The Fulbright Program, a renowned international exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government, started in 1946 in response to Senator J. William Fulbright’s call for the “promotion of international good will through the exchange of students in the fields of education, culture, and science.”  As the former archenemy, Japan was not included in this program initially.  In 1949, the first group of Japanese students were sent to the U.S. as recipients of Government Appropriation Relief In Occupied Areas (GARIOA) scholarships, which continued for a few years until the Fulbright Program was extended to the Japanese and started a bilateral academic exchange in 1952.

GARIOA recipients and early Fulbright students from Japan were ambitious, brave youths who wanted to pursue higher education in the country that had defeated Japan and might still hold deep hostility.  What were their motives and expectations?  What did they see and experience?  How did their study in the U.S. change their life?  As John Dower described in Embracing Defeat, the Japanese responses to postwar encounters with the Americans and U.S. democracy were mixed with fear, hope and disappointment. This paper examines cases of a few individuals who had a strong belief in and hope for the U.S. and grabbed a rare opportunity.

As a vice-president of the Nagoya Fulbright Association, a local alumni chapter in central Japan, I see an urgent need for interviewing senior members.  (Several passed away in the last few years.)  While media pays much attention to the Japanese Fulbrighters with outstanding accomplishments such as Nobel laureates, others get little attention.  My project started last year with one successful interview, to be followed by 2-5 more.  Based on personal narratives, the project aims at shedding light on an important aspect of Japan-U.S. relations.