MLO 5: Cultural Internalization and Language Immersion
5.1. Students demonstrate that they have actively immersed themselves in authentic Japanese cultural and linguistic environments and have internalized the language and cultural experience, from which they have developed a personal understanding and new perspectives of the community.
I can say that without a doubt, my study abroad experience in Japan has been the single greatest experience of my life. While I was there I grew so much as a person, and greatly improved my level of Japanese. I made friends from all over the world and got to learn about so many different cultures. I stayed in the International dorm of Chuo University in Hino, a suburban city about 45 minutes by train from metropolitan Tokyo. While I was there I decided to only take Japanese language classes, and with the rest of my time, try to take in as much of Japan as I possibly could.
Before I had gone to Japan, the biggest item on my agenda was to improve my level of Japanese. The biggest item on my agenda was also the easiest item on my agenda because before I went to Japan, my level of Japanese was pretty awful. The next item on the agenda was to have as many great experiences as I possibly could. Where most Japanese would hate it, I loved taking the last train home from Shinjuku. I had to see it for myself to believe it. However, once was enough for me. While I was in Japan, I was also fortunate enough to get to go to places like Gifu, Kyoto, Osaka, and Hiroshima. While I was there, I also had the opportunity to teach English on two occasions. One was a volunteer program for the children who were affected by the Sendai earthquake and tsunami, and the other was a paid teaching job at a Kindergarten in Tokyo. For the Volunteer program, we had received an email from the international center at Chuo asking us to participate in an English camp in Sendai for children. While there, we cooked food, played games outside and did a number of English learning games. After the program was over, they took us on a tour to see the affected areas of Sendai. It was one of the most intense experiences I’ve ever had. For the job teaching at a Kindergarten, I also received an email from the international center, but this time it was a paid part time job. I had sent a resume as soon as I possibly could and got hired within a week. I was more of an assistant than a teacher as all the lesson plans were designed by other teachers and I just presented the information. I enjoyed working there, but the time commitment was hard to manage as I had originally came to study abroad and not work. The commute there and back was about an hour and a half and I only worked 3 hours a day. It was a hard decision but I decided to quit after a couple months. Overall, I would say that I accomplished everything that I had set out to do, but the thing is that I didn’t set many goals. The main idea was to just live in Japan and get all the experiences that I possibly could.
Some things that I really wanted to do while I was there but couldn’t were to go skiing, go to the Fuji Rock Festival and to eat at Sukiyabashi no Jiro. I didn’t go skiing because I didn’t want to go by myself and all my other friends were traveling at the time when the snow was best. Fuji Rock was a giant three day music festival in Niigata. There were over a hundred bands that played, with two giant names headlining the shows each night. Again, I couldn’t find anyone to go with me, the tickets were about 400 dollars and also, the day that I wanted to see the most took place on finals day. Sukiyabashi no Jiro is a sushi restaurant in Ginza that is owned and operated by three michelin star sushi chef Jiro Ono. There’s only one thing on the menu which is the chef’s recommended course: fifteen courses in twenty minutes. Jiro would make each piece of sushi specifically for you with perfect timing in between servings. He would make one piece at a time, hand it to you, watch you eat it, and then make you the next one. The reason why I didn’t go to this was for one, it was three hundred dollars, and two, I couldn’t find it. The restaurant itself is underground, next to a corporation building.
The hardest thing for me to get used to while I was in Japan was the heat and mosquitos. The only time that I thought to myself “did I make a mistake?” was the first day that I had gotten there. When I had gotten off of the plane, it was miserably hot (I got used to it) and my Japanese wasn’t very strong so I had a hard time navigating the signs. luckily, most of the employees in the airport had spoken English so I had managed to get to Tachikawa, the connecting city from Narita to around where I was going to live, by airbus. From there I had to haul all my luggage on to a crowded normal bus and hope that I was going the right way. As soon as I heard the bus driver say Chuo I got off as soon as I could. So there I was at the front gate of Chuo, staring at a giant hill. I dragged all my luggage up the giant hill in humid, 90 degree weather and happened upon the international center by accident. The head of the international center then drove me to my dorm, and when I saw how small my room was, was when I asked myself if I had made a mistake. However, from the very next day on, I enjoyed every second of my time in Japan.
Chuo LESCANT Flickr Project
I can say that without a doubt, my study abroad experience in Japan has been the single greatest experience of my life. While I was there I grew so much as a person, and greatly improved my level of Japanese. I made friends from all over the world and got to learn about so many different cultures. I stayed in the International dorm of Chuo University in Hino, a suburban city about 45 minutes by train from metropolitan Tokyo. While I was there I decided to only take Japanese language classes, and with the rest of my time, try to take in as much of Japan as I possibly could.
Before I had gone to Japan, the biggest item on my agenda was to improve my level of Japanese. The biggest item on my agenda was also the easiest item on my agenda because before I went to Japan, my level of Japanese was pretty awful. The next item on the agenda was to have as many great experiences as I possibly could. Where most Japanese would hate it, I loved taking the last train home from Shinjuku. I had to see it for myself to believe it. However, once was enough for me. While I was in Japan, I was also fortunate enough to get to go to places like Gifu, Kyoto, Osaka, and Hiroshima. While I was there, I also had the opportunity to teach English on two occasions. One was a volunteer program for the children who were affected by the Sendai earthquake and tsunami, and the other was a paid teaching job at a Kindergarten in Tokyo. For the Volunteer program, we had received an email from the international center at Chuo asking us to participate in an English camp in Sendai for children. While there, we cooked food, played games outside and did a number of English learning games. After the program was over, they took us on a tour to see the affected areas of Sendai. It was one of the most intense experiences I’ve ever had. For the job teaching at a Kindergarten, I also received an email from the international center, but this time it was a paid part time job. I had sent a resume as soon as I possibly could and got hired within a week. I was more of an assistant than a teacher as all the lesson plans were designed by other teachers and I just presented the information. I enjoyed working there, but the time commitment was hard to manage as I had originally came to study abroad and not work. The commute there and back was about an hour and a half and I only worked 3 hours a day. It was a hard decision but I decided to quit after a couple months. Overall, I would say that I accomplished everything that I had set out to do, but the thing is that I didn’t set many goals. The main idea was to just live in Japan and get all the experiences that I possibly could.
Some things that I really wanted to do while I was there but couldn’t were to go skiing, go to the Fuji Rock Festival and to eat at Sukiyabashi no Jiro. I didn’t go skiing because I didn’t want to go by myself and all my other friends were traveling at the time when the snow was best. Fuji Rock was a giant three day music festival in Niigata. There were over a hundred bands that played, with two giant names headlining the shows each night. Again, I couldn’t find anyone to go with me, the tickets were about 400 dollars and also, the day that I wanted to see the most took place on finals day. Sukiyabashi no Jiro is a sushi restaurant in Ginza that is owned and operated by three michelin star sushi chef Jiro Ono. There’s only one thing on the menu which is the chef’s recommended course: fifteen courses in twenty minutes. Jiro would make each piece of sushi specifically for you with perfect timing in between servings. He would make one piece at a time, hand it to you, watch you eat it, and then make you the next one. The reason why I didn’t go to this was for one, it was three hundred dollars, and two, I couldn’t find it. The restaurant itself is underground, next to a corporation building.
The hardest thing for me to get used to while I was in Japan was the heat and mosquitos. The only time that I thought to myself “did I make a mistake?” was the first day that I had gotten there. When I had gotten off of the plane, it was miserably hot (I got used to it) and my Japanese wasn’t very strong so I had a hard time navigating the signs. luckily, most of the employees in the airport had spoken English so I had managed to get to Tachikawa, the connecting city from Narita to around where I was going to live, by airbus. From there I had to haul all my luggage on to a crowded normal bus and hope that I was going the right way. As soon as I heard the bus driver say Chuo I got off as soon as I could. So there I was at the front gate of Chuo, staring at a giant hill. I dragged all my luggage up the giant hill in humid, 90 degree weather and happened upon the international center by accident. The head of the international center then drove me to my dorm, and when I saw how small my room was, was when I asked myself if I had made a mistake. However, from the very next day on, I enjoyed every second of my time in Japan.
Chuo LESCANT Flickr Project