Overview

Since 1987, the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program has recruited thousands of young college graduates from more than sixty countries, including the United States, to work in Japan for up to five years. Now, thirty years after the program’s founding, there are more than 60,000 JET Program alumni worldwide, more than half of them hailing from the United States. The JET Program and the US–Japan Relationship: Goodwill Goldmine argues that JET functions as much more than an opportunity for young people to spend a year or more teaching in Japanese schools or working in municipal offices across the Japanese archipelago. This study examines the JET program as a form of public diplomacy and soft power. Through original survey data and extensive interviews with alumni, the author provides a quantitative analysis of the program’s effects and argues that it has been highly useful in shaping interactions between Japan and the United States.

Full Product Details

9781498526050

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Reviews

Thoroughly researched and beautifully written, Emily T. Metzgar's study of the JET program presents an impressive analysis of public diplomacy's diverse benefits. Exchange programs tend to be undervalued, but Metzgar sets the record straight. This is essential reading for those interested in the ways that educational exchanges can advance diplomatic interests. -- Philip Seib, University of Southern California This study is an excellent and timely contribution to the literature on soft power and the US-Japan bilateral relationship. Emily T. Metzgar writes with clarity and knowledge gained from personal experience as an American teacher in Japan and from careful, long-term study of how the world's largest teaching exchange program fosters public diplomacy. On the thirtieth anniversary of the JET Program, this book offers a fitting tribute to the potential of cultural exchange to open hearts and minds. -- David McConnell, College of Wooster

Author Information

Emily T. Metzgar is associate professor in The Media School at Indiana University.

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