The TOMODACHI Initiative and Honda Motor Co., Ltd. today announced the establishment of the “TOMODACHI Honda Global Leadership Program,” which will be fully funded by Honda and scheduled to take place for three years, from 2018 to 2020.

This program was newly-established in light of the success of the “TOMODACHI Honda Cultural Exchange Program,” which was conducted for three consecutive fiscal years (From April 2014 – March 2017), specifically targeting high school students from areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, namely the Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures.

Starting this year, participation will be open to high school students from all over Japan. The selected students will have the opportunity to travel for approximately two weeks to Torrance, California and Marysville, Ohio, home to Honda’s U.S. sales headquarters and engineering operations.

Developed based on Honda’s corporate slogan, “The Power of Dreams,” this program aims to provide experiential learning through which participating Japanese high school students, the next-generation of leaders, will develop global leadership skills and experience a cultural exchange between the United States and Japan.

The purpose of this program is to enable the students to meet with people who take on challenges driven by their dreams and to experience corporate activities conducted by such people so that the students will learn how to put their dreams into action and grow further as next-generation leaders. The students also will have a chance to learn about American society and culture by interacting with local high school students and through the homestay experience.