What a fantastic opportunity for CWAJ to give a presentation at “WA” Space, Women’s Pavilion in collaboration with Cartier at EXPO 2025 Osaka Kansai! We’re so pleased to report that CWAJ’s program on July 25 was a great success. Our objective was to share CWAJ’s mission to support educational scholarships as a path for women and people with visually impairments to reach their full potential and contribute to the greater social good. Another focus was the value of cultural exchange and encouragement to seek such opportunities for themselves, including programs offered by CWAJ. These objectives were met through the excellent presentations by three impressive past CWAJ scholars: Rin Ishikawa, 2023 CWAJ Cartier Scholar/Study Abroad; Makoto Ogoda, 2005 Scholar for the Visually Impaired; and Sangita Das, 2002 Non-Japanese Graduate Scholar.
Their experiences showed that higher education not only provides opportunity but also potential to explore and create new paths to meet social needs. Their presentations were followed by a Q&A moderated by 
Elizabeth Gamarra, 2023 Non-Japanese Graduate Scholar. Elizabeth is currently working at the USA Pavilion as a Youth Ambassador. She enthusiastically recruited seven young women and men volunteers who were a great help and added an international, youthful feel to our program.
The event also successfully increased public awareness of CWAJ by distributing the CWAJ Annual Report to all attendees, our event being listed on the EXPO Visitors app, and being included in Theme Week events and on the Theme Week YouTube channel.
https://theme-weeks.expo2025.or.jp/en/program/detail/687f78991e2c3.html
Thank you to CWAJ EXPO committee: Ritsuko Fukawa, Keiko Yoshimura, Heidi Sweetnam, Inna Caron, and Kaori Goto, plus Ko Iwata and Rosa Konishi, volunteers on the day at EXPO. And thank you Stacie Kendall for coming to EXPO and attending our program.
EXPO committee co-chairs: Ritsuko Watanabe and Joanna Chinen
