Global Link is a new program of the Japan ICU Foundation that matches four year ICU students with organizations in New York City for seven weeks. The goal of this program is to provide ICU students with a unique experience abroad that will help them develop skills that will be invaluable in their life and career.

My name is Honami Iizuka, and I am a Class of 2015 September student from Hyogo, Japan. I just finished my year long exchange program at Middlebury College and I will be starting my senior year in the fall. I lived in Shanghai, China for 10 years and attended Shanghai American School until I graduated from high school. While most of my friends chose to go to universities and colleges in the States, I made the choice to go back to Japan to be in touch with my roots – its culture, language, and the people, and ICU has offered a perfect setting for me to assimilate into the Japanese society with its unique atmosphere and the people – students, faculty, and staffs, it attracts from around the world.

Some of my interests and things I like are ballet, soccer, community service, meeting new people, photography, long flights, and looking at the sky. On campus, I belong to the Ginkgo family, I am a member of ICU Brothers and Sisters (IBS) and Student Public Relations Associations (SPRA), serve as a campus tour guide, and have participated in performances with the Smooth Steppers, L’ecrin, Modern Dance Society, and the Clumsy Chorus.

From my high school years, I have developed a passion to serve for others and I have been involved in service activities for various organizations including Habitat for Humanity, Jacaranda Foundation, NPO Katariba, and GlobeMed. In the future, I wish to pursue a career in the field of international development. I am majoring in International Relations and minoring in Politics. I will be writing my senior thesis on Human Security and Human Development Issues Regarding Aid to AIDS Orphans under the supervision of Professor Katsuhiko Mori.

Through the Japan ICU Foundation Global Link program, I have been very fortunate to have the opportunity to be working with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs – a think tank for international relations. Carnegie Council is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and is currently undertaking an ambitious three-year project called Ethics for a Connected World.

Through this project, they wish to bring together individuals and their stories from all across the globe to explore how shared ethical and moral values can be incorporated into action to confront international challenges we face today. One component of this project is Global Ethical Dialogues, where they seek to experience moral exchange and moral conflicts in real-life settings around the world. Members of the Carnegie Council will be going to Japan next summer where they will have a conference and do site-visits focused on the ethical theme of technology and risk with regards to nuclear energy.

This summer, I am in charge of preparing background-briefing materials and doing research for them to provide them with background knowledge before they leave for their trip and for their book that they will be publishing at the end of this centennial project. It is a great opportunity to be engaging on a subject matter that is so pressing and prominent in the Japanese society today. So far, it has been a tremendous learning experience and it has been exciting for me to be a part of such a big project for the organization.

I would like to thank JICUF for making everything possible this summer. It is a dream come true for me to get a taste of professional life in the hustling and bustling Big Apple!