Dr. Kazuyuki Matsuo has a dream. He dreams of a different kind of education in Japan, where students receive credit for real-life experience, be it helping Indonesians rebuild primary schools, or digging wells in Tanzania. Matsuo dreams of a system where students are allowed to find their own places, circumventing a rigid system of grades and exams. The roots of this ideal can be traced to a different dream, forged in the 1960s in America. Matsuo worked in Washington, D.C. during this volatile time. As a self-admitted "glorious spy," his official title was contract interpreter for the State Department.
Frequent visits to the White House, for state dinners or trade negotiations, colored the other, more mundane aspects of his job. Matsuo acted as a cultural liaison between Japan and the States to visiting Japanese officials, distrustful of America.
"Of course some of them wanted to go to Las Vegas, some of them Death Valley — so I ended up visiting all sorts of places." It was the Nixon Years, and Matsuo witnessed a time and place that shaped a turning point in history: he admits it is one of his favorite periods, his own and America's, as both are connected by more than his chosen profession.
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