Akito Yatsugi (Japan, 2022-23)

Japan is my second home. Winter, spring, and fall in San Diego were dedicated to endless schoolwork, karate lessons, Japanese school on Saturdays, and baseball practice. But summer in Japan was always my call toward adventure. In the safety of my grandmother's care, my summers in Japan were spent trapping Kabutomushi beetles bigger than anything you could find back in San Diego, eating endless GariGari popsicles and heaps of Obachan's beef curry, and being a menace to my cousins and siblings. I already knew what Japan meant to me as a child. But what challenges and new adventures lie ahead for me? Feeling excited and admittedly a little nervous, I knew from the moment I stepped foot back in Japan that this experience would be different than the summers before.

This time Japan was something new. I thought my yearly trips to visit family had made me know Japan pretty well but in time I learned there was so much more to be discovered. My study abroad experience was the first time I was ever completely independent from my family. Having responsibility for every decision, big or small, seemed daunting at first. But gradually I learned that mindset and attitude have an impact on my experience. I learned how to roll with the punches and make the best of each situation. For instance, going on solo trips to neighboring prefectures I would encounter numerous challenges that would set the plan off course. I grew to be adaptable, making unexpected situations into an opportunity to learn from a new experience.

My study abroad in Japan encouraged me to grow more independent, but it also helped me focus my future career path. I had never considered that Japan could host endless opportunities, but my study abroad experience has fostered a new understanding. My identity as a Japanese-American has given me a deep insight into the culture and society of both Japan and America. Coming to Japan allowed me to notice things about my home country that I may not have appreciated or criticized if I had not taken the opportunity to step back and see it from a different perspective. Gaining new insights has equipped me with the skills, knowledge, and courage to be a bridge between two very different cultures. A lifelong dream of mine is to one day start my own business. While I'm still trying to figure out where life will take me, I am confident that my time in Japan will be valuable as I try to blend the best of the countries that raised me.

My time in Japan was filled with many happy memories, but the moments spent with my dormmates were truly unforgettable. When I arrived in the dorms, these people were first strangers, then friends, and finally family. Cooking in a small kitchen shoulder-to-shoulder reminded me of being home, and suddenly, San Diego and family didn't feel so far away. It was in these tiny everyday moments that deeper conversations and close connections were formed. Together we cheered on our home countries during the FIFA World Cup, traveled to new sights, embarked on spontaneous adventures via bike ride, and took the occasional (or not-so-occasional) midnight ramen run. Our time together was marked by these special tiny moments that I will never forget.

Japan is still home to me, but now filled with lifelong friendships and memories. Even as this chapter of my life comes to a close, I feel with a new sense of purpose that my adventures in Japan aren't ending but are only just beginning. Thank you to the Chris Borton Memorial Scholarship program for supporting this wonderful opportunity.

Megumi Kawamura (Japan 2018-19)

When I first got on the plane to embark on my year abroad, I had no idea just how big of an impact the upcoming year would have on me. I anticipated an exciting year full of new adventures, but something I could have never predicted was just how much I would learn about myself and the world and transform as a person. This past year that I spent in Tokyo was truly the best year of my life, and I can confidently say that the decision to spend my third year of college in Japan was the best decision I have ever made.

Being someone that was very attached to family and home, what surprised me the most about living in Japan was just how much I fell in love with living there. Everything from the kind people, being able to walk anywhere, the 24 hour convenience stores, feeling safe at all times, the cleanliness and efficiency of the train system, the buildings, the amazing food, and vending machines on every corner — to name a few things — made Tokyo my favorite city in the world. There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about how much I miss living in Japan. In California, you have to drive hours to get to and from major cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. But in Japan, everything is so close together that you can go from the major wards of Shibuya to Harajuku to Roppongi to Daikanyama to Ebisu with just a short train ride, sometimes even on foot. I love that Tokyo is one big, lively city but the 23 wards that it is comprised of are each so distinctive and unique. Every week was an adventure, getting to explore new places and restaurants with some of the best people I’ve ever met. I never thought I would find a place that felt just as home-y as the city I grew up in, but Japan quickly became home to me. Even now, I find my heart aching when I see old pictures and videos of my time abroad, and I cannot wait until I get to go back. Frankly, I’ve never missed anything as much I miss living in Japan.

Growing up, I always felt extremely Japanese. Having grown up in a Japanese-American household, speaking Japanese with my mom, and visiting Japan every few years to see my grandparents — I always felt very closely connected to my Japanese heritage. What instantly took me by surprise when I moved to Japan, however, was how overwhelmingly American and like an outsider I felt. Things about me such as my mannerisms, not being perfectly native in Japanese, and the way I dressed made me feel extremely distant from the culture that had always been my source of identity. Though this was an unexpected realization, it made me appreciate aspects about my upbringing in ways I had never considered before. I thought of it as having the best of both worlds and was so grateful to have both a Japanese and American parent that made me go to Japanese school every week when I was a kid. I joined a Waseda tennis circle called MatchPoint where I was the only foreigner, and the other Japanese students thought it was so cool that I could speak fluent English and Japanese. I would always laugh when they would ask me to say things like “squirrel,” a notoriously hard word to pronounce with a Japanese accent because of the combination of “r” and “l.” Being Japanese-American has a new and greater meaning for me, and I ultimately left Japan with a stronger sense of self, identity, and deeper appreciation for Japan that I could have only obtained by living there for a year.

Though I’ve always been told I was mature and independent for my age, I feel as though I “grew up” a lot over the course of the past year. In some ways, I think the person I was before I left for Japan and the person I am now are very different. For the first time in my life, I was truly by myself — my parents, friends, roommates all on the other side of the world. Navigating a country where the predominant language was not English was challenging, but it ultimately made me a more confident and capable person. During my year abroad, I was also lucky enough to be able to travel Southeast Asia for the first time in my life. It was truly an eye-opening experience getting to explore such beautiful countries that were so different from America and Japan. The challenges and stress that can come from traveling to a foreign country enriched my entire experience and stick out as some of the most unforgettable parts of this journey. In Bali, my friend and I became friends with our driver as we bonded while we were stuck at the airport until 6 am because he accidentally dropped his car keys down the elevator shaft. Because of this experience, our new friend offered to be our driver for a whole day at a fraction of the price it would have cost us to hire a real driver, and took us to all of the best local places in Bali. In Malaysia, two kindhearted strangers who were dining at the same restaurant as us offered to drive us the twenty minutes back to our hotel when we learned that our only way home — the rideshare app, Grab — did not offer pickups in the rural area our restaurant was located. I am so grateful that I not only got to spend one year exploring Japan, but also got to see a little bit more of the world and experience all that Southeast Asia has to offer. I left Japan as a more worldly and open-minded person with a newfound passion for experiencing new things and seeing as much of the world as I can.

Living abroad for a year taught me so many valuable life lessons that I will treasure and use as a foundation for the rest of my life. My world was expanded significantly, which really allowed me to see the bigger picture and adopt a more positive, worldly outlook on life. I used to get stressed very easily over little things, but living abroad showed me what is actually important in life and what is not, teaching me to stop stressing over minuscule and insignificant things because they just aren’t worth it. I’ve made lifelong friends from all over the world, traveled throughout Southeast Asia for the first time, and experienced life outside of America. What has stuck with me the most, however, is just how important it is to get outside of your comfort zone. I wholeheartedly agree with the quote, “life begins outside of your comfort zone” and will embrace this concept whenever I am faced with a challenge or momentous decision throughout my life. I look forward to what the future holds and am so grateful to be able to use the valuable lessons I’ve learned while abroad as a guide for the rest of my life. Thank you so much to Ray and Verena Borton and the entire foundation for this opportunity.

Isabella Silva (Japan, 2018-19)

My year abroad in Japan has finally come to its close; this last semester seemed very long and very short at the same time. At the start of the semester, I was quite sad to go back knowing that my best friend would not be there to greet me and go on more adventures with me as she was only a semester student and had returned to her home in the Netherlands. However, with the close of that door brought new students, who would become part of our family, to the dorm. That is one of the beautiful things about studying abroad, in this past year I have met more lifelong friends from so many unique backgrounds than I have in my entire life. I now know that there are homes across many countries just waiting for me to come to visit and reconnect with my friends.

The excitement of starting new classes last semester also helped me move past the sadness of missing my friends.  I continued to progress with my Japanese language abilities by taking Comprehensive Japanese 4 and Kanji 4. I also took a beginning Korean language class taught in Japanese which was quite difficult at times but helped me to reinforce both my foreign languages. In the SILS lecture department I took a Korean Media course, a Korean literature course, and a Gender Studies course—this being my favorite class I took at Waseda; I had taken gender studies courses before but this one was unique in that it focused on Japan and offered me new insight. In the extracurricular field, I joined a dance circle called WIF (Waseda International Festival). The branch of WIF that I joined focused on learning Kpop dances which was really nice for me as it was similar to the club I am involved with at UCSD called KOTX. This circle was one of the first opportunities I had to interact with the Japanese students and allowed me to use my Japanese language skills outside of the classroom setting in a more colloquial way. Outside of school, my weekends were filled with going to fun events held in the city such as Tokyo Rainbow Pride, a Taiwanese festival, fireworks in Asakusa, and going to an amusement park.

Looking back at my life before coming to Japan really shows me how far I have come not only with my language skills but also as a person. I feel more independent, confident, and mature. I have come to see the truth of Japanese culture is far more complex than the crazy anime culture of Akihabara or super traditional ways of the past as primarily shown on television. I have also noticed a lot about America and have come to a newfound appreciation of my home country through studying abroad. While my experience was not 100% what I had expected going into it, if given the chance I would do it all over again and would encourage others to study abroad as well.

Emily Yeh (Japan, 2017-18)

My interest in environmental policy and sustainable development was developed during my time at the University of California. However, since the U.S. often falls short on adopting appropriate environmental policies, Japan has always been my regional interest. It is also an exceptional timing to study in Japan, as Tokyo is promoting a lot of new ideas relating to sustainable development for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. Through living in Japan and learning the Japanese language, I have become more determined in pursuing a career in sustainable development and environmental policy.

At Keio University, I was fortunate to enroll in the Japanese Language Program (JLP) that offered comprehensive and subject-specific Japanese language courses. My Japanese language skills improved immensely, and I am now capable of having long conversations in Japanese. Being able to do so also led me to new perspectives on Japan’s environmental policy, culture, and society since I can now speak with Japanese people directly and do not have to rely on secondary sources in English. This gave me a chance to restore my curiosity for various things in life. Since I now get to see a world that I was not able to see due to the language barrier, I now have access to so much more new information.

While I no longer plan on pursuing a PhD in political science, my research and career interest in environmental policy and sustainable development remain the same. I believe that I can contribute more as a non-academic given my communication skills and the ability to work with people from different fields. I became even more certain of this as I pick up the Japanese language. My international background has exposed me to different cultures, and I have come to notice that experiences like this require years of cultivation. People who speak British English and American English sometimes do not understand each other. There are cultural and regional barriers beyond the language barrier. While people can still communicate as long as they speak the same language, the ability to carry the conversation smoothly should not be undermined, especially when it comes the ease of collaboration. I truly believe that people with an international background and are multilingual will be the key to solving many global issues in the years to come.

One of my goals of this study abroad program was to integrate into the Japanese society. My past study abroad programs have always felt more temporary. Being one semester each, there were many things that I could wait until I get back to the U.S. However, this time, I lived more like a local. Language barrier remained as the biggest challenge; but being able to overcome that barrier was also the most rewarding. Looking back, it is interesting to notice that I have come a long way—from barely being able to speak on the phone to being able to confidently explain my situation in various cases. The process and progress are truly rewarding. As a foreigner, I have come to realize that never understanding 100% of what is being said is inevitable. In addition, finding alternative ways to express myself with the Japanese I know is the ultimate key to becoming integrated in Japan. I am grateful to say that I achieved my goals of this study abroad program.

Moving forward, although I have finished my UCSD degree this spring, the host institution, Keio University has offered me to keep studying in its Japanese Language Program this fall. I will also be seeking job opportunities in Tokyo.

Mikayla Webster (Japan 2016-17)

During my time abroad, I have learned more and in new ways about the world, studying, socializing, and myself than I could have even comprehended prior to my stay in Japan. Here I will attempt to briefly summarize the vast wealth of knowledge and insight I have gained over the past year, but in all honesty I do not think there are enough pieces of paper in the world to contain it all.

I will begin with Japan itself. Aside from a bit of history knowledge, sushi, and ninjas, I had very little exposure to Japanese culture before coming to Japan. One of the reasons I picked Japan is because of how different its upbringing is to America’s. I expected myself to be culturally shocked upon arrival, but could not truly anticipate how challenging culture and language barriers are.

English and Japanese share no language roots, therefore I had no basis for understanding the language upon arrival. As I studied the language, new challenges set in as I started to understand local culture through the language. While English has many temporal tenses, Japanese has only past and non-past. Rather, their infinite verb conjugations reflect social hierarchy. It enforces a distinction based on age and status that is inescapable. Over time the oppressive expectation that you must fulfill your societal role in Japan became harder and harder to swallow. As a foreigner, it felt especially tangible. No matter how well I tried to fit my role I still would never fit in. Honestly, I never truly came to terms with the language and culture clash.

However, this collective mentality also facilitates an air of kindness and willingness to self-sacrifice for the good of others the likes of which does not exist in America. Everyone is expected to treat those in need with extreme hospitality. It is expected, therefore many Japanese people comply. Before coming to Japan I was a vegetarian. When eating out with friends, I would request a place that had even a single vegetarian option. Unfortunately Sendai does not facilitate eating meatless. My Japanese friends would spend unreasonable amounts of time and effort attempting to find me a vegetarian dish. Where an American would have claimed it too difficult, my Japanese friends wanted nothing more than to help me through to completion. I gave up being a vegetarian before they gave up attempting to find me meatless cuisine. (Even today, though I have not been a vegetarian for months, they are still trying to help me find that vegetarian dish.) I want nothing more than to be able to bring this level of self-sacrifice back with me to America.

Next, I will address my extracurricular life. While I had many grand goals before going abroad such as becoming fluent in Japanese or writing a thesis-style paper based off of my lab work, my most realistic goal was just to survive and thrive. Unfortunately in terms of thriving, I have some remorse. My biggest regret while being in Japan was that I did not stay committed to a particular club or circle while here. I participated in many one-time events, attended some language exchange club meetings, and some badminton club meetings. Personal interaction with Japanese students is difficult, and it is through these clubs that you get to know locals. While I did make one very good Japanese friend while here, I made a bad habit of staying in my “English bubble” for a majority of my time here. Had I interacted with the local community more through clubs and organizations, I would have better language skills and understanding of local culture.

However, within my “English bubble” I made lifelong international friends. I find it somewhat ironic that while studying abroad in Japan, I was able to learn about countries such as Germany, Sweden, Spain, France, Venezuela, Indonesia, Taiwan, and more. In addition to my Japanese studies, I began to study German. Study of the German language coupled with advice from some of my dearest friends here have inspired me to pursue a Master’s degree abroad in Germany. I know that I will thrive pursuing a Master’s degree in Munich (I hope to attend the Technical University of Munich) because I have learned from the mistakes I made while trying to survive in Sendai. Had I not come to Japan, I would not have such optimistic and worldly plans for my Master’s education.

Next, my student life. At Tohoku University I spend one half of my time in classes and the other half in a laboratory. While there were some bumps in the road adjusting to a new system of learning, overall I am extremely appreciative of the myriad of hands-on learning experiences I had, especially in my laboratory. I was given “free reign” in my lab to use all of the equipment that I could not dream of touching in America. In my lab I learned Matlab programming. I learned to solder. I was able to use their anechoic room and run experiments unsupervised (after proper equipment-use training). I gained skills in Japan that I could not have gained in America, and at a faster pace because the pedagogic methods were so interactive.

Unfortunately I found my science classes to be much less engaging. At the University of California-San Diego, our classes meet three to four times a week, have weekly programming assignments, and at least two rigorous tests per quarter (often much more). If the teacher has to miss a class, they bring in a substitute. Our education is taken extremely seriously and much is expected of us. In our special international student classes, they do not hold us to very high standards. Classes only meet once a week, and are often cancelled. Homework assignments only occur twice or three times a semester. Sometimes there are no exams. I feel that without these pedagogic tools I was not able to learn as well in the classroom as I would have if I were in San Diego. My time in Japan made me extremely appreciative of the quality education I receive at UCSD. However, the extra free-time I had because my classes were so easy did allow me to explore Sendai, Japan, and other countries.

Lastly, I will address what I have cherished most while in Japan: my travels. I visited Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Vietnam, in addition to making many trips locally. I made a point to study a bit of the history, language, and culture of every place I went to. During my travels I underwent a bit of a transformation. I was extremely scared while first travelling: I tended to distrust everyone and kept to myself while entering a new situation. While travelling alone I met many locals and other travels who helped me realize something I always knew but never quite understood: Everyone, like me, is just human.

My time in Japan has motivated me to extend Japanese-style, self-sacrificial kindness to those with whom I empathize. My travels through South East Asia taught me empathy towards all humans - family, friends, acquaintances, and strangers. While my motivations for coming to Japan were focused on the advancement of my computer science education, in the end everything I do is by and for the people of this earth. What my time abroad has taught me is that I need to do right by every single one of them.

Sophia Osborne (Japan 2016-17)

Growing up, I knew from a young age that I would study abroad for a year in college. Both my parents did their junior year abroad, and it was basically expected of my siblings and I that we would go abroad. I also knew going into this experience what people usually learn from living in a new country during college; you learn more about yourself, you learn how to communicate in a different culture, you learn more about the language of the country, that sort of stuff, so I was expecting these kinds of personal changes from my year abroad. However, besides those aspects there are also a lot of other unexpected ways in which I think I’ve grown during this year because of the opportunity to come to Tokyo.

Compared to my parents’ study abroad experiences, my coming to Japan was a bit different in that I’ve grown up in Japan and I’ve been connected to the culture before coming here. This has colored my experience in a few ways that I hadn’t anticipated. For example, while some of my other exchange student friends have been exploring Tokyo for the first time in their lives, I’ve been re-exploring the city of my childhood, and re-familiarizing myself with things that used to come as second nature to my six-year-old self. One vivid memory I have from this year was on a very mundane stroll around the Yoyogi area of Tokyo with a Japanese friend, when suddenly we turned down a path to walk past a shrine, and the road stretching out of the shrine lined with summer food stalls overlooking a lily-covered pond jolted me violently back into a memory from my childhood when I was around five or six years old, and that memory was so incredibly powerful it felt like a jump cut transition from a movie transporting me back to the past. I inexplicably started crying, to my poor friend’s utter confusion.

In addition to re-connecting with my past through living in Tokyo, my language study has also been an important area of personal growth. I knew coming into this year that my Japanese would get better through studying, making friends and interacting with my environment, but I hadn’t realized how far that would take me. Over one of my school breaks, I had the chance to visit family friends from when we lived in Tokyo. Two years ago my sister and I had visited this family in Sapporo, Hokkaido when my Japanese was very minimal, and we had to translate through their daughter to communicate with the rest of the family. However this time when I visited, I could speak with all of the family members, including their grandparents who spoke with a rural Hokkaido accent. It meant so much to me that I’m now able to express all of my gratitude to them properly for taking care of me while I visited.

While there are many things that are familiar and comfortable about Japan for me, coming to the country again as an adult has made me realize things that I had no consciousness of as a child growing up in Japan, specifically how I stand out as a foreigner. In California, at least where I grew up, it’s hard to stand out as a foreigner from your surface appearance. But in Japan the “gaikokujin” (foreigner) effect is very obvious when I ride the public transportation or walk into a store, or especially when I go to my local public bath to enjoy a nice soak with my neighbors. Sometimes when I’ve gone out to eat with a Japanese friend, the store staff will address my friend instead of me when I order because they assume I don’t speak Japanese. I think for most people this wouldn’t bother them, but for me it’s been a bit frustrating, especially when I feel like I understand Japan well and I can communicate with ease. Occasionally however I’ve learned to revel in the “outsiderness” of being a foreigner in a so-called homogenous country by talking loudly with foreign friends in the streets (receiving long looks from Japanese passerby), and that is definitely something I would have never had the chance to experience in the U.S., where I rarely feel like I’m in the minority.

Beyond my cultural experiences in Japan however, I’ve also had the chance to grow more professionally and learn more about the Asia-Pacific region as a whole. I came into this year expecting to pursue my interest in East Asian historical issues more thoroughly through academic research, but I’ve had so many other opportunities to learn about other fields and future career options that I’ve ended up pursuing a different field altogether. Through my academic program at Waseda University, I was able to secure an internship with the Japanese think tank the Japan Forum on International Relations this semester. Not only have I been able to observe and experience Japanese office culture from my weekly internship, but I’ve also learned a lot more about Asian international relations in areas I had little knowledge of, such as economics through my projects with JFIR.

Additionally, throughout this year I’ve been a part of several academic extracurricular programs that have opened my eyes to what I’m capable of doing, and one of the most influential has been the Korea-America Student Conference (KASC). Last summer I participated in the conference as a delegate in South Korea before I left for Japan, and then after the conference I was elected to become one of the student Executive Committee members to lead this year’s conference in the US. Since September I’ve been working with a team of four American and four Korean college students to plan this summer’s three-week long conference. I’ve learned so much about professional networking, leadership, and some of the inner workings of the International Relations scene in Washington DC through my participation in KASC. In December we held a Trilateral Symposium with our sister program, the Japan-America Student Conference (JASC) where we students had the opportunity to speak with policy analysts and government officials on public panels relating to Japan-Korea-US issues. This was a dream come true for me, combining my interests in South Korea and Japan, and the chance to see my Korean friends meet and bond with my new Japanese friends was really inspiring.

Along with my year-long work for KASC this school year, during my spring vacation I also got the chance to take part in another student exchange type of academic program, but this time to Southeast Asia. With a program called Learning Across Borders, I traveled to Thailand and Malaysia with a group of Japanese and Burmese university students. While learning about the region’s culture and people, we also visited and spoke to many NGO’s and UN organizations to learn more about what they do. We spoke to UNHCR in Malaysia, Human Rights Watch in Thailand, and a variety of smaller, local non-profits as well. This program was incredibly eye-opening to me, as I had known nothing of the region prior to this program. I also learned a lot about non-profit work and international development work, and that has greatly influenced my thoughts on my career after graduation. I’m now planning to pursue a career in international NGO work, specifically in Asia and development.

The many deep friendships and connections I’ve made while in Japan with people from all over the world has both made my world smaller, and also so much larger. There is so much more that I want to learn about and experience, but I would have never known of all of the things out there if I hadn’t had the opportunity to go abroad. At this point I can barely remember what my hopes and goals for this year at the beginning of it were, but I can tell that I’ve greatly surpassed those in ways I never could have imagined. Thank you so much for making this opportunity a reality for myself and for all of the other UCSD students out there looking to get a taste of the world beyond San Diego.

Daniel Lee (Japan, 2015-16)

During my study abroad program, I was studying at Keio University, a prestigious university located in the heart of Tokyo. I went to Japan with three goals: to raise my Japanese proficiency, to join a band to perform music, and to fully immerse in Japanese culture. I am delighted to say that by the end of my study abroad, I have reached all three of my goals and more.

At Keio, I took Japanese classes to further improve my Japanese conversational skills and writing. An interesting Japanese class I took was Honorifics, a special way of speaking in Japanese that varies depending on your listener. Since politeness is an integral part of Japanese culture, honorifics is something that one must master in order to speak good Japanese. In the class, we had to learn the different ways to talk to strangers, friends, teachers, managers, and so on. The practices of different scenarios during class not only improved my Japanese, but also showed me how Japanese, the language, is a vessel that carries the different attitudes that Japanese people carry towards other people. For me, it is mesmerizing to think how much of a culture is embedded in a language.

I also joined a band club at Keio University. Club activities are a big part of Japanese college life, something that American colleges usually lack; it is where people gather after classes to nurture their hobbies, ranging from orchestra to tennis to hiking. To my dismay, some Japanese people have this sense of exclusivity that makes it hard for a student studying abroad to join a club, but I was eventually able to find a band club that accepted me with welcoming arms. Joining a band club has always been my dream since high school and I am thrilled to finally have it fulfilled. Together with the other members of the club, we held monthly performances and occasional road trips. Band club is where most of my friends here in Japan are; through performing together, we not only improve our musicianship, but we also deepen the bonds we have between each other. As a bonus, I was able to constantly practice my Japanese and thus become fluent in it. The experience of trying and eventually succeeding in making friends in a completely strange environment using a different language was especially enriching and has certainly improved my interpersonal and communication skills.

I also went traveling around Japan during vacation with both Japanese students and also other exchange students, visiting all the famous places in Japan. I went to Hokkaido in the north during winter. There we visited Japan’s most famous zoo, Asahiyama Zoo, went skiing, ate a lot of seafood, and saw Japan’s prettiest night view at Hakodate. My friends and I also went to Kyoto and Osaka. Kyoto is a treasure trove of Japanese culture. We visited famous temples and even got dressed in kimono and walked around the ancient capital for a day. We also visited Uji, a town next to Kyoto that is famous for its tea. There, we had a lot of tea-tasting and experienced the traditional tea ceremony.

When school ended, I started interning at a software startup in Tokyo. My work is related to natural language processing, a field that is closely related to artificial intelligence. During this internship, I was able to complete a project that I am proud of. This opportunity led me to consider the possibilities of working in Japan in the future.

This year abroad went past in a flash. It was definitely an academically and personally enriching experience. On top of fulfilling my initial goals, I was able to further my programming skills via the internship and create lasting friendships in Japan. Through my contact with Japanese culture and people, I was able to open my eyes to the fact that the world does not revolve only around the United States; though the Japanese – or any other culture’s— lifestyle and values are different from those of the United States’, they are just as important. We can have a lot to learn if we step out of our comfort zone and experience, or even assimilate, parts of another culture’s lifestyle.

I never had the opportunity to meet Chris Borton, but while I was abroad I felt like we are connected through this shared experience. It is unbelievable how he is able to change and touch my life by giving me this opportunity to study abroad through the help of the Chris Borton Scholarship Fund. This eventful year is definitely one that I will not forget.

Austin Pukasamsombut (Japan, 2014-15)

My spring semester at Tohoku University ended very sentimentally as I had to spend my final moments with the friends I made. Before going our separate ways, we decided to spend our last weeks packed with all the fun that Japan had to offer, and so we decided to do something that everyone had on their bucket list.... climb Mt. Fuji! And so we did. Together as a group, we had a 10 hour climb up to the top of Mt. Fuji, where we were able to see Japan's beautiful sunrise. It was the brightest (and reddest) sunrise I had ever seen, making it very memorable. After that, we enjoyed our last days by enjoying some of Japan's summer fireworks and Sendai's Tanabata Festival, where the city was extravagantly decorated all around. It was as if the city itself was sending us off. The friends I made abroad gave me a broader outlook on the world and helped me improve myself as a person. I'm glad I met them all, and I'm sure we will all meet again someday.

Before our program's closing ceremony, we all gave a small presentation for our research projects. My research project on Autonomous Quadcopters for Indoor Navigation did fairly well and interested many people. If you would like to know more about my research project in depth, you can see my attached research report. It includes all the details of my project, as well as the problems I encountered towards the end that caused me to be unable to achieve indoor navigation as planned. I learned a lot from my 1-year research program, especially about the work environment in Japan. I gained useful experience in working in a graduate-level laboratory doing research on robotics that can be used to help people. It helped me decide that I wanted to do project-based positions for my future career, especially relating to research and development. 

Overall, I can say with confidence that I have grown tremendously both as a person and as an engineer during my one year study abroad program in Japan. I feel more confident and prepared as ever to continue my education and set out into the working industry. This experience wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for your aid in funding my trip. I was able to focus on the things that were important to me thanks to the scholarship

Christian Koguchi (Japan, 2014-15)

During my trip, I was able to study in the northern regions of Japan to do research and learn Japanese and Japanese culture. During the 2011 earthquake in the Tohoku region of Japan, one of the greatest problems during the aftermath was the lack of communication and information. Many people were missing. Others were stranded for days after electricity went out. Many of the survivors’ families who were living outside of the region could not find a way to contact their families in this dire situation. The event marked the greatest natural disaster in Japan for years.

My research is about ultra-broadband communication. It’s a system in which people, even in the remote areas of Japan like in the far countryside and in the mountains, can receive strong wireless communications. When so many power lines and phone cables were destroyed, many people could not contact their families. Thus, I was part of the effort to research new ways for better communication that would be resilient in the event of a natural disaster.

I am ethnically Japanese, yet I have never been to Japan and my family hasn’t spoken Japanese for more than one hundred years. I’m basically as American as they come. Yet, during the earthquake and watching the news on CNN that late night, I was overcome with so many emotions watching people I have never met before suffering and praying during the tsunami. I wanted to somehow help in any way possible and I felt as powerless as the people being swept away that day. I raised money when I was in high school for donation for the tsunami victims. But, what I really wanted to do is someday go to the Tohoku region and help in any way possible. You made it happen.

Coming from a single mother-household, I was always in a bit of a financial issue when it came to school. My mother always talked to me about how money wasn’t everything in life. I took up odd jobs on campus to raise money any way I could to support my studies and family. When I received the Borton Scholarship, I felt like what was originally just a shot in the dark suddenly become an inconceivable reality.

But, as you can imagine, going to a foreign country and finally being alone and independent was one of the most challenging experiences I have ever faced in my life. It’s something they said in all the seminars and pamphlets, but it was actually very overwhelming and has changed so much about me. Let me explain.

I never knew how important language and communication was. Yes, I can’t speak Japanese, so I’ll have some trouble, but I didn’t really know what that meant. It meant that I couldn’t have a heart-to-heart conversation with my friends. It meant that I couldn’t try to win over my Japanese teacher who didn’t really like me very much. It meant I was constantly trying to defend myself when people thought of me not as a non-Japanese speaker, but as incompetent or just a prankster giving others a hard time. It was tough, but it motivated me and made me embrace not only being Japanese, but also being American as well.

Since, I was able to move on and reach an advanced Japanese level, which is considered a mastery of technical and business Japanese. Before I realized it, I was talking to my lab mates about our research, reading headlines on newspapers, and even doing solo travels across the country. Finally, I was working hard not as if my grades were on the line, but as if my dreams of helping the Japanese people in the Tohoku region were on the line – as if my dreams of being an excellent engineer were on the line – as if I were trying to live up to my Japanese heritage and place in the international world. I learned to take my career seriously and not just cram before exams because my career and my life meant something to not just me. I felt like I could have a real influence in what I was doing and on the people around me.

Now looking back from my cozy home in Los Angeles, I read the Japanese headlines last week about heavy rains, typhoons, and flooding across northern Japan. My friends are posting evacuation alerts on Facebook and social media about the flooding and landslide warnings near the Hirose River which was near where I lived. This time, many were able to get out and survive. Many were able to contact their families and contact authorities and help as soon as possible. The advancement and resilience of communications has made me so proud of how far we’ve come. Typhoons and earthquakes will keep coming to Japan in the future, but it’s getting better every step of the way.

I am not sure what’s in store for my future except that I want to continue studying engineering and continue studying Japanese! Whatever is in store for me, I want to someday make a difference in the world.

Thanks for making me feel so connected to my family history and helping me make my dreams of both engineering and going to Japan a reality. It may not seem like much, but it changed my life and me as a person.

Henrick Shyu (Japan, 2004-05)

I’m a little hesitant to speak about my experiences abroad. There is so much to say that when people ask me about it, I don’t even know where to start or how long to go on for. I’ve hiked through frozen craters in Hokkaido, slept alongside the beaches in Kyuushuu, watched the sunrise from the peak of Mt. Fuji, and made and lost dozens of friends.

At this stage, it’s still too early to say how the experience has affected me as I find myself still changing, and standing at a fork in the road right now.

You see, I’ve recently been doing some job-hunting. As a graduate student majoring in Computer Science, I’ve applied to software companies and in fact have an interview scheduled shortly. As an EAP returnee who longs for adventure and mystery again, I’ve also applied to teach English in Japan, and will soon interview for that job. Family and friends say it doesn’t really make sense for me to teach in Japan, but at the same time, I don’t see myself being able to refuse an offer if I receive one. I guess only time will tell which road is for me. So, a lot of things are still up in the air. In a way you could say the journey is still continuing within me.

The experience overall however, has been a very positive one, and I consider last year to be the best that I’ve ever had. I feel that I’ve lived more than I could have hoped for already, and find myself being able to laugh more, and to give more because of it. It’s a sense of freedom really, from despair you could say. That one I owe to Chris.

Jonathan Wang (Japan, 2003-04)

I believe that the best way to describe the impact of having gone abroad would be to present it in the form of advice to those who have yet to do the same:

Spending a year abroad does not open your eyes merely to the tones of another civilization, but inwards into the core of your persona as well. The moment you step off that plane and set foot on foreign soil, that is when it all becomes real. Fantasies, hopes, and expectations are swept away by the reality of the situation to which you have voluntarily exposed yourself, and the challenge of prospering in such a place becomes rapidly apparent over the next hour, the next day, and so forth.

Overcoming logistics, cultural unknowns, and the terror of interacting with native people as one who does not fundamentally belong is enough to survive for a year. But the fruits of an experience abroad come from raising the courage to overcome one’s own sense of fear and pride; to be ready to make mistakes, and to learn to withstand embarrassment. It is these personal thresholds that you must cross to be able to even begin experiencing the alien environment surrounding you. Without having come this far, one’s experience in another country can hardly extend beyond the imagination inspired by a marriage of textbook trivia and popular stereotyping.

One way or another, a year abroad will reveal new information, and while the breadth of that knowledge will certainly be greater should one learn to take initiative in exploring it, the real opportunity in traveling abroad lies in the opening of one’s senses to distant worlds, unfamiliar peoples, and new ideas. Once you have gained that, then it will be easy to enjoy the rest of the year. More importantly, the confidence you will have gained will last beyond the day you step on the plane headed back home, and you will be stronger for it anywhere in days to come.

Shige Itoh (Japan, 2000-01)

It’s been almost 5 years now since I returned home from spending a year in Japan. In that time I’ve graduated from UC San Diego, completed law school, and ventured into society. Although it seems and feels like a long time ago, my experiences from my year in Japan continuously return to me. Whenever I meet someone from Japan, I become delighted by an indescribable urge to approach and converse with them. I believe this feeling comes from my insatiable curiosity that was particularly piqued during my time in Japan. It must also come from my desire to understand where my ancestors and part of my culture originated. But, my interest isn’t solely isolated to Japanese people. Whenever I meet non-Americans, I also get this same feeling. I attribute this part of my feeling to my understanding of what it is to be a citizen of the world, rather than simply a member of a smaller society. One beauty of studying abroad is the opportunity to mingle and meet people of other backgrounds and cultures who aren’t from the host country. So by studying in Japan, I not only got to learn more about Japan, but also about those around me who were also simultaneously taking in the wonderful aspects of the unique society around us.

I have also noted that my Japan experiences benefit me greatly in my daily life as a professional. I currently work with many international legal issues. To a U.S. trained lawyer, many of the laws of foreign countries neither appear coherent nor do they simply feel right. However, whether you agree or disagree with the foreign law, that is the law of the respective land, and one must respect that law or forgo transacting business in that particular jurisdiction. Perhaps the best method for approaching these differences is not by rejecting these laws as ludicrous, but to look to the cultural and historical underpinnings of the laws. For example, the laws in Japan are very different from those in the U.S., and at times seem convoluted and unclear. I have found that by referring to my historical and cultural understandings of Japan, these laws become much more rational as I begin to understand why the people who created the laws drafted the laws as they did. I believe this has made me not only a better thinker, but a more reasoned and rational lawyer. I know that without my experiences in Japan, none of these perspectives would be even comprehensible to me.