When first entering the event it was filled with many different booths. I expected to only see booths from Japan but NAFSA had booths from all over the world. The atmosphere felt very professional and welcoming. When approaching the booths someone was there to welcome you and talk about the university. I found a university I’m really interested in. It’s called Meiji University. They offer an anime course over the summer. That University stuck out to me out of all of them. I hope that I will be able to attend the University to pursue my hopes of becoming an animator.
On June 1st, I along with 7 other Japanese Plus students were invited to the NAFSA 2023 Conference here in DC. The conference is an Expo for universities and organizations from across the world to come together and encourage studying abroad. We were invited through the Japan SIG COI (Community Outreach Initiative) program which brings together Japanese learners from different schools in the DMV area to attend the conference as a group. The students from the other schools — Walt Whitman HS and South County HS — were also very kind, but a lot of them were at a much higher level of Japanese as they studied for years through their school while our program just finished the first year of its cycle.
When we first arrived at the Convention Center downtown, we were taken to a room where we met the students from the other schools and were given custom T-Shirts to show that we were with the COI program. Once all the students arrived and were comfortable, our Japanese was immediately tested as we were told we needed to pair up with a student from a different school than us and introduce our partner to everybody. Luckily I got paired with a level 4 speaking student who was able to guide me through how to introduce her and everything went well. We then heard speeches from some of the people who helped get us there, such as the director of the COI program, Brian Masshardt, two representatives of EducationUSA, representatives of the Embassy of Japan, and others who helped get us to the conference. After that, we were offered a ton of different Japanese candies and sweets as well as gifts like pens, folders, and even sunglasses from various Japanese universities.
After all the initial welcomes and introductions we finally made our way down into the Expo Hall for the main event. We were directed to the Japan area which was one of the largest in the whole conference. There were over 25 different Japanese universities present, many of them with representatives willing to talk to us. They then gave us this super useful guide to the different universities where they had a chart of a bunch of different college majors, which universities offered each as a major, and whether those classes were taught in only English, only Japanese, or both. This was extremely useful as I was able to pinpoint 6 or 7 universities that offered majors I liked in English.
Being able to take classes abroad in English is very useful as it allows you to study and get a degree fully in Japan, while also learning the language and being immersed in the language and culture, which makes it way easier to get a job in the country vs learning the language in the US and trying to apply from abroad. I was able to talk to representatives for some of these universities, which gave a good impression on a lot of them, and I was even able to exchange business cards with some of them, using the process we learned about in our class.
I am extremely grateful to have been invited to this conference. For me, it took the possibility of studying abroad in Japan from a far-out goal, to a very real possibility. The conference allowed us to make a ton of important connections and pick up a ton of information about the process of studying abroad. If I hadn’t been able to attend the conference, I feel like the process of researching different universities, their locations, and what classes they offer would have been way more tedious and may have discouraged me from even considering it as an option. I hope that the information I got from this conference will help me in my future study of Japanese or any other languages.
A Japanese university at the NAFSA Expo that sparked my interest was Akita University. The pamphlet I picked up broke down their courses, majors and curriculars. I was particularly intrigued by the way the Japanese language section was set up. They had most classes in English so it catered to that. However they also had a Japanese language and culture immersive program, sort of like what I am in now, but it’ll be at a college level, on a Japanese campus, and with native speakers. This is great for assimilation and trying to immerse myself into the culture. I still have a bunch of research to do, but this is a start!
We have finally had the chance to visit the JICC (Japan Information and Culture Center) and see the haiku and flower exhibit for ourselves. Hearing that some of our peers’ works were featured was one thing, but seeing it in person, next to the other wondrous art work, made us very proud of ourselves and confident in our journey. We have been trying to further understand our relationship, our bond as it is tied to Japanese culture. Therefore, we have taken this step to get involved with celebrations that allow us to branch out and retain that knowledge.
Upon arrival, I specifically felt eager about seeing the exhibit as a whole. The set up intrigued me, as it was my first time there. The building is beautifully compact with so much information about Japanese culture and events here in DC. When we met with Aki Regan, she had us go in through the side doors. I felt like we were a very special group, and I thank Aki, Atsushi Iwai, and JICC as a whole for the special treatment, and making sure we were accommodated and could find our art.
Although there were a specific number of students chosen to be on display, they had a slideshow of everyone’s work, so everyone was represented. The way I thought the exhibit looked exceeded whatever I had imagined — it was beautiful. Each wall was a different flower, with its themes. My favorite part of the showcase was that we saw a variety of talent. Work in the form of just paintings, traditionally with a painting and a haiku, or like us, with just a haiku. I appreciate the JICC for their diversity in schools and programs that they included in the exhibit. It shows the city-wide interest in Japanese culture. There was work from young elementary schoolers to advanced high schoolers.
Apart from an exhibit, they had games, ancient artifacts, and a showcase of traditional Okinawan dances by kids our age and younger. I had the pleasure of staying for the performance portion of the celebration. It was nice to see traditional dances that expressed how children years ago had fun. That day, we learned of the holiday, Children’s Day, where the day is taken to respect and celebrate the happiness of all the children. Aki also told me about this custom, Shichi-Go-San (7-5-3), where children of the ages 3, 5, and 7 are brought to a Shinto shrine, by their families, to thank and pray to Gods to protect them and ensure a long healthy life. The artifact present was one of the things they prayed to. In the performance, the children had these traditional drums, some hand sized, others as big as cellos!
The rhythmic beat which the children mirrored with their drums was great! I took a great liking to it all. Also, the girl who did karate demonstrations was great! Her technique and form was everything! I had a lot of fun that day and again was highly proud of myself and my peers.
I’m truly grateful for the sort of experience and exposure we got from the workers at the JICC. It wasn’t only a visit about haikus but about our city’s relationship with Japanese culture. As we go on with our journey, we will stay determined to continue to always cherish the relationships that we make. One more great big thanks to the JICC for having us be a part of such an incredible project and please stay in touch!
Our Japanese Plus-Tora classmate, Aitana, is going to school in Japan for an academic term. We’re happy to use this blog to share her messages to those of us left behind in DC.
I hope everything is going well in Japanese Plus. I can’t believe it’s already been a month in Japan!
I am having a great time here and am getting used to the flow of things. I joined some clubs I would have never seen myself doing — karate and tennis! The weather is amazing everyday, so I’ve also started biking to school! Japanese school is difficult — there are a lot of classes and difficult exams every week. Things move very quickly and it can be hard to keep up, but I’ve made some friends and am exploring new places every week! Later today I’m going to Tokyo with a friend of mine.
Here are some pictures of some of the things I’ve eaten and seen! I’d love to hear about how things are going in Japanese classes! It’s been a long time.
From April 15-16, me and the other Japanese Plus students got to work at the Sakura Matsuri. Over the course of two days, the Japanese street festival Sakura Matsuri takes Japan right into the heart of the nation’s capital. The event, which spanned from 3rd to 7th Streets, NW on Pennsylvania Ave at the foot of Capitol Hill, offered two days of authentic Japanese food and beverages, cultural performances, handmade Japanese crafts, and so much more.
I was able to dress up the first day of the Sakura Matsuri, cosplaying as a character many had known and was able to even get a few pictures with other cosplayers while working at the Japanese Plus booth. I was able to meet many people, some who even lived in Japan who were able to give us some tips if we ever decided to work or study abroad in Japan as we grow. Once I finished a shift, I decided to walk around and explore the festival, which came to an abrupt stop as it began to pour down with rain causing a lot of people in different booths to stay under for a few minutes, even meeting some students from past Japanese Plus programs.
After the rain began to stop, that’s when I took my time to walk around the festival for real this time. Getting the chance to try many different foods, Chicken Katsu, Sakura Mochi and Kakigori over the two days. I even had the chance to go to the Hello Kitty Cafe Truck, a short line thanks to the rain but it was extremely long earlier in the day. If you ever find out where the truck is make sure to get there early as lines will be long and you’ll be stuck for a bit.
Combined with gachapon and crane games scattered along the festival, and many different shows of Taiko Drums, and just many different showcases, the Sakura Matsuri is definitely an experience you want to participate in. If you can, you’ll be able to try many different cultural foods and even buy handmade items from Japan.
I will definitely be going again next year to see what will be different from my 2023 experience.
Current student D’Amonie, alumnus Carlos Ramirez, our teacher Tsujioka-sensei, and Tomoyuki Watanabe visiting from US-Japan Foundation.
By Penelope Morris
One of the first things that comes to mind when one thinks about Japan, especially as it relates to DC, is the cherry blossom tree. This tree and its blossoms feature heavily in Japanese culture and symbolize the fleetingness of beauty. They also symbolize the relationship between the US and Japan, as the several thousand trees that grace the banks of the city’s Tidal Basin were a gift from Japan to the US to symbolize the friendship between the two countries. Now, DC celebrates the blooming of the flowers each year with the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The part of this weeks-long festival that is most exciting to us is the Sakura Matsuri, a two-day street festival on Pennsylvania Avenue organized by the Japan America Society of Washington DC. The students of Japanese Plus were able to experience the festivities up close from our own booth.
Planning for the festival was chaotic, because we wanted to share so much with the public: what our program is about, what we’ve been learning, how we reach out to the community, and even our anti-Asian hate project. Eventually, we decided to feature the anti-Asian hate project, a children’s coloring station, and an activity where passersby could create quilt panels around the theme of DC loves Japan. We also sold copies of a book created by students in Globalize DC’s summer Japan in DC program.
When we weren’t at our own booth, we had a lot of fun wandering around the festival and taking in everything there was to see. There were arts and crafts, food, educational organizations, and so much more. Not only was it fun to experience the Japanese culture, but there were opportunities to use the language that we had learned in class as well!
The Sakura Matsuri was an amazing experience for all of the Japanese Plus students. We had such a fun time organizing and running the booth, and sharing our program with other people who are passionate about the relationship between Japan and DC.
The Sakura Matsuri was an amazing experience! I’m so glad I was able to attend the festival. One highlight I had of the festival was meeting new people and experiencing some of the cultural aspects like the food, the dancing, and looking at Japanese traditional clothing. During my time there I was able to share out what I’ve learned during the program and how much I’ve grown. During my shift at the booth, we had to meet students my age who live around the DMV area. I was able to connect with other teens my age on certain interests. During the festival, I went out to look at other booths and got my name written in katakana, see a show, and looks at the college booth. We were right next to Temple University-Japan!
On April 15, 2023 Japanese Plus was able to have a booth in the biggest Japanese festival of the country, Sakura Matsuri. Although our booth wasn’t the biggest or most entertaining, I can proudly say our whole group enjoyed the whole experience.
We got to interact with people that came up to our booth asking questions about the program. People coming up to us and talking about their own experience with Japan. It was very interesting to see how all of us there were connected by a common interest in Japan. However, there were moments when the booth would die down. So my classmates and I were able to sneak out of the booth and look around. Close to us there were people writing your name in Japanese calligraphy. All of us learned how to write our names but we just wanted to do that for fun. I would say that that’s how the whole festival felt, just having fun even if you already know or don’t know what you are learning about Japan.
Throughout the year, Japanese Plus students had been learning and practicing Rajio Taiso (or radio exercise in Japanese). Rajio Taiso is a stretching warmup to music that Japanese people do every day either at work or school or even at their own house – it could be anywhere. You can look on Youtube and find a lot of Rajio Taiso videos to practice to. It was pretty funny as we were learning it, because everyone was messing up as people looking through our classroom windows at MLK Library were able to watch us. So it was pretty surprising to learn that we were invited by the hip hop education organization Words Beats and Life and the DowntownDC BID to do Rajio Taiso to open their Jazz and Blossoms event at Franklin Park downtown on April 8 as part of the Cherry Blossom Festival.
So after our regular class that Saturday, where we received our new Japanese Plus t-shirts, we walked the few blocks to Franklin Park where we’d be doing Rajio Taiso. When all of us got there, we enjoyed ourselves with the minigames around the park that were set up for whoever wanted to play. They had games like chess with huge pieces, a huge version of jenga and a big connect four as well. They also had a small concert stage where a band would perform some songs that were very relaxing. But as time was passing by, our performance was nearing. We all gathered in front of the stage as other people in the park were joining in to see what was up.
Most of us were nervous since we didn’t expect such a crowd to rise as we were waiting for the staff to set up the video as we were beginning. Once the staff got the video going up, we began to do the routine. Personally, I was nervous and others were too, but when I saw that other people were doing the routine as well I started to feel a little less nervous. For some reason it felt like I was up there for an eternity but it only really lasted for about 3 minutes and a half. But once we finished, the crowd started clapping and we proceeded to walk over to the side as they continued with the festival at the park. It was genuinely a fun experience and we all parted ways afterwards.
GLOBALIZE DC: JAPAN 