A collaboration of Roger Williams University (RWU) and the Japan America Society of Rhode Island (JASRI), and several years in the making, the first Commodore Matthew Perry Global Initiative was held in July.

The program brought a cohort of graphic design students to Japan under the guidance of RWU professor Denielle Emans and Kimberlee Johnsen-Smith, Director of Strategic Partnerships with the Education department and a member of the JASRI board.

Emans’ professional focus is on international collaboration and creativity within the graphic design space, so the JASRI Global Initiative program was a perfect opportunity to share that with students. She and Johnsen-Smith began building this program in December of 2022. Initially conceived as an interdisciplinary collaboration, as it turned out, the program attracted a group of high-performing graphic design students, with 10 making the trip.

According to Emans it was a packed schedule that took the group from Tokyo to Yokosuka to Shimoda (Newport’s “sister city”), all cities with strong connections and established relationships with JASRI. In each city they met with community leaders and students, visited museums, and investigated aspects of graphic design like animation, wayfinding, bilingual messaging and interactive design.

Using design practices they were asked to share expressions of the relationship between Rhode Island and Japan, first through the creation of gifts (gift-giving has a strong cultural tradition in Japan, so the students arrived with tokens of appreciation to share with their hosts), and follow-up projects that the students will share with visitors at the Black Ships Festival’s Cultural Marketplace this Saturday at Independence Park. They were also asked to complete a documentation project.

“The power of these experiences, these peace-building connections, is more important than ever,” said Emans. “And graphic design challenges us to influence community positively and engage this wonderful moment that we are in.”

“The Japan America Society is proud to continue to build  bridges of friendship, culture and commerce between Rhode Island and Japan,” said Steve Aveson, Bristol resident, former Vice President of the JASRI board, and the newly installed honorary Consul General for Japan in Bristol, one of only two in New England.

“Opening doors in Japan for 10 students from Roger Williams this past July was a thrill for JASRI, and now those students will welcome their new friends from Japan to Bristol this weekend for the Black Ships Festival.”

Victory Day, observed in the state of Rhode Island (and only in Rhode Island) this past Monday, often opens conversations about the observance and its relevance given the strength of US-Japan relations today. Mistakenly referred to as “Victory over Japan Day,” Aveson advocates reframing Victory Day as a celebration of ending one kind of relationship and entering a new one: of friendship.

“It’s fitting that the Black Ships Festival takes place during a week where we celebrate the end of war and the beginning of peace,” Aveson said. “When I think of Victory day, I remember the efforts of 90,000 Rhode Islanders who served and won the peace. Today Japan is one of our strongest friends, trading partners and military allies, helping to keep the peace. And for 41 years I'm proud that JASRI has helped to grow that alliance.”

Brandon Nelson of Bristol, a 2022 MHHS graduate, was one of the students that made the trip. A double major studying graphic design and marketing with a minor in photography, Brandon’s gift-giving project was a collection of coasters featuring an anchor design and “Bristol, RI”. The theme of each student’s gift was their own hometown, and everyone created small keepsakes like bookmarks and keychains to share. His project was to take his photos and make postcards for each city including cultural tips in both English and Japanese, that he will have on display this Saturday.

For Emily Eichner, a rising senior from Harwinton, Conn., the open-ended theme of building friendship through design led her to collect menus as the group travelled — and ate — their way from city to city.

“I wanted to make something physical, so I made a sticker sheet of illustrations of the different foods we ate and how they were friendship building,” Emily said. “I was eating udon as I sat with a Japanese student who I became good friends with. We bonded at that meal. There is a story behind every illustration.”

Recent graduate Kristen Hearrold, of Taunton, Mass., knew a bit about Japanese stamp culture going into this experience. So her gift project was a pair of stamps, one meaningful to Rhode Island, with lighthouse and nautical rope motifs, the other using Japanese patterns and a temple arch motif, together symbolizing friendship. She collected stamps throughout their trip, and so it was fitting that she returned to stamps for her final project. This time, she made a pair of stamps that function like an interlocking friendship necklace, where two halves come together and make a new design. The halves together create an image of a heart-shaped vase with seeds and cherry blossoms, cradled in two hands.

“It represents the value the Japanese place on companionship, life, and peace,” Kristen said. “When you stamp them they are not always perfect, the way they come together. Like true friendship.”