Willing interpreters and receivers: American alumni of the Japan exchange and teaching (JET) program

Abstract

Established in 1987, the Japanese government's Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program has generated more than 60,000 alumni worldwide, half of them Americans. Coalescing over three decades, the American JET alumni community offers a compelling example of how the creation of "willing interpreters and receivers" (Nye) through an international exchange program can yield benefits for both sponsors and participants. Focused on the American JET alumni community's composition and its efforts to organize into an independent actor in its own right, this paper offers insight into a large-scale effort to promote soft power in the context of the strategically important US-Japan relationship. This article is published as part of a collection on soft power.

International scholarship for social change? Re‐contextualizing Global Korea Scholarship alumni’s perceptions of justice and diversity in South Korea

“…Over the past two decades, the literature on international student mobility has highlighted the benefits of international scholarship programs for the recipients (Findlay et al, 2012;Wiers-Jenssen, 2008) and to the wider society (Solimano, 2008;Spilimbergo, 2008;Stapleton et al, 2016). More recent studies have focused on analyzing international higher education scholarship programs as means of enhancing the host country image or public diplomacy (Aras & Mohammed, 2018;Ayhan & Gouda, 2021;Mathews-Aydinli, 2016;Metzgar, 2017;Snow, 2008;Varpahovskis & Ayhan, 2020;Yun, 2014). One reason for the growing interest in international scholarship programs as a public diplomacy tool could be its potential to nurture international opinion leaders, inculcating a favorable stance toward the host country and a better understanding of the host country's culture, values, and lifestyle (Leonard et al, 2002;Scott-Smith, 2008).…”

Education as a soft power resource: A systematic review

“…Japan, France, Hong Kong, Brazil, Poland, Australia. Similarly, countries like Japan [ 51 , 61 ], France [ 51 ], Hong Kong [ 32 ], Brazil [ 52 ], Poland [ 46 ], and Australia [ 62 ] are offering various scholarship and exchange programmes to foreign students, thus, facilitating intra-state cross-border student mobility. Arguably, student mobility for educational purpose is one of the many factors contributes to generate soft power of a nation through higher education.…”

China’s Education Exchange Diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific in Comparison With That of the U.S. And Some Implications for China

“…Exchange participants' independence from direct political interference during their immersion in local cultural milieu makes them legitimate source of opinion and judgement after their grant completion (Scott-Smith, 2009, p. 53). Hence, this is ideally exercised under minimal sponsors' control (Snow, 2009;Metzgar, 2017). Nonetheless, some scholars, including Frankel, are not convinced by the optimistic outcomes of exchange diplomacy and argue that they are "emotionally-driven myths" (Snow, 2009, p. 235).…”

“…This noncoercive means is expected to assuage the anxiety of a China threat (Myungsik & Elaine, 2018, p. 52). Exchange effect might spill over into the alumni's social and professional networks due to their interpretation of knowledge, experience and expertise gained overseas to them (Scott-Smith, 2009, p. 53;Metzgar, 2017). Hence, candidate selection and these intercultural interpreters' satisfaction with their exchange determine the success of exchange overtures.…”