Posts published in “United States”

By Miho Eguchi, Iwami Chisuikan High School

Recently, the Japanese government is moving toward accepting more foreign workers. According to newspaper reports, the working population of Japan is shrinking. That is why foreign workers are needed. What worries me is that this way of thinking lacks the perspective of foreign workers’ happiness. Does the Japanese government care about the welfare of the new working population?

I understand how hard it is to live in a foreign country. Two years ago, I lived in the United States with my family for about a year. Before moving there, I thought I would get used to the new life in America soon because my English was the best in my junior high school. However, I was wrong.

My new life in the United States was painful. I felt lonely among my new classmates because I could not share my interests with my peers. I missed my old Japanese life, and I wished I could go back to Japan. It made me so depressed when I saw pictures of my old friends on their school trip and at school festivals.  I felt so isolated from my peers both in the United States and Japan.

What cured my homesickness was meeting people who cared about the hardship of Japanese residents in the United States. Once a month, I joined a social gathering where Japanese and American people shared time together. It was called “Japanese Table Talk.” At Japanese Table Talk, Japanese people temporarily living in the U.S. ate dinner with local Americans.  Japanese housewives brought delicious foods from our home country. I felt I was in Japan at those gatherings. What surprised me most was that Japanese Table Talk was organized by a group of American volunteers in the community, not the Japanese members.

Thanks to the warm support I received from my host country, my homesickness was eased. If someone new needs help, I would like to help him or her because I understand the culture shock.

I am worried if Japanese society is ready to welcome people from overseas. In my opinion, we should welcome non-Japanese people as important members of a community, not just “workers.” I believe that Japanese residents should be more sympathetic to people who go through a hard time in Japan. If Japanese care about new neighbors, they will be adjusted to their new life in Japan, and they will be happier.

By Moeno Uchimura, CWU

As an international student at Central Washington University, USA, I participated in American Halloween events for the first time in October 2018.

Americans prepare well for Halloween. For example, in the season of Halloween, a lot of pumpkins are sold in stores. They buy pumpkins to carve jack-o-lantern, which is a symbol of Halloween. They decorate their houses with these pumpkins in front of the doors. Also they use dolls of ghosts, skeletons, spiders, and witches to create a spooky atmosphere in their gardens. So, when I go around the town, I could see a lot of pumpkins and other ornaments.

There was a pumpkin-carving event at CWU. The campus was decorated with a lot of carved pumpkins. In the stores and dining halls at CWU, there were ornaments such as pumpkins, spiders, mummies and so on.

I thought that American people cherished Halloween more than Japanese because Japanese people enjoy Halloween only on October 31. Conversely, American people enjoyed preparing for Halloween starting a few weeks before Halloween. I have never been so many carved pumpkins in Japan.

Costumes are very important in American Halloween. In order to enjoy Halloween, I went to a store to buy a costume. There was a store that sold only Halloween costumes near the university. So, I went to the store and bought a cape and blood glue. I was very surprised because there were a lot of costumes, masks, toys, ornaments and so on.

I think that, in Japan, people often put on anime character’s costumes, but American people wear costumes of ghosts, vampires, zombies and so on. So, these costumes were very real and scary. Surprisingly, the nail or fingers such as vampires or monsters, or arms were sold, and these goods were very scary.

I wore a black one-piece dress and a cape, also used blood glue on my face.

After the class, wearing my vampire costume, I went to downtown near the university with friends to look at the atmosphere of the town. There were any children wearing costumes and holding baskets. Those children went to the houses and said, “Trick or treat”, and they got sweets. The decorations for each house were very good and scary. Especially, skeletons and ghosts were very real. I also got a lot of sweets

By Masafumi Oe

Almost two months have passed since I arrived at Washington, the United States. I enjoy learning new things at Wenatchee Valley College as an international student.

I have three classes a day from Friday to Saturday. They are English 92, EAP075, and English 97. One period lasts 60 minutes. My first class starts at 9 o’clock, the second class at 10 o’clock and the third one at 12 o’clock.

English 92 is Reading. Almost all the students taking this course are not American students. The students learn how to read effectively. For example, we try to find the main idea of a paragraph.

EAP is for international students. There are five students. We learn about American culture, costumes, traditions and life style, American English pronunciation, listening and note-taking, conversation role playing and presentations. We practice conversation in easy English.

English 97 is Writing. Most of the students are native English speakers, so this class has only two international students. We learn how to write reader-centered paragraphs.

Although I have only three courses, I take classes every day and the teachers give the students a lot of assignments. So I am quite busy.

I have lunch time between the second class and the third class. Almost of all the time when I have lunch, I go back to the dorm and eat lunch like bread or chicken. Sometimes, I go to cafeteria and have lunch, but it is expensive.

After class, I have tutoring from 1 pm-5 pm every Tuesday and Thursday. This tutoring is for international students, and we can ask questions about classes or assignments. There are nine international students, and we have two teachers in this tutoring, so we can spend a meaningful time, and we can practice conversation in English as well. It is so helpful to study English.

On no tutoring day, I often go to gym and do exercise. There are various machines for workout, so I can do workout effectively. In addition, I always play basketball after workout. It is a good chance to make friends. In fact, I played basketball with strangers and then we became friends. When I study alone, I usually go to library. It is a good place to study because it is so quiet, and teacher helps me if I want. Also, there are many computers and printers that students can use. A study room can be reserved if a student wants to do group work.

The dorm where I live is so close to the campus. It takes just one minute to go to the dorm from the campus. I share one room with another student who is Japanese. I share a kitchen with 24 people and a shower room and bath room with six people. At first there were a bed and a cupboard for each person in the dorm room, so my roommate and I bought a refrigerator and bedding. There is a share room in the dorm. There I can talk with many students.

On weekends, I often go shopping. I can get on a bus for free because I am a student, so I go shopping by bus. It takes about five minutes to go to a small store. This store has grocery mainly. When I want to get more things, I go to a bigger store by taking a bus for 20 minutes. I also have a good time with my friends on weekends such as watching movies or shopping.