ABSTRACT
In the summer of 2013, the National Communication Association’s (NCA) Committee on International Discussion and Debate (CIDD) engaged in the 38th debate exchange tour between the United States and Japan (S. Howell, personal communication, June 6, 2012). While international exchanges between the United States and other countries date at least to 1922 (Hall & Rhodes, 1972; Woods & Konishi, 2007), Japan and the United States began offi cial exchanges in 1969 (Ellis, 1968). Scholarly investigations of a recent rise in Asian debate notwithstanding ( Jarvis, 2010), the U.S-Japan exchange debates are the longest standing relationship between any U.S. debate community and an Asian debating society. However, scholars have relatively little information on the history of the tours.
