Multiple Cost Sharing: The Japan Experience

Abstract

Among the approximately 120 countries with Fulbright programs, Japan's Fulbright program is the only Fulbright program where cost sharing by the United States and the host society is on a fifty-fifty basis and where the Fulbright alumni contribute approximately 15 percent of the program's budget. This article analyzes the factors behind this unique multiple cost-sharing of the Fulbright program, particularly the strong support from the Japanese alumni. Among the contributing elements are the historical relationship between Japan and the United States, the rapid economic development of Japan, cultural factors peculiar to Japan, timing, and the right leader. These factors converged in 1982, the thirtieth anniversary year of the Japan program, and resulted in the organization of nine regional alumni associations within a period of two months and the launching of a fund-raising campaign to invite more Americans to Japan. The campaign developed a momentum of its own and evolved into the establishment of a permanent alumni Fulbright Foundation in 1986 through which contributions to the regular program are made. The entire alumni movement has served as a catalyst to the expansion and dynamism of the Fulbright program in Japan and may offer some lessons for other programs.

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1. The 1979 agreement, in fact, does not even mention the Fulbright program. The Japanese concept of tatemae, the surface appearance, and honne, the true base or reality, comes into play here. Thus the agreement reflects the tatemae of a new program supported on a fifty-fifty basis, although the honne is the continuation of the Fulbright program, which is recognized as a U.S. program. The Japanese government could not logically agree to support half of what is essentially a U.S. government program; thus there is no mention of Fulbright exchanges. After the agreement was signed, resulting in a change of the commission's name from “U.S. Educational Commission in Japan” to “Japan-U.S. Educational Commission,” the Japanese agreed that for practical—honne—purposes, “Fulbright Program” in paranthesis could be used after the name of the commission since it was widely recognized in Japan. In this way, both the tatemae and honne of the situation have been served.

2. Included among the alumni are approximately 1000 Japanese who received scholarships between 1949 and 1951 under the occupation. These scholarships are referred to as GARIOA (Government Aid and Relief in Occupied Areas) grants. With the signing of the Japanese-U.S. Peace Treaty in 1951, the agreement establishing the Fulbright program was signed on 26 August 1951, superseding the GARIOA grants. The Japanese public identifies these two programs as essentially the same although GARIOAns take pride in being the first to go to the United States.

3. Had the anniversary occurred five or ten years later, many of these leaders in various sectors would have retired from their leadership roles, losing access to the staff support that they were able to utilize for the fund-raising campaign. As alumni have become younger, their perception of the Fulbright grant has changed, reflecting the political and economic changes in Japan and the political and economic differences between Japan and the United States. The younger alumni perceive the grant as the most prestigious among grants now available, and the economic benefits, while appreciated, are not as crucial as they were to the grantees of the 1950s and 1960s.

4. This strong ongaeshi feeling resulted in what alumni called the Sentimental Journey to the United States, in 1984, when approximately 100 alumni and their families traveled to Washington, D.C., to express their appreciation to the U.S. government for the generosity bestowed on them as citizens of a defeated nation. They visited the White House and the Capitol, held a discussion with Senator Fulbright, then dispersed to the universities that they had attended as Fulbrighters.