Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths

Although I'm not the best at promotion in a sense of creating beautiful videos and presentations, public speaking and so on. I’d like to think my writing is not too shabby (albeit a little wordy and at times), so I want to share my experiences from the free trip to Japan that they took me a group of other students from the Pacific region with the JENESYS Programme. This programme started in 2007 by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and aims to increase understanding of the many different faces of Japanese society. I was invited to apply by my Japanese professors at @MasseyUni (@MasseyHumSocSci @JapaneseatMassey) for the History, Culture and Society theme.

We often hear about Japan as simply a place of quirky nick knacks, variety shows and so on, but this trend is dismissive of the diversity of culture and society within Japan and does this beautiful country a disservice. Even when studying the language, we can get bogged down in the language learning process and thus pay less attention on just how varied the country and the people are (Japan is more than just keigo and formalities, even though respect is a major aspect of Japanese society).

Going to a country is the best way to experience a culture, and as we learned in anthropology, it is vital to hear directly from the people themselves in order to get an understanding of them and their lives. Thanks to the JENESYS programme, I was able to not only test my Japanese language skills and implement some of the skills learned in my anthropology major, but also got to experience the Japanese culture in a way that was not possible for me before. We experienced first-hand the importance the Japanese people place on hospitality, kindness, and respect. In groups of three or four, we spent some time with host families in Nagasaki, where we ate, talked, and spent time with a Japanese family. They were so sweet and welcoming and we created cherished memories (such as watching sumo, digging kumara (sweet potato), and sleeping in a tatami room to name a few).

Side note: if you ever go to Japan during the winter months, everyone will ask if you are cold if you aren’t wearing ‘seasonally appropriate’ clothing, so remember to bring warm clothes – they’re only worried about you!

While in Japan we also visited Toyo University and Nagasaki University to talk with Japanese students about various themes surrounding peace and security, culture and society, and even sports. This experience was especially invaluable as we got to discuss issues of climate change with people that are experiencing it first hand, i.e. students from various Pacific Islands, giving a personal connection for us and the Japanese students and further motivation to fight it. We also discussed issues of safety in cities and found camaraderie as young women and men, in our different yet similar values and experiences.

Of course, as we went to Nagasaki, we went to the Atomic Bomb Museum, Memorial Hall, and Peace Park, which is an experience that must be had first-hand, especially in this day and age where government talks of nuclear weapons and warfare only seems to increase.  Although it is easy to register on a logical level the devastation these weapons have wrought, when you are in that place and seeing for yourself that devastation, standing underneath the hypo centre, it’s no longer a historical event – it becomes real in a way it never was. This effect is compounded when, for example, you hear from others on the trip with you from the Marshall Islands about their Bikini Atoll which also suffered devastating damage and loss due to atomic testing in the 20th century. Confronting these stories is vital to being an informed member of society as well as to enacting change for a better and more peaceful future.

Thanks to the JENESYS programme, countless young people from the Pacific region including Australia and New Zealand are meeting and collaborating and forming long-lasting friendships and memories every single year with each other and peers in Japan. In the grand scheme of things ten days is not much, however, the lessons we learned, the experiences we had, and the memories we formed will last a lifetime and will motivate not only me but countless others to explore and maintain a relationship with Japan long into the future.