The UH Uehiro Academy hosts and participates in international exchanges among educators and researchers, with a dedicated focus to Japan-Hawai‘i connections. p4c Hawai‘i has hosted teachers, professors, and students from Austria to Kazakhstan. While the UH Uehiro Academy always welcomes visitors, we focus on three exchanges each year. Since 2008, the Uehiro Foundation on Ethics and Education in Tokyo has generously hosted p4c Hawai‘i teachers in Japan each summer to conduct workshops, demonstrate p4c lessons, and meet with teachers, university faculty, administrators, and government officials. In turn the UH Uehiro Academy welcomes visiting elementary and junior high school teachers from Japan each August. These visiting teachers demonstrate moral education lessons and learn about p4c Hawai‘i from teachers and UH faculty. Additionally, each spring we welcome interested university faculty and graduate students from Japan to learn about p4c Hawai‘i theory and practices. Each of these exchanges is made possible through the effort and guidance of Dr. Mitsuyo Toyoda and the generous support of the Uehiro Foundation.
Current Visiting Scholars
Dr. Tomoyuki Murase is a Research Scholar at the University of Hawai'i Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in Education. He has about 15 years of experience with p4c in schools in Japan. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Chiba University in Japan. He is currently trying to clarify the concept of wonder and teacher ability in p4c.
Yuya Koga is a visiting scholar at the UHM and a social studies teacher at Kaetsu Ariake Junior & Senior High School in Tokyo. He has been doing p4c inside and outside of school since 2011, published some papers, and participated in collaborative writing books about p4c. He has also made some contributions to social studies education in Japan, like reviewing a textbook or getting an interview with an international news network, CNA. He came to Hawai‘i during his 2024 sabbatical to experience the Academy's sustained and respectful support for teachers and to make existing connections among teachers more broad and accessible. And he has been having lots of fruitful interactions with members of the Academy, especially enjoying serving as TA for Dr. J.
