Ashita Ohanashi Sessions (AOS)
What are Ohanashi Sessions: Weekly 30 minutes conversation between Japanese high school /college students and American college students/alumni.
Purpose: AOS is designed to facilitate English conversation learning for Japanese students while broadening their perspectives beyond Japan. Simultaneously, American volunteers have the opportunity to immerse themselves in Japanese culture and daily life, while honing their proficiency in the Japanese language.
When: AOS - Regular program: From November through the end of April excluding school breaks, exam periods, and both Japanese and American holidays. For Japanese high school students during the weekdays, 30 minutes before the Japanese high schools start
When: AOS - Short Program: There are 3 periods available.
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1st Period: November – December
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2nd Period: January – February
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3rd Period: March – April
You can sign up for only one period or multiple periods.
Each session lasts for 30 minutes.
Since all participants are volunteers, partner matches cannot be guaranteed, but we will make every effort to find a match for you.
Participating Japanese Schools:
AOS Regular program: The students from four (4) Tohoku (North East area) high schools -- Kesennuma HS, Sendai Ikuei HS, Iwaki HS, and Fukushima Kosen Technical School are participating.
AOS -Short Program: The short program is being carried out in collaboration with the Japanese NPO Border Free (BF), which supports high school and college students across all regions of Japan. (For more details, please refer to the Border Free page.)
Kesennuma High School
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Iwaki High School
Sendai Ikuei High School
Fukushima Kosen
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Where: Conducted once a week from your home, dormitory, apartment. Most likely the Tohoku high school students will participate from School right before the classes start. The session will take place via Zoom or LINE
Notes on details of time: . Due to the time difference between Japan and USA, USA Eastern standard time frame of 5:00pm and 8:00pm aligns best with Japan time of 7:00AM and 10:00AM (Japan is 14 hours ahead of USA). Time difference under day-light savings time is 13 hours, as Japan does not change time throughout the year.
Registration for both the Short Program (2 months each; 1st period is Nov. & Dec.; 2nd period is Jan. & Feb.; 3rd period is Mar. & April 2027) and the Long program (November through April) are now open for volunteers from the USA and participants from Japan. The new season of AOS (Ashita Ohanashi Sessions) will start November 2025.
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If you are interested in, please fill out the Application clicking “Application” under the menu and submit. If you have any questions, please contact Shizuko Kitagawa at kitagawa@ashita-tomorrow.com