By Jonah Nguyen-Conyers

Hello, I am Jonah Nguyen-Conyers and Japan completely saved my life in ways I would have never expected. Before I involved myself with Japan in high school, my childhood was harsh, as my family was dealing with homelessness and a plethora of consequences associated with that. After finding housing in 9^th grade, I was able to properly feel more security and stability that allowed me to venture into my interests, and that’s the same year I started investing into Japan. These initial moments with Japan in my 9^th grade year would be the catalyst that would ignite a path of opportunity and ambition in my life, allowing me to leave behind who I was before, and the child I was when I was homeless and desperate.

While in high school at DC International, I delved into the US-Japan space with a great sense of admiration and ambition with every moment. My initial interactions with Japan happened in 9th grade during a summer job experience with Globalize DC. During this summer we would go around DC and document aspects of Japan and Japanese culture to later publish in a book called Japan in DC. Then during my 10th grade year in high school, I was selected to be a part of the KAKEHASHI Project, where the Japanese government sponsored me and other DC students to visit Japan. After such an exciting and insightful eight-day trip to Japan, I would take a Japanese language class with Japanese Plus. I chose to show up outside regular school hours to invest in this relationship with Japan through study of the language twice a week for the last two years of my high school education.

After my first year of studying Japanese with Japanese Plus in the 11^th grade, I was selected to be an OSSE Scholar, where I would be sponsored to study at a prestigious university and get university credit over the summer. During my time as an OSSE Scholar, I studied Japanese at Northwestern University. Money has always been a big determining factor in my education and my life, which is why I had to seek out and involve myself in all these free programs that were outside the regular school opportunities.

Being so heavily invested in Japan going into my 12^th grade year, I knew I wanted to attend college in Japan. I knew college was one of the biggest expenses a person can involve themselves in. But I knew I was not only going to college, but I would also be starting a new life across the world in Japan. I knew I could not rely on my family for financial help in this situation, keeping my family’s past and current situation in consideration. I knew I needed to craft a plan to make this dream of studying in Japan a reality and be the first of my siblings to graduate college.

I was accepted to Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ) and I was truly overjoyed. I knew my whole senior year that I was going to attend TUJ in the fall of 2020. However, the pandemic threw everything up in the air with timelines, departures, financial support all at the mercy of the developments relating to the virus. After many setbacks, border restrictions, and much more, I was finally allowed to enter Japan as a student January 1, 2021, to start my first semester at TUJ. I was now in Japan, but I was taking online classes, had a lot less time to find housing and develop security and comfort, and I was unable to access my scholarship money due to the circumstances related to the pandemic when I arrived in Japan. After my Spring 2021 semester, I decided on coming back to Washington, DC as problems relating to my finances in Japan and the pandemic were too cumbersome and unclear.

Back in DC I remained invested in Japan. I knew wholeheartedly that I wanted to go back to Japan and study, but I needed to make a more concrete plan on how I would finance and navigate the situation regarding the pandemic. I would decide to go to Montgomery College, a community college in the DC area, to stay close to home to mitigate any pandemic effects, while also letting me engage with higher education at a more accessible cost. While at community college, I still engaged with Japan on campus and outside of campus. I took on the responsibilities of being the Japanese Culture Club’s Secretary, where I helped facilitate and conduct matters relating to the club. During my time at community college, I was able to reach out to a lot of the people who supported me in high school, while also making new connections with people in the US-Japan space. All these efforts were in the support of my long-time goal to graduate college in Japan.

Finally now, being back in Japan, I am working on developing a life and a source of stability here. I would not have been able to make this dream of mine a reality without the support of those looking to aid students to study in Japan, especially the Toshizo Watanabe Scholarship, the Bridging Scholarship, and Globalize DC. Here in Japan, I am hoping to develop a career focused on engaging with those in Japan and the United States that come from troubled backgrounds like my own. I hope in my career and the work I dedicate myself to that I can offer the same optimism and hope to the next generation of students. Japan was able to save a young child’s life, my life, in ways I didn’t think were possible, and I know I have an obligation to support the next generation of students and children who have faced similar struggles like I have had in the past and allow them to see a similar saving grace and opportunity-rich future for themselves that the US-Japan space has offered me.