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The Kawamura Fellows’ time in Japan marked the beginning of several weeks of privileged access to key institutions and places throughout the country. Our tour began in Nagoya, where Mayor Takehisa Matsubara impressed us all in his description of the city’s campaign to conserve the environment by drastically reducing trash dumping. “Children are the easiest to convince to change their recycling habit,” the Mayor said. “Working men are the hardest.” Another key Nagoya citizen, the chairman of the Chunichi Shimbun, met with us to discuss some of the key differences between American and Japanese print media. The day following our discussion, we’d made the paper! Page 21 of the July 17 Chunichi Shimbun featured us, broadly smiling as we shook hands with the Chairman. The following night, we had a particularly memorable conversation with the Chairman and his translator, a journalist whose ‘beat’ was the judicial system of Japan. We also spoke optimistically about Japan-China relations, a time where the fellows were particularly appreciative of Yanjie’s unique perspective on the subject. The wise words of the evening went to Sumio though, when he spoke about the importance of cultural exchange. He said that business relations are not enough to forge relations between countries; no matter how friendly you become with a business partner, when the deal's done so is the friendship. Sumio said something like "only in cases where money is not involved can true international connections be formed."
That said, the Kawamura Program paid due respect to the leaders of business and industry who have made Nagoya prosperous. The city has become closely tied with the Toyota Corporation, which is a dominant player in the city and in the world automotive industry. Having admired the amazing robots at the Toyota plant, spoken to a public relations representative of the corporation, and visited THREE Toyota museums during my time in Japan, I can really appreciate Toyota’s impact to the city of Nagoya.
Aside from our time with these industrial giants, our visits with the little guys were equally impressive. Speaking literally, the day we spent at the Fuzoku Kindergarten, Elementary School, and Junior High was a great insight into the Japanese education system, and a lot of fun! ‘Returners,’ students who had lived in English-speaking countries and come back to Japan, offered us their insights on the differences between Japanese and American education—Japanese school is stricter! Kanji is hard! In some ways, American kids grow up faster than Japanese kids! Our cultural
visits in Nagoya also provided memorable insights. Our visit to the pottery studio of Sakusuke Kato, where a member of his team wowed us at the pottery wheel, continues to be one of my favorite stops. Our tours of Ise Shrine and Inuyama Castle wowed us, by reminding us of the ancient legacy of ultra-modern Nagoya. At the Nagoya sumo tournament, we experienced a traditional, uniquely Japanese style of sport that continued to be extremely popular and entertaining in the present day. At a more familiar sporting event, we cheered the Chunichi Dragons in their decisive victory over the Hiroshima Carps.
Secure in our devotion to the Dragons, we traveled just days later to Hiroshima by ultra-efficient Shinkansen. I was extremely glad to have visited the Peace Museum, which gave an impartial, factual presentation of the events leading up to August 6, 1945, and tried to funnel the feelings from these events into political activism opposing nuclear testing and proliferation. Speaking with the Chugoku Shimbun the next day, I was extremely impressed by Hiroshima’s devotion to peace-making and ending nuclear warfare. Our discussion with Akira Tashiro, Chairman of the Peace Media Center, offered a sobering look at the potential consequences of nuclear proliferation. Further it pointed to the challenges of disseminating information on this important topic, making me realize the importance of language proficiency for the purpose of translation.
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