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2015 JET-MIP ESSAY: AMY WALDRONMARCH, 2016: BREEZE ISSUE #101
A FREE MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER FOR FRIENDS OF JAPAN & TEACHERS OF
JAPANESEAMY WALDRONSouth Mecklenburg High SchoolCharlotte, NC
The JET-Memorial Invitation Program was, inthe simplest of terms, life-changing. I wasutterly floored by just how much I had theprivilege of experiencing in the short time I
was there. Every day truly felt like anadventure, and it tore me apart to leave. I met
so many incredible people with even moreincredible stories, both during my visit toTohoku and while I was in Osaka, and saw so many amazing things I can scarcely begin to list
them all. I could hardly do those people and experiences justice with my minimal skill withwords, and I fear the quality of wonder and sheer brilliance of it all would surely be lost should
I attempt it.
This being said, impressions of Japan were certainly positive. I was astounded by theresilience of the Japanese people in the disaster zone, the hospitality of my host family, andthe kindness of the everyday people we met, it seemed that everywhere we went we weresurrounded by incredible good-will. Store clerks’ faces would light up when we spoke to themin Japanese, and were delighted to help us understand the language and culture better.
People like us that we encountered while out in the cities were the same way, and high school
students in the schools we got to visit all generously shared their time with us to teach us
about their culture and to get to know us. In America, I have never experienced anything likethat on such a widespread scale.

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Having such an overwhelmingly positive experience certainly makes me want to return toJapan in the future. I definitely wish to continue studying Japanese, so that I can communicate
more smoothly if I do get the chance to go back, and learn more than I did this time. While I
certainly feel that I experienced a lot and gained a lot from this trip, I feel that had I studied
Japanese more in depth before going to Japan with this group, I would have gained evenmore. So, by placing more of a focus on my studies and practicing the language, I think I will
be ensuring that the next visit to Japan I make will be something I can make the most out of. I
want to not rely on English as a crutch, but to be able to communicate exclusively in Japanese.
This trip has given me the motivation I need to really increase my efforts to attain fluency inJapanese. This all applies to reading and writing too, not just speaking. I found myself
struggling to read some things in Japan because of the abundance of kanji there, so I willcertainly be focusing more heavily on studying kanji as well.
One of the things I loved the most about being there was that even though there was a slightlanguage barrier, the fact that I was making an effort to communicate seemed to make thepeople I spoke with all so happy it took away nearly all the stress of trying to speak with them.
They all seemed so surprised that I could speak Japanese, and so happy that I was willing to
try to use it instead of English, which I was shocked by. I would have expected such a smallthing not to mean so much, but it seemed to have a big impact on the people I spoke to. They
all seemed so excited to talk to me, and excited that Americans were learning to speak
Japanese. I think, and hope, that I had a positive impact on the people I spoke to who all
seemed so happy to speak in Japanese with me and teach me. I might have helped improvetheir opinion of America and American citizens, and perhaps even helped create bridges
between Japan and the United States.
The latter is something I really do hope I accomplished. This whole trip was to celebrate thememories of Montgomery Dickson and Taylor Anderson, and their life’s work. They both
worked enthusiastically to help draw Japan and the United States closer together, and I admirethem both greatly for that. I want to thank them for their work, and for allowing us all the honorof continuing their work in their memory. They will not be forgotten no matter how many years
go by, and I hope that with this program and what comes of it that their work will also live on.

NIPPON THROUGH MY EYES PHOTOSUBMISSION“In Memoriam”
I thought this monument was a beautiful way to memorialize the lives of those lost in thedisaster.

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Japanese Langauge Education Update 282015 JET-MIP Essay: Rachel Resnick

2015 JET-MIP Essay: Tulika Srivastava

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2015 JET-MIP Essay: Jacqueline Tayra

2015 JET-MIP Essay: Amy Waldron

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