The ATJ office received more than ten dozen applications from all over the US for the 30 Bridging Scholarships that will be awarded to students studying abroad in Japan beginning in Spring 2005. The 12-member selection committee will announce the results of the competition at the end of November, and the 30 new scholarships will bring the total awarded since the Bridging Project began its work to more than 500.

Funders of the scholarships, through contributions to the US-Japan Bridging Foundation, include Boeing Japan, Citigroup, CHS, Coca Cola Japan, The Freeman Foundation, Lockheed Martin, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, PricewaterhouseCoopers & Chuo-Aoyama Audit Corp., Shinsei Bank, Francis & Sarah M. Sogi, The Starr Foundation, Tohmatsu & Co., Universal Studios, and Weyerhaeuser. ATJ is grateful to these funders, to the Bridging Foundation, and to the Japan-US Friendship Commission, whose generous funding makes this project possible.

Thanks to the Bridging Scholarships and other such programs, the number of American students studying abroad in Japan has increased by more than 30 percent since the Bridging Project began its work in 1999.

Please continue to encourage your students to study in Japan, and to apply for Bridging Scholarships. The next competition, for Fall 2005 scholarships, will open in January; the deadline for applications is April 5, 2005.