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The Speech by Consul General Kiyokazu OTA at Honoring the Decoration of Mr. Samuel Shepherd(Jan.21, 2011)
Good evening Mr. Samuel Shepherd, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
My wife and I would like to offer our hearty congratulations to Mr. Samuel Shepherd and your family on your decoration of the Order of the Rising Sun Gold Rays with Rosette.
It honors not only Mr. Shepherd’s contributions to internationalization of education in Japan, but also his strengthening of relations between Japan and the United States through educational exchanges. I am pleased to have the opportunity to bestow the decoration on you here in Seattle where you began your professional life as a facilitator of international exchange in 1977. Now I would like to briefly go over the amazing life and career of the man we are gathered to honor today.
Part I: A Model Fulbright Alumnus
Mr. Sam Shepherd was born in Oklahoma on August 8th 1945, just 45 minutes before the drop of the atomic bomb in Nagasaki. A few weeks after that, Senator William Fulbright introduced his bill to the US Congress promoting international academic and educational exchange. Senator Fulbright was convinced that educational exchange should be the vehicle to promote peace and understanding. The bill passed and the Fulbright program was started in 1946. Today, the program is active in over 155 countries and 300,000 Fulbrighters have participated in the program, including Mr. Shepherd. He was on the program from 1973 to 75 near Yokohama, Japan and worked in English education there. From 1994 to 2004 he served as the Executive Director of the Japan-US Educational Commission, the secretariat for the Fulbright program between Japan and the United States.
Part II: A Man of Two Cultures
The son of US missionaries, Mr. Shepherd lived in Japan from the ages 2-18 in Tachikawa, Tokyo, Sapporo, Hokaido, and Okinawa. He attended and graduated from Japanese primary and secondary schools, mastering Japanese language and gaining comprehensive insight into Japanese culture and lifestyle. He studied in universities in California and Hawaii, majoring in history and Asian Studies. At the Osaka World Expo in 1970, Mr. Shepherd volunteered in the US pavilion where a rock from the Moon was being displayed to an excited Japanese public. 1971 to 73 he spent in South Korea with the U.S. Peace Corps. These were perhaps among the most rewarding years for him because it was there that he met and married his wife, who was a fellow Peace Corps member. From 1977, Mr. Shepherd worked for 16 years in Seattle aiding the development of the American Cultural Exchange, today called Associates of Cultural Exchange.
Part III: Mr. Shepherd’s Lifetime of Accomplishments
Mr. Shepherd’s great contributions to educational exchange are undeniable: firstly through the Fulbright Program and encouraging international academic exchange. Second, his role in Japanese education reform, for which he was recognized in 2004 when he was presented the Commendation of Merit by the Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Technology. Thirdly, his various efforts have resulted in increased people-to-people relations between our two countries. Mr. Shepherd was and is now a member of the board of Japan-America Society of the State of Washington and he served as the president of the 36-member National Association of Japan-America Societies from 2004-2009.
In closing, the words of former Senator Fulbright seem especially appropriate to describe the recurring theme in the activities and accomplishments that characterize the life of Mr. Sam Shepherd:
“Educational exchange can turn
nations into people, contributing
as no other form of communication can
to the humanizing of international relations”