EVERETT — As a child living 30 miles outside of Hiroshima, Japan, Mayumi Smith knew the painful lessons of World War II all too well.
Her mother witnessed the giant mushroom cloud that rose over the flattened city after the atomic bomb was dropped in August 1945.
When Smith was in college, she spent hours interviewing survivors of the bombing and their families. The firsthand accounts had a profound effect on her.
"I always felt that part of the reason the war happened and why the A-bomb was dropped was because we didn’t know each other well," she said Wednesday.
"I hoped that someday I could have a chance to make a difference and help build a bridge between Japan and the USA and the rest of the world — a bridge of understanding of each other and our respective cultures."
That’s exactly what she has been doing for more than 20 years through Everett Community College and its Nippon Business Institute Japanese Cultural and Resource Center.
Smith is the college’s director of the institute and Japanese programs. Her devotion to uniting the cultures will be recognized Friday at the Seattle office of the Japanese Consulate-General.
The occasion commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Treaty of Amity, which established relations between the United States and Japan.
Smith is one of 97 individuals and 61 organizations to be honored across the country. Three people and three organizations will be recognized in Seattle.
Smith, 56, has lived in Snohomish County for 27 years, including a stint in the early 1980s teaching Japanese to students at Cascade and Everett high schools.
She soon realized that she could teach a language, but translating the culture was much more difficult.
In 1983, she began teaching at EvCC, which established an undergraduate international studies program in 1987. The program focuses on the practical aspects of international and business relationships between the two countries.
Over the years, Nippon has grown and reached student and nonstudent groups from elementary school children to adults from both countries. It is a place where the two cultures can meet.
"I think this is like a jigsaw puzzle. My (mission) is we can do something to know each other better," she said.
"I am hoping to finish the jigsaw puzzle, the whole picture."
The center includes more than classrooms. There’s a small Japanese library, a kitchen to learn how to prepare Japanese meals, computers that perform in both languages, and a tatami room for tea ceremonies. A painstakingly designed Japanese garden is under construction.
To Smith, learning a language isn’t enough; understanding history and culture promotes true understanding. That required rallying support from many quarters to comprehend the value of building a center for cultural exchange.
Charlie Earl, EvCC’s president, has observed some of the hard work behind the resource center.
"It is very much a long-term labor of love for higher education and international relationships with Japan," he said.
"For the Japanese governor to honor her as one of a select few for helping build Japan’s relationship with the West, it’s a very special recognition for her, for sure, and I am also proud of it from the college’s perspective."
Smith said she had an ambitious dream that would have gone nowhere without plenty of help.
"I may have had the vision, but it took almost $1 million raised over nine years with the strong support of many individuals and organizations both here and in Japan," she said.
It took many volunteers, donors, college staff, contractors and artisans, along with three fund-raising campaigns and staggered construction projects.
"I am very humbled and honored to be singled out for this award, but it really belongs to all the people who helped create this vision and bring a little slice of Japan to Everett Community College and our community," she said.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
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