Orientation for Summer Fellows Held in Washington

On 3-5 April, the JSPS Washington Office assisted the National Science Foundation (NSF) in holding an orientation for its "2011 East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes" program.

Affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake that struck on 11 March, it was feared that some of the US researchers selected for Summer Program fellowships might withdraw from them; however, at the time of the orientation all 64 still intended to go to Japan.

At the meeting, Washington Office deputy director Ms. Fumiyo Kaneko gave a talk on Japanese culture and conducted a simple language lesson, followed by a message from Washington Office director Dr. Hirotaka Sugawara, who described the situation with regard to radiation emitting from the damaged Fukushima plants and, explaining the environment outside the immediately affected areas to be safe, encouraged the researchers to come to Japan as scheduled. Then, NSF Tokyo Regional Office director Dr. Anne Emig and JSPS Overseas Fellowship Division staff Ms. Eri Nakamura briefed the new fellows on the processing required for going to Japan and the details of the Summer Program.

Though some of the participants showed apprehension about going to Japan just after the disaster, they were basically very positive, even expressing, what was very heartening for us, a desire to participate in the relief efforts.

- JSPS Washington Office