Please check out my fall 2012 course blog, SoCal Nancy Snow. I will update this blog more often than this website.
Also, I invite you to friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
Here is a recent op-ed, Lose the Moderator, I wrote for The New York Times.
I published an essay in the August 17th, 2012 edition of Metropolis, the largest English-language magazine in Japan.
For my second Fulbright fellowship, this time at Sophia University in Tokyo, I created a course website for my two undergraduate courses in American Foreign Policy & Politics and American Culture. It's called Tokyo Nancy Snow. I received over 400 comments from my Sophia students, with a few outsiders who also posted responses.
In May 2012 I spoke at two Japanese universities, Nanzan and Kanazawa, on the subject of "The Lady Gaga Effect: Celebrity Diplomacy and the Japan Recovery." These talks were at the invitation of the US Embassy in Tokyo. In June I gave the same talk at Jin-Ai University, located in Fukui Prefecture. The city of Fukui is a sister city to Fullerton, California, which led to an invitation to have a sit-down conversation and exchange of gifts with the mayor. (He received a signed copy of my Japanese language translated book, Propaganda, Inc.) I later had the opportunity to give public lectures in my specialty areas of propaganda and public diplomacy at Waseda and Rikkyo universities. It was a thrill to engage with colleagues across the Pacific.
In March 2010 I participated in a U.S. State Department trip on the subject of the Obama Administration's new public diplomacy and foreign policy. That trip took me to all the American Culture centers throughout Japan.
I absolutely love Japan and the Japanese people. For my American friends, if you have never visited, make sure that you try to visit Japan. It is not only one of the most important political allies to the United States, but also it is so rich culturally and spiritually. While there is no strong presence of organized religion, one does feel the Yamato-damashii (old soul) of the people. All you have to do is watch an old Yasujirō Ozu film to know what I mean.
In the post-3/11 era, anyone who visits Japan will feel a sense of gratitude. I felt lucky every day to have an opportunity to interact with the Japanese.
I'm very grateful to the Japan Fulbright Commission for this opportunity to serve as an unofficial cultural ambassador of the United States of America. I'm a strong believer in the power of educational and cultural exchange in service to binational and global citizen interests. I salute the US Government's TOMODACHI public-private partnership to strengthen and renew ties between Japan and the US in the aftermath and recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake of 3/11.
