Two Vermont High School Students Chosen to Visit Japan on JET Memorial Invitation Program
From Tuesday, July 19 to Thursday, July 28, 32 high-school students from the United States, who study the Japanese language will visit Japan at the invitation of the Japan Foundation as part of the JET Memorial Invitation Program for U.S. High School Students. Two students from Vermont were among those chosen from the 276 applicants from around the country.
The invitation program is being implemented in praise of the achievements of two Americans who lost their lives in the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, while participating in the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. The JET Program was established by the Japanese Government in 1987 with the dual objectives of improving foreign language education in Japanese public schools and promoting grass-roots international exchange. JET creates opportunities for people from other nations to live and work in communities throughout the country, sharing their own culture while learning about Japan and connecting with local people. JET participants serve as assistant language teachers in public schools or coordinate international activities in municipal offices. During the past 24 years, more than 54,000 individuals from 54 countries have participated in the JET Program, including about 30,000 from the United States.
Over five years beginning with the current one, the Japan Foundation will invite US high-school students studying Japanese to Japan. It is expected that the JET Memorial Invitation Program for U.S. High School Students will allow the students to deepen their knowledge of Japanese language and culture, enabling them to act as a bridge between Japan and the United States in the future.
The thirty-two will be visiting Japan during their summer break period and will be studying at the Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai and other facilities. During their visit to Japan, the students will participate in Japanese conversation lessons, Japanese cultural events, exchanges with local high-school students and JET participants in Osaka Prefecture, and tours of cultural assets, among other things. They are also scheduled to visit the disaster-stricken Tohoku Region.
Amidst the expansion of international solidarity in support of Japan following the Great East Japan Earthquake , the Invitation Program is expected to be an opportunity to help young people from the United States deepen their understanding of Japanese language and culture and to make Japan’s safety and progress for reconstruction widely known.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2011/6/0623_02.html
http://www.jpf.go.jp/e/about/press/index.html