TOMODACHI Generation: Asuka Kobayashi
Asuka Kobayashi is currently a junior studying law and political science at Keio University. Asuka was born in the United States and lived there for three years before moving back to Japan. She was a participant of the Building the TOMODACHI Generation program in Washington, D.C. and the TOMODACHI MetLife Women’s Leadership Program. Asuka is passionate about building a strong partnership between the United States and Japan through her future career.
“Don’t be afraid to take risks, find great mentors to guide you, and never forget to give back to the community.” This mindset was shared by every woman leader whom I met through the TOMODACHI MetLife Women’s Leadership Program.
This program has given me the great opportunity to acquire all of this mindset through dialogues, workshops and mentor-mentee relationships. The workshops have taught us to build on our own strength and to find our own leadership styles. Furthermore, my mentor has truly inspired me to become a strong, persuasive and understanding woman leader like her. Finally, I learned the important mindset of giving back to the community, in order to support and empower next generations: to further enhance their leadership skills, to believe in their potential and to deepen their cross-cultural understanding.
Through the U.S.-Japan Council Conference on “Womenomics” in Washington D.C., I had the great opportunity to meet some of the famous women leaders of the United States and Japan. The experience and advice which those women leaders shared with us deeply motivate me to believe in the potential I have as a woman, and made me realize that I have to take action myself if I wanted to make a difference in the world. At the same time, I learned the importance of communication and having a strong network. As the saying goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” I want to go far with many inspiring, strong and persuasive leaders from the United States and Japan. This is because I truly believe that we, the TOMODACHI generation, can and will make a great difference together in the future of the United States, Japan and the world.
Asuka Kobayashi participated in the TOMODACHI Inouye Scholars Program as a Panelist. Below was her experience as a panelist leading discussions with university students from the United States:
I would like to thank the TOMODACHI Initiative and the American Embassy for this amazing opportunity. I was honored to have been able to join as one of the panelists at the June 27 and the July 2, 2014 TOMODACHI Inouye Scholars Program panel discussion at the American Embassy as a representative of the TOMODACHI alumni.
I was very inspired to meet the amazing panelists as well as the students from the U.S. and being able to share my thoughts with them has broaden my view on the many aspects of the U.S.- Japan relationship.
On June 27 with the DePaul University students, I mainly shared my thoughts on Tohoku and the status of NGOs/NPOs in Japan. Through the group discussion we shared our thoughts on why the majority of the Japanese people did not see potential in NGOs/NPOs while in contrast, the social status of NPOs were higher in the U.S.. I was very interested to hear that emphasis on the internships and volunteer at NGOs/NPOs for getting into a good school or to get a good job, lead to more Americans to see potential in NGOs/NPOs. This is because through internship and volunteer work, they experience the job of the NGOs/NPOs which gives them an opportunity to realize that NPOs/NGOs do more work than volunteer work and that they actually have great influence on the society. This opinion was something I would have not realized if the American student had not brought it up. It made me realize the importance of sharing ideas cross culturally because it leads to making one to realize an aspect that one would have never realized by looking from within.
On July 2 with the Loyola Marymount University students, I had the opportunity to share my experience at the Building the TOMODACHI Generation Program, as well as my thoughts on women’s issues in Japanese society from the perspective of a university student. One of the university students from the Loyola Marymount University shared with us the experience of being raped and she was interested to know about sexual abuse in Japan and how this problem was being confronted especially by the Japanese government. It was very shocking when all of the panelists could not answer her question with a satisfying answer. I felt that this fact that no one hardly knew anything about how the Japanese government was confronting such issues reflected the reality that people hardly acknowledged the existence of the problem of sexual abuse. Discussing with the U.S. students made me realize that there still exists many obstacles that Japan still faces regarding women’s status in Japan.
Over all I strongly felt the importance of cross cultural relationship especially between the U.S. and Japan. Through communication and interaction with each other, we can learn a lot from the strong points of each country and implement it on each of our own countries. At the same time, hearing about your own country from a completely different perspective widens your view could give you new ideas to confront a problem, or even realize a social problem that exists within your country that you did not even notice.
At the same time it made me realize how much I still did not know about Japan. Therefore I would like study more about Japan so that I will be able to have an opinion to share when I am asked about Japan.
Through these two panel discussions, I truly felt the importance of interacting face to face and sharing ideas. I believe that by continuing to interact constantly between the two countries will definitely lead to further enhancing a stronger U.S.-Japan relationship in the future.
