Japanese Students Visit California and New York on the TOMODACHI Summer BEYOND Tomorrow U.S. Program 2013

The TOMODACHI Summer BEYOND Tomorrow U.S. Program is organized for Tohoku students who have high aspirations to overcome the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami to become global leaders in the future.This year, 12 selected students traveled to San Francisco, California and New York from August 6-16, 2013, meeting people and organizations notable for their proactive efforts in improving society.

This year’s participants, most of them college students, are motivated to engage in activities or found companies in fields like disaster recovery, IT, communications and international relations. Some of them are alumni of other BEYOND Tomorrow and TOMODACHI programs, and chose to participate again this year based on their positive experience.

The people they met in California included scholars from Stanford University (where they gave presentations in English) and Japanese American interns at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California. The participants also had the opportunity to meet students currently on the TOMODACHI Summer SoftBank Leadership Program, visiting them at University of California, Berkeley. 

The individuals they spoke to in New York included U.S. Japan Foundation and U.S.-Japan Leadership Program Fellows. On August 14, they gave closing presentations at the Japan Society in New York and met with USJC members and other Japanese American leaders, engaging in conversation through a dinner reception organized by the Japanese American Association of New York.

• For more information, please read the program description