Ship for World Youth

Ship for World Youth

Official Site : Alumni Page : Guidelines
Organizer: Cabinet Office, Government of Japan
Wikipedia: Here. Facebook: Here. Twitter: Here.

Official Program Objective: "The purpose of the Ship for World Youth program is to broaden the global view of the Japanese youths, to promote mutual understanding and friendship between Japanese and foreign youths as well as to cultivate the spirit of international cooperation and the competence to practice it, and furthermore to foster the youths with capability of showing leadership in various area of international society."

Program Eligibility: International participants have to be citizens of one of the 12 countries selected for participation in the year they apply. Participants must speak English well, and be between the age of 18 and 30.

Program Duration: From early January to early March for approximately 42 days.

Cost: None. "The program is fully sponsored by the Cabinet Office of the Japanese Government."

Admission Difficulty: Presumably competitive.

Repeat Participants? Unknown, but probably not.

The Low-Down: This annual program sounds almost too good to be true, but it apparently is, as it will be occurring for the 24th time in the year 2012. Basically, about 11 youth are selected from each of 12 countries (for a total of about ~140 international participants) to join another ~140 Japanese youth for a 42-day all-expense-paid cruise. The 6-week itinerary is composed of workshops, seminars, discussions and probably lots of fun, all aboard the boat. Port of calls include various countries, and include visits with VIPs, such as the Crown Prince of Japan, and the Prime Minister. The 2012 program (SWY24) invites citizens from the following countries to participate (the list of participating countries changes every year): Kingdom of Bahrain, Federative Republic of Brazil, Canada, Arab Republic of Egypt, Republic of India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Peru, Russia, Spain, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Republic of Turkey, and Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. I am told your chances for being selected are better if you have some type of interest/association with Japan. Dozens of groups and pages related to this program are all over Facebook (have a look). This definitely seems like a great program for those lucky enough to attend it.