So, my first experience flying was an interesting one to say the least. My family accompanied me to O’Hare airport in Chicago, and explained to me the check-in process. Luckily, my aunt who travels quite often was there to help me understand how the whole system works. After getting my suitcase checked, it was time to say goodbye to my family for awhile; we took some photos and then exchanged our farewells. From here on, I was all on my own, with about 18 hours of travel ahead of me to look forward to.
Going through security went fine, and so did finding my gate. I was early so I decided to grab a meal and then wait for people to line up. My whole strategy for making sure I didn’t miss a flight was to just “Go with the flow,” and line up when other people did. However, it was getting very close to departure time and nobody was moving, and I became worried I was in the wrong place or something, but after I checked the sign at my gate, it had written in very small text that the flight had been delayed until about 10:20, so that explained it. That would go on to cause many more problems later on, however. Finally, at 10:40 (There were even more problems in the form of maintenance on the plane that caused even further delays) the plane took off and I was actually very impressed by the view out the window from the airplane throughout the trip. I remember thinking to myself at this point, “This whole trip is already a good experience,” because it was my first time flying and I very much enjoyed the flight… for maybe the first 2 hours.
It didn’t take too long to realize that it’s really hard to get comfortable on a flight, and that my batteries on my devices wouldn’t hold out forever. Flying actually just gets boring after awhile. Anyways, my flight eventually landed at LAX and as soon as I got there I approached one of the airport staff to ask what to do since I knew I had already missed my connecting flight. There was also one other person in the same situation; we were told that the airline would send us a shuttle to a hotel nearby, to which we received vouchers for a room and meals. Well, we waited, but a shuttle never came, and we couldn’t get back in the way we came to ask questions because the door only allows one way traffic (since it leads to the gates). It was also getting really late at this point, around 2:00 in the morning, and apparently even the taxis don’t run that late. Eventually, the person I was waiting with got the idea to call an uber to come and pick us up, which I didn’t even know was a thing. It was really sketchy but I really didn’t have any other choice.
So I stayed at the hotel and got a whopping 4 hours of sleep (My re-booked flight for the next morning was at 12:15 and I wanted to be early). Since I could only stay at the hotel such a short time I didn’t get to use those $30 worth of meal vouchers either. I went back to LAX via the shuttle that was supposed to pick me up the night before and when I got to the check in counter, I learned that the airline staff messed up with my re-booking, and that took another 45 minutes to figure out. It was at this time I learned that my new flight had me landing at Narita airport in Tokyo rather than Haneda, but I was still supposed to fly out of Haneda to Akita. So, I was told to take a limo bus to Haneda once I landed, whatever that meant. They just said “You’ll figure it out.”
The international flight over the Pacific, which lasted 10 hours and 30 minutes, was really painful. I could not get comfortable for the life of me and I’ve never been able to sleep anywhere besides a bed. And with the lack of sleep from the events of the previous day, well I didn’t have the best experience. Plus the fact that I hadn’t had a shower for a while made me feel hot and sticky and I knew my hair probably looked bad too, so I was concerned that I might not make a good impression once I landed in Japan. One thing that was nice is that the flight was very accommodating, and offered two full meals, drinks, and a wide variety of music and movie choices. There were also cute Japanese flight attendants and they were very nice and and catering, something that I would soon see as a recurring theme in Japan. Throughout the duration of the flight I was very tired and didn’t feel like watching movies, or doing anything except trying to fall asleep (and failing). I managed to endure the flight and eventually landed in Japan, however, and I have to say my first impressions from seeing Tokyo out the window of my airplane was that it was amazing, but not what I expected. I was expecting pretty much New York, with many skyscrapers and very industrialized, but actually there was lots of trees and rice fields throughout the city. It was so beautiful! I thought to myself, “Finally, I made it! The dream came true.”
(My first picture and view of Japan!)
From that point on, I had a bit of a language barrier when it came to doing, well pretty much anything. I have been studying Japanese for 2 years, but I’m still nowhere near fluent. Basically I simplified my communication to just using few words to get my message across. For example, I approached the bus ticket counter, and just said to the lady that was there, “Haneda.” Actually it turns out she spoke English so she was really helpful, told me exactly where to go.
After embarrassing myself a little bit by not being able to understand the staff’s instructions for boarding the bus, (such as standing in the wrong place, not knowing which bus was mine, and not showing them my ticket for storing my baggage) I got to take an hour or so bus ride through Tokyo, which was actually a really cool experience! The terrain is so different from Illinois, with so many curves and hills on the road, and way more interesting sights to be seen like the rice fields and the neatness of how everything was built (it’s hard to describe, it’s like everything was designed with reason, rather than just placed randomly).
After getting to the airport, I had one more flight to get on, but this time the experience was much quicker and went really smoothly. I wonder if all domestic flights in Japan are so pleasant. After claiming my baggage I met with my on site supervisor, Kazuya Kobayashi, and she took me to my apartment located in Sakura Village on the Akita International University Campus. Of course, it had been around 20 hours since I had last slept, so my mind was focused mostly on just sleeping so I skipped unpacking and all that stuff and just went straight to sleep. The next day, Ms. Kobayashi would take me to the mall so I can buy things like shampoo, body wash, and a towel (which I forgot to pack) so I could finally take a well-needed shower! But there was a catch…
Ms. Kobayashi actually had a dentist appointment the next day so she would drop me off at the mall in Akita City while she went to her appointment and then we would meet up later. In short, that meant I was at this huge mall, alone, without having had a shower for 2 days, possibly one of only a few foreigners there, and with only limited Japanese language knowledge. Well, actually it wasn’t all that bad, because I didn’t feel like people really were judging me or giving me any looks or anything. In fact, everyone was really kind and helpful, even when I couldn’t communicate well they were patient and understanding.
One story I have about shopping involves a cultural difference between Japan and America. In Japan, you are actually expected to bag your own items, and you also must pay for the bags themselves. Ms. Kobayashi warned me of this when she dropped me off, so I thought I was prepared to handle this. I thought the cashier would ask me a question like, “Do you need a bag?” so I assumed I would be fine by just saying “Hai!” (Yes in Japanese). Well… That wasn’t the right answer because she didn’t give me one, and I thought it would be too embarrassing to go back and ask for one since other people were waiting. Well, there was no way I was gonna be able to carry everything, so I ended up asking a different lady who worked there for a bag and she actually got one for me, for free! How nice. Except that leads to the next problem, I only got one bag.
(Photo of the AEON shopping center, which is a 4 story department store)
I had actually purchased a large 8 pack of toilet paper rolls as per my adviser’s recommendation, since she thought it might be rude to just use my roommates without asking (which now I know they would have been completely fine with). Well, there wasn’t any space to fit it in my one bag along with all my other stuff, so I just ended up carrying it around with my arm wrapped around it because I didn’t really have any other choice because I didn’t want to seem rude asking for yet another bag. I had other places to go, since there were still some items I needed, and although not many people really looked at me weirdly for carrying around this large pack of toilet paper around the mall, I didn’t really see anyone carrying purchased items around openly, much less rolls of toilet paper, so I kinda thought after awhile that “this is ridiculous,” and went to a nearby restroom, took out three rolls of toilet paper from the 8 pack, put them in my bag, and left the rest in the bathroom stall because there was no way I was gonna go through all 8 by myself anyways.
Afterwards I finally got a wi-fi connection while waiting for Ms. Kobayashi and contacted some friends and family, though it was really late back in the United States. Wi-fi connections were actually really hard to come by at first because all of the networks are secure on campus and I needed a password I didn’t yet have, so it was nice to have some internet access for a bit.
I arrived back at my apartment complex and spent the day not doing much since I was still tired. At lunch I met a person named Garrett and he told me about the student life on campus in a nutshell, and he mentioned that there were a lot of people who play a certain game I liked so later on in the day I joined in with them and made some new acquaintances. Everybody is really surprised to hear that I’m an intern, and have only been on the campus for a really short time. It seems that all the cliques are already well established which puts me in a bit of an awkward spot but it would seem that most people are friendly and willing to let me join any discussion or activity.
My first week of work began the following Monday, and I finally got a good idea of what my role will be during my internship. The RCOS office, or Research and Community Outreach Services, that I work for is responsible for organizing events that involve reaching out to nearby junior high schools, elementary schools, etc., to participate in various activities so that the international students can interact with the locals. My job is to assist with various tasks around the office such as filing papers, making posters, correcting English, or making event announcements among other various similar tasks. My main job, however, is to organize a file for the international students participating in the events organized by the RCOS office that includes various pictures that represent their respective cultures so that they can share their own culture with the young Japanese students. Some students provide all of the photos on their own, but sometimes they don’t provide any so I have to make a file for them from scratch and try to include as many cultural icons as possible. The Japanese students get an opportunity to practice English with the AIU international students through such discussions.
I myself get to participate in the events, helping to lead campus tours and talking to the young students in English. It’s actually quite fun!
The work environment in Japan is quite different than in America. My first day they said I’d have an 8 hour work day, pretty standard right? But then I learned that in Japan, you do not get paid for your lunch hour, so that makes it equivalent to a 9 hour work day in America. Did I mention I’m not getting paid? Also I work 5 days a week. This means that I don’t have much spare time, and throughout the week I feel like all I’ve done is work. I guess that’s just the nature of the working life, though. It’s not all bad, as I find some enjoyment in carrying out my daily work activities. I’ve also found myself being able to sleep better, which is good because I typically have problems sleeping. Even though I’m not getting paid, I think that the experience will be more valuable than any amount of money. So, overall, I think I’m pretty happy with how my internship experience is going so far.
(Photo of me working at the at the office with my coworkers)
While in Japan, I am making an effort to eat as many different Japanese foods as possible, so I have tried dishes like soba, udon, ramen, osashimi (raw fish, and there’s a difference between this and sushi), and miso soup. It’s all very good, but I recommend against eating any natto or tofu, because when I tried those I almost threw up. There’s two main places to eat on campus, and both are relatively cheap and serve pretty tasty food. One’s the college cafe where people bring their devices and study or talk, and then there’s the cafeteria which reminds me of the cafeteria at my junior high/high school more than a university since there’s just one food line (though there are still several choices, and an additional menu for those who don’t want what’s being served but that costs yen out of pocket for the students so they can’t just scan their cards. I have no such card). The portion is pretty good, and on average the food costs about the equivalent to $3.00 – $4.00. It would seem that most students eat at the cafeteria during lunch and maybe seek other places elsewhere for dinner since it’s always packed during lunch but not as much so during dinner.
My roommates are a good bunch, one is an international student from Switzerland and he’s nice. We often make comparisons between our own cultures and the Japanese culture during our conversations and talk about our lives back home. He’s actually 23 years old and married to a Japanese woman, hence his interest in Japan. He often cooks at the apartment though I haven’t yet had the opportunity to taste his cooking yet.
My other roommate is Japanese, and is also an RA for the apartment complex where I am located. I haven’t got the chance to talk to him as much, but apparently he’s usually busy since he is in a rock band and often practices. He seems really nice and since he’s an RA I can probably go to him for help if I have any problems. He speaks pretty good English as most students here do.
One notable thing about Japan is that the living expenses are crazy high! Some things are nice, like low food costs at the university, but to give an example of how you get so little for how much you pay, when I went to the mall to buy just shampoo and body wash, it equaled about $16! And these aren’t big bottles either, nor were they the most expensive brand. I also noticed the gas prices while driving through Akita city with my adviser. It read a little over 100 yen (around $1), so I said that that was really cheap! But then she pointed out to me that that wasn’t per gallon, it was per liter so it was actually 4 times that much in American terms. Also, fortunately I am one of few students who has their own washing machine in their apartment, but I still don’t have a dryer. To use the public dryers, it costs 100 yen per 20 minutes, which is quite steep in my opinion. Taking into consideration the other students have to pay for washing too, I could see that becoming an expense that adds up pretty quickly.
The university is quite interesting since the university’s focus is on global leadership. The classes at Akita International University are all taught in English; however, Japanese is still heard more often outside of class it seems. All of the Japanese students still communicate with each other in Japanese, but are still okay with speaking English if international students don’t understand much Japanese. That comes as a bit of a relief to me because I can still communicate in English if necessity demands but I’m still immersed in an environment where I can develop my Japanese language skills, which is made apparent by how much I have already learned in the short time I’ve been here. It’s like just being in Japan increases my retention of Japanese vocabulary and phrases more; it’s probably some subconscious thing or something.
Well I think that’s all for now, I haven’t covered every single detail so I’m sure I’ll still have much to talk about in my next post. In short, I’m really excited and happy to be here in Akita Japan, even if I do encounter a few difficult challenges every now and then. Thank you for reading!
Internship in Akita, Japan 