This article is part of a guest-contributor partnership between the East-West Center in Washington and the United States Japan Exchange & Teaching Programme Alumni Association (USJETAA) in which former JET participants contribute articles relating to their experiences in Japan.

JET alum, Nathaniel Simmons, is at it again with another publication. This time with Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research.

Japan's mandate for English education in primary and secondary education provides thousands of jobs for gaijin (foreign) English teachers. However, gaijin recruiting organizations provide only minimal training that does not answer the question: How do or should you maintain privacy at work?

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

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.