Michelle Obama Heads to Asia to Promote Girls' Education

First lady Michelle Obama will travel to Japan and Cambodia this month as part of a US global effort to support education for girls, the White House said on Tuesday.

She will visit Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan from March 18 to March 20, and the Cambodian city Siem Reap from March 21 to 22, it said in a statement.

The initiative aims to reduce the number of girls - 62 million worldwide - who do not attend school, according to the administration.

The effort, launched last summer through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will use the Peace Corps volunteer program to help expand access for schooling for girls, especially for teenagers.

Cambodia is one of 11 countries targeted by the Peace Corp initiative during the program's first year, the White House said. The other countries are: Albania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Georgia, Ghana, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Togo, and Uganda.