Study Abroad

Study Abroad Reflection

During both my time at Kansai and Chukyo University, I was able to deepen my cultural understanding of Japan. I interacted with and befriended many of my Japanese peers and professors which has allowed me to get a proper inside understanding of how Japanese people think outside of what information I have found during my classwork in the US. Independently, I learned how to operate within a variety of systems in Japan and took great interest in how the Japanese differ from Americans in some discrete ways.

In my five months there I was able to make many friends with whom I got to experience many essential elements of Japanese culture. On many occasions I joined them on outings to izakayas, restaurants, karaoke rooms and amusement centers. In addition to the fun, I also learned about the stressful things such as the many multiple part-time jobs that many students worked, and the difficulties of the job-hunting process in Japan. My friends there helped me get accustomed to many of the daunting parts of daily life such as getting commuter passes for the trains and paying for the national health insurance. Thanks to them, I learned how to handle those things on my own and gradually became more comfortable with various other things too.

Whilst I did spend ample time interacting with my fellow students (both foreign and Japanese,) I got to experience many elements of Japanese daily life on my own. I tried to seek out things that were inaccessible to me when I had visited Japan 10 years prior with zero knowledge of the language. Simple things like going to grocery or home improvement stores were real treasures, as I was able to see how the truly everyday elements of my life in America differed from those of my Japanese contemporaries. One of my personal points of pride is that I learned how to play a variety of card-based arcade games (namely Gundam Arsenal Base, and Sengoku Taisen.) These games were completely in Japanese, involved a lot of reading, and required account integration with a Japanese website. I also learned how to participate in timed events, and on occasion tournaments for these games, both of which truly tested my Japanese language skills. I also became proficient in making travel plans, booking hotels and bus tickets through Japanese vendors.

The classes I took at Chukyo were primarily taught in English, except for the intensive Japanese language course. The most captivating class was likely my American literature course, as I found it fascinating to see how my own culture was studied from an outside perspective. In this class and my others (business management, economics, and global media) I was able to utilize my Japanese skills to assist my fellow students in learning course material. Even though my Japanese was rough, being able to rudimentarily explain concepts both helped me improve my language skill and my own knowledge of the material. The Intensive Japanese language courses were brutal, the 9 hours spent in the classroom each week did much to teach me additional grammar points and kanji.

Through my social connections, time alone, and the variety of classes I took at Chukyo, I learned a great deal about Japan. I hope that in my future career, whether it is directly connected to Japan or not, that I will be able to apply the best elements of what I have learned. In a world that is ever more connected, I hope to be able to do my part in bridging the gap between Japan and the US for our collective betterment, whether I do that through governmental or business means. Though my greatest joys in Japan were simple, going for nighttime runs through Nagoya and a good cheap bowl of gyudon.