Baltimore - UMBC's award-winning Model United Nations team will host their Japanese teammates for a week in Baltimore before the group leaves for a Model United Nations conference in New York. The two teams will jointly represent Sweden at the conference which draws teams from universities across the globe to represent the culture, history and policy of their national neighbors, friends and enemies.

Model United Nations is a forum for mock international debate on real issues that demand balance between national interests and global solutions. The April 7-11 conference in New York gives student delegates from 47 different countries the opportunity to learn about the political environment and the process that lies behind international headlines.

The Japanese observed the UMBC team at last year's conference and asked if they could join them for the 1998 session. Cynthia Hody, faculty advisor of the UMBC group, says, "It's a big honor to go with the Japanese team. They were very impressed with the style and finesse our team used at the 1997 conference." Japanese student delegates are chosen annually through a national competition among universities throughout their country.

Over the last several months team members have used email, fax and telephone to communicate and will finally meet when the Japanese students arrive in Baltimore on March 23 for a week-long reunion before heading to New York for the Model United Nations conference. The week will include hours of final preparation, but also plenty of sightseeing to show off Baltimore. The Japanese students will stay with members of the UMBC team and will be treated to a full tour of the city including the Inner Harbor, Camden Yards and the National Aquarium. The team will also visit Washington, D.C. and make stops at both Swedish and Japanese embassies.

University teams are assigned countries by lottery, but may request certain parameters. The Japanese team requested that the country they would represent with UMBC be a member of the Security Council, a position real-life Japanese delegates are trying to secure in the United Nations.