Japan ICU Foundation Launches Global Citizen Fellowship – Announcement from JICUF President & CEO Paul Hastings
I believe deeply in the importance of global learning. Growing up biculturally between Japan and the United States, studying abroad in Sri Lanka during college and living and working in India have deeply impacted me. These experiences helped me crystalize my values and inspired me to work in international education. At the Japan ICU Foundation, we believe in the power and importance of global learning experiences, and we are so excited to share the launch of the Global Citizen Fellowship (GCF). GCF is a yearlong cohort-based program for undergraduate students at ICU. Based on the three pillars of global citizenship: awareness, responsibility and participation, GCF is designed to allow participants […]
JICUF Student Ambassadors Interview Grant Recipients: Part 2
To commemorate the opening of our Japan office on the ICU campus, JICUF held a series of opening events in mid-May. One of the events was a showcase of JICUF grant projects. We asked our student ambassadors to interview the participants. Please enjoy below the interviews conducted by Chiemi Linda Saito. Chiemi Linda Saito (Photo by Naoki Beppu) 1.“Compost Project” Yumiko Maruyama (Undergraduate Student) Undergraduate students and members of the ICU Compost club, Nanako Watanabe and Kanami Suzuki, who participated in the field trip, were interviewed for this article. Chiemi: Where did you visit on your field trip to Kyushu? Nanako: First, we visited a farmer who worked with high […]
Introducing the 2024-2025 Photography Interns
JICUF recently hired three new photography interns, Yosuke Kobayashi, Yu Goto, and Kyoka Horiuchi. They are undergraduate students at ICU and will regularly post on our Instagram and Facebook accounts, taking photographs and short movies for our publications. Please follow us on social media to check out their posts!
JICUF Study Abroad Scholarship Recipient Reflects on her Time in the UK
The following reflection was written by Ayane Wakabayashi, a recent recipient of JICUF’s Study Abroad Scholarship. Ayane is an undergraduate student at ICU majoring in linguistics. “My Wonderful Journey in the UK” Beautiful UEA campus! It looks a bit like ICU campus. Introduction I joined ICU’s exchange programme in 2023-24, and studied at the University of East Anglia (UEA), which is located in Norwich, UK, for about nine months. It was an unexpected situation because before I entered ICU I promised my parents that I would never study abroad. I didn’t want to burden them financially. In addition, I didn’t think I needed to study abroad at all. However, my […]
ICU Alumna Ms. Takako Miyazaki Reflects on Her Encounters with Dr. Sadako Ogata
Ms. Takako Miyazaki is a graduate of ICU who has spent much of her life in the US, and served as the president of ICU’s Alumni Association in the Americas in the 1990s. Through the ICU AAA, she had several memorable encounters with Dr. Sadako Ogata, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. We asked Ms. Miyazaki to share them with us.
JICUF Launches the Education Pathways Scholarship with ICU
The Japan ICU Foundation and ICU will launch a new scholarship for students with refugee backgrounds. The Education Pathways Scholarship will support two new undergraduate students annually starting in April 2025. It is a full scholarship that covers tuition and fees, on-campus accommodation and stipend. JICUF and ICU will share the cost of the scholarship.
Call for JICUF Photography Interns
JICUF seeks 1-2 student photography and video interns who can work with us from October 2024 to June 2025! Apply immediately.
JICUF Student Ambassadors Interview Grant Recipients: Part 1
To commemorate the opening of our Japan office on the ICU campus, JICUF held a series of opening events in mid-May. One of the events was a showcase of JICUF grant projects. We asked our student ambassadors to interview the participants. Please enjoy below the interviews conducted by Aruto Kamiya. Aruto Kamiya (Photo by Naoki Beppu) 1. “Anthropological Fieldwork and Engaged Population: Organic Involvement with Isen Town, Tokunoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture” Professor Mie Moriki (Anthropology) Aruto: You conducted anthropological fieldwork on Tokunoshima in Kagoshima Prefecture. How was the experience? Prof. Moriki: Because our visit was during the typhoon season, our ferry to Tokunoshima got delayed for 10 days! We had to […]
JICUF Grantee Spotlight: 2024 Japan Israel Palestine Student Conference
In the 2023-24 winter term, ICU undergraduate student Shiho Takechi was awarded a JICUF grant on behalf of the Japan Israel Palestine Student Conference (JIPSC). ICU students played a key role in founding JIPSC in 2003, and for over 20 years, JIPSC has facilitated dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian students and raised awareness of the Israel-Palestine conflict in Japan. This year, with the region in a crisis, JIPSC plans to invite eight youth from both Israel and Palestine to Japan. While the JICUF grant will cover a part of their travel expenses to Japan, JIPSC is fundraising to cover the remainder of the cost.
Celebrating the Opening of the JICUF Office at ICU!
During the week of May 13 – 17, JICUF hosted a series of events at ICU to celebrate the opening of our office on campus! The events included three days of an office open house, a grants showcase, a discussion about JICUF and ICU’s history and vision for the future, and a special evening reception for the ICU community. We are delighted to report that the ICU community welcomed JICUF with open arms.