Our Impact

The Mansfield Fellows are accomplished experts in the U.S. federal service. During their Fellowship year in Japan, they work with the Japanese government on a host of issues relevant to U.S. interests in Asia and around the world.

After returning from Japan, Mansfield Fellows join a network of program graduates that represent a rich geographically, culturally, and professionally diverse cadre in the U.S. government and elsewhere. The Mansfield Foundation engages the alumni Fellows through events in the United States and Japan, and also promotes their accomplishments as they continue through their careers.

Alumni Fellows also play an important mentoring role in the Fellowship long after they leave the program. The Mansfield Foundation works to incorporate its alumni into its recruitment efforts, connect them to current Fellows and to interested applicants, and use feedback from the Fellows for program improvement.

Skills, Expertise, Contacts.

Mansfield Fellows return to federal service with skills, contacts and expertise that facilitate their agencies’ work on Japan-related programs and policies. Their agencies—and the U.S.-Japan relationship—benefit from what the Fellows bring back from their year in Japan: firsthand knowledge of Japanese government policies, priorities, and processes in their issue areas; an understanding of how their counterpart agencies in Japan are organized and make decisions; and an appreciation for the Japanese language, society and culture.

Network Spanning 169 Fellows and nearly 30 U.S. Agencies

As of July 2022, 178 federal government officials have now completed the Mansfield Fellowship Program. Over the years, over 25 U.S. agencies, commissions, and the U.S. Congress have been represented by Mansfield Fellows, underscoring the program’s success in building a far-reaching cadre of U.S. federal government employees with Japan expertise. The Fellows’ interests and skills reflect the program’s relevance to U.S. interests. Recent Fellows have been experts in areas including aerospace, energy policy, cybersecurity, nonproliferation and disarmament, alliance management, and regulation of environmental waste. The experience and contacts Fellows gain during their Fellowship will contribute to closer U.S.-Japan cooperation on critical challenges in these and other areas.

Leadership throughout the U.S. Government.

Mansfield Fellows are in key posts throughout the U.S. government, including:

• Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Japan, Office of the United States Trade Representative
• Financial Attaché, U.S. Embassy Tokyo
• Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan, U.S. Navy
• Senior Advisor to Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia, U.S. Department of Commerce
• Principal Director, Space Policy Office, U.S. Department of Defense
• Regional Director for Northeast Asia, U.S. Department of Defense.

Cost

The Mansfield Fellowship Program is administered by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, with the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, as grantor. The current $1.768 million grant for Fiscal Year 2022 covers cost of living for ten Fellows and their immediate family members to reside in Japan for one year, including funds for one year of pre-departure language training, in-country language training, and relocation to and from Japan. The Foundation actively recruits and interviews applicants each year, selecting Fellows through a bi-national committee.

The program receives significant in-kind support from the government of Japan and the Ishikawa Prefectural Government, as well as corporate sponsors, foundations, and program alumni. Over the course of Japanese Fiscal Year 2017, the Japanese government in total contributed 5,811,095 JPY, the equivalent of approximately $52,000 USD. Japan’s National Personnel Authority, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ishikawa Prefecture’s Ishikawa Foundation for International Exchange support language training, orientations, transportation, cultural excursions, and meetings. Alumni support underscores the program’s value—in FY 2017, the Foundation received over $10,000 in alumni donations to supplement program costs.

Advancing Understanding and Cooperation in U.S.-Japan Relations

The Mike Mansfield Fellowships have built a cadre of Japan experts within the U.S. government and a capacity that contributes to the strong, broad cooperation the United States and Japan value and rely on. Working together has enabled the two countries to advance their interests in bilateral, regional, global, and even extraterrestrial domains. Sustaining the U.S. partnership with Japan—what Ambassador Mansfield called “the most important bilateral relationship in the world, bar none”—will require continued investment in the people who will carry this alliance forward in a turbulent and unpredictable world.