By Susan Vo gel | Ph otos b y Philip J ime ne z
Committed to
Japan For 30 years, Santa Clara Law has partnered with top Japanese attorneys and scholars to train U.S. law students in the intricacies of the Japanese legal system and culture.
“He looked at me as if I’d put a dead fish on the table,” said Philip Jimenez, Santa Clara Law professor and director of its summer abroad program in Tokyo, of a lunch meeting with a Japanese law professor. The two of them had made a rainy day trip to a shrine in Nikko the previous day, and both had left their umbrellas on the train. On his way to lunch the next day, Jimenez bought his friend an inexpensive fold-up umbrella, thinking it would be a considerate and practical gift. Upon arriving at the restaurant he placed the umbrella on the table. Oddly, “the professor was very cold to me during lunch,” says Jimenez. Bewildered, he later told a Japanese colleague about it. He learned that in Japan, the value of the gift expresses your esteem for the recipient. Jimenez says now, “I might as well have given him a dead fish.” Jimenez, who has directed Santa Clara Law summer programs in Asia over 31 summers, has many stories of the surprises that he and the students have experienced while learning about cultures that are completely different from that of the United States, says Jimenez. Cultural knowledge is one of the benefits of studying in Asia. Students also learn the basics of substantive law and legal systems, international law and IP law, and get a taste for working in a law firm or corporation that does business in Asia. Jimenez believes experience in Asian cultures can also change a student’s way of thinking, giving them a broader perspective on the world. 18 santa clara law | fall 2010
Three decades in Asia In 1977, Santa Clara Law Dean George Alexander established the Tokyo summer program in conjunction with Notre Dame Law School. Jimenez took over as director in 1979. Over the next eight years, as Asia’s role in world trade grew, Jimenez assisted with the establishment of summer programs in Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Seoul, Ho Chi Minh City, and Cambodia. Tokyo remains the most popular of the programs in Asia, with approximately 20 students attending each year. Jimenez says he was instantly captivated by Japan. The Japanese culture reminds him of his father’s family in Aguascalientes, Mexico. “Very formal, very kind, and very considerate,” he says, adding that he continues to be impressed by “the integrity of the Japanese people, their civility, respect, and formality.”
Mutual respect Jimenez expects the same respect from Santa Clara’s summer students. He is very protective of the relationships that have been built in Japan—relationships crucial to the program’s future. The program attracts students to Santa Clara Law. Thirdyear student Dan Albert, who has lived in Japan and hopes to practice law there, says, “One of Santa Clara’s greatest draws for me was the summer program in Tokyo.”