Today was a work day session for the Japanese and American educators. Our purpose today was to plan joint projects that schools in the United States and Japan could coordinate on together. We grouped by projects that would be of like interest. Some groups are doing projects on water quality, some are mapping cultural heritage, and my group is focusing on recycling.

My Group.

Next year, Kipling Elementary will participate in a joint recycling project with a school in Missouri, a school in Colorado, and a school in Omuta, Japan. This project will have our students looking at ways to reduce waste through recycling.

Some Pictures from the joint conference today.

Tonight we had a wonderful reception with the Japanese and American educators celebrating the journey that all of us have been on over the past several months.

With Mr. Yoshio Yamawaki, the Director-General for International Affairs at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology here in Japan.

With Matthew Sussman, Executive Director of Fullbright Japan and my friend Toshiaki Nakamura.

With Professor Katsuhide Kusahara. He has been with us throughout this program.

Tomorrow morning we are going to present our projects to each other. This will be the final task of the joint conference. After our presentations in the morning we are free for independent research. Some of the Japanese teachers are taking a group of us to Kyoto by the Shinkansen tomorrow. I can’t wait to see Kyoto and ride the bullet train. Stay tuned.