Seventy Delegates from the 68th Japan-America Student Conference Attend a Diversity Symposium Featuring U.S.-Japan Council Panelists

The 68th Japan-America Student Conference (JASC) took place in four cities in the United States between August 3 – 24, 2016. The 70 member delegation, which was comprised of university students from Japan and the U.S., traveled to Boston, Washington, D.C, Missoula, and San Francisco to explore various facets of the US-Japan relationship. Throughout the 3-week conference, students engaged in roundtable discussions, interacted directly with leaders in government, business and academia through panels and site visits, and built life-long friendships with their fellow delegates from the other side of the Pacific.

Nearing the end of the conference, the 68th JASC Diversity Symposium was held on August 20 at Santa Clara University. The first panel, Women in the Workforce: Trials and Triumphs, which was generously sponsored by TOMODACHI, featured U.S.-Japan Council Leaders Dr. Emily Murase (Executive Director, San Francisco Department on the Status of Women) and Ms. Tasha Yorozu (Founder and Attorney at Law, Yorozu Law Group), as well as Ms. Mizuho Hayakawa (Consul, Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco).

The panelists touched upon recent developments in the advancement of women in the workplace in both the US and Japan. Furthermore, they made cultural comparisons, addressed remaining challenges, and drew upon their own personal experiences as both professionals and individuals to illustrate the issues and triumphs of women in the workforce. As this is a high-profile issue, JASC delegates had many questions allowing the panelists and audience to have a frank yet forward-looking discussion.

 

Voices from the TOMODACHI Generation

“The Diversity Symposium on Women’s Issues and LGBTQ was truly inspirational. Especially hearing personal stories from individuals from different backgrounds was eye-opening for me, because I usually do not get to have such opportunities. I believe that open-mindedness is crucial in this 21st century, and this symposium definitely allowed me to have more interests in these topics.”

-Yuta Baba, Japanese Delegate

 

“JASC was life-changing for me in that it was such a unique experience that I don’t think I would have been able to experience anywhere else, and it was an incredibly rewarding program. Even though it wasn’t related to my major, I thoroughly enjoyed interacting with people from different backgrounds and learning from different perspectives on various issues facing the US and Japan. JASC also taught me a lot more about myself, with regards to my future interests and how I work with others.”

-Jennifer Lim, American Delegate