This year marks the 80th anniversary of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), the Department of State’s premier professional exchange initiative for emerging leaders. The short-term visits foster mutual understanding and develop cultural and professional connections.
The program has over 225,000 alumni worldwide, including more than 3,800 Japanese alumni such as Nobel Laureate Kenzaburo Oe; former prime ministers Naoto Kan, Yukio Hatoyama, Toshiki Kaifu, and Morihiro Hosokawa; novelist Haruki Murakami; Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike; and Showa Women’s University Chancellor Mariko Bando.
In recent years, Japanese participants have visited the U.S. on a wide variety of IVLP programs, including Advancing the Culture of Safety and Risk Management, The Digital-Economy-Transformative Technology for the Social Good, and Innovative and Collaborative English Language Teaching Instruction.