UH Mānoa College of Education (COE) Department of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Science (KRS) Instructor Kyoko Shirahata is part of a $90,000 Mineta Ambassadors Program (MAP) grant project with Sendai University (SU) where she is also an associate professor in their Department of Sports Science.
Shirahata will serve as director of the yearlong project titled MAP the Movement: A Sendai University & UHM Global Kinesiology Exchange that starts this fall. As northern Japanʻs sole sports science and physical education university, SU will work with KRS to build global competency in sports medicine, movement, and anatomy.
Undergraduate kinesiology students will receive hands-on international collaborative laboratory training. Thirteen SU students will study evidence-based athletic training, cadaver anatomy, and biomechanics at UH Mānoa. In return, 13 KRS students will examine Eastern sports injury medicine and Japanese physical education pedagogy at SU, which integrates holistic mind-body growth, lifelong fitness, cultural ties, and social skills.
The goal of the project is to prepare future educators and healthcare providers with critical global perspectives in their field. This academic exchange further develops sustainable, long-term international partnerships and formal institutional collaboration between the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and Sendai University.
“This Mineta Ambassador Program grant creates an invaluable bridge between our two campuses,” said Shirahata. “Kinesiology is fundamentally about human movement, but context matters deeply in how body mechanics and physiology adapt to environment, culture, and training philosophy. This funding allows our students to step beyond textbook learning into real-world, cross-cultural science, equipping them to become globally minded sports medicine and health professionals.”
Special acknowledgement to Mineta Ambassador Program leadership for their support of international higher education exchanges, along with thanks to the administrative teams at both the UH Mānoa College of Education and Sendai University for making the transpacific logistics possible.
