A Life Changing Journey

From September 2014 to August 2015, I studied the Japanese language and culture in Nagasaki, Japan. When I first landed in Fukuoka, largest city in the southern Japanese of Kyushu, I only brought one piece of carry-on luggage and the excitement to explore Japan.

I arrived a week before most of the other students and took that time to meet new people and explore every nook and cranny of the city. I was far more successful then I ever expected. As an example, thanks to a tip from a friend, I was able to meet the head of the Gofuku Jinga (Nation Shrine) in Fukuoka and have a several hour discussion about Shintoism with him. This was only the beginning, and just by being outgoing I was about to meet several different amazing people in Fukuoka alone. Towards the end of that week, when the other foreign exchange student arrived, I have able to guide 16 of students around and tour them around the major points of the city. During that Saturday, I had a lot of fun explaining cultural and historical points along with teaching some Japanese. This part of the experience made me really start to consider the benefits of a career in teaching others.

Thanks to the success of the previous week, once I started taking classes, I jumped right into as many opportunities to give back and teach some English. In between my classes, I found a couple English classes to assist with, such as an English conversation class and drama class. The drama class was an especially rewarding experience, since I was able to help the teacher split the class into smaller groups between different scenes. I had a lot of fun challenging my group to do better than the teacher’s group and that challenge turned us into a very close team. Even though the class was at the end of the day, I was happy to see the students were excited about the drama class and had be taking rehearsing their lines seriously. We eventually tried to establish a drama club at the school.

While in another country it was recommended to me to only speak in my target language, taking time to teach English gave me an opportunity to meet more of the Japanese students. After all, because of the language barrier, Japanese students and American student rarely took the same classes. Since I was able to meet more Japanese students, I was invited to many different local events. A couple of the events were related to improving tourism in Nagasaki and I was able to meet people of the local community. This led to making even more friends and being invited to other events. This entire experience taught more how to network in Japan and to simply say, “yes” when presented with a new opportunity. All to often, we tend to come up with excuses and objections to new experiences and opportunities. If I decline any of these chances, I honestly believe my life would be different and less fulfilling.

Each event, opportunity, new friend, and experience unlocked more doors to new chances and taught me that the world really does end with “you”. In other words, it is up to you whether the world is large place with endless possibilities or a small bubble in room and a TV. I hope one day, as an teacher, I can encourage students to discover that truth.