Home > About Us > Awards and Special Prizes > Special Prizes (2002) > Profile > "Japanese Mothers for Foreign Students" Movement of the Tokyo YWCA (Japan)
About Us
The Japan Foundation Awards / Special Prizes (2002) - Profile
- The Japan Foundation Awards
- Makoto Ooka / Gerald L. Curtis
- The Japan Foundation
Special Prizes - The Old Japan Students'
Association, Thailand (OJSAT) /
"Japanese Mothers for Foreign Students" Movement of the Tokyo YWCA /
Warsaw University, Oriental Studies Institute, Department of Japanese and Korean Studies
"Japanese
Mothers for Foreign Students" Movement of the Tokyo YWCA (Japan)
From the days when the receiving environment for exchange students was
not yet established up until the present time, this volunteer group has continued
to set up teams of one exchange student and one Japanese mother to work for heart-to-heart
exchange, and the mothers have accepted the problems faced by the students and
made unstinting efforts toward improving their situations.
This persistent and detailed movement has been promoted under the belief that
communication between individuals that goes beyond national boundaries will
inevitably lead to world peace. During its more than forty-year history, they
have striven in the context of the family to find solutions for the various
problems faced by exchange students who have left their home countries to
study in Japan, and to carve out a mutual trust relationship, as a result
of which their achievements have been great in the realm of deeper international
understanding. The number of exchange student-"mother" teams up
to the present has included 3,555 students from 54 countries.
Brief History
| 1961 | Initiation of the "Mothers of Exchange Students" movement by the Tokyo YWCA |
|---|---|
| 1968 | Obtained Membership in the research group for problems of exchange students (JAFSA) |
| 1970 | Teamed up with national scholarship students of the Japanese-language school of the Tokyo University of Foreign Languages |
| 1973 | Initiated the active receiving of exchange students in Japan at their own expense and of a committee for welfare and funding |
| 1979 | Opened a student conversation room |
| 1982 | Initiated a scholarship system, and opened a supplementary classroom for Japanese-language conversation practice |
| 1984 | Initiated a guarantor system for resident time in Japan in accordance with the YWCA system, and held the 1st Japanese-language speech contest for exchange students |
| 1989 | Initiated a consultation network for exchange students by three private-sector groups |
| 1990 | Opening of a counseling bureau for exchange students |
| 1992 | Initiation of a "group for considering the social security problem for foreigners" |
| 1995 | Carrying out of "scholarships for aid to the studies of exchange students who were victims of the Great Hanshin and Awaji Earthquake |
| 1995 | Ended the residence period guarantor system, along with the abandonment of the letter of guarantee system relating to procedures for applying for period of stay in Japan by exchange students |
| 2001 | Carrying out of a program for participation in the International
Year of Volunteers Received the "Award for Meritorious Exchange with Exchange Students in Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the System for Receiving Exchange Students (of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture) |
Major Publications
For Gaining Knowledge of the Immigration System (Tokyo: The Relief
Liaison Center, 1970).
Publications Produced by the Tokyo YWCA "Mothers of Exchange
Students" Movement
Our History with Exchange Students (1971).
Exchange Students Appeal(1974).
Guidebook for Entrance into University for Exchange (1974).
What Is the Point of Receiving Exchange Students? A Report on the Present
Conditions for Receiving in Universities (1976).