By Elias Lovos

My Prior Interest in Japan and Japanese Before the Program

Before attending Globalize DC’s Japanese Plus program, my main interests in Japan and the language were anime and the possibility of living in Japan with some knowledge in Japanese. At the beginning my goals were to develop a routine to learning Japanese because I wasn’t as motivated to do it entirely by myself because I didn’t know where to start. I felt anxious because it was my first time committing to a language outside of school using my own time, contemplating if I should actually go through with this or not. But I eventually settled in and built friendships that settled that anxious feeling I had.

Moment #1: Our Hybrid Zoom Classes

The zoom classes were filled with empty screens but also students who participated on camera at times. We had them during Wednesdays and it was beneficial to me because it helped me develop habits and techniques to studying Japanese in the comfort of my own home. It was also convenient because it meant that I didn’t have to go outside of the house on Wednesdays, which at the time I didn’t do a lot of. It was a pleasant period of time in our learning journey but also a very inconsistent one as well, since we failed to turn our cameras on most of the times.

Moment #2: Onigiri Action

The experience I had when making rice balls was a pleasant one, I really did enjoy it as you could see from the smile on my face. Onigiri is a very common food you see in Japan in multiple stores and is also convenient, I assume, because of the price. It’s generally filled with different types of food in it as well, being topped with seaweed over it or covered all over to make a fine seaweed taste. Onigiri Action taught me the proper way to make an onigiri and I will forever appreciate it.

Moment #3: First Couple of Days Learning Hiragana

The times I spent learning hiragana in class were filled with countless questions and laughter. Now that I think about it, it is easy to learn the characters and their meanings but very hard to remember them and implement them into conversation and expressions. These experiences benefited my learning because it gave me an opportunity to talk to everyone in the class and that would later on make it easier to talk to them as time went by, further helping me hone the language.

Moment #4: Exchanges with Japanese Students

The multiple exchanges we had with different groups of Japanese students are moments I will never forget. These experiences tested a lot of us and our skills in understanding and speaking Japanese; moreover, it also connected all of us with the Japanese students as we exchanged social media profiles and gifts. The different activities like certain topics on a piece of paper really helped us start somewhere to continue conversing with the students. These interactions usually showed me how underleveled I was at speaking, but I kept pushing forward.

Moment #5: Discovering Different Historical Moments and History About Japan

Not only did we expand our knowledge with learning Japanese, we also learned about the history of Japan with the US and explored different monuments tied to Japan. Different history like the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the monuments of a gift from an Emperor to the US. I was excited to learn this content in more specific events because I only knew so much about it and started growing curious.

A Final Word.

If the pre program me saw the progress I made over the two years I spent with Japanese Plus, I would’ve thought that I was a completely different person. Committing to the class was something I had doubts on at the beginning of the year but the constant reminder of wanting to live in Japan kept pushing me to strive for it every day. A piece of advice I’d like to give to students beginning their journey in learning Japanese is to never look back at your past self who made the decision to sign you up for the class; sometimes you have to listen to yourself and follow through with the decision you made in the past because if you participate in the class for multiple years then your past self was onto something about your future self and simply wanted you to strive for something you love. My plans for the upcoming years involving Japanese are to obviously go to Japan but to also continue my studies of the language at home. I don’t want 2 years of learning to go to waste but there’s also obstacles I will eventually tackle as well.

By Elias Lovos

My time spent with the two exchange groups was filled with laughter and meaningful connections; this time around compared to the other groups we have met, I was less shy throughout the exchange and I did a whole lot better speaking Japanese instead of only relying on English. The students in both exchanges understood my words most of the times and I felt like I also had an easier time understanding their words as well. After the lunch we had at the library, we went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History with the exchange group and I felt like I had a better time speaking to some of the students there. It was a very chilled environment where we could simply talk about any of our personal interests and even talking about what was being displayed inside the museum. My group really liked the pop culture section of the museum with Prince’s guitar and the display of protests and riots at the back. But sadly the time came to an end and we had a nice goodbye to all of the students as both groups went our separate ways.

By Elias Lovos

To me, and I’d like to assume to the others as well, going to places that hold historical significance towards Japan helps keep my motivation to pursue Japanese language learning even further. Reading, looking, and imagining how everything was put into place behind the history just inspires you to read more into it, wanting to learn more about the topic and the overall history. 

Thankfully, in Washington D.C., there are historical landmarks and workshops we’ve gone to. For example, we spent a Saturday morning last month walking around the Tidal Basin, which is located near the National Mall. A pagoda we found near the FDR Memorial includes the 5 elements: Sky, Wind, Fire, Water and Earth. This historical piece was given to the United States from Mayor Ryozo Hiranuma of Yokohama, Japan in 1957. It’s honored and kept in good condition by the people who choose to admire the piece instead of attempt to vandalize it. It’s respected by all, signifying the US and Japan relationship to be strong, and shows Japan’s appreciation to the US by giving them a piece of themselves along with the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin.

Furthermore, on November 4th, Japanese Plus students attended another workshop by Onigiri Action, sponsored by Table For Two, which happened at Marianne’s Cafe on the first floor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in downtown Washington D.C. 

The workshop allows you to make your own onigiri (rice balls) to enjoy, savoring the taste. But in return, taking a quick picture and posting it on social media using their hashtag or on their website will allow you to feed starving children around the world. The significance this has on children’s lives by only making an onigiri and posting it to the public for more awareness is a wonderful experience and action. 

These are just a few experiences the class and I have attended. Hopefully we get to attend more field trips surrounded by Japan’s history, whether its music, art, environment, and even architecture. Because of these field trips, we all are replenishing the drive that drove us to join this program: learning the culture and language of Japan.

By Elias Lovos

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.

Elias Lovos

The first time I had done the routine, I was nervous. kiritsu, meaning to get up from your seat, kiotsuke is to get your attention, rei means to bow, and in a class setting you either say おはよう　ございます meaning good morning at the start of the class, then ありがとう　ございます meaning thank you and chakuseki meaning to sit down. At the end of the class, the teacher finishes last minute information and then we say さようなら, meaning goodbye.

It was nice to perform a Japanese routine done in every class, it made me feel like I was actually a part of a usual Japanese class without being inside of Japan. I enjoyed the practice and look forward to doing it again in class as time goes on.