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Last month, I was fortunate to have been selected to join 70 business, government, and higher education professionals participating in a goodwill delegation to Japan in celebration of the inauguration of a . Headed by Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock, our group left Denver at 12:35 p.m. on June 10 onboard the famed (or is it infamous?) 787 Dreamliner and arrived at Narita International Airport a mere 10 hours and 52 minutes later.

While in Tokyo, the delegation had a tight three-day schedule including briefings from U.S. Embassy officials, a presentation from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Bid Committee, a Colorado-Japan Energy Forum, and a celebratory reception at the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence.

In addition, a delegation of representatives of StudyColorado, a consortium of the state’s institutions of higher education, held their own series of meetings aimed at learning how our state can better market itself overseas as a destination for study abroad and international students. I joined Larry Bell, Director of CU’s Office of International Education, in representing CU at those events. Through StudyColorado’s group, I participated in meetings with the Japanese Ministry of Education, Education USA, and the U.S. Embassy, and a reception for alumni from all colleges and universities in Colorado.

The following evening, Larry and I attended the annual meeting for the Tokyo chapter of the CU Alumni Association, which is run by Kazunori Takato (second row, far right in the photo below). Approximately 30 CU alumni gathered, including Akira Horie, who attended CU from 1952 to 1954 as a member of the first class of Fulbright Scholars from Japan (center of front row). Current student Nicole Crnich joined us as well. She is in Tokyo as an exchange student at Sophia University this year (holding CU banner in the back row).

During the remainder of my stay, Laurel Rodd (professor of Japanese and former CAS director) and I visited three of our exchange partner universities: Sophia and Waseda in Tokyo and new partner Doshisha University in Kyoto. At each school, we observed Japanese language courses and met with various university officials. We were impressed by the language instruction available to our students and I would encourage anyone studying Japanese to consider participating in an exchange program during your time at CU.

Now that the inaugural flight is behind us and we’ve all returned from the trip, the work is just beginning. Mayor Hancock and his staff are working to ensure that the direct flight is a success to fully realize the impact that closer connections to Tokyo (and by extension, all of Asia) can have, both economically and in terms of person-to-person exchange. So to our friends in Asia, please come visit CU and the Center for Asian Studies—it’s easier than ever before! And to everyone in Boulder and in Colorado, go to Asia! Keep in touch and let us know if the new direct flight makes a difference in your life (cas@colorado.edu).

By Danielle Rocheleau Salaz, CAS Assistant Director