Inquiry Receives US-Japan Foundation Grant for Research Trip in Japan

This fall, Inquiry secured a grant from the US-Japan Foundation for its second Inquiry Research Trip.  This January, Inquiry will be taking 22 high school students and seven high school teachers from seven high schools in four states to Japan for nine days of study.  In a collaboration with the Synaptics Scholars program, two of the Synaptic Scholars – Ben Perlstein and Nadia Nibbs – will lead the trip.

This year, EPIIC’s topic is “Our Nuclear Age: Peril and Promise” and Inquiry will focus on some of the major conflict points relating to this issue. The goal of the trip is to increase understanding and knowledge between US and Japanese high school students about the critical issues of nuclear weapons and nuclear power, especially as related to East Asia.  Given the recent attention paid by the Obama Administration to these issues, the anniversary of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the US-Japanese military history and current relationship, the continuing security threat certain nations pose in transferring nuclear materials and knowledge, the challenge of North Korea, and the need to find alternative energy sources, this is an important time and opportunity to inform students of and engage them in the ongoing debates and discussions. 

In 2008-09, Inquiry added a new dimension to its programming and piloted an international research trip for 15 high school students and four high school teachers.  The topic was Global Cities and the destination was Shanghai, a rapidly emerging global city.

While in Shanghai, the Inquiry group met with a number of professors at different universities in Shanghai for lectures on topics ranging from ecological preservation to China’s floating population.  The lectures were supplemented by trips to relevant Shanghai neighborhoods and sites. One of the highlights of the trip was spending one morning visiting a high school where they had an opportunity to meet local students and hear a more personal account of life in Shanghai.

Monica Markovits, dean and history chair at Columbia Preparatory School in New York City, said, “I believe that the Shanghai trip was a resounding success.  The entire school is abuzz with information, anecdotes, and worthwhile images of Shanghai… If I had taught these kids for a lifetime, I could never have given them what they now have.”

Based on this experience, and using a similar model, Inquiry is preparing to go to Japan.

Now is a critical time in nuclear politics.  The Obama Administration, since President Obama’s April 2009 speech in Prague, is making a concerted effort to address the continuing global threat posed by nuclear weapons, from calling for their abolishment to last spring’s Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC to the push to renew the Non-Proliferation Treaty.  Added to this is how the international community will contend with global warming.  Some see now as a “nuclear renaissance” with countries looking more toward nuclear power as a transitional, cleaner resource.  Japan, after France and the US, is the third largest nuclear power producer.  What is the threshold between nuclear energy production and nuclear weapon production?

All of these issues demand serious concern.  Today’s high school students, born after the end of the Cold War, are a generation unfamiliar with the threats posed by nuclear weapons.  Providing students with an intercultural experience and context gives them the opportunity to broaden their perspective on these issues and deepen their understanding of the US-Japan relationship around nuclear concerns. Considering these issues in a classroom in the US is very different from having the opportunity to discuss them on the ground, to bear witness to the destruction they can cause, to speak to people who survived the detonations, and to understand how both countries developed from that point on.

We are working with several professors at Tufts University to organize the trip based on their research and experience, including Paul Joseph and Steven Cohen.  We have reached out to the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, to the Museum for World Peace, and to our Japanese alumni to help with the planning and reaching out to high schools.  One of our alumni, Shun Okano, is speaking with his former high school. 

Our itinerary includes begins in Kyoto, Japan’s ancient capital, with a look at Japan’s history and its militarism.  It will include visits to Japan’s ancient sites and a discussion and lecture with with Professor Anzai Ikuro at the Museum for World Peace.

The group will then travel to Hiroshima, to explore the decision and consequences of the US decision to use the atomic bomb.

The last stop will be Tokyo, where students will have the opportunity to speak with survivors of the bombing explore current day nuclear challenges, from Japan’s relations with China and North Korea to its use of nuclear energy.

In both Hiroshima and Tokyo, we will be meeting with local high school students to discuss these issues as well.

The US-Japan Foundation has generously provided support for eight students and three teachers at schools that otherwise would not have the funding to support such a trip.

As Inquiry continues its planning, its objectives for this research trip include:

• providing US high school students with a deeper understanding and interaction with a country that is a key US ally and an important player in East Asian nuclear politics

• providing US high school students with the opportunity to understand, beyond text books, Japan’s history with nuclear power, from the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to its adoption of the Three Non-Nuclear Principles to its dependence on nuclear power to its current status as a “paranuclear” state in East Asia

• establishing a dialogue on nuclear concerns – both weapons and energy – between US and Japanese high school students and teachers; one that begins prior to the trip via an internet discussion group, is reinforced through interaction during the trip and from a delegation of Japanese high school students participating in the culminating Inquiry simulation, and continues beyond Inquiry as the students and schools form their own continuing bonds (based on the Institute’s experiences in bringing international delegations of university students to its annual EPIIC symposium, relationships between students formed around an intellectual and engaged dialogue last well beyond their participation in the program)

• having students who participate in this Inquiry trip give classroom and school-wide presentations on their first-hand experiences at their home schools, exponentially growing the learning about Japan, the US-Japan nuclear relationship, and the importance of gaining first-hand knowledge

• having students produce an online presentation of their learning, both academically and personally, which would be hosted on the Institute for Global Leadership site and linked to all of the participating schools’ web sites

• having students make a formal, joint presentation at the Inquiry simulation