【留学レポート】PIASS受入 ポールさん

ルワンダのプロテスタント人文社会科学大学より2022年3月から2023年2月まで本学に留学していたKani Bahoya Paulさんが、留学していた1年間についてのエッセイを書いてくれました。ぜひご一読ください！

Kani Bahoya Paul
Report of my stay in Japan (April 2022 – February 2023)

The culture of Japan has made it a destination to many tourists, and so have international students been attracted to come to Japan. The tall buildings and food add an accent on the accommodation that Tokyo, particularly, is claimed to be the most convenient city in east Asia. Tokyo is therefore exposed to a unique diversity and artistic activities as well as amusement that makes the city alive and shiny. My stay in Japan as an exchange student at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies for ten months was successful as I met, or exceed, some of my expectations.

This is me on the photo, a Congolese artist and videographer named Paul. I am a student from Protestant Institute of Arts and social sciences (PIASS) in Rwanda. I came to Japan as an exchange student at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies within the period from April 2022 to February 2023.

In this brief report I will show the activities I did; present the opportunities I was exposed to as well as elaborate the challenges I faced and how I alleviated them. I will also point out the uniqueness of some courses at TUFS as well as giving a look on my life out of the campus.

 

Opportunities

Being in Japan, particularly in Tokyo, represented a unique opportunity to me as I was closely exposed to Japanese culture. I experienced all four seasons in Tokyo, and spring was my favourite. However, from an artistic perspective, autumn looked beautiful too as the leaves turned brown. I remember summer the most, as I built a lot of memories during that season.

I was hosted by the Association of Aid and Relief (AAR/Japan) to curry a three-month internship through which I was exposed to the Japanese workflow. My tasks involved project design and financial record tracking for their operation in Meheba; Zambia. The workflow at AAR was detail-oriented and well-organized compared to my previous internship in Africa. I enjoyed eating a variety of Japanese food, but ramen was my favorite. Interestingly, Jato and I used to go to a shop in Mitaka (just a 15-minute walk from TUFS), and the shop awarded us T-shirts and free lunch in recognition of our loyalty as good customers before leaving Japan. The karaoke style in Japan is different from that in Rwanda and DR Congo. In Japan, I sang only with my friends, while in Rwanda, I sang for the audience, and in DR Congo, karaoke involves a music band.

Challenges

Being in a different culture represent both opportunities and challenges simultaneously. This ambivalence, sometimes, makes had to decide whether it worth staying or not; though quitting would not be an encouraged option in some instance. Language represented an obstacle to me; few Japanese, from my observation, would feel confident to express themselves in English. I took the Japanese language class and it helped me to initiate a conversation but running a discussion was still a mystery. At some point I could use google translate but the lack of engagement in the conversation made it not interesting and to some extent it could miss interpret. I made sure I mastered the basics of the Japanese language and continued to challenge myself: I even presented a speech in Japanese at the seminar of ‘Artist reflecting about Africa and Japan’.

Well, the communication in Japan does not limit on the language, it also encompasses the cultural norms. With my experience, Japanese people tend to be friendly with you not because of the language in the first place, but rather how you show respect to the manners gives as much of attention that the language could bring and once establishing this trust you could even use translations tool and everyone would, most likely, feel comfortable with it. This manner and norms in Japan call upon the challenge that international students faced all the time: the expectation of ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’.

Being uncertain of the culture makes it difficult to know how one should behave in some circumstance. The respect of time management, for instance, is universally accepted as an appropriate personality trait. In Japan, however, I observed another view toward time management. I could get on time when having dinner with my sensei but apparently it was not enough. Japanese friends around the campus told me it would show respect if I could present myself 15 or 10 minutes earlier when I have appointment with my sensei and next time, I came 15 minutes earlier and the sensei reached at about 6 minutes earlier. Later, I was told it is respectful that I wait for the sensei and not the opposite. The respect of sempai and sensei is not a favor in Japan, it is an expectation.

Academics

University represents an environment exposed to the diversification of activities, ideas as well as achievement. However, the memory of the process prevails in the rest of the life of the students as far as their future is concerned. Some courses I attended at TUFS differ from the one at my home university on the point of how the student pictures his future and how enjoyable the process of leaning feels like. The classes I took in Spring semester 2022 at TUFS represent an opportunity I wish to repeat twice. In particular I found interesting courses like: career design and development, English for entrepreneurship and Film Analysis. In contrast, the fall semester, to me, was the opposite of the first though few courses still were academically interesting.

 

Activities

Visits