School Visit Program
2023/10/24
The Consulate General of Japan San Francisco offers a School Visit Program that sends Consulate staff to give presentations at local schools in order to promote a better understanding of Japan among young people in the area. This program is offered free of charge to teachers of Japanese language and social studies classes in grades K-12 at schools located within the immediate San Francisco Bay Area. Presentations at local colleges and universities may be arranged upon special request.
Program Objectives
By having staff and consuls visit local schools, the Consulate aims to foster a greater understanding of Japan, Japan’s place in the world, and Japan-US relations. It is our hope that through these school visits, your students will be inspired to continue their learning outside of the classroom and expand their outlook on the world.
How to Apply
If you are interested in this program, please fill in the request form
and send it to The Japan Information & Cultural Center at japaninfo@sr.mofa.go.jp. Our staff will work with you to tailor the presentation and activities to your class's needs where possible. For further details on the School Visit Program and its conditions, please see FAQ.
Contact us
For more information on the School Visit Program, please contact The Japan Information & Cultural Center.
TEL: 415-780-6085
Email: education@sr.mofa.go.jp
School Visit Archive
For information and pictures from the Consulate's previous school visits, please see School Visit Archive.
School Visit Program FAQ
1. How much notice do you need?
We request that teachers give us at least one month advance notice so that we can adequately prepare our presentation materials and balance our school visit commitments with other consulate activities. If we cannot come on your requested date, we will do our best to arrange a mutually convenient date.
2. Are there any restrictions to what you can do?
Yes – at this time our school visit program is mainly to schools that are located within the immediate San Francisco Bay Area (within about 50 miles or 1 hour’s drive from the Consulate). If your school is located outside of the immediate Bay Area but you still wish to have our staff visit your school, please let us know and we will try our best to accommodate your request.
Due to our hours of operation, we request that all school visit sessions begin no earlier than 10:00am and finish no later than 4:00pm.
3. How long are your presentations?
Our presentations typically last approximately one hour.
4. Can I have you visit multiple classes?
We are happy to make presentations to a maximum of two classes in one day as long as the presentations are similar in content and the class level is the same. Such arrangements must be made beforehand.
5. What kind of topics can you present on?/ What kind of activities can you lead?
Topics can be customized to your classroom needs – for younger students, our presentations are mainly activities-based (Japanese games, kamishibai, basic traditional crafts such as origami etc.), but for older students, we shift to a lecture-based format and can cover such topics as Japanese culture, Japanese school life, history, Japan-U.S. relations with power point presentations, video and Q & A.
To supplement and enhance the experience of our presentations, we have a variety of materials that we can bring from our office including; brochures of various prefectures, maps, travel posters, origami paper, traditional Japanese toys, kamishibai storyboards, randoseru (school backpacks) etc. If you have a particular activity in mind, please let us know and we will try our best to accommodate your request.
6. Is there a limit to the number of students you can accommodate?
Depending upon the type of presentation, we may ask you to limit the number of students.
7. Is this program just for teachers of Japanese?
We are happy to entertain requests from teachers of other subjects teaching about Japan in their curriculum. The majority of our school visits focus on elementary, middle, and high school classes, but presentations to local colleges and universities can be arranged upon special request.
8. Which staff members will come to visit us?
It depends on the type of classroom presentation requested. Usually our presenters will work as a team of two consisting of a member of our local staff paired with a member of our Japanese staff.
9. Can we come and visit the Consulate?
School groups are welcome to visit the Japan Information & Cultural Center at the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco, subject to staff availability. The Consulate is located at 275 Battery St, Suite 2100, San Francisco, CA 94111. For details about how to find us, please click here.
We request that teachers give us at least one month advance notice so that we can adequately prepare our presentation materials and balance our school visit commitments with other consulate activities. If we cannot come on your requested date, we will do our best to arrange a mutually convenient date.
2. Are there any restrictions to what you can do?
Yes – at this time our school visit program is mainly to schools that are located within the immediate San Francisco Bay Area (within about 50 miles or 1 hour’s drive from the Consulate). If your school is located outside of the immediate Bay Area but you still wish to have our staff visit your school, please let us know and we will try our best to accommodate your request.
Due to our hours of operation, we request that all school visit sessions begin no earlier than 10:00am and finish no later than 4:00pm.
3. How long are your presentations?
Our presentations typically last approximately one hour.
4. Can I have you visit multiple classes?
We are happy to make presentations to a maximum of two classes in one day as long as the presentations are similar in content and the class level is the same. Such arrangements must be made beforehand.
5. What kind of topics can you present on?/ What kind of activities can you lead?
Topics can be customized to your classroom needs – for younger students, our presentations are mainly activities-based (Japanese games, kamishibai, basic traditional crafts such as origami etc.), but for older students, we shift to a lecture-based format and can cover such topics as Japanese culture, Japanese school life, history, Japan-U.S. relations with power point presentations, video and Q & A.
To supplement and enhance the experience of our presentations, we have a variety of materials that we can bring from our office including; brochures of various prefectures, maps, travel posters, origami paper, traditional Japanese toys, kamishibai storyboards, randoseru (school backpacks) etc. If you have a particular activity in mind, please let us know and we will try our best to accommodate your request.
6. Is there a limit to the number of students you can accommodate?
Depending upon the type of presentation, we may ask you to limit the number of students.
7. Is this program just for teachers of Japanese?
We are happy to entertain requests from teachers of other subjects teaching about Japan in their curriculum. The majority of our school visits focus on elementary, middle, and high school classes, but presentations to local colleges and universities can be arranged upon special request.
8. Which staff members will come to visit us?
It depends on the type of classroom presentation requested. Usually our presenters will work as a team of two consisting of a member of our local staff paired with a member of our Japanese staff.
9. Can we come and visit the Consulate?
School groups are welcome to visit the Japan Information & Cultural Center at the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco, subject to staff availability. The Consulate is located at 275 Battery St, Suite 2100, San Francisco, CA 94111. For details about how to find us, please click here.