"Making friends in the beginning was not easy. Japanese are much nicer to foreigners than Americans are, and it seems like they want to talk to foreigners, but they are shy and don't want to make the first move. One thing I found out real fast is that if you want friends, you must have a cell phone. No cell phone equals no friends. The majority of my friends I hung out with were not students at my school. I like dancing, and I met most of my friends at dance clubs. I also got involved in a dance circle (club) at school. That was also a good way to make friends. It seemed like my school life and personal life naturally separated themselves and did not overlap much, which is very different from how it was in the U.S. I did go to one nomikai with students from my classes but I hated it. I don't drink and was very annoyed being with a group of 15-20 drunks. I was also was not very happy when I was asked to pay $45 like everyone else when all I had was a coke, a piece of chicken, and a small slice of paper-thin pizza. After that I never went out with any group of students from school again." John Woodburn, The Ohio State University, Kobe University, Fall 1999

"Finally, I would like to say a few words about culture shock. Being an African American woman in Japan is a unique experience. The hardest thing for me when I first arrived was being CONSTANTLY stared at. I remember feeling a thousand eyes on me every morning as I rode the train to school, and I especially hated when people would move away or refuse to sit next to me. It was my first time being a foreigner, and I remember vowing to be more sensitive to foreigners when I returned to the United States.I should mention, however, that being a foreigner was not all bad. For the first few months it was like being a celebrity. Everyone was either in awe of or afraid of me. Young people thought I was cool and wanted to touch my hair. Older folks were amazed that I could speak Japanese. More than a few times I was compared to Lauryn Hill. Everyone wanted to practice English on me. It was all quite amusing and fun. I also became aware of just how thoroughly American culture and African American culture have infiltrated and influenced Japan. After a while, though, being considered kakkoii began to wear thin. While at first I thought it might be nice to live in Japan and leave behind all of the issues that come with being black in America, I realized that the feeling of celebrity came from my being adored or disliked for what I merely represented to people. I also felt (not entirely because of my language deficiency) like I was living outside of what was going on around me, as if my year abroad were some kind of vacation from reality. I don't know if that feeling would ever go away even if I lived in Japan for the rest of my life. I do know that I learned an incredible amount about myself while I was there, that my language skills (especially kanji) sharpened a great deal, and that if I ever have the chance to return to Japan, I will jump on it." Monique Wheeler, Brown University, Kyoto Center for Japanese Studies, Fall 1999

"Another part of my experience that did not seem positive at the time but now I look back on as one of the most important parts of my stay in Japan was the isolation I sometimes felt in being a foreigner who looked different from the norm. Nothing could have prepared me for the number of stares I received as I walked onto the bus every morning, from middle-aged professionals to five-year-old schoolchildren, and especially elderly women. I kept on wondering if these people had ever seen a foreigner before, but then I would remind myself that there are thousands of foreigners living in Kyoto who ride the buses and subways every day. Although I began to notice the staring less as I lived in Kyoto for several months, I could never disregard it altogether, sometimes amused by people's surprised faces, and other times frustrated and upset that people constantly looked at me as someone different. It was not until my stay in Japan was almost over that I realized what a valuable experience it was to feel like an outsider in a place where one expects to belong."Alessia Cook, Brown University, Kyoto Center for Japanese Studies, Fall 2002

"Sharing my experience with people at home who haven't had similar experiences has been difficult for me. Japan is so different that the closest friends of mine still don't realize what I am talking about. I can explain as much as I want, but I still can't convey what I want to. An example of this is trying to explain the group mentality of the Japanese. It affects the culture, everyday life, and even intricate details of how things are done. Even my own brother told me the second day I was home to 'stop living in the past.' I have become better at incorporating my experience into my life, but it is still difficult. I want to yell out when I see something in Japanese that I can explain or understand. I want to speak Japanese. I want to eat Japanese food. I watch tapes of Japanese television that I recorded. Japan is part of my life now.Looking back on it all, I realize that four months is so short, but while I was there, it was a long time. Every day I lived there I learned something new about myself, my country, Japan, people in general, and world relations. I was an American living in Japan, and when I returned, I felt like I was part Japanese. Getting used to the United States was something of a different experience that I am still struggling with. I have come to realize that I am American, but I am now seeing the US from a completely different perspective. It is enlightening.People ask me: 'How was Japan, Matthew?' That is such a hard question to answer, but I have had some practice. My usual responses are: 'It was: amazing, life-changing, one of the pinnacles of my life, something I will never forget, and the list goes on.' Thank you for adding to my experience. It changed me." Matthew West, Macalester College, IES Tokyo, Fall 2000

"All second language pedagogy seems to reinforce, after the most elementary level, the vocabulary that is most important to the learner, at least superficially--age, schooling, major, hobbies, family, etc. I was pretty well equipped with all of the vocabulary of this sort before arriving in Japan, which makes at least introduction and small talk possible. I also cross-registered at Keio to take a graduate music seminar in Japanese, and through that, have learned a good deal of upper level senmon-kotoba. However, this emphasis on self-interests from a relatively low level across language pedagogy leaves the average learner--assuming that I am average--ill-equipped for many, many other situations, including often simpler situations than a graduate seminar. Before arriving in Japan, I had not learned many simple words that I should've from textbooks, such as rock, air, grass, and words necessary to environment and the natural world. Being able to understand discussions of avant-garde electronic music and not being able to understand that host-dad is out in the garden picking herbs for dinner is a big discrepancy when it comes to cognition. Learning elevated words first made it much harder to go back and learn the simple words I was never taught in the first place. This is probably a huge problem with college level pedagogy and entering a foreign culture for the first time as an adult." Adam Tober, Waseda/Keio Universities, Tufts University, Fall 2001

"My experience in Japan also taught me how to be more self-reliant by giving me the opportunity to be alone. Being so far away from home and the 13-hour time difference made it more difficult for me to communicate with friends and family so I could not be as involved in their lives. It was a good chance to step back and consider my relationships, and myself. I think that it would be have been difficult to become as self-reliant so quickly had I never studied abroad." Jade Steele, Pennsylvania State University, IES Tokyo, Fall 2001

"I remember these things and more: the alarming speed with which my host mother cried at my departure, and the equally alarming speed with which she stopped; the obsession with uniforms, one for every task; the police, casual and polite and completely unlike American police. I remember the legendary Japanese politeness: an old woman on a train platform bowing to me, and a stranger asking if my friends and I needed help as we attempted to puzzle out a map. I remember racism and intolerance as well: friends being thrown out of shops because of their white skin, other friends shunned because they looked Japanese but were in fact from Canada and New Zealand and America, people on packed trains choosing to stand rather than risk sitting by me, and a professor who once vented his anger by spending ten minutes of class time yelling at the white students." Eric Pinnick, University of Minnesota, Hiroshima University, Fall 2000

"Many organizations in Japan also seem to take a bizarre sort of pride in their layers of bureaucracy and procedure. Any attempt to make an administrative decision, sign up for national heath insurance, apply for a work visa, or pay a cellular phone bill seems to require extensive notes, meetings, permissions, and authorized forms filled out completely in triplicate stamped and sealed with no mistakes whatsoever. In addition to experiencing daily life in Tokyo, learning to deal with rules and habits different from those in my home country has been another invaluable aspect of my time spent here in Japan. Even if I never come to love these unfamiliar rules, I feel as if I have at least developed a greater sympathy for foreigners who enter my own country and complain about the way things are done in America!" John Stanley, North Carolina State University, Sophia, Fall 2001

"Often people ask me what my best memories were. However, there is no single moment or place that can best reflect my experiences there. I will remember doing lots of sightseeing, but what I will remember the most is talking and interacting with people. Talking with Japanese friends in a coffee shop on Sanjo Street until the wee hours of the morning, teaching Kyoto University guys how to swing dance, going to Lake Biwa and talking with random beach combers--I will remember all of this. Perhaps the best part was all the inspirational people I met. I was impressed by the grand dreams of the friends whom I met. Many of them hope to work in various countries in the world and are eager to learn numerous languages. This idea inspired me, because while living in Japan, I realized that though the human heart may be constant throughout the world, Japan showed me new cultural perspectives. For the first time in my life I was finally able to step out of an American mentality and learn about a very different society. From a humanitarian perspective, I now understand the importance of understanding various cultures and societies to be able to communicate with people around the world. From an engineering perspective, I also realized that Japan sold different technology than the United States. Because of cultural differences, popular items in Japan would be business failures in the United States. For all these reasons, I would like to explore the world to be able to better communicate with people around the world, as well as acquire more marketing, technology and business sense." Elizabeth Yin, Stanford University, Stanford Center for Technology and Innovation Program, Spring 2002

"I was also surprised at how inconvenient Japan is compared to America. The ATMs in Japan are only open until 9:00pm on weekdays and 7:00pm on Sundays. Convenience stores are open 24 hours, but drug stores close at 8:00pm if not earlier. Grocery stores also closed early. Most surprising to me was how early the buses and trains shut down. Most buses stopped by 10:00pm and trains stopped by midnight, even in Tokyo. I was surprised that a city like Tokyo did not have a 24-hour subway and train system in place. Although many Americans view Japan as a technological paradise, many places in Japan still only accept cash and many things that Americans can do on the internet can only be done in person in Japan." Catherine Holian, Arizona State University, Hiroshima Shudo University, Fall 2001

"Something I find kind of interesting about this experience is that I feel more homesick sometimes for Japan than I ever did for my real home. I think I felt really at home there, and although when I left I was feeling ready to come home, I also think that the 5 months was a pretty short time and that had I stayed longer, I would have had so many more great experiences."Michael Tobin, Macalester College, IES Nanzan University, Fall 2002

"The other major aspect of my positive experience in Japan was my decision to remain in Japan the full academic year. About 2 months into my stay, I seriously considered ending my time in Kyoto in December (one student did leave early). I was unhappy with the academic situation: I found the academic classes to be disappointing (I still think they were) and thought that the Japanese language classes were no better than those I could take in Chicago. I was also lonely because it was very difficult for me to find an activity that matched my interests. I decided stay, though, and I think it made a crucial difference in how I perceived my time in Japan. By leaving Japan for winter break and coming back, I was able to really observe the enormous improvements I had made. Arriving in the airport for a second time, I saw how much more capable I was than I had been 4 months earlier. Furthermore, staying in Japan for 8 months instead of for 4 months let me achieve a much deeper understanding of the culture and society in which I was living." Megan Krausch, University of Chicago, Kyoto Center for Japanese Studies, Fall 2000

"Studying in Japan was a very personal experience for me. The main reason I wanted to go was that I always felt that some part of me was missing, as though I could not quite understand my ethnic background without seeing the country of its origin. Japan only existed in myth: after the story of life in Japan passed the language barrier between the first and second generations of Japanese Americans and the cultural barrier between the second and the third, so much of it was lost. By the time it reached me, the fourth generation, I could not tell what was an exaggeration and what was the truth, or what had been changed by an American viewpoint or memories of the war. Thus, the most important lessons for me were non-academic, ones that the center facilitated but did not explicitly teach. Our culture lessons in Japanese class helped me a lot; in just one instance, when we learned about the Japanese family structure, I could see it reflected in my parents' decision to keep my brother and me in their bedroom until we reached a certain age. I also found that the country has changed tremendously since the war, which was the last time anyone from my family spent an extended period of time there. In short, living in Japan filled in many gaps in my personal history." Leslie K. Inamasu, Stanford University, Kyoto Center for Japanese Studies, Fall 2001

"The experience of becoming Japanese for me began when I stopped comparing everything in Japan to the way things were at home. Instead of saying 'In the US we do things this way' and my thoughts began to shift to 'This way works just as well if not better than what I used to do.' I realized that when I compared certain customs of the US to Japan I wasn't fully experiencing Japan. I started enjoying so much more of Japan when I learned to speak, read, and think in Japanese." Kalene Erica Ewing, Grand Valley State University, International Christian University, Fall 2001

"Because of Japan, I have been a foreigner, something of an outcast, and an exotic person all in one. I now have a greater appreciation for those learning a foreign language and people with a different lifestyle than my own. All students should have at least a month experience of living abroad so they too can gain a greater understanding of what it's like to not be an American. Japan was a great place not only to learn about the Japanese, but myself as well. I will gladly return if I ever have the opportunity." Deborah Marshall, University of Idaho, University of Nagasaki, Spring 2002

"One thing that I cannot erase from my mind is the stereotype about Japanese women. I never thought such an economically and technologically advanced society would lack a better place for women. I was also appalled to see Westerners buying into the stereotype about Japanese women. Male students often took advantage of the stereotype. It was disturbing to see educated Western men who treated Western women with a degree of respect, degrading and taking advantage of Japanese and Korean women. It deeply disturbed me to see that college students sent to represent their country in Japan thought that it was OK to uninvitingly grope Japanese and Korean women. Even though I am a Westerner, to most of them I am still Asian because I look Asian, and therefore, fell victim to this incredibly inappropriate behavior. When I talked to one of my Japanese girlfriends, she told me that the same student who had groped me had groped her. When I asked her why she didn't tell anyone, she asked me the same thing, 'why haven't you told anyone?' At that moment, I realized that somehow being in this environment had suddenly made me vulnerable. To be a foreigner does not exclude you from the social pressures and expectations people have for women in Japan. I never expected that I would be someone who could give in so easily to the expectations of a culture so foreign to me." June Park, University of Washington, Tohoku University, Fall 2000

"Living in Tokyo also gave me the unique opportunity of viewing the United States from Japan's perspective. Americans are often blissfully unaware of international affairs and the profound influence that American foreign policy has on other nations. Issues that I would have glossed over in the Washington Post often made major headlines on NHK television and the Asahi newspaper, with usually critical analysis." Scott Furumoto, Georgetown University, Waseda University, Spring 2001

"As I think back and remember my experience in Japan, I can summarize it in a few words: fun, exciting, interesting, life changing, engaging, challenging. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said I became a better person through my experiences in Japan. I feel like I've grown as a person by going to and spending a year in Japan. I discovered new dimensions to myself, new interests, new hobbies; things I thought I would never like ended up being some of my favorite things. To put it simply, I found a 'new me' while staying in Japan." Fordel Lee, North Carolina State University, Nagoya University, Fall 2001

"In Japan I learned lessons that I could never learn in America as a member of the white middle class. Here was a country that I completely stood out in no matter how hard I tried not to. I learned what it was to be illiterate, a foreigner, and even what it meant to me to be an American. They were some of my hardest lessons to learn and not the ones highly talked about when I sat down to listen to what my new experience would be like traveling abroad. It was frustrating sometimes but I can never stress how important it was for me to experience each and every awkward situation. I went looking for a challenge by traveling to Japan and I certainly received one." Erin Fredrich, Saginaw Valley State University, Kansai Gaidai, Fall 1999

"Studying abroad changed my life in more ways than one. Not only did I have an amazing academic opportunity, to study Japanese and engineering overseas, but I was able to establish a life and live in a foreign land. The people I met and the countless opportunities I had to experience Japanese culture gave me a much deeper and wider perspective on my, and my country's, place in the world." Nicholas Folse, University of Texas at Austin, Oita University, Spring 2001

"It was incumbent on the American student to initiate most of the contact with the Japanese students. For instance, after some of the classes which a couple of Japanese students attended to learn about American styles of teaching a foreign language, I asked our guests if they wanted to eat lunch together. I got the sense that they had other plans, but since I offered them a chance to get together, they generally enthusiastically accepted. From a simple meal at Mos Burger, we often would make plans to go out on the weekends. I still am maintaining contact with many of these people even today. My point is that even though it may appear difficult to get to know Japanese, in fact, with only a slight effort, a whole world of friendships can grow. Generally, the foreign students need to assert themselves. Only rarely did a Japanese person openly express an interest to get together with me, and generally, these people had been to America or abroad before." Mark Dallas, Ohio State University, Shoin Daigaku, Spring 2000