During the summer of 2014, I went to Japan with the Japan-U.S. Teacher Exchange Program for ESD (Education for Sustainable Development). That’s a long name! Basically, it was a fellowship run by Fulbright Japan, co-funded by the Japanese government and the U.S. government. The program gathered 24 American teachers and 24 Japanese teachers to visit each other’s countries and learn about inspiring and empowering students to make the world a better place. We visited schools and cultural sites, and met to plan collaborative projects between American and Japanese classrooms. I spent time in Tokyo and the city of Kushiro, on the Northern Island of Hokkaido. The following summer, 2015, I went back on a vacation and visited with several of the Japanese teachers that I met the summer before.
Posts from our Preparation Conference in San Francisco:
- Meeting in the Middle
- My Cultural Connection: Japan
- What is Education for Sustainable Development?
- Countdown to Japan…and Ireland!
Posts from Japan, 2014:
Arrived in Tokyo!- Reading the Air in Tokyo
- This is what inspiring education looks like
- Pampered with 10 Plates
- What makes Lake Akan special?
- A Few Less Than 1,000 Cranes
- Just Like Home
- The Serious and the Silly
- Special Guests at School
- Exploring the Wetlands
- Goodbye Kushiro! Hello Tokyo!
- Shopping Practice and Conveyor Belt Sushi
- From Elementary School to Japan
- This is just the beginning
- Happy 4th and 7th of July!
- “Smart” Japanese Bathrooms
- Lost in 3D Tokyo
- Underground in Tokyo: The Subway
- Japanese Cute Machines
- On the Water: Photo Trivia
- Buddhas and Purple Sweet Potatoes of Kamakura
- Japanese Fast Food
Post-Trip:
Posts from Japan, 2015:
- Kaiseki Cuisine: Small, Beautiful, and Delicious
- Second Time’s a Charm in Tokyo
- Wonders Viewed from a Plane
- A Million of Everything in Kyoto
- 10 weird things that I did not buy in Japan… but could have.
- Yummy Japanese Desserts
- Sleeping in a Temple at Koyasan
Post-Trip:
- Tofu-San’s Adventures at Lake Winnipesaukee
- Two Tofu-Sans!
- Tofu-San Hits Hogwarts and DC
- Creativity Oozing at the Vator Shop
- Tofu-San’s Weekend with Olivia
- And we’re off… on the Mayflower
- Tofu-San in L.A.
- Being a Global Citizen on Halloween
- The Stories Behind Your Food
- Tofu-San’s First Thanksgiving
- The Best Holiday Greetings are the Global Ones
- What makes a happy year?
- Scavenger Hunt: Can we SEE Culture?
- Valentines and Vacation
- Tofu-San’s First Pajama Jam
Innovation on Earth 
did they have fun