalization in 1988 to include policy coordination on issues like research and development (R&D) projects and space exploration as well as top-level cooperation on critical and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and quantum information science. This article identifies opportunities to expand the U.S.-Japan S&T relationship to address strategic questions and regional issues such as China’s technological rise and shows how deep U.S.-Japan cooperation on S&T issues benefits society beyond the national security policy space, including expanded soft power and a larger innovation sector in both countries. The author draws on his experience in science and technology policymaking and his knowledge of the U.S.-Japan relationship to offer a unique perspective on this important track of the U.S.-Japan relationship.
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Spring 2021
D’Mitri A. Farthing, Jr. (Kochi, 2018-2020)
Farthing discusses three myths commonly encountered about the U.S.-Japan security alliance and demonstrates why those myths are false. The year 2020 marked the sixtieth anniversary of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, which the United States government itself recognizes as the “cornerstone of U.S. security interests in Asia and fundamental to regional stability and prosperity” (Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, 2020). This treaty and the resulting partnerships form the bedrock of peace in the Indo-Pacific region, and yet during his time on the JET program, he has encountered multiple individuals from the United States, Japan, and elsewhere who have a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the U.S.-Japan security alliance. As the world changes and certain states, including the United States, become more isolationist, particularly in the COVID-19 era, it is important to clarify these misunderstandings and continue to promote the bilateral relationship that has proven critical to U.S. and Japanese security and promoted prosperity across the entire Indo-Pacific region.
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Spring, 2021
Mary J. Eberhardinger, PhD (Hyogo, 2008-2010)
This article will demonstrate the significance of the role of gift-giving in the omiyage industry in Japan. The role of gifts in the omiyage industry will be situated and argued as an extension of U.S.–Japan grassroots public diplomacy. The article will also serve as a truncated exploration into how gifts function to strengthen everyday political, professional, and personal relationships between the U.S. and Japan. Implications drawn in this article will seek to address why the question concerning a philosophy of gifts matters for friendship and relations between the U.S. and Japan. By exploring a position on non-reciprocity or asymmetry in the giving and receiving process, this article will offer the eventual takeaway that a true gift across cultures, specifically between the U.S. and Japan, is one with no expectation for return. The author’s experience living in Japan for two-and-a-half years will shed light on the observations and suggestions for readers to ponder when they find themselves overseas with the choice to give or not give.
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Spring, 2022
Dr. Jillian Marshall (Hyogo, 2009-2011)
My article reflects on the friendship I shared with my neighbor in a rural fishing village during my time with the JET Program and on music’s power to create lasting cross-cultural understanding. In those two years, I learned that life abroad begets an inevitable negotiation once the pink clouds of exhilarating novelty fade away: we must acknowledge cultural differences, lest we fail to truly overcome them. Had it not been for my neighbor—a 66-year-old piano teacher who invited me to play at her house every week—this challenge might have proved too overwhelming. When she later offered unsolicited support in a time of personal distress, my eyes were forever opened to the subtleties of Japanese culture and how music facilitated this bond. Ultimately, this article’s testimony of our unlikely liaison supports my broader mission to illustrate music’s ability to create cross-cultural understanding through its transcendent language of emotion, corporeality, and imagination. After all, if music can bridge gaps between two societies as diametrically opposed as Japan and the U.S., its soft power and diplomatic possibilities are endless.
Interested in contributing an article??
2022 Publications
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Spring 2022
Rikio Inouye (Toyama, 2017–2020)
The US-Japan alliance has remained the keystone relationship in the broader Indo-Pacific security architecture and this bilateral relationship has been the foundation for additional multi- and minilateral institutions like the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). As Chinese-led institutions like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) create alternatives and competitors, it is worth asking how competition between US-Japan-led institutions and Chinese-led institutions will affect the region. Competition between US-Japan-led institutions and Chinese-led institutions could generate positive externalities as these different institutions compete to provide public goods to the region. The Quad Vaccine Initiative, and China’s Belt and Road Vaccine Partnership Initiative are suggestive of this; these two efforts demonstrate how such competition can assist in the production and distribution of vaccines for countries in the Indo-Pacific. Thus, competition between China and the US-Japan “clubs” of organizations may generate positive externalities for the region.
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Spring, 2022
Brian Watson (Saitama 1988-1991)
The path to marriage equality in the United States is a tortuous one that began in 1970 and concluded with two landmark Supreme Court rulings in 2013 and 2015: United States v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges, respectively. The trajectory to marriage equality currently in progress in Japan bears some similarities to the United States’ trajectory; as such, some lessons from the United States might be applicable in Japan.
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Spring, 2022
Tiffany Laiyin Lao (Saitama, 2014–2018)
Multimodal approaches to language learning and teaching has been evolving along with developments in technology. Telecommunication is one of the multimodal strategies that is becoming more prevalent in the field of English as a Second Language, or ESL. The purpose of this article is to provide a literature review of recent developments in telecollaboration between Japan and the United States, specifically focusing on how it promotes intercultural competence, civic competence, and language development among educators and students. It will also address the limitations and potential directions for telecollaboration in education.
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Spring, 2022
Michele Fujii (Shiga, 2010-2013)
This paper illustrates the importance of emerging modalities of Virtual Exchange/ Collaborative Online International Learning (VE/COIL) in international higher education. It references VE/COIL programs conducted between the United States and Japan by Kansai University’s Institute for Innovative Global Education in 2020 and 2021, building on a qualitative study of student interviews and psychometric evaluation tools. Assessing the impact of these programs on student learning outcomes, particularly under the COVID-19 pandemic during which traditional in-person student mobility was halted all over the world, is crucial to the future of international education, especially with the return to traditional mobility programs. Findings suggest that upon completion of such programs, students demonstrated heightened skills in self-awareness, intercultural communication, and global resonance. While remote modalities of learning were necessitated across all academic levels at the start of the pandemic, this paper argues that they should be maintained in the post-pandemic world to purposefully target specific pedagogical aims in international curricula rather than as a temporary rapid response to halted mobility programs. Essential elements to ensuring the success of VE/COIL programs are assessing students’ transformative growth, building an international community for VE/COIL exchange through grassroots efforts, and positioning VE/COIL as a viable means to address issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in international higher education, for which JET alumni are uniquely positioned to orchestrate.
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Spring, 2022
Hayley Hutchison (Gifu, 2013-2014)
The COVID-19 pandemic has made an impact on the entire world, affecting each country in very different ways. The response to the pandemic has been of almost equal measure, with the United States having taken the lead in vaccine development and manufacturing to enable the distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine within one year to countries around the world. As a major contributor to the COVAX global vaccine distribution effort, Japan has stepped up to play a vital role in the COVID-19 response. In this report, I discuss how the United States and Japan have worked together to address the burden brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, and, as the pandemic wanes, how they will continue to work together to support the world as it recovers.
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July 2022
Patrick Ripton (Okinawa and Shiga, 2001–2005)
As an American JET in Okinawa, I had the unique opportunity of experiencing the presence of U.S. troops there through both the lenses of interactions with my local community and my military friends. Tracing the history of the post-war U.S. administration of the Ryukyu Islands, through to the development of the Japanese Self-Defense Force (JSDF), and the continued American military presence throughout Japan forged my interest in international defense affairs and led me to pursue a career as a military officer. I have long considered my service in the U.S. Army as a continuation of my experience on the JET Program. Members of the military serve as ambassadors around the world, and ensuring authentic and principled participation in exchanges like these creates opportunities for understanding that buttress peace and security.
In this paper I will explore my research into the JSDF’s Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, formed under the evolving security situation in East Asia, with guidance from the U.S. Department of Defense, as an example of successful military cooperation between the U.S. and Japan. I will discuss the role of the political atmosphere in both countries, as changes in administrations in the U.S. leads to fears over the continuation of the security alliance, while Japan continues to wrestle with the role and meaning of Article Nine of its constitution. Both countries must continue to cooperate to ensure peaceful coexistence throughout East Asia, but as the role of each in that relationship is constantly recast, only clear and trusted communication will guarantee its endurance.