UH student selected for prestigious Japan-America student conference

University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa Shidler College of Business student Ken Covey was recently selected by a Washington, D.C. based non-profit organization to participate this coming summer in a cultural exchange between US and Japan under the Japan-America Student Conference (JASC) program.  JASC is the oldest student-run cultural exchange program between U.S. and Japan which began in 1934.  Some of its past participants were Japanese Prime Minister & Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa (JASC 1939, 1940) and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (JASC 1951).  JASH collaborates with UH’s Center for Japanese Studies (CJS) in nominating a candidate.  CJS provides the participation fee and JASH provides airfare through a generous grant from Mr. Allen Uyeda of the First Insurance Company of Hawaii.

Mr. Covey is majoring in International Business Administration, is fluent in Japanese and has a working knowledge of the Korean language.  Born in Japan, Mr. Covey came to Hawaiʻi when he was five.  Mr. Covey also spent a summer in Korea under the Freeman Korea Study Abroad Program.  Mr. Covey expressed a desire to promote common understanding among peoples of different cultures and backgrounds, using his personal experiences in Korea that showed the deep rift between Koreans and Japanese in how they view their respective histories. When informed of his selection, Mr. Covey was delighted that he could share his perspectives with other participants from the continental U.S. who may have very different experiences and backgrounds.  

Japan-America Student Conference is a non-profit organization that operates educational and cultural exchange programs for university students from the United States, Japan, and Korea. To learn more about these programs, visit its website at http://www.iscdc.org/ or at www.jashawaii.org under Opportunities.

University of Hawai‘i Alumni