In Aug. 2019, Bobby Chesney (from Strauss Center at the University of Texas at Austin) and Max Smeets (from ETH Zurich and also Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC)) convened a workshop in Amsterdam focusing on military operations in the cyber domain, from a transatlantic perspective. The “Transatlantic Dialogue on Military Cyber Operations—Amsterdam” gathered experts from military, civilian, and academic institutions hailing from a range of countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Estonia, and France.

Read the Rest at Lawfare Blog

Using a dynamic microsimulation model, a research team, including APARC Deputy Director and Asia Health Policy Program Director Karen Eggleston, shows that there are differentially positive health gains of smoking reduction among subgroups of smokers in South Korea, Singapore, and the United States.

Tobacco use is responsible for the death of approximately eight million people worldwide, estimates the World Health Organization, and countries are increasingly making tobacco control a priority. Indeed the relationship between smoking and the burden of chronic diseases such as cancer, lung disease, and heart disease, and, in turn, premature mortality, is well documented. Yet little is known about the health effects of smoking interventions among subgroups of smokers.

Do interventions targeted at heavy smokers relative to light smokers lead to disproportionately larger improvements in life expectancy and prevalence of chronic diseases? And how do these effects vary across populations? In today’s rapidly aging world, it is crucial to understand the potential health gains resulting from interventions to reduce smoking, a leading preventable risk factor for healthy aging.

That’s why a research team, including APARC Deputy Director and Asia Health Policy Program Director Karen Eggleston as well as Stanford Health Policy faculty member Jay Bhattacharya, set out to examine the health effects of smoking reduction. To do so, the team simulated an elimination of smoking among subgroups of smokers in South Korea, Singapore, and the United States.

[To receive more stories like this directly to your inbox subscribe to our newsletters.]

The team’s findings, discussed in a new paper published by the journal Health Economics, show that smoking reduction can achieve significant improvements in lifetime health as measured by survival while also reducing the prevalence of major chronic diseases, though the effects are heterogeneous. Whereas interventions in both subgroups and in all three countries led to an increased life expectancy and decreased prevalence of chronic diseases, the life-extension benefits were greatest – 2.5 to 3.7 years – for those who would otherwise have been heavy smokers, compared with gains of 0.2 to 1.5 years among light smokers.

The team developed a dynamic microsimulation model to estimate the health gains of reducing smoking among heavy smokers and light smokers. Microsimulation models are powerful tools for assessing the value of health promotion: they model individual health trajectories while accounting for competing risks, thus providing valuable information about the impact of interventions and how they may interact with the changing demographics and socioeconomic profile of a population to determine future health. The team’s study applied microsimulation models tailored to the demographic and epidemiological context in the three countries, then compared the gains in survival and reduction in chronic disease prevalence from a given reduction in smoking and how these impacts vary depending on initial smoking intensity.

The team’s findings indicate that there are differentially positive health effects from smoking reduction. The life‐year gain among heavy smokers quitting well exceeds that of light smokers quitting in each country, but the magnitudes differ substantially: 11.2 times for South Korea, 6.8 times for Singapore, and 1.7 times for the United States. The lower life expectancy among Americans is related to the greater extent in which they suffer from risk factors, such as obesity, relative to the Asian counterparts in the study.

The findings illustrate how smoking interventions may have significant economic and social benefits, especially for life extension, that vary across countries. They are particularly important for aging societies that are concerned about the sustainability of their health insurance systems in the face of increasing burden of chronic disease.

The Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award recognizes exceptional teachers who further mutual understanding between Americans and Japanese. EngageAsia administers the Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award, which is funded by the United States-Japan Foundation. The 2019 Award focused on the humanities and the 2020 Award will focus on Japanese language. It is named in honor of Elgin Heinz for his commitment to educating students about Asia as well as for the inspiration he has provided to the field of pre-collegiate education.

“Waka walks in the footsteps of Elgin Heinz as a key leader in educating the next generation about the U.S.–Japan relationship,” stated David Janes, Chair of the Board, EngageAsia. Heinz was born in China in 1913 and taught in the San Francisco Unified School District for 40 years. Challenging Americans’ lack of knowledge about Asia was central to Elgin’s life’s work. Janes has overseen the Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award since its inception in 2001. Daniel Tani, Director of Foundation Grants at the U.S.-Japan Foundation, and Janes formally presented the award to Brown.

In addition to teaching Stanford e-Japan for the last five years, Brown previously served as instructor for SPICE’s Reischauer Scholars Program (RSP). The RSP is an online course that introduces Japanese society and culture and U.S.–Japan relations to high school students in the United States. Current RSP Instructor and Manager Naomi Funahashi is a 2017 Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award recipient.

Waka Brown, Professor Daniel Okimoto, and Miles Brown (husband of Waka)

Prior to joining SPICE, Brown taught Japanese language at Silver Creek High School in San Jose and served as a Coordinator for International Relations (CIR) on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. Brown obtained both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford University.

In her acceptance speech, Waka noted: “As a Japanese American growing up in Kansas in the 1970s and 80s, and then as a Japanese American woman working in Japan, I’ve felt the need and immediacy for fostering cross-cultural understanding for my entire life. I feel extremely fortunate that I am able to work toward this goal through my professional work. My students and their knowledge and passion humble me. I am constantly in awe of them and their accomplishments. It is a true honor to receive the Elgin Heinz Award, and I am grateful for the opportunity to use these funds to foster connections between the future leaders in U.S.–Japan relations.”

Through Stanford e-Japan, Brown has engaged Japanese high school students from throughout Japan in an intensive study of U.S. society and culture. Since its first session in 2015, over 200 Japanese students have successfully completed the course. Some of her students have matriculated to universities in the United States.

In a very meaningful moment of the ceremony, Ryoga Umezawa, one of Brown’s former Stanford e-Japan students and now a university student at the Minerva Schools at KGI in San Francisco, expressed his gratitude to Brown, noting that the online format of Stanford e-Japan eased his transition to the online format of his university studies and also noted that the knowledge he gained from Stanford e-Japan has been invaluable to his transition to life in the United States.

The ceremony ended with a duet by Norman Masuda, an inaugural recipient of the Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award in 2002 (Japanese language category), and Irene Nakasone, instructor of kutu (Okinawan koto). Nakasone played the kutu and Masuda, the sanshin (Okinawan shamisen). They performed “Akanma Bushi” (red horse folk song), which was symbolic to the occasion as it is a congratulatory classical piece from the Yaeyama Islands, Okinawa Prefecture.

Irene Nakasone and Norman Masuda play a duet at the 2019 Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award ceremony.

For more information on the Stanford e-Japan Program, visit stanfordejapan.org. The Spring 2020 application period is open now until January 8, 2020. To be notified when the next Stanford e-Japan application period opens, join our email list or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

• Stanford e-Japan: My Window to the Wider World
• The Yanai Tadashi Foundation and Stanford e-Japan: Cultivating Future Leaders in Japan
• Honoring High School Students from Japan and the United States: A Glow for Global Peace
• SPICE’s Waka Takahashi Brown Receives 2019 Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award

Stanford e-Tottori is a distance-learning course sponsored by the Tottori Prefectural Board of Education and the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) at Stanford University. Tottori Governor Shinji Hirai and Superintendent Hitoshi Yamamoto of the Tottori Prefectural Board of Education were instrumental in its establishment. Offered for the first time in 2016, Stanford e-Tottori presents a creative and innovative approach to teaching Japanese high school students about U.S. society and culture. Stanford e-Tottori Instructor Jonas Edman recently wrote these reflections on his work with students in Tottori.

While visiting Tottori Prefecture during the summer, I came to realize that Tottori, which once seemed like a distant and isolated place in my mind, has become a central part of my life’s neighborhood. In early August, I attended the closing ceremony for the third-year course offering of Stanford e-Tottori. On the same day, I attended the opening ceremony for the fourth-year course offering of Stanford e-Tottori. During the ceremonies, student representatives from several high schools in Tottori—Seishokaichi High School, Tottori Nishi High School, and Yonago Higashi High School—offered very meaningful messages. While listening to them, I felt so fortunate to be living in a time when technology affords me the opportunity to work in real time with students on the other side of the Pacific.

We are now in the midst of the fourth-year course offering, and I am already noticing significant growth in the English abilities and critical thinking skills of my 30 students. We have discussed topics ranging from studying at universities in the United States to the popularity of Japanese manga (comics or graphic novels) in the United States. My colleagues Rylan Sekiguchi and Naomi Funahashi led a very engaging discussion on studying at universities in the United States, and my students shared thoughts on what they perceive to be similarities and differences in studying at universities in Japan. The discussion of manga led to feelings of pride among my students, having come to realize the prevalence of Japanese manga in the United States. Tottori is very famous for its manga artists.

Whenever I work with my students in online classes from Stanford on topics like manga, I feel like I have been transported back to Tottori as I see the 30 familiar faces of students whom I first met in Tottori. This inevitably prompts me to reflect upon several key observations that I have made during my several visits to Tottori. First, while traveling in Tottori, one can almost feel that Tottori is the least populated prefecture in Japan. Perhaps correlated with this fact is how I have always been struck by the attention the students receive from their teachers. This infectious dedication to educating the next generation of leaders has had a ripple effect across the Pacific to us at SPICE and my guest speakers for Stanford e-Tottori. For example, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Takeshi Homma, who hails from Tottori, puts his heart and soul into his talk on “Entrepreneurship and Silicon Valley” each year. Second, Tottori is known for its nature and agriculture, and the importance of preserving the environment seems foremost on people’s minds. This is a global mindset that I wish others in the United States and Japan would share. Our online class on the environment has always prompted spirited discussions. Third, since I spent 16 years of my youth in Tokyo, I cannot help but notice the slower pace of life in Tottori. Magically, the slower pace helps me to take notice of each valuable moment that I spend with my students not only in person but virtually as well. Topics like aging and population decline are ones that have drawn interest and critical attention not only in Tottori but across Japan.

• Inaugural Stanford e-Tottori Day
• Honoring Stanford e-Tottori students
• From Sand Dunes to Detective Conan

This fall, the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) began its ninth offering of Stanford e-Japan, an online course that introduces U.S. society and culture and U.S.–Japan relations to high school students in Japan. Stanford e-Japan is made possible through the support of the Yanai Tadashi Foundation, Tokyo. The fall 2019 Stanford e-Japan online course has continued the tradition of enrolling students from various parts of Japan; engaging students with leading American and Japanese academics, entrepreneurs, and community leaders as guest speakers; and encouraging students to study in the United States.

The 28 students of the fall 2019 cohort were selected from among a competitive group of applicants from throughout Japan. The selected students represent the prefectures of Chiba, Ehime, Gunma, Hiroshima, Hyogo, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Kyoto, Mie, Miyagi, Nara, Okayama, Saitama, and Tokyo. Stanford e-Japan Instructors Meiko Kotani and Waka Brown have noted that their students not only continue to learn important content and perspectives from the guest speakers but also important perspectives from their fellow students. Brown recalled, “…last year, I was particularly struck by the impact a student from Okinawa had on the other students in his cohort as he shared insights on the U.S. military presence in Okinawa from his personal experiences.”

The fall 2019 course recently featured guest speaker Suzanne Basalla, who has become a regular speaker for Stanford e-Japan. Basalla is Chief of Staff at the Toyota Research Institute in Silicon Valley and a former officer (Lieutenant Commander) of the U.S. Navy. Following her naval career, Basalla served as Director for Japan in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and as Senior Advisor to U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos, serving at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo from 2010 to 2012. During her talk with the students, she touched upon her work with security-, economic-, political-, and cultural-related issues in the U.S.–Japan relationship and also offered keen insights into her current work as a leading entrepreneur in Silicon Valley.

Speakers like Basalla as well as Instructors Brown and Kotani have been encouraging Japanese students to consider studying in the United States. Many Stanford e-Japan alumni have enrolled in summer programs in the United States, spent a year studying abroad in the United States, and several have enrolled in four-year colleges in the United States. Among the latter are Jun Yamasaki (Fall 2017 Stanford e-Japan cohort) and Hanako “Hannah” Tauchi (Spring 2017 Stanford e-Japan cohort), who are recipients of Yanai Tadashi Foundation Scholarships. The following is noted on the scholarship’s website.

[The] Yanai Tadashi Foundation Scholarship aims to provide promising young people with leadership potential the opportunity to study at world-class universities in the United States. The scholarship enables recipients to mix with an internationally diverse student body to cultivate their entrepreneurial skills and enhance their global perspective, encouraging their development as future drivers of a better society.

Yamasaki, a freshman at Northwestern University, and Tauchi, a freshman at the University of California, San Diego, recently commented on how Stanford e-Japan helped them as high school students to prepare for undergraduate studies in the United States. Their comments follow.

Yamasaki: As an institution, Northwestern places a great emphasis on interdisciplinary studies and learning—a characteristic that is apparent in both its research and the academic interests and aspirations of its students. The structure of the Stanford e-Japan program itself encouraged me to examine the U.S.–Japan relationship through multiple perspectives, ranging from sports to entrepreneurship. In addition to furthering my understanding of the dynamics of the U.S.–Japan relationship, Stanford e-Japan helped me identify the intersection between my past interests and the potential future needs and topics pertaining to the U.S.–Japan relationship, and construct my future goals accordingly. This in turn has allowed me to better plan out how I can take full advantage of Northwestern’s unique characteristics and offerings, which I am extremely thankful for. 

Tauchi: The Stanford e-Japan Program was an amazing opportunity for me both to consider undergraduate studies in the U.S. as a realistic option and to improve my English skills overall. As a student who was schooled in Japanese for my entire life, the course—lectures, reading assignments, discussions, and essays—was at first quite challenging, but looking back the half a year I worked on the program, I would definitely say that the program is one of the most important experiences that I had during my high school life. Offered by one of the most renowned colleges in the world, I could feel and imagine how college life in the U.S. would be like. Of course, the contents of the course—things that students do not normally learn in Japanese high school—were all interesting and motivated me to learn more about the U.S.–Japan relationship and beyond. 

Kotani and Brown hope that Stanford e-Japan alumni like Yamasaki and Tauchi will continue to play roles in U.S.–Japan relations beyond their college years. Kotani recently shared that “the Stanford e-Japan guest speakers like Suzanne Basalla, with such fascinating careers, are such excellent role models for the students. My hope is that many alumni of Stanford e-Japan will consider working for businesses in places like Silicon Valley and other organizations in Japan and the United States that focus on the U.S.–Japan relationship.” Brown, who will be recognized with the Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award at a ceremony at Stanford University on December 5, 2019, has noted that, “I feel so honored to be recognized with the 2019 Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award for my work as the Instructor of Stanford e-Japan and am especially looking forward to seeing one of my former Stanford e-Japan students, Ryoga Umezawa, who is studying at the Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute in San Francisco.”

Image

To stay informed of SPICE-related news, join our email list and follow SPICE on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

• Honoring High School Students from Japan and the United States: A Glow for Global Peace
• SPICE’s Waka Takahashi Brown Receives 2019 Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award
• Yanai Tadashi Foundation and SPICE/Stanford University