Hello MITA followers! A few ITED students attended this year's East Asia Practicum immersive learning trip to Toyko and Beijing to collect field research on their projects related to trade and economic relations in East Asia. Below is a post by ITED student Lucia Wittenberg on her experience...
"I landed in Tokyo right as the first cherry blossoms were blooming. You could feel in the crisp cold air that winter was in the process of yielding to spring. I made my way across town to the hotel Sardonyx in Hatchobori, Tokyo, where I was to stay for the next week with the rest of the 2018 East Asia Practicum class. Little did I know this was going to be one of the busiest spring breaks I will have ever had....
The East Asia Practicum is the immersive professional portion of the semester-long seminar on Foreign Policy, Trade, and Security in East Asia through the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. It is aimed at deepening the participating students’ understanding and appreciation of East Asia, with particular focus on China and Japan and their relations with each other and with other regional countries and the U.S. The course is a unique opportunity for students who are studying issues in East Asia and/or planning their professional careers in East Asia to gain valuable experience in the field. At the beginning of the semester each student chooses a topic of research focused regionally in East Asia, the topic choices are up to the individual (or group) student.
The attendees of this years' (2019) East Asia Practicum course were focused on a range of issues including security and North Korean, China-Japan relations, trade and investment, and development. Together we spent two weeks in Tokyo and Beijing meeting with esteemed academics, government officials, and high members of various organizations to listen to presentations on different aspects of Japanese and Chinese culture, politics, trade policies, security, and history and to conduct interviews with them as field data for our individual research projects. The itinerary for this years' course was as follows:
Tokyo, Japan
Day 1: Yasukuni Shrine and Yushukan Mueseum
Ginza, Akihabara, and Asakusa walk-about
Day 2: National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS) (Ichigaya); discussion with Prof. Shinji
Hyodo and NIDS researchers on security issues in Japan.
Japanese Parliament (National Diet); lecture by Mr. Masataka Suzuki on domestic
discourse on constitutional revision and Japan-US relations.
Ministry of Economics ,Trade, and Industry (METI); briefing on Japans trade policy by
Kazunari Morii (Deputy Director, Multilateral Trade System Department)
Day 3: Individual/small group interviews in the morning.
National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (Roppongi) lecture by Prof. Narishige
Michishita on Japanese national security and policy.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) lecture on Japan-Us trade and economic relations.
Day 4: Individual/small group interviews. Travel to Beijing.
Beijing, People's Republic of China
Day 1: University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) lectures by Jianguo Huo,
Ministry of Commerce on China's foreign economic policy & Professor Xinquan Tu on
China's new foreign trade policy initiatives in the Asia Pacific region.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) lecture by Tao Tang on China's foreign policy toward
multilateralism and regionalism (trade).
Day 2: University of Foreign Affairs talk by Prof Hao Lin and round table discussions with
scholars and diplomats from the East Asian Research Center on China's foreign
policy
toward Russian, Japanese, and Southeast Asian relations.
Asian Infrastructure Banks (AIIB); Dr. Ken Fang General Manager Investment
Operations lecture on the history of the bank, business framework, and
investments in current infrastructure projects.
Day 3:Peking University, School of International Studies; Prof Yuxiang Liang lecture on
China-Japan relations.
The Standford Center at Peking University Frank Hawke lecture on US business
interest in China. Renming University talk by Joseph Stieglitz
Day 4: Individual/small group interviews. Walking tour of Forbidden City. Travel home.
The diversity of perspectives between the people that we met with and heard from revealed a truer story of the relationships within East Asia than those found in textbooks or foreign articles and news. We heard from Japanese government officials about the sensitivities nature of Japans' relationship with China as well as the US; how the status quo of these relationships are heavily influenced by the past. Of the Chinese government officials we met with we heard a different story on China's relationship with Japan and how the focus was on maintaining cooperation both politically and economically. As my topic was focused on trade and foreign investments I was eager to hear from the trade experts and economists. Many who we met with talked in depth about the U.S-China trade war and the push for outward flowing and inward flowing foreign investments. During each lecture we were able to ask each speaker questions related to our topic of research. Some were answered outright, others received diplomatic deflections. In every case each of us were able to learn about what topics are openly discussed and which are not within the political and academic worlds within each culture.
Though our feet were covered in blisters by the end overall the East Asia Practicum immersive professional learning trip was an incredible eye-opening experience. The experience gave us practice in collecting field data, conducting professional interviews and cross-cultural networking. The East Asia Practicum course helps build students capacity for professional research and allows them the opportunity to understand issues in East Asia from an on-the-ground perspective. This is a truly unique experience offered by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies."
