DoDEA partners with MOFA, plants seeds of friendship

Yokota High School, in conjunction with the Department of Defense Education Activity Pacific and Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hosted the Student Educational Exchange and Dialogue project, Sept. 9-10, to give American and Japanese students a unique opportunity to interact with and learn alongside one another.

SEED is a two-day event where students partake in educational activities designed to foster diverse perspectives, promote mutual understanding, bridge language barriers, and form deeper cross-cultural connections.

“Our DoDEA schools, along with our military installation partners, collaborated with the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs to pair up middle school and high school students from outside the gate to help build positive relationships,” said Dr. Jacqueline Ferguson, DoDEA Pacific superintendent. “This allows kids from both nations to step out of their comfort zones and learn more about each other’s cultures.”

Yokota High School was the first of seven stops for the education specialists on their tour of U.S. military installations in Japan during the 2023-24 school year.

Mr. Sugiura Masatoshi, Status of U.S. Forces Agreement director for the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hopes the students will forever cherish the bonds they created throughout the event.

“The SEED project will bloom into beautiful flowers of friendship, legacy, and trust between our two nations,” said Masatoshi. “For world peace and security, I believe we have to pursue relationships beyond our national boundaries.”