Starting in mid-February of 2023, GRIPS held another two rounds of its intensive winter　program, “Understanding the Japanese Development Experience” originally offered in summer 2022. This program, designed for JICA scholarship fellows, was organized by GRIPS in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The participants were mainly graduate students from various universities in Japan. The rich program content included lectures, a field trip, a cultural event, group discussion and presentations. The program is intended to give the participants a broad perspective on the Japanese modernization process, and to encourage them to adopt a multi-faceted approach to engaging with the topics.
All the program features were held face to face first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.?

There were about 30 participants, diverse in region, career and specialty, in each round of the program. In the first half of the program, they attended a comprehensive series of lectures on the history of Japanese modernization.?
The lecturers were:
Prof. Andrea Pressello, GRIPS, Japanese modern history;?
Prof. Kaoru Iokibe, the University of Tokyo, Japanese political history;?
Prof. Tetsuji Okazaki, the University of Tokyo, Japanese economic history;?

Special lectures were given by:?
Prof. Emeritus Naoyuki Yoshino, Keio University (Visiting Professor of GRIPS) and Prof. Yoko Iwama, GRIPS.

For the field trip, the participants visited the National Diet Building and JICA Yokohama Japanese Overseas Migration Museum. The participants also had meaningful experiences of Japanese flower arrangement and calligraphy to deepen their understanding of traditional Japanese culture.

Field Trip to the National Diet Building

Field Trip of JICA Yokohama Japanese Overseas Migration

Cultural event: Japanese flower arrangement

Cultural event: Calligraphy

In the second half of the program, the participants applied the knowledge and information they had acquired in the lectures to their exchanges in group discussions about Japan’s development experience and about the lessons that can be learned from it. On the last day they made group presentations and presented their ideas about those topics and their views on some of the challenges that Japan is currently facing.

The participants, who were already living in Japan, had some unique and insightful experiences in the program. The group membership was rich; the participants, from Africa, South America, Asia, and Pacific Island states, had diverse professional backgrounds and graduate school specialties. That variety was reflected in the wide range of opinions and perspectives offered in the group discussions. Although the program was only five days long, the participants had a precious opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of Japan from various viewpoints—an important takeaway.

We hope that the participants gained some insights in this program that they can apply to their work and to the development of their countries—and that will enable them to contribute toward the development of ever stronger relationships between their countries and Japan.