Chanpon.org was started by a group of alumni from the American School in Japan and Nishimachi International School, who felt that we could use the Internet to support a cultural mix that is like what we grew up with as part of the international community in Tokyo. Practically speaking, this means that we are a group of people that have had long-term experience with Japanese and at least one other culture.

As we have dispersed to different countries, and become busy with our professional and family lives, we often find it difficult to keep in touch with our Japanese multi-culture. Chanpon.org was conceived of as a way of creating these links by supporting a discussion space and resources about and of interest to Japanese interculturals.

The community has a US/Japan focus because the founding members were recruited heavily from the alumni networks of Nishimachi and ASIJ. But we hope our focus will expand beyond these two countries and these two schools. While we don't have any formal exclusionary criteria for the members of this group and the topics discussed, we are committed to keeping this site as a 'safe' and nurturing place for people that have intercultural identities. We reserve the write to delete any posts that we violate this commitment.

The site was originally launched in December 2000 as an invitational members-only site devoted to discussion. Since then, we have developed an informational web site and mailing list, chanpon-friends. In 2002 we changed the public site to a web log edited by a group of writers, and open to comments by the public.

While providing resources to the general public, the heart of this site is member generated and member supported. We encourage you to get involved and to contribute to the site in any way you can, by joining the discussion, submitting some writing, launching a project, or providing a donation.

Chanpon.org is administered by the Momoko Ito Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which Joi Ito, Mimi Ito, and Scott Fisher set up in memory of their mother.