JCIE is excited to announce that we are now accepting applications for our 2025 US Congressional Staff Exchange Program! The program will take a bipartisan group of Congressional staffers to participate in a one-week study tour in Japan on May 24-31, 2025, and will take place as JCIE USA celebrates its 50th anniversary as an organization dedicated to US-Japan relations.
JCIE has been running this program since 1982 to provide our participants with opportunities to strengthen their ties to Japan and deepen their understanding of US-Japan diplomacy. In addition to Tokyo, this year’s participants will have a chance to visit Osaka in the Kansai region. An innovative commercial center and the host of Expo 2025, Osaka was featured in The New York Times’ list of 52 places to go this year.
During the trip, participants will meet with legislators, policymakers, and leading experts from academia, media, civil society, and the private sector to learn more about political, economic, and social trends in Japan, and exchange views on bilateral, regional and global challenges impacting the US-Japan partnership. The program is open to staff in both the House and the Senate. It is geared towards staff who are interested in foreign policy or Asia policy issues and dedicated to a career in public service. The annual program has become the longest-running Congressional staff exchange program with over 230 alumni to date. (Learn more about our past exchanges.)
JCIE acts as a private travel sponsor of this program. We will pay for the participants’ round-trip economy-class airfare (US-Japan), accommodations, meals, and other travel expenses while participants are in Japan. This year’s program is made possible by a generous grant from the Japan-United States Friendship Commission, a US federal agency.
If you are interested in participating in the program, please download our short application form and submit a completed copy to Kevin Bayes at [email protected] (cc: [email protected]) by February 28, 2025.
