The Iko-Project: A Japanese Project on Intercultural Understanding Education

What can a classroom experiment teach us about how and when we start shaping our ideas of ‘the other’? Can the results from such an experiment help us challenge the ideas and preconceptions that we have on our own as well as other cultures? In this episode, Tyra Orton speaks to Marie Roesgaard about an ongoing project that she is the participant of, titled; “Programme development for intercultural understanding education for the understanding and coexistence of ‘Iko’”. Born out of discussions from an open forum on how to enhance Japan’s foreign relations at a conference in Japan in 2013, the project has brought together scholars from Japan, China, Korea, and most recently Denmark in a collaboration on fostering intercultural understanding education. Hear Marie’s take on the lessons we can learn from the Iko-project and how it can contribute to intercultural understanding and coexistence across cultures. Marie Roesgaard is an associate professor of Japan studies at the University of Copenhagen. Her research focuses on the Japanese education system, especially topics relating to the reform, globalization, global citizenship, sustainable development goals and moral education. Tyra Orton is a Master's student of Japan Studies at the University of Copenhagen and a student assistant at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. The Nordic Asia Podcast is a collaboration sharing expertise on Asia across the Nordic region, brought to you by the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) based at the University of Copenhagen, along with our academic partners: the Centre for East Asian Studies at the University of Turku, and Asianettverket at the University of Oslo. We aim to produce timely, topical and well-edited discussions of new research and developments about Asia About NIAS: www.nias.ku.dk Transcripts of the Nordic Asia Podcasts: http://www.nias.ku.dk/nordic-asia-podcast