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Many new Japanese students started their first semester this fall. The university has been in a partnership with National Collegiate Network since 2002. Each year, about 40 Japanese students fly to the United States to attend NSU.
“It has been about five months since I came to the United States,” said Sho Tanaka, Kagawa, Japan, freshman. “The classes are a little difficult for me, but I’m having a great experience here.”
Tanaka said he started studying English in third grade.
“I took English lessons from my Canadian neighbor,” said Tanaka. “It was more like playing with English, but I enjoyed it and English has been my strongest subject. Then, I had an opportunity to go to Canada for a month when I was 16. That’s when I decided I wanted to study abroad after high school.”
Tanaka has various things he wants to accomplish while he attends the university.
“I want to better my English, of course, and I want to experience different cultures as much as possible,” said Tanaka. “I also want to make many friends from many countries. I’m interested in volunteering, too. And, I’ll hopefully find something I want to do in the future.”
Tomomi Tanaka, Gifu, Japan, senior, is about to start a new life after she graduates in December. She thinks studying at the university helped her get a job she wanted this summer.
Natasha Sawyer and Rafael Corral study Japanese in Japanese Teaching Club each week.
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“Companies which have businesses overseas prefer people with international experience,” said Tomomi. “I could get advantages Japanese college students couldn’t get, just because I attended an American university.”
Tomomi will go back to Japan after she graduates to start her career.
“I’m excited to go back,” said Tomomi. “I can spend more time with my family and my friends. I want to work hard, save money and, most importantly, find a great husband. I’ll definitely miss my friends here though.”
Some American students get really close with Japanese students, which sometimes leads them to go to Japan. Joshua Isozaki moved to Japan at the end of last year with his wife he met at the university.
“I’m teaching at a high school in Saitama, and also I’m a part-time model at an agency,” said Isozaki. “I got married and I was very interested in working in Japan. I knew that people are more kind and generous here and I like that type of atmosphere.”
Isozaki said he definitely had a culture shock in Japan.
“It is very hard to adjust to all of the formal greetings,” said Isozaki. “Also if you can’t speak the language fully it gets very frustrating when going out by yourself. Eventually I learned how to do everything but at first it was very difficult. I am still working on Japanese because I don’t have much time to study now.”
He thinks the university helped with what he is doing in Japan.
“I started helping Japanese students with their English at NSU and I even met my wife there,” said Isozaki. “I give great credit to NSU for my life now.”
Isozaki is planning on continuing teaching English at the junior high or high school level in Japan. He is also hoping to sign with a big modeling company in the future.
David Pimentel, Pryor graduate, teaches English at a small conversation school in Oita city after finishing teaching in Ehime for a year.
Pimentel said he did not have any future plans when he was at the university until his third year.
“I had been interested in Japanese culture for a long time ever since I read Jack Kerouac’s novels in high school,” said Pimentel. “In my third year at NSU, I became interested in teaching English and at the same time I dated a Japanese student. Eventually I decided to follow her to Japan after I graduated. Looking back, I might have made the same choice on my own and I think it was a great decision for me even living on my own now.”
Pimentel said the biggest shock has been the comfort of living in Japan.
Takehiro Sakai, Mayumi Hayasaka and Misaki Nakamura teach Japanese to students in Seminary Hall.
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“I expected to be stressed out struggling in a country where I don’t speak the language and I don’t have many friends nearby,” said Pimentel. “But those obstacles were hardly as big as I thought. There are so many things I like about Japan. It’s generally safer, healthier and more relaxed than America."
"I don’t know if there is a country with a better service industry either. If you’re shopping, traveling, sightseeing or going out for the night, you will generally be treated very well throughout Japan. In America people say ‘the customer is always right’ but I heard in Japan the phrase is more like ‘customers are gods.’”
Pimentel said he realized there are also some problems. He said many Japanese get surprised when he tells them he wants to live in Japan for a few years.
“Most teachers in Japan work year-by-year, one contract at a time, and eventually go home or somewhere else,” said Pimentel. “Sometimes it seems like the Japanese expect me to be a guest in Japan and that I shouldn’t overstay my welcome. Also work in Japan is quite serious. Westerners often get easier schedules than their Japanese counterparts, though it’s still common to work between forty-five and fifty hours a week, but there are some business practices that I didn’t understand for a long time. Japanese workers come in early, leave late, and perform extra duties as often as possible, often without overtime pay, because it shows their enthusiasm for their job, appreciation of their co-workers and dedication to their company. Westerners seem selfish in the Japanese workplace because we don’t usually think about our company before ourselves, but I think Japanese workers sacrifice too much.”
Pimentel said what he studied at NSU helped him a lot. It does not matter what degree students have if they want to do what he does, he said.
“As an English major I have an advantage over many other people who do the same job without knowing the details of the English language,” said Pimentel. “If I had known more about it though, I would have taken some theatre classes as well, because teachers here have to be entertaining. I feel lucky to have gone to NSU actually, as the experiences I had there guided me to where I am now, which I never expected when I graduated high school.”
Pimentel said he wants to go to graduate school and get a Master’s degree or a Ph.D. after working for a few years in Japan, and become a university professor or look into another career. He also wants to try working in some other countries doing the same kind of job.
“I would like to work in Spain especially,” said Pimentel.
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Photos by Yumi Kashiwagi |
