12/19/2006 - Rekindling the AFS Flame Five Decades Later
It took nearly five decades to reunite the members of the first AFS exchange to Japan, but neither time nor age dulled the extraordinary memories they made during the summer of 1957.
It was a summer that shaped the course of American history and the lives of many people. With the rumblings of the Civil Rights movement starting in the South, the U.S. Surgeon General first connecting smoking with lung cancer, and the International Atomic Energy Committee being formed by the United Nations, 1957 would turn out to be a life-changing year in our nation’s history. However, for nine students from across the U.S., the events that unfolded during that summer would change everything.
Really experience life living with another family in another country was at the heart of Stephen Galatti’s speech to Elizabeth Rexford (U.S./Japan, 1957) and eight other American students. Galatti, one of the founding members of the American Field Service and AFS Intercultural Programs inspired the young students during a dinner in Los Angeles just before they departed on the first ever AFS study abroad program to Japan. The significance of being the first American students to study in Japan was something that all nine students took seriously.
With World War II a little over a decade behind the consciousness of most Americans, going to live in “enemy” territory as a high school student was certainly out of the ordinary. When, in 1957, AFS chose Elizabeth Titus (Rexford) to study in Japan, she was shocked. “I got a letter from AFS that said ‘You are going to Japan’ and I barely knew what Japan was in those days. Because I had about three years of French in high school, I had thought they would put me in France or at least in Europe somewhere,” said Elizabeth. “But then I started learning about Japan and I thought it might be fun,” she added. Joining Elizabeth would be Katherine Lowry (Truax), James Hauhart, Peter Bell, David Brudnoy, Joyce Bartschi (Wall), Arthur Lederman, and Peter Martin.
When AFS first began, most students traveled to their foreign exchange destination by boat. Elizabeth and the eight other Americans were no exception. Chaperoned by Dorothy “Dot” Fields (longtime AFS staff member and supporter as well as mother of Manning Field, WWII AFS Ambulance Driver) they spent two weeks from June 15-29, 1957 crossing the Pacific Ocean. They made a literal bridge of communication between a new generation of Americans and Japanese. The American students bonded on that boat, and learned as much about Japan as they could in two weeks, with the help of Professor Eichiro Nishizaki, a generous man who taught them Japanese. Arriving on the shores of Yokohama the AFSers were immediately overwhelmed with television cameras, reporters, and newspapers wanting to take their pictures and interview them. It seemed as if they had become celebrities overnight. “It was a big deal,” said Elizabeth. “The Asahi Evening News was a big paper and they sponsored a lot of our trip over there [including a one week train trip around Japan]. They covered everything,” she said.
AFS-Japan and consequently the first U.S.-to-Japan program was initiated in large part by Rye Watanabe (Japan/U.S., 1954) who, along with his fellow Japanese exchange students, was so taken with the “humbleness of American attitude in everyday life” and the “great deal of good will and support [received] from the Americans,” that they “had to find something in reciprocation. The conclusion was to try to make an AFS Summer Program possible to invite American kids to Japan to stay with Japanese families at least for several weeks in summer,” said Mr. Watanabe.
Mr. Watanabe and his colleagues succeeded and have since surpassed their goal of establishing an AFS presence in Japan. The nine American AFS students were brought over with the incredible support of the newly founded AFS-Japan office; however, on the world stage World War II was still very much in the forefront of international talk. “Japan was just recovering from World War II and [the Japanese] economy was beginning to become better,” said Elizabeth. “People used to ask me questions about the Atom Bomb because they were still thinking about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and they asked me to make comments on political things, but generally people were very nice to me and didn’t refer to the war,” she said.
But for the nine Americans living in Japan during the summer of 1957, the war was not an issue that directed their daily activities or interactions with people. Though their experiences while living with host families varied, from attending Sumo wrestling matches, to fishing with Cormorant birds on quaint boats with locals, to trying Sushi for the first time and wearing Kimonos and Yukatas (the cotton version of Kimonos), Japan left a wonderful and lasting impression on every one of their young lives. Each student, in turn, left a piece of themselves in Japan. “I was very sad when I got back home. I had just had such a wonderful time. Everything was so beautiful and everything was just so far away that I thought I’d never go back,” said Elizabeth.
Looking back on her experience in the “land of the rising sun” Elizabeth said “I learned that there are other ways of thinking about life and looking at the world. [The Japanese] aesthetic sense is heightened, from flower arranging, to the beauty of art objects, and even the way food is set on a plate. It’s something that I’ll always remember. It’s influenced me,” she said.
Just days before the U.S./Japan 1957 reunion in Connecticut, Elizabeth Rexford summed up the cornerstone of the AFS experience. The advice she has for AFS Exchange Students today is the same advice that has been provided to all students throughout more than a half-century of AFS Programs. “Be open to every experience possible. Don’t turn anything down, try to eat everything, try to go every place, and just try to get as much as you can out of [your program].” The nine students, who ventured to Japan in 1957, were both fearless and driven by excitement. Today, it is that same courage and enthusiasm that drives our students to become members of families and communities around the world as they move beyond tolerance to true understanding.
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