An exchange program developed into a 30 years of cultural exchange, life-time friendships and international good will.
Yesterday, Japanese alumni from the Nagoya Study Tour exchange program gathered for a reunion at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the program.
In the spring of 1963, Dr. A. Ray Olpin, then-president of the U, visited Japan while pursuing his interest in communications. There, he met Shotaro Kamiya, president and founder of Nagoya Broadcasting Network. NBN had just finished its first year of operation, and Mr. Kamiya was looking for a way to celebrate the company’s good fortune. Dr. Olpin suggested starting a student exchange and sent a postcard directing Boyer Jarvis to initiate the program, and the Nagoya Study Tour was born.
From 1963 until 1992, NBN sent 10 to 12 students to Utah to live and study at the U every year. As a part of the exchange program, they also traveled across the United States. Before venturing back home to Japan, the students would share a celebration of their own culture with host families, the university and newfound friends.
Over the course of the program, NBN sponsored a total of 310 male exchange students. All participants were granted honorary alumni status at the U.
Three of the students who attended the reunion yesterday were part of the first exchange in 1963.
“I didn’t come alone,” said Keiichiro Tsuji, a participant of the program who studied psychology at Nagoya University in Japan. “I came with 10 students, all who had different backgrounds. We were all from different universities and different ages.”
Mr. Tsuji said when he did the exchange, Japan was very different from the U.S.
“I don’t know if you can imagine, but 50 years ago America was very different from Japan … so a lot of it was comparing America to Japan. But as time has passed I have found I notice much more what we have in common.”
Participants reunited after years of successful work in academics and business.
Tsuji taught at Nagoya University for 35 years before retiring. He is currently an associate member of the Science Council of Japan, where he contributes to and promotes sciences in Japan.
Teru Ishii, BA, majored in Spanish and worked for a trading company for 38 years, 13 of which were spent working in South America. Now he is retired, learning Italian and consulting Japanese and Italian companies in foreign trade.
Akira Sekino, the last of the three 1963 participants, went on to study at MIT and do instrumental work in computer development.