From Presentation to Nutrition: What I Learned

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By Malia Butler

Onigiri is a handheld snack made from steamed rice, typically formed into a triangle ball or a shape of choice and often wrapped in nori (seaweed). A bento box is a single-portion meal, either homemade or store bought, packed into a container portioned off. Onigiri and bento boxes are well known in Japan. When I made bento boxes and onigiri for the first time, I learned that presentation is key. In Japan before people eat, you have to appreciate the presentation of your food, by looking at the decorations and the thought put into it. “Before eating you have to eat with your eyes,” which is what Ms. Miwako Felix said from the “Table for Two” organization. Another thing that I learned is before eating a meal you have to say “itadakimasu,” and after a meal you have to say “gochi sou sama deshite.” The reason they do this is to show appreciation to farmers, vendors, and cooks.

Something that I learned that affected me personally is that when making bento boxes they focus on nutrition. When making bento boxes, every meal has to be balanced, so in order to do that they use the 3:2:1 ratio. For the 3 part, this is used as a base. People often use it for steamed rice. For the 2 part, this is used as a main dish, usually meant for a various amount of protein. For the 1 part, this is used for a side, often used for different types of vegetables. Both the 2 and 1 part of the ratio can help with keeping someone energized throughout the day, because each have a specific amount that can keep you energized. Based on this experience, I learned how to make a balanced meal. This can help me on my daily life, because as an athlete it can help me to have energy for sports.




A Visit from Gabrielle Headly

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By Pippa Byron

Last week, Gabrielle Headly, an employee at the Japanese Embassy’s Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC), came to visit us and talk about her experience with studying Japanese culture, studying abroad in Japan, as well as her life’s career path and how Japan has influenced it. Gabrielle’s story ended up being really interesting to me because not only did she go to Japan, she intertwined it in her life and learned many skills and lessons during her time there.

Gabrielle started by explaining how she was first introduced to Japan through its pop culture. She said that as someone of Caribbean descent, she could feel that Japanese culture was very different to her own, which intrigued her. This led her to self-study Japanese for a while. Later, as a high school graduation present, Gabrielle went to Okinawa, Japan, where her uncle worked on an American military base. This trip was a great experience for her, and she decided to continue pursuing her love for Japanese through minoring in Japanese in college. 

In her Junior year of college, Gabrielle spent a semester studying abroad in Osaka, Japan. She said Osaka was a very fun city to live in and the university she went to, Kansai Gaidai University, was a great place for cultural exchange, being an international school. After spending this extended period of time in Japan, she realized she wanted to live there. She greatly appreciated the sense of safety she felt in Japan and the vibrancy of the culture.

To pursue her dream of living in Japan, after graduation, Gabrielle decided to apply to the JET program — a program that connects Americans to English teaching jobs in Japan and arranges their stay there. Gabrielle was accepted, and was sent to a small town in Oita prefecture. Upon her arrival there, she was surprised to find out that the town was largely art-focused, and that most of the people and establishments there were related to different art forms. Gabrielle had previously mentioned to us that pottery was one of her biggest interests even back in the U.S., and she had done a lot of work and classes related to pottery. So, along with her teaching work, she was “adopted” into a ceramics store, where she did pottery and was introduced to the Japanese art of Kintsugi, which is a technique that uses gold to fix broken pottery. Along with becoming invested in her community, she also got to travel a lot and see different areas of Japan.

Later on, she decided to end her teaching contract with JET and continue to live in Japan on her own. She moved to Fukuoka, a larger city, where she studied pottery and got officially certified in Kintsugi. Here, she met a lot of interesting people with unique interests such as punk music, and made lots of great friends. Gabrielle told us that she had had a bit of trouble in Japan regarding her hair, as people in Japan often didn’t know about black hair and assumed she had gotten a perm or that her hair was messy. However in Fukuoka, she happened to meet and become friends with a hairdresser who was interested in learning how to work with black hair, which became mutually beneficial for both of them. Meeting so many people she connected with on a deep level was one of the best experiences Gabrielle had in Japan, and she is still friends with them to this day.

In 2023, Gabrielle decided to move back to the U.S. She found out about a job opening at the Japan Information and Culture Center involving their exhibitions. She realized this would be a great position for her, as she loved the idea of being able to teach others about Japanese culture. She eventually became the exhibition coordinator at JICC, and she’s able to put both her creativity and her knowledge of Japan into her work. She even has an upcoming exhibition about Yōkai, which are supernatural entities in Japanese folklore, and we’ll have the opportunity to see it soon!

To me, Gabrielle’s story was extremely inspiring for a few different reasons. To begin with, I thought it was amazing how Gabrielle took Japanese, which was just a hobby at the beginning, and turned it into a lifelong journey of experiences and career opportunities. I am still having trouble figuring out exactly what I want to do in the future, and seeing that it’s possible to find a job that connects so strongly to your interests was really enlightening to me.

Also, I really enjoyed hearing about her experience connecting with different communities throughout Japan and finding lifelong friendships. As someone who also wants to go abroad in the future, I’ve heard a lot about people living in a different country than theirs who struggle to integrate socially because of vast cultural differences. But Gabrielle’s story proves that finding shared interests with others, as well as engaging in community activities and traditions, can foster a sense of belonging and build new friendships no matter how different a place’s culture is. Moreover, I thought that it was great that even though Gabrielle was away from the U.S., she was able to continue pottery, a hobby that she loved, and study Japanese styles of pottery, an experience that she wouldn’t have gotten in the U.S.

Lastly, I liked that Gabrielle had tried a lot of different things before settling down in her current occupation, like teaching and moving to different places. I think that it’s often good for people to experience and try a lot of different things in life before settling down, instead of just going down a straight line to one job or living situation, and I also hope to try a lot of things just like Gabrielle. Gabrielle’s current position also highlights one of the benefits of living in D.C. As the capital of the U.S. where all the embassies are, there are a lot of opportunities related to world cultures and diplomacy. As someone who’s really interested in both, it made me realize that I should take as much advantage of living here as I can. 

Altogether, it was an inspiring story of following one’s passion, and I think all of us learned a lot from it, and I’m excited to visit Gabrielle at the Embassy of Japan and learn more about her work!

Turning Dreams Into Reality

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By Demetris Jefferson

On July 1st, during my scheduled Japan in DC program time, I had the pleasure of hearing Gabrielle Headly’s presentation and her stories about working and traveling in Japan. She talked about her time in the JET Program and her experience of working in a small village focused on pottery. She talked about kintsugi, the art of repairing pottery with gold lacquer. Ms. Gabrielle talked about her passion for ceramics and pottery, so it was cool to see how she was able to continue working towards that passion, while also working as a JET.

From that one interaction I have learned so much more about Japan and the way that you can take your dream and go so far in life. This talk made me also think about my own dreams about learning what Japan really is, and how my life can be benefited off of my love for learning what the world has to offer, not for what it is but what it can be. I learned that life is more of what you can make of it and that it is a lot about choices and chances, and so I choose both.

Gabrielle Headly

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Note from the Program Director: It was the morning of July 1 at Howard University’s Ralph Bunche International Affairs Center. Gabrielle Headly, Exhibition Coordinator at the Embassy of Japan’s JICC (Japan Information and Culture Center), was our first guest presenter of the summer 2026 Japan in DC Program. She was the perfect choice – informative, engaging, personal, and open. Our students found much to relate to and be inspired by in her life story – from her visit to Okinawa as a child, to her time at Howard University and study abroad, her experience as a JET in Japan, her interest and training in the arts, and her current work at the Embassy of the Japan. She introduced the concept of “thinking globally” and the benefits of international travel and exchange – important messages as we kick off the summer program. Our students had a lot to reflect on. They were excited to see Gabby again the following week when we visited the JICC.

Madisen:
Gabrielle’s exposure to Japan began during her childhood watching animes on television. From then on she began studying Japanese on her own because her school did not offer Japanese. When she visited Okinawa in 2015, she fell in love with the culture and close knit communities the residents had. Therefore, she studied abroad in Osaka in 2017 and was able to experience how Japan sees the Western world, and explore more of Japan. She then went to apply for the JET program and stayed in a mountain valley to continue pottery and teach English. She quit the program to live there for an additional 1 year but eventually moved back to America where she talks about Japan and exposes Americans to Japan through the Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC) and the Embassy of Japan. What stuck out to me was how she described how Japanese natives viewed Americans. Gabrielle expressed great frustration in having to argue against stereotypes of Americans, as well as comment about her naturally curly hair.

Christian:
Gabby really pointed out the idea of exchanging cultures and ideas to expand/build new and better ones. Also she spoke about the Black experience/Identity that she found in Japan along with the American one. I also got a great sense of possible people who are interested in East Asia and Black!


Demetris:
I learned mainly that Ms. Gabby’s love of Japanese culture was because it was different from her culture and of course because of anime. Her time in Japan in the JET program was in a small village and she ended up meeting a lot of people because of that. Something that I learned but kind of knew was the problem with black people’s hair and the misunderstanding about where black people come from, since it is shown that blacks are expected to be from Africa or the USA, not expecting them to be from Europe or South America too. Afro hair/fluffy is seen as really messy.

Jaylen:
I learned that making your interests known, and being outgoing can result in some things that benefit you for the better. The most interesting thing I learned was that Japan is so long that it can go from a cold place to a nice warm tropical beachy area. Something that stuck out to me was that African Americans in Japan can appear very alien, and curly hair is seen as unkempt or messy, and people had no idea that curly hair could be natural. Life lesson: This presentation showed me how taking risks, and putting yourself out there can be very rewarding.

Blessing:
The thing that struck me about what she said was that she had a safe feeling in Japan more than when she was in the US. The Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) Program seems very interesting and important for someone who would like to live in Japan, that would prepare them and at the same time help people. I like the way the program put her in a good place where she got to learn something about art in Japan. And I like the way people out their changed her view of life with people like how to make people feel when you are with them.

Zaevior:
Some things that really stuck with me during the presentation was the JET Program. It’s something that I may be interested in after I finish college. From this presentation, I learned that some areas of Japan, “bens” like Osaka, have accents or that change how some words are said. The most interesting part of the presentation to me was her display of the Yokai exhibit that will be coming to the JICC.

Aston:
The experience that she shared that stuck out to me the most was her stay at the military base in Okinawa, since it was a piece of America that was planted in Okinawa that had retained the American culture. Another experience that interested me was her time studying in Osaka where she was able to study art and film and then compare the Japanese culture of art and film to the rest of the world.

Morgan:
From Gabrielle’s presentation, I learned more about the worldview of Japan. They are very welcoming, as shown from the elders that “adopted” her and welcomed her into their pottery studio, but they also have a limited understanding of Black people. They believe that all black people are either from Africa or America, and that hair like ours is seen as messy, or can only be achieved through a perming process. I’ve also learned about potential opportunities that could take me to Japan after college, like the JET program, and that would allow me to teach others while also exploring the country.

Kamaya:
I’ve learned more about the JET Program and more about her life. I’m more interested in it cause I’ve always wanted to live there. Her experience there was unique and priceless and I wanna have the same experience. I have visited but that’s different from living there. What stuck out to me was that there was a ceramics place that basically adopted her. Her whole story is interesting overall.

Pippa:
I knew about the JET program but I didn’t know there were other types of jobs than just language teaching. I learned that Japan has unique communities like art villages and counter-culture groups that even foreigners can connect with. I learned that you can have a Japan-related job without living there.

Liam:
Okinawa is an island in Japan, but it has its own distinct culture and people. I thought it was just part of Japan, like any other city. Japan is much more diverse than I thought, and were very welcoming based on Gabrielle’s story. I’m very interested in that Japanese architecture exhibit.

Now Accepting Summer Japan in DC Student Applications

Selection of students for our 2026 Summer Japan in DC Program is now complete. We are keeping our application portal open to fill a few additional seats on our waiting list.

We are very excited to announce that we are now inviting student applications for this summer’s JAPAN IN DC Program. This free six-week program, funded through a generous grant from the United States-Japan Foundation, is open to DC public high school students (both DCPS and charter), who will be selected through a citywide application process. As in the past, JAPAN IN DC will be offered as part of the Marion Barry Summer Youth Employment Program (MBSYEP), which allows registered students to earn summer pay for participation. Students not registered in MBYSEP are also eligible to apply, but they will not receive summer pay.

About the 2026 JAPAN IN DC Summer Program:

Over six weeks this summer (June 29-August 7, 2026), students will move around the city to explore and experience a wide variety of people, places, organizations, businesses, government agencies, and cultural institutions with connections to Japan. This is a really fun and life-transforming program – with a lot of exposure to Japan-related college and career opportunities. Students will document their experiences through writing, photography, video, social media, and other creative expression, and will develop and lead their own “Japan in DC” tours. This summer’s program will have a special focus on the World War II era and the US-Japan relationship. We encourage you to explore this website at www.japaneseplus.org to get a better feel for our Japan programs.

Application Information:

Click below for more program details and to submit an application. We plan to accept up to twenty (20) students from across the city. Our priority deadline is April 21; after that, applications will still be accepted until all seats are filled. Applications will be reviewed as they are received, so don’t delay.

Contact sally@globalizedc.org if you have any questions about the program or the application process.

APPLY HERE

Download a flyer here


As always, please help us share news of this free summer opportunity so that it reaches interested DC public school students in schools across the city. Thank you.

Now Recruiting PT Staff for our Summer Japan in DC Program

These positions have been filled.

Globalize DC is currently seeking two dynamic part-time Co-Teachers to lead this summer’s JAPAN IN DC Program, which will serve up to 20 DC public high school students from across the city. JAPAN IN DC will again be offered as part of the Marion Barry Summer Youth Employment Program (MBSYEP), running June 29-August 7, 2026. Ideal candidates would be secondary teachers (especially social studies), international education professionals, JET alumni, graduate students, or others with relevant experience. High energy, dedication to high school student learning, and basic knowledge of DC geography a must.

About the JAPAN IN DC Program: 
Over six weeks, students will move around the city to explore and experience a wide variety of people, places, organizations, businesses, government agencies, and cultural institutions in DC with connections to Japan. This is a really fun program – and for many students, life-transforming. Students will document their experiences through writing, photography, and other creative expression. In 2026 we will have a special focus on the World War II era (including investigation of Japanese American incarceration, Japanese American veterans, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and other themes and legacies of these wartime events), as well as the nature and history of the US-Japan relationship. Students will be developing content for our website and creating their own JAPAN IN DC tours. Check the Japan in DC program webpage for background information and updates.

SPECIAL NOTE: We are excited that this year Globalize DC will be developing a social studies curriculum for DC high school classrooms, based on this JAPAN IN DC program. This is a project that any selected Co-Teacher (as well as other local teachers) may wish to be participate in – during the summer or in SY2026-27.

To Apply:
Review the posted job announcement at the link below. If you are interested, please send an email to Sally Schwartz at sally@globalizedc.org with your statement of interest in this position, and your updated resume. We will review applications as received. Our goal is to fill these two positions by the end of April. Any questions, contact Sally at the email address above. For more information about our Japan work, we invite you to explore this Globalize DC:Japan website.

Read the JAPAN IN DC Co-Teacher Job Announcement Here


Please help share us this opportunity with others who may have an interest.

Get involved in our new Japan in DC Program

Globalize DC is now preparing for the launch of our new school year Japan in DC program that will be open at no cost to interested DC public high school students. We’re very excited about the plans we have for this year – and hope many of you will wish to be involved.

photo above: Japan in DC students with Cong. Mark Takano (D-CA)

About Globalize DC

We created Globalize DC in order to expand opportunities for DC public school students to learn about and experience the wider world – through global education, language learning, study abroad, and cross-cultural exchange. We want our students to see their connection to the world – what makes us the same, how we are different, and what we can learn from each other. We want our students to see themselves as actors on a global stage, whether in their future careers, in civic engagement, or in their daily lives. We serve as a bridge between our local students and DC’s unique wealth of globally connected resources, institutions, and people, so they understand and feel empowered to take advantage of the many ways in which the world exists right here in their own hometown. 


At a challenging moment in history, on this special day dedicated to celebrating the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, we draw inspiration from his words, carved into his Memorial at the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC. “We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

This is the belief animating our work.

PLANS FOR OUR NEW 2026 SCHOOL YEAR “JAPAN IN DC” PROGRAM

This year marks the 10 year anniversary of our organization’s Japan programs. Our goal is to bring the many lessons we’ve learned about Japan and the US-Japan relationship to a much wider audience – with DC students taking the lead. We’re able to do this work thanks to a major grant from United States-Japan Foundation. We also wish to acknowledge CEPEX for its generous donation in support of our Japan programs. 

This year our plan is to introduce a school year version of our summer Japan in DC program to a new group of DC public high school students from across the city. Students will investigate, document, and reflect on the presence of Japan in their own city – engaging with a wide variety of people, places, organizations, institutions, and cultural experiences. They in turn will share what they’re learning about Japan and the special nature of the US-Japan relationship with a much wider community – through engaging website content, social media, maps, tours, and public programs. We also plan for the first time to develop social studies curriculum for local K-12 classrooms, based on this same content and real world experiences, with special attention to the lessons of the World War II era and the US-Japan relationship. We have a lot of ideas, and we know our students will as well, so we have much to look forward to. 

Did you know we’ve already published a book based on our students’ work in previous Japan in DC programs? You can purchase one here (use discount code 10YRS for 20% off) to learn more about the program, while also supporting our Japan work financially.

Buy a Japan in DC Book


WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

Now we are looking for like-minded members of our community who wish to play a role in these efforts. Interested?

DC high school students: We are beginning our student recruitment efforts now. We encourage all interested students from any DC public high school (DCPS or charter), with time to commit, to apply for this free afterschool program. 

Volunteers and part-time staff: We will hire one part-time staff member as co-leader of the program, in addition to recruiting volunteers to assist with a variety of tasks – both working with students and in other roles.

Technical expertise: We are particularly interested in identifying individuals who are experienced with website design (WordPress), video, graphics (CANVA), and social media.

Teachers and curriculum writers: We are recruiting interested educators to work with us both in developing curriculum and strategies for bringing these resources to DC classrooms and teachers.

Speakers, site visit hosts, and workshop providers are a core part of the program. Many of you have generously worked with us before. We’ll be doing more of this kind of programming in 2026 and will welcome your help again – as well as those who are new to us.

Behind the scenes: Program planning, fundraising, research, partner development, and program promotion are all areas where we can use support.

If you’re interested in possibly being involved with us this year, or simply wish to learn more, please fill out the form below to start the conversation. That includes students interested in applying to Japan in DC. We will respond within a few days.

Fill out our Japan Interest Form Here


Anyone with questions can email sally@globalizedc.org. Thank you for helping to spread the word about this great free afterschool opportunity for DC teens.

ISO PT Japanese language teacher for our Japanese Plus program

Globalize DC is currently seeking a dynamic part-time Japanese language teacher for JAPANESE PLUS, our award-winning afterschool Japanese language, culture, and career exposure program for DC public high school students.

Refer to the following links for much more information about Japanese Plus:

Japanese Plus Program Description
SY22-23 Program Highlights
SY23-24 Program Highlights
Student Blog (for a real feel for the program)

This is a Washington, DC-based, in-person program, so applicants must reside in the DC (DMV) area. We will prioritize candidates with relevant teaching credentials and experience with high school students, but we are flexible and open to any candidates who feel they would be right for the position. We will fill the position as soon as we find the right candidate. We are hoping to launch the program later this fall. Please share this announcement with anyone you think might have an interest.

DOWNLOAD THE JOB ANNOUNCEMENT HERE.

Questions? Feel free to contact sally@globalizedc.org.

Time Travel

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By Nardo

Nardo (Clinard Smith, in the beige shirt on the right) was a student from Eastern High School when he joined our 2016 TOMODACHI US-Japan Youth Exchange Program. It was only after a random encounter many years later on the streets of DC that Nardo shared this poem he wrote about the enormous impact of his TOMODACHI experience.

I began my voyage yesterday.
Only fourteen hours have passed since I had left my home to travel to a realm far, far away.
I am now in the future of those that I love,
gradually descending from the clouds to bounce and roll across a long runway.
With my heart pulsating,
my fists clenching,
my legs bouncing,
and smiling from ear to ear,
I trade my wings for legs so that I may walk the foreign lands.
I have arrived.
My eyes have existed for fifteen years and I have never seen anything like this before.
A whole new world
with a whole new language,
living and breathing as an entirely different society.
My dreams come to reality as I take my first steps on Sakura’s soil.
I gaze directly into the blazing sun and imagine myself made into a manga.
Just setting foot here sets my soul at ease.
I see the blank sheet with the red dot and
I focus on it as it wildly flails in the air while attached it’s slender metal.
I’m existing in a timeline parallel to my own,
refining myself while looking back at my world’s past,
acquiring new mementos while remembering what I have left behind.
It is real.
I’m indeed far from home,
challenged to reside with
and encouraged to learn from
entities both alike and unlike.
I just can’t believe that I’m really here
at my desired place — 日本,
where everything is so perplexing.

Japan Saved a Student’s Life

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By Jonah Nguyen-Conyers

Hello, I am Jonah Nguyen-Conyers and Japan completely saved my life in ways I would have never expected. Before I involved myself with Japan in high school, my childhood was harsh, as my family was dealing with homelessness and a plethora of consequences associated with that. After finding housing in 9th grade, I was able to properly feel more security and stability that allowed me to venture into my interests, and that’s the same year I started investing into Japan. These initial moments with Japan in my 9th grade year would be the catalyst that would ignite a path of opportunity and ambition in my life, allowing me to leave behind who I was before, and the child I was when I was homeless and desperate.

While in high school at DC International, I delved into the US-Japan space with a great sense of admiration and ambition with every moment. My initial interactions with Japan happened in 9th grade during a summer job experience with Globalize DC. During this summer we would go around DC and document aspects of Japan and Japanese culture to later publish in a book called Japan in DC. Then during my 10th grade year in high school, I was selected to be a part of the KAKEHASHI Project, where the Japanese government sponsored me and other DC students to visit Japan. After such an exciting and insightful eight-day trip to Japan, I would take a Japanese language class with Japanese Plus. I chose to show up outside regular school hours to invest in this relationship with Japan through study of the language twice a week for the last two years of my high school education.

Back in high school during Japan in DC, summer 2017.

After my first year of studying Japanese with Japanese Plus in the 11th grade, I was selected to be an OSSE Scholar, where I would be sponsored to study at a prestigious university and get university credit over the summer. During my time as an OSSE Scholar, I studied Japanese at Northwestern University. Money has always been a big determining factor in my education and my life, which is why I had to seek out and involve myself in all these free programs that were outside the regular school opportunities.

Being so heavily invested in Japan going into my 12th grade year, I knew I wanted to attend college in Japan. I knew college was one of the biggest expenses a person can involve themselves in. But I knew I was not only going to college, but I would also be starting a new life across the world in Japan. I knew I could not rely on my family for financial help in this situation, keeping my family’s past and current situation in consideration. I knew I needed to craft a plan to make this dream of studying in Japan a reality and be the first of my siblings to graduate college.

I was accepted to Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ) and I was truly overjoyed. I knew my whole senior year that I was going to attend TUJ in the fall of 2020. However, the pandemic threw everything up in the air with timelines, departures, financial support all at the mercy of the developments relating to the virus. After many setbacks, border restrictions, and much more, I was finally allowed to enter Japan as a student January 1, 2021, to start my first semester at TUJ. I was now in Japan, but I was taking online classes, had a lot less time to find housing and develop security and comfort, and I was unable to access my scholarship money due to the circumstances related to the pandemic when I arrived in Japan. After my Spring 2021 semester, I decided on coming back to Washington, DC as problems relating to my finances in Japan and the pandemic were too cumbersome and unclear.

Back in DC I remained invested in Japan. I knew wholeheartedly that I wanted to go back to Japan and study, but I needed to make a more concrete plan on how I would finance and navigate the situation regarding the pandemic. I would decide to go to Montgomery College, a community college in the DC area, to stay close to home to mitigate any pandemic effects, while also letting me engage with higher education at a more accessible cost. While at community college, I still engaged with Japan on campus and outside of campus. I took on the responsibilities of being the Japanese Culture Club’s Secretary, where I helped facilitate and conduct matters relating to the club. During my time at community college, I was able to reach out to a lot of the people who supported me in high school, while also making new connections with people in the US-Japan space. All these efforts were in the support of my long-time goal to graduate college in Japan.

Finally now, being back in Japan, I am working on developing a life and a source of stability here. I would not have been able to make this dream of mine a reality without the support of those looking to aid students to study in Japan, especially the Toshizo Watanabe Scholarship, the Bridging Scholarship, and Globalize DC. Here in Japan, I am hoping to develop a career focused on engaging with those in Japan and the United States that come from troubled backgrounds like my own. I hope in my career and the work I dedicate myself to that I can offer the same optimism and hope to the next generation of students. Japan was able to save a young child’s life, my life, in ways I didn’t think were possible, and I know I have an obligation to support the next generation of students and children who have faced similar struggles like I have had in the past and allow them to see a similar saving grace and opportunity-rich future for themselves that the US-Japan space has offered me.