Jua Iwasaki

The University of Western Australia
Exchange to Sophia University, Japan

I have to say, with confidence and no doubt at all, that my 4 months of study abroad at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan was the best experience of my life so far. I have such fond memories of those few months and I would do it all again in a flash if I had the opportunity to do so in the future.

I would have to say my experience in Japan may have been a little different to that of a lot of other exchange students and I’d like to take this opportunity to share my personal experiences to emphasize how valuable my study abroad experience was to me. Having Japanese parents and spoken Japanese at home all my life, I am grateful for being given the chance to experience life in Japan as an adult and as a university student. Because I moved to Perth, Australia when I was 5, I only have little memory of the country, people and culture and I have always wanted to live there to experience for myself all the wonderful stories I had heard from my parents about life in Japan.

Tokyo was all I expected it to be and more. It is an exciting city with lots to see, lots of people to meet and lots to eat! In a nutshell, it is everything that Perth isn’t, for both good and bad reasons. Sophia University is located in Yotsuya which is the heart of the business district in Tokyo. To get there, you have to travel by train, and for many, it involves changing trains at Shinjuku station, the biggest train station in Japan (and possibly the world), which is an experience in itself! I have never seen so many people in the same place at the same time. Riding the peak hour trains was probably the “difficult” part of my whole study abroad experience but looking back, experiencing what millions of Japanese people in Tokyo do as part of their everyday lives is actually quite amazing. It is also a way to really appreciate the public transport system in Japan and see how efficient it is. In Shinjuku, the trains come every two minutes, which is unheard of in Perth!

Reflecting back on my study abroad experience, the top 10 things that I miss the most about Tokyo are the friends I met, including the local people and fellow study abroad students from different countries; Japanese food; the 24-hour convenience stores; karaoke; my dorm; vending machines; shopping; mobile phones; Japanese television shows; and university life. Life is never dull in Tokyo. Shops and restaurants are open until about 9pm everyday and it is not hard to find 24-hour restaurants in any of the main train stops in Tokyo. And if you get tired of the people and the liveliness of places such as Shinjuku, Shibuya and Harajuku, it’s easy to find a nice quiet temple or park to appreciate the nature and history of Japan. In spring, the cherry blossom trees are really beautiful with their white and pink flowers; in summer the sounds of insects, such as the cicadas, are truly unique; in autumn the leaves of trees changes from green to bright red and yellow; and in winter you get to see snow (for many exchange students, for the first time in their life!). In terms of the study and language programme at Sophia University, I was very impressed with the classes and the lecturers. I enrolled in an Intensive Japanese course which was 15 contact hours a week. I learnt so much, compared to the 3 hours of language classes offered at my home university so I feel that my Japanese got better 5 times (literally!) quicker than I would have studying at home. I realised that as much as I probably picked up a lot just from experiencing life in Japan, it is really important that you get as much class time learning the language from Japanese lecturers to gain the most out of your study abroad experience.

These are all things I could not have experienced had I not been able to go on the exchange programme. Although I am Japanese by blood, having grown up in Australia, it was not until I was living in Japan that I realised how “Aussie” I was. I really believe it is so important for people like me who have a Japanese background to be able to experience study abroad and be fully educated in their “first” language like any other second language learner. We have the same passion for the language, people and culture as anyone else and it is so important that universities and programmes, such as the Endeavour Cheung Kong Programme, encourage and support students to develop their language skills as bilinguals.

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