The year was 2020 and in the midst of a quarantined junior year of high school. I began to think seriously about college and the life ahead of me.
In my mind, the possibilities were endless, and I sought to go to school out of the country and start a new life after becoming an adult. By the time senior year rolled around, though, and I was hit with a major reality check, I ended up getting ready to start my college career here at Texas State University with a major in mass communication.
Fast forward to the second semester of sophomore year and while I sat in my introduction to media writing class, my professor announced that a guest speaker named Dr. Gilbert D. Martinez would be visiting that day to recruit journalism and mass communication students for a study abroad trip to Japan.
That day, I eagerly took notes during the recruitment speech and later that week, my advisor signed off on my summer classes in Japan. Leading up to the trip, I did my research and found out everything that I thought I needed to know for the trip, from how to take the subway to how to exchange my dollars to yen and proper etiquette and social norms to follow during my stay. I looked forward to the food, scenery and convenience stores that Japan had to offer, and I was going to soon find out that everything was even more exciting than I could have possibly imagined.
I arrived in Japan three days earlier than the rest of the class with my classmate Rosey and we navigated Japan’s bullet train system to get from Tokyo to Nagoya to spend a few days exploring the city on our own. These three days were an adventure as we got the initial taste of Japan with minimal guidance aside from GPS and any other information that the internet could provide to us.
Memorable outings from these days were our visit to Nagoya Castle and our day trip to Shinmaiko Park where we got to spend some time at the ocean. I cherish these outings the most because they were times where I could truly stop and take in the moment without worrying about anything else.
After meeting up with the class, some of my most memorable outings were the company visits to Unseen Japan and the Wall Street Journal because I found them inspirational as well as informational. These visits gave me more insight into the world of journalism and the different approaches that companies take to writing news.
In my free time in Tokyo, I especially enjoyed my time in Akihabara where I visited three different animal cafés dedicated to cats, puppies and rabbits.
In 15 days, I learned more than I ever thought possible about Japanese society and how Japanese culture differs from my own. Some cultural differences like taking off shoes when entering an establishment or not speaking on the phone on a bus or train were some small things that were surprising to initially experience, but I was able to understand why they were such a big part of Japanese morals when I learned how important respect is within the culture. I also got to experience first hand how people showed respect for the city they live in by keeping it extremely clean. No matter where I went I rarely saw litter or waste where it shouldn’t be. Even finding a trash can was a difficult task, and it was common that I would find myself holding onto my trash until I got back to the hotel or found a trash can next to a vending machine that was usually only meant for bottles to be thrown away in.
The trip also taught me a lot about Japanese history with each visit to a shrine or temple that the class went on. The tour guides were able to give us an endless amount of information that I could take notes on and save for later references during my daily blog post and feature stories.
It was interesting to find out more about Japan’s major religions, Shintoism and Buddhism as these were something I was not very immersed in prior to my study abroad experience. The abundance of shrines and temples in Japan even inspired me to write one of my Kyoto feature stories on the subject.
Apart from all of the personal experiences that taught me important life lessons, I also gained plenty of academic knowledge that is going to advance my media writing skills and prepare me to continue writing in the professional mass communication world.
Through writing my daily blog post and working with the graduate students to revise and perfect it for the SJMC Japan website, I was given pointers on how to write a well-rounded feature story that was informative yet creative and interesting to readers. The inverted pyramid method became my guide on this day and putting it into practice also allowed me to build on my writing portfolio and expand its variety of writing styles and unique topics.
Though I may have experienced some culture shock during my time in Japan, I was able to appreciate different ways of life in different locations across the globe and even apply some of the things I learned to my own life now that I’m back in the United States.
I believe it’s important to experience other cultures than your own so that you can become a well-rounded and informed person who is able to apply their intercultural skills to personal and professional situations.
I know that putting my study abroad trip on my resumé is going to set me apart from other job and internship candidates and give me an advantage in a field that is dedicated to communicating across a vast audience.
One of the most important things that I gained from my SJMC Japan study abroad experience is all of the connections that I made along the way. The 17 classmates that I was able to share this experience with are now going to be 17 connections in the real world that I will be able to network and collaborate with on future endeavors in my professional and collegiate career, and I will forever be grateful that this program brought us all together.
