ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to describe the characteristics of the interaction between Japanese CSOs and international students. It starts by defining social interaction and placing it into a wider context of public policies such as internationalization and multiculturalism. Next, it presents the most typical ways in which this interaction occurs and discusses how these activities contribute to or obstruct social capital generation. To reach a more balanced and comprehensive understanding, this chapter investigates the interaction from different actors’ viewpoints. It views the events and activities from the organizers’ perspective – CSO staff and volunteers, then examines the interaction from the students’ standpoint, and finally looks into the universities’ stance on CSO-student engagement. The universities often act as intermediaries between CSOs and international students by providing information from on-campus and off-campus organizations to students and sometimes by getting directly involved in event planning of on-campus groups.
