Our Programs

Outreach

SJA at Tanabata festival

Festivals

SJA aims to host at least one larger festival per year with many booths and cultural performances. Our last ones in person were a Spring Festival in May 2022 and a Tanabata festival in July 2021. We also have booths at other festival such as Ekoji’s Obon Festival in Fairfax Station and anime conventions in the DC area.

smiling people at an SJA cultural event

Cultural Exchanges

SJA plans to host at least one in-person or online cultural event per season. Recent events have included an outdoor tea ceremony and an online ikebana demonstration.

SJA Volunteers at event

College Info Program

Since 2018, SJA has been hosting in-person and online information sessions for Japanese universities that are eager to recruit high school graduates from the USA. Special sessions have been conducted for Tsukuba University and International Christian University with booths at events that have had information and alumni or staff from Temple University Japan in Setagaya Tokyo, Nanzan University in Nagoya and Okayama University.

Education

Japanese Language

SJA volunteer teachers been conducting in-person and online classes in beginning Japanese for children and adults and Japanese for non-beginning adults (allowing high school students age 16 and over with parental permission) since Fall 2018.

SJA volunteers talking to young man at event

AP Japanese

Students may register for the AP Japanese test in May if they will be 15 years old by the testing date. SJA can provide referrals for tutors.

Making Origami cranes

Origami

SJA has been offering in-person and online origami classes since summer and Fall 2019 with free monthly origami classes having been offered online since Fall 2020.

Advocacy

SJA’s Japanese Language Advocacy Committee was established to support the significant increase of high school students in Japanese language courses in Arlington Public Schools (APS) since 2018, which has nearly tripled to over 150 students in 2022. We liaise with APS’ World Language Advisory Committee, the APS School board, other APS staff, other Japanese teaching professionals in the DC area, and other community members and stakeholders.

We would like to support APS students through Japanese 3 and consider options to expand it to Japanese 4 or AP Japanese, some middle schools and online at high schools that don’t offer it through Virtual Virginia. Japanese 1 and 2 should be available through Virtual Virginia from the 2023-24 school year with plans to offer more levels in the following years. APS requires a paraprofessional to assist if even one student is taking a Virtual Virginia class at a high school.

Mount Fuji and cherry blossom tree

Partnerships

paper cranes

Fold It! (Naoko)

DC-based Origami instructor and YouTuber, Naoko Kamioka, has become a formal partner of SJA’s in December 2021. She has been a guest instructor and assistant at SJA’s cultural events and festivals as well as online origami classes. Her mission is to bring the beauty and discipline of origami, the art of paper-folding which has become so developed in Japan, to children and youth who otherwise would have difficulty accessing such lessons or exposure to Japanese culture. She has done workshops for various groups in Arlington and DC that serve low-income, minority, refugee, homeless or immigrant children and youth.

Take a look at her YouTube channel if you would like to learn more.