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North Texas summit to continue 170-year connection between U.S., Japan
By Chris Beattie, cbeattie@starlocalnews.com
Dallas-Fort Worth area residents will soon do what they can to show Japan what it means to be Texan.
And prove friends can be friends forever -- or at least for 170 years.
The 2012 Japan-America Grassroots Summit begins Aug. 28 in Fort Worth and culminates Sept. 2 in Dallas. In between, a dozen other North Texas cities hope to showcase the Metroplex to more than 200 Japanese visitors through citywide tours and weekend home-stays.
The Japan-America Society of Dallas/Fort Worth (JASDFW), a 42-year chapter of an even longer global connection, in February announced the region's reception of the annual summit, which in 22 years has come to Texas one other time.
First held in 1991 in Kyoto, Japan, the Grassroots Summits alternate each year between American and Japanese locations, and continue to promote positive cultural and economic relations between the far-distanced nations. More than 35,000 participants, including hosts and volunteers, have facilitated the Summits, through which citizens from the United States or Japan travel overseas and experience the country foreign to them.
They are several generations removed from a special bond that formed June 27, 1841, when American whaler Capt. William H. Whitfield rescued a Japanese fisherman, 14-year-old Manjiro Nakahama, who'd shipwrecked near Japan.
Whitfield's ship was Nakahama's new home, and the following year he returned with Whitfield to Fairhaven, Mass., where he (then called "John Manjiro") became the first Japanese to get an education in America. Manjiro eventually returned to Japan and spread American ideals, then visited America one last time in 1870, as a delegate advancing an alliance between the two countries.
That alliance -- an ever-close union -- was passed on to their children, grandchildren and beyond.
"The friendship that began with one shipwrecked boy and one generous, gentle captain then continued from generation to generation, at first through letters and telegrams, then by telephone," said Bob Whitfield, a fifth-generation family member. "Letters and phone calls continue to this day."
But the strongest cultural connector is the annual Grassroots Summit, which sprouted from an organization now known as the John Manjiro Whitfield Commemorative Center for International Exchange (CIE). Some of the CIE's strongest "grassroots" are in North Texas.
Four McKinney families will host five Japanese guests Thursday, Aug. 30 through Sunday, Sept. 2, with three hosting a single guest and one hosting a father-daughter pair. Alongside Mayor Brian Loughmiller and McKinney City Council members, the host families will welcome the guests that Thursday at City Hall.
The following day, hosts will take their guests around McKinney's historic downtown: a visit to the Heard-Craig House, lunch at Rick's Chophouse, a tour of the McKinney Performing Arts Center, and some shopping on the Square.
"It's important that McKinney be represented in the contingency that makes up this Summit," said Tracy Rath, McKinney Community Development Corporation chair and the city's Summit coordinator. "Any time we have the opportunity to share our story with other cultures, we need to do that."
Remaining home-stay time -- all of Saturday -- is up to the families and their guests. Museums, historic tours and farmers markets are available, but the choice is theirs.
"When they get to McKinney, they'll have already been in D-FW for a few days," Rath said of the Japanese guests. "They want to know the people, family and individuals -- how they live."
Jacqueline Barnett, a longtime JAS member, is coordinating Plano's participation in the home-stay portion. As a former international business development executive, and host to more than 25 exchange students over the years, Barnett fit the bid.
She built up business in more than 30 countries, including Japan, in the 1990s while living in Albuquerque, N.M., and sometimes had three exchange students living with her at once. Such a multicultural career -- as an employee and mother -- convinced Barnett of the importance of programs like the Grassroots Summit.
"There's nothing that stretches your comfort zone like travel," she said. "You learn what matters, gain appreciation for different cultures and learn to communicate beyond language. I really believe it's the best education you can have."
Four married couples and nine single guests will stay at 13 different Plano homes, several of which belong to city employees. Other hosts are teachers, international committee members or well-traveled. "People hosting are not only interested in the guests they're having, but have a lot to bring to it," Barnett said.
Like in McKinney, the Plano host families will greet their Japanese guests Aug. 30 at City Hall, from which they can tour through the city's historic district on their way to a cookout dinner.
The next day, guests will bail hay, ride tractors and take on Texas farming at a farm north of Sam Rayburn Tollway; eat at Country Burger; teach origami to students at Centennial Elementary School, where 25 different languages are spoken; and attend a Friday night tailgate party and football game at Tom Kimbrough Stadium.
"This was used more as a business resource in Albuquerque," Barnett said of JAS. "Here in Dallas, it's very culturally focused, and it's an incredible resource for pulling Japan and America together."
Southlake, another Summit participant, will offer its guests similar outing options: shopping, a Southlake Carroll football game, and horseback riding. Its participation stems from a connection likely more cultural than that of other host cities.
Grant Ogata, the city's home-stay coordinator, was born in Japan and moved to the U.S. at age 11. Like the man through which JAS originated, he didn't speak English and got an education in American schools.
He returned to Japan in his 20s and spent six years facilitating business between the countries, using his bi-lingual and bi-cultural background, also like Manjiro.
"I decided to become Southlake's local coordinator of the Grassroots Summit since I can truly relate to the origin of the John Manjiro/Captain Whitfield friendship and believe in the benefits and the ideals of the grassroots friendship exchange," Ogata said.
At least some of Japan should get a feel for North Texas hospitality. Their time in the Lone Star state will last a few days -- more time for a forever kind of friendship.
"The friendship between these two men is unique in that it has continued for more than 170 years," said Hiroko Todoroki, secretary general for the CIE. "The purpose of the annual Grassroots Summit is to encourage new friendships between Japanese and Americans that will last a lifetime and beyond."
For more information about the 2012 Japan-America Grassroots Summit, visit www.northtexasgrassrootssummit.org.
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