[Feature: International Exchange at Keio University] Ryujiro Hagiwara: Exchange Programs Developing on the History of International Exchange at Affiliated Schools

2024/10/07

Keio Yochisha Elementary School has four school exchange programs: Mohawk Day Camp, Dragon School Exchange, British Summer School, and Punahou School Exchange. Among these, Punahou School in Hawaii is the school with which Keio University has built a relationship since long ago.

Founded in 1841, Punahou School is celebrating its 184th year. It is the largest private school in the United States where students from kindergarten to the 12th grade attend the same single campus every day, with a student population of approximately 3,800.

The exchange with Keio University was started in 1969 by Professor Eiichi Kiyooka, a grandson of Yukichi Fukuzawa who also served as the Head of Yochisha (the equivalent of the current Principal) during the war. This program, known as the Pan-Pacific Program (commonly called PPP), was an exchange program for high school students from Keio Senior High School, Keio Girls Senior High School, and Keio Shiki Senior High School, where they would stay at the homes of Punahou high school students for a month and a half. When the interaction between partners develops well, they become lifelong best friends. I feel this deeply when I see my wife, who participated in PPP during her time at the Girls Senior High School, still communicating with her partner almost every day and traveling back and forth between each other's homes in Hawaii and Japan every year.

Just before the 50th anniversary of PPP, differences of opinion arose due to institutional changes at both schools, and unfortunately, the program came to an end. However, at that exact timing, Yochisha continued the relationship by transforming it into an exchange at the elementary school level. Behind the scenes of the decision to end the high school level exchange, it was my wife's partner, Ms. Joan Miyamoto, who successfully arranged the continuation of the relationship with the person in charge of international exchange at Punahou. The bond formed through PPP 30 years ago narrowly passed the baton between the two schools just as it was about to be dropped. Former President James Scott also personally expressed his gratitude for this, and it was a moment when I felt firsthand that Professor Kiyooka's conviction and enthusiasm still live on across time.

The Yochisha exchange started in 2016 after a three-year preparation period. While PPP was expected to foster international social awareness with the prerequisite of strengthening English skills and discussion, the students at Yochisha are overwhelmingly younger, aged 10 to 11, so strengthening English skills is secondary. On the other hand, a sensory communication of the heart that transcends language is fostered with incredible momentum in just a few days. This ability to become best friends in a short time across borders, races, and languages—perhaps a special ability unique to children—could be called a form of jinkan kosai (society) that adults should learn from.

From the perspective of history, I would also like to mention the Mohawk Day Camp in a different sense. The Mohawk Day Camp would likely not have been established if Keio Academy of New York had not been founded. In this program, during the summer when the academic year at Keio Academy of New York changes, Yochisha students stay and live in the empty dormitories. On weekdays, they leave the Academy and travel about 15 minutes by school bus to a place called Mohawk Day Camp to participate. Since many local children attend here, they interact through sports and play during the day and return to the Academy in the evening.

This program was established through a successful overlap of geographical and facility conditions: there happened to be a local day camp very close to Keio Academy of New York, and Yochisha was able to use the Academy's vacant dormitories. It can be said that the program sprouted because Keio University established Keio Academy of New York and has developed significantly over 30 years.

I have introduced Punahou and Mohawk this time from the perspective of being "on the history of Keio University," but at Yochisha, in addition to the four programs mentioned at the beginning, several new program developments are being considered, including in New Zealand. I look forward to the further development of international exchange at Yochisha in the future.