Several months ago Maria applied for a research grant from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Specifically, she applied for the International Affairs Fellowship in Japan. CFR awards this fellowship to two people each year, and the competition is intense. I’ve been sworn to secrecy until now, as Maria wanted to get through the interview and find out whether she got it or not before letting me blab about it ;-). The interview was a few weeks ago, and Maria felt that it went badly. I don’t pretend to understand the specifics of her research, but my impression is that she presented a high risk/high payoff proposal, and that the reaction was very cautious. But today she got the letter saying she was awarded a fellowship for 2007!

The fellowship entails living in Japan for about 5 months, so before Maria went for the interview I talked with my boss about the situation. She thought it was an exciting opportunity, and gave a preliminary OK to the idea of me working remotely from Japan for the duration of the fellowship. I’ve worked here long enough that I know my projects, co-workers, and clients well enough that I can continue to be productive even from the other side of the world. An upside to being a programmer is that as long as I have a decent PC, a fast internet connection, email, a telephone, and instant messaging, I don’t really need to be in the office.

So it looks like we’ll be living in Tokyo from January through May (and maybe June) of 2007! Maria’s fellowship will cover most of our living expenses, and they’ll help us find a place to live as well. Between now and January I’ll have to hunker down and try to at least master “taxicab Japanese” so I can get around on my own. We’ll bring the boys of course - we can enroll Kai in an international school, where he can speak English but still learn some Japanese. We’ll have to figure out some babysitting arrangements for Eidan, but I’m sure that’s a solvable problem (with the time difference between the US and Japan, I’ll probably take care of him for part of the day and do some of my work at night).

I can’t tell you how excited we are!

Here’s some information about the fellowship from the CFR site:

In 1997, the Council on Foreign Relations established the International Affairs Fellowship in Japan, sponsored by Hitachi, Ltd., to enable a number of outstanding young American leaders and thinkers to expand their intellectual and professional horizons through an extended period of research or related professional activity in Japan…

The goal of the Hitachi Fellowship is to strengthen the U.S.-Japan relationship by expanding American understanding of Japan and enhancing communication among Americans and Japanese on global problems. In this context, the program seeks to address the continuing imbalance in opportunities for Americans and Japanese to get to know each other’s societies and cultures. Tens of thousands of Japanese come to the United States each year to study and work, but only a small number of Americans study or work in Japan. Although this imbalance is difficult to redress on a quantitative basis, the Hitachi Fellowship program seeks to have a positive impact by giving Americans with great leadership capacity the opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of Japan and to develop close relationships with their Japanese counterparts…

The basic term of the fellowship is one year, with a minimum of three months to pursue a program of the fellows own design consisting of policy oriented research or related professional activity. To assure that the fellows spend their time in Japan fruitfully and come into contact with their professional peers, the Council assists Fellows in arranging affiliation with academic, governmental, or private sector institutions in Japan appropriate to their professional interests. Hitachi, Ltd. assists the fellows, as requested, in locating housing and getting settled in the Japanese environment. Fellowships cover living expenses in Japan plus international transportation, health and travel insurance, and necessary research expenses.