"We Explored Japan!" 2024
The three J.LIVE Talk 2023 winners went to Japan this summer, and here are the reports from them.
The reality that I would be a student at a university in Japan only truly sank in when I was faced with carrying two luggages as big as I was to my housing accommodation in Kanagawa, on what felt like one of the rainiest days of Japan’s rainy season. Although this wasn’t my first experience in Japan, the scent of rain, standing at the train platform, and watching Tokyo blur past the window brought back memories of the previous year when I interned with students learning English. As I rode the train, my suitcases tucked close, I recalled my former students’ stories of studying English in Australia, Canada, and the United States. I was reminded of a dream I had, but often dismissed as impossible or too far-fetched. Finally arriving at my destination made everything feel real, and for the first time in my life, I felt my dreams come into being.
Thanks to the J. Live Talk committee, I was able to travel to Japan a week before my study abroad program began, granting me the opportunity to explore and reconnect with and express my gratitude towards the students, colleagues, mentors, and friends that made speaking at J. Live Talk possible to begin with. Arriving ahead of the program’s start helped me overcome jet lag, though my excitement to make the most of every moment in Japan made jet lag seem insignificant. I spent my first days catching up with old friends, my former students, and coworkers, even collaborating with this year’s English teaching intern on a lesson. I even got to check off several bucket list items from my previous trip, including visiting an onsen, trying shirasu pizza, and touring the Yayoi Kusama museum. The people and the experiences of that first week made me feel embraced by the beautiful country and its people once again—it was almost as if I had never left.
Day one of moving onto ICU’s campus, I felt struck by the immense sense of wonder inspired by the campus layout and its seamless integration with nature. Stepping into Mitaka city felt like entering the world of a Studio Ghibli Film—a fitting impression, given that this city, home to ICU’s campus, also houses the renowned Studio Ghibli Museum. As I hopped out of my taxi in front of campus, still waddling with my two enormous suitcases, I eagerly embraced the place I would call home for the next four weeks. I was filled with anticipation at the thought of meeting my roommate, classmates, professors, and anyone else I might encounter during the International Summer Program in Japan (ISPJ).
Oak House, the dorm where all ISPJ students stayed, radiated a strong sense of community and togetherness from the moment I stepped inside. I was greeted by the residential assistants, who gave me a tour of the entire building, explained how to use appliances, where to retrieve essential items, and provided a very thorough briefing on recycling. I was immediately drawn to the building’s architecture, particularly in comparison to my home university, and how our rooms felt so spacious, bright, and private despite sharing them with a roommate. After the tour, I was welcomed by the “mama” and “papa” of the house—a married couple who not only helped with moving in and handling mail, but also managed a variety of other tasks. Most importantly, they were the ones to whom we said “ittekimasu” and “tadaima” to each and every day. Before I had even fully unpacked, my neighbor from across the hall had reached out to ask where I was from, and we instantly connected over having the same pair of headphones. These kinds of spontaneous connections seemed to happen repeatedly as people from all over the world filled our dorm with language, laughter, and newfound friendship.
In preparation for the courses at ICU, I had to take both a written and oral exam prior to moving on campus. I was placed into the Japanese 2 class, which corresponded to about the CEFR B1.2 level, with roughly half of my peers from overseas. This class focused on all aspects of learning the Japanese language–reading, writing, comprehension, and conversational skills. I studied daily with my peers from Hong Kong, Korea, the United Kingdom, China, and Poland, exchanging knowledge from our diverse backgrounds. Additionally, ICU students had volunteered to participate in the program, assisting with our learning and engaging in cultural exchange. By the end of the first day, groups of overseas and ICU students were already practicing newly acquired vocabulary and grammar over dinner or at karaoke together. Every day, we challenged ourselves and each other to step beyond our comfort zones, and by the end of the program, we had grown more confident, resilient, and ready to take on any challenge with a strong sense of camaraderie. This was especially helpful given the numerous presentations we delivered during the program. Every week, we were tasked with creating a presentation on a designated topic, so being well acquainted with each other eased the pressure, boosting our energy and charisma when presenting.
Although we were split into two separate classes for the Japanese language portion of our studies at ICU, we came together for the culture classes and activities throughout the week. The overarching theme for this year’s ISPJ program was “Japan’s Forests,” which meant many of our class topics were centered around environmental awareness. We not only learned kanji, vocabulary, and grammar to help us articulate our thoughts on the Earth’s current climate, but we also took part in fieldwork and various field trips to deepen our understanding of Japan’s environmental state. Visits to places such as Tokyo Skytree, Musashino Clean Center, and Nogawa Park highlighted the relationship between concepts such as urbanization and Japan’s natural environment.
Our cultural classes covered a range of specialized topics, from reading “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter” in Japanese to hiking Mount Takao in Hachioji. During one of our trips, I had the opportunity to practice Zen Meditation at a local temple for nearly six hours. There, I observed how the temple residents communicated, using various drums, wooden blocks, and other tools to indicate meal times and other events. This particular trip focused on meal time etiquette, something entirely new to me. Inevitably, as it was my first time doing such a thing, I made a few mistakes– but my classmates and everyone in the temple were kind, supportive, and encouraging. Their encouragement helped me push through my mistakes, and continue exploring. In those moments, I remember feeling inspired by all of the things that I didn’t know.
The final week of the program was difficult for various reasons— final presentations, papers, anticipation of grades and so on. But the anxiety of grades and public speaking could never amount to the difficulty of preparing to say goodbye. During the last few days of the program, one of our professors proposed that we do a bon odori dance to a song from her hometown. This had been something on my bucket list, but I had no idea how to go about doing it. Needless to say, I was extremely excited to participate. The first day of practicing the dance, there were only a few of us considering that some people were shy about dancing in front of others. The second day, a few more students joined in. The night before the closing ceremony, I remember being awake with a friend at 2 in the morning in an attempt to procrastinate on packing my things to move out. We practiced the dance some more, encouraging a few more students who were awake to join in with us. By the day of the closing ceremony, when it was time to perform the dance, nearly everyone participated, whether they knew the dance moves or not. For me, that moment encapsulated the true essence of my time at ICU—a journey of encouragement, unity, and the shared joy of embracing new experiences together.
Participating in the J. Live Talk 2023 speech competition resulted in an opportunity that a former version of myself would have thought was impossible. J. Live to me was more than just a speech contest; it was a step towards discovering myself, defining who I want to be, and establishing the impact I want to make in the world through my words and actions. I am beyond grateful for the platform that J. Live Talk gave me, and I am forever appreciative of my professors, mentors, peers, friends, and family for encouraging me to participate in such a life-changing experience. This journey has strengthened my resolve and ignited a burning passion within me to continue pursuing my goals–my dreams–with confidence and purpose, knowing that the lessons I’ve learned, the support I’ve gained, and the people I’ve met will guide me every step of the way. To J. Live Talk, thank you for giving us dreamers a chance to make those dreams a reality.
I have never traveled outside of North America before, so winning the J-Live competition and getting the opportunity to live in Japan for 7 weeks was completely new and exciting to me. Every day was packed with experiences. I surprised myself with how much I could understand. It was incredibly satisfying to finally be able to implement 8+ years of knowledge accumulated through studying Japanese.
After wandering through Shibuya until my feet hurt, I entered the Naganuma Campus, a modern 3 building complex with a courtyard in the middle, green plants, and of course, vending machines. I was warmly welcomed by the faculty and staff. I finished my admission paperwork and the next day learned more about the structure of classes. I was to spend 6 weeks studying in the Communication Japanese course at the Naganuma School. Most of my previous language learning has been somewhat freeform, so I had difficulty getting used to the Quartet textbook that we used. Of course, I was also struggling physically to adapt to the heat and humidity. My brain was exhausted as I recovered from jet lag and tried to find a daily routine.
I’m very glad I had opportunities to visit some friends living in Japan, which helped me feel less lonely. I caught up over conveyor belt sushi with a classmate from my college Japanese program who was finishing up his study abroad semester. I also got to ride the shinkansen down to Osaka to hang out with a friend who is currently teaching English in Japan. We went to a cat-themed exhibition at the Osaka Museum of Natural History and did some other tourist-y things, but what most impacted me was just getting to travel outside of Tokyo. Don’t get me wrong, the convenience of the city is unparalleled, but one of my favorite things about Japan was the natural landscape. I was impressed with the way people curated gardens even in their condensed city apartments. The rural farmland and mountains, though, were unbelievably green, thanks to the frequent rain. I spent a different weekend taking a day trip out to Akiruno, a river valley just under 2 hours outside of Tokyo. It was also gorgeous. Swimming in a river was part of my Japan bucket list. I forgot water shoes so the rocks hurt my feet, but it was worth it.
These kinds of adventures happened mostly on weekends. On weekdays, I attended school in the mornings. Afterwards, I would generally go to lunch at a cafe or grab a quick convenience store bento before going home for a nap. In the evenings I did homework worksheets as well as doing the reading for class the next day. Probably the most rewarding chapter for me was when we got to read excerpts from fiction or narrative writing. I’ve read so many news articles in my studies that it was refreshing to look at a new kind of writing, and I want to try to read more Japanese fiction in the future. I spent this summer trying to improve my reading and listening abilities. Every single moment was a practice opportunity, whether I was listening to the announcements on the bus or trying to read a handwritten menu.
As the weeks went on, I got to know my classmates better. I really appreciate that the Naganuma School caters to students from many different countries. I made friends from Taiwan, India, China, and South Korea. I was the youngest person in my class and the only college student, but we had fun going out together to eat and sing karaoke. I really liked the challenge of communicating with people who did not speak much English. Since Japanese was our only common language, we had to use Japanese. Of course I made a lot of small talk with various native Japanese speakers at bars or cafes, but it was a lot less intimidating with my classmates, because we were all on the same playing field.
My time at Naganuma came to an end so quickly. I was overwhelmed by the kindness shown to me by my classmates and teachers. A friend even made a reservation at an izakaya to throw me a farewell party. I had to hug everyone goodbye and leave early to take the bus from Shibuya back to my sharehouse, where I spent the rest of the night packing up my belongings.
To round out my last handful of days in Japan, I flew all the way to Hokkaido for the sole purpose of visiting Upopoy, the National Ainu Museum. I have had an interest in Ainu culture for a long time, and have used online references from Upopoy in Japanese projects for years, so visiting in person was a dream come true. Despite the stormy typhoon weather, it was one of the highlights of my entire trip. In addition to seeing the museum and participating in a number of cultural activities, I spent my time resting and recovering from busy city life while appreciating the nature of Hokkaido. Everything went more or less smoothly until my last 24 hours in Japan. Planes were delayed because of the aforementioned typhoons, and I didn’t quite understand what was going on because the Japanese part of my brain was completely worn out. I was put on standby and worried that I would not make it to Tokyo in time for my flight back home to the US. The ANA gate agents were very kind and patient as I cried, and they rushed to find a solution for the distressed and confused foreigner in front of them. They managed to get me a ticket with Air Do, and sprinted with me to get to the right gate so I could board as the last passenger on the last plane out of New Chitose Airport that night. What a relief.
The two things that left the greatest impression on me about Japan were the beauty of the natural landscape (as described above) and the food. Those two things are sort of intertwined, because I tried to seek out local food and really savored all the different kinds of okazu, or vegetable side dishes. I appreciated the way that food was laid out beautifully in teishoku sets. I sought out restaurants with vegetarian options in Tokyo that each had their own takes on traditional dishes as well as Japanized Western food. I also worked my way through a wide variety of konbini meals and cheap but still delicious bentos. I don’t eat beef, but in Hokkaido I made sure to support the local dairy industry by eating lots of soft serve ice cream.
I am glad to have made it through my travels safely, with a whole lot of new self-confidence and pride in my Japanese ability. As I reflect on my experiences though, I know that I did not do any of this on my own. I am grateful to everyone who has taught me Japanese in the past. Thank you to my community of past teachers, friends, coworkers, and classmates, all of whom were in my mind as I did my best to make the most of this opportunity. Thank you to my family and loved ones, who supported me emotionally and financially. Thank you to GWU, the Naganuma School, and ANA. Thank you to all the friends I made in Japan. Lastly, I send thanks to all the anonymous encounters with people like shop staff, grandmas at rajio taisou, bus drivers, and everyone else who was kind to me while I tried my best to live my everyday life in Japan.
I had a whirlwind of an experience in Japan this summer.
I studied abroad in Nagoya from Fall 2022 to July 2023, and when I got back to my home university of UNC Charlotte, one of my professors told me about J.LIVE Talk. The previous year I had done my university’s speech contest as well as Duke University’s regional speech contest, so I thought I would give another speech contest a try. It obviously took a lot of hard work and consumed a lot of my time, but in the end, I was somehow able to return to Nagoya by studying abroad at Nanzan University.
Nanzan University offers both dorms and homestays as housing options, so I chose to do a homestay since I was unable to do so at the university where I had studied previously. When I arrived for my first day in Nagoya, my host family met me at Chubu Centrair International Airport to welcome me back. While returning to Nagoya felt like coming back home, this host family also warmly welcomed me into their home and made me feel like one of their own. We quickly went from speaking in keigo to tameguchi, and they took me out shopping and to the local festival in my first few days back. My host parents also spoke in their own Japanese dialects, which was wonderful for me because I love Japanese dialects and am considering researching them in graduate school. There is so much I could say about my host family, from the meals they cooked for me to the fun times I was able to spend with them both in and outside the home with them, and I couldn’t possibly express my gratitude to them all in one post.
My time spent physically at Nanzan University was possibly a bit unique. The highest level of Japanese offered during Nanzan’s summer program, Level VI, goes through Quartet II. I had already gone through Quartet II the previous summer before passing JLPT N1, so while my Japanese may not be perfect, the level was a bit low for me. However, the Level VI professor recognized that, so she occasionally gave me separate assignments and had me act as an assistant in some activities. She also knew that I was interested in going on to graduate school to study linguistics in the future, so she assigned a linguistics book for me to read and discuss with her and another professor when we had time. While I did not get to interact with each Japanese instructor at Nanzan, I could feel how dedicated they were to each student’s growth in Japanese while encouraging us to enjoy our time in Japan.
After class, I spent a lot of time in a place called Japan Plaza. Japan Plaza is a place where, as a rule, you can only speak Japanese, so I went there almost every day to practice speaking and make friends. The TAs who work at Japan Plaza are all students too, and they all simply enjoy speaking with exchange students and getting to know everyone, but they’re also willing to help students with homework and answer Japanese-related questions. Japan Plaza has a variety of games, from basic cards to things like Nagoya-ben Karuta or kendama, and I had a lot of fun playing games with them, but I also really enjoyed just speaking with everyone and getting to hear their experiences as Nanzan students. Some of the TAs are also graduate students, so I got to hear about graduate school and about the opportunities at Nanzan for students interested in Japanese linguistics and Japanese education. It’s also thanks to one of those TAs that I was able to meet with a Nanzan University professor to discuss Japanese dialect research as part of my graduate school considerations. I made a lot of good memories there, and I really miss going there now that I’m back in the US.
Nanzan also offers field trips throughout the summer. I was able to go on a field to trip to the neighboring prefecture, Gifu, where international students were grouped with Japanese students to tour Gujō Hachiman and Gero Onsen, two famous tourist destinations. Thanks to that trip I became good friends with the person I sat next to on the bus, and we actually hung out even after the field trip ended and shortly before I left Japan. And thanks to her, I was able to participate for a couple weeks in her senior seminar linguistics class which examined linguistics by comparing English and Japanese, so I was able to experience something not ordinarily offered to summer program students. I was also able to take part in their Yukata Festival, where I was able to wear a yukata to class and make some friends with other people wearing yukata. I think Nanzan does a good job at creating opportunities for international students to interact with domestic students, and I’m thankful I was able to participate in all these things to the extent that I did.
Aside from things directly related to Nanzan, I spent a lot of time (I mean, a LOT of time) in Nagoya meeting with friends and professors from the last time I was in Japan.
I want to write here about how much I genuinely love Nagoya. It’s my impression that, before coming to Japan, most people fantasize about going to places like Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka – places that are known for famous tourist destinations and having famous scenery. But as a learner and lover of Japanese language and culture, I absolutely adore Nagoya. While Nagoya is not well-known for tourist destinations (aside from the newly built Ghibli Park!), it does have quiet parks filled with nature and Tokyo-like city areas. It is also famous for all kinds of foods, like tebasaki, miso-nikomi udon, and misokatsu, with misokatsu being possibly my favorite food in the world. While most people in Aichi Prefecture speak standard Japanese, it is also surrounded by Mie, Gifu, and Shizuoka, prefectures where people tend to speak in a stronger dialect, so if you’re interested in dialect and you’re listening for it you can hear all kinds of wonderful varieties of Japanese in Nagoya. Also, perhaps it’s because there are not a lot of international tourists in Nagoya, but as a student I generally do not feel as though I am a separate part of Nagoya compared to the Japanese people that live there. People seem to understand that, as a non-Japanese person in Nagoya, I must be here for school or work, and so treat me no differently than a Japanese person so long as I speak Japanese. I genuinely think a lot of my growth in Japanese is due to studying not just in Japan but specifically in Nagoya, and I hope to return there someday.
As you can likely tell by how I write, I am far more focused on people than I am on things or seeing certain sights, but to me that is the whole point of learning and enjoying the Japanese language journey. Maybe it all sounds so calm and simple now that I’ve written down, but I genuinely was out spending time with people until returning home around midnight almost every night for about two months. I was in Nagoya for about a year until last summer, but my time in Nagoya this summer was significantly busier and more filled with adventure. I met a lot with old friends and made more new friends than I could count. Returning to my second home, Nagoya, was filled with familiarity and warmth for me, and at the same time, so many new and unknown experiences thanks to Nanzan University.
I want to thank J.LIVE Talk directly for allowing me to participate in 2023 and for giving me this opportunity and for allowing me to go back the place that feels more like home than home. I would like to thank Nanzan University for providing an environment that fosters growth, fun, and intercultural communication. I also want to thank ANA for their contribution and the wonderful service they offered both pre, during, and post-flight. They made everything about the long flight from the US to Japan feel not so long by being helpful and courteous at each stage of the journey. Lastly, I want to thank my host family one more time, because they did so much for me to enjoy my time in Japan and ensure that I had a comfortable environment to return to every day.
This experience motivates me to continue my Japanese language journey and do what I can to return to Japan long-term as soon as possible. I highly encourage anyone considering it to apply for J.LIVE Talk, especially if you’re willing to risk having the experience of a lifetime.
