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2015 JET-MIP ESSAY: NOAH LOVELLJANUARY, 2016: BREEZE ISSUE #99
A FREE MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER FOR FRIENDS OF JAPAN & TEACHERS OF
JAPANESENOAH LOVELLWest Valley High School
Fairbanks, AK
I would like to start out this essay by saying
this program was the most amazing experienceof my life and Japan is the most amazing
country in the world. I learned and gained somuch from it, and I think about it every single
day. My experiences with the food, people, andthe amazing Japanese culture culminated in anamazing experience that I will never forget.
I live in Fairbanks, Alaska: the “Golden Heart City” and the second largest city in Alaska. The
climate is categorized as a sub-arctic desert, so stepping off the airplane in Japan was my firstshock as I had never before felt true humidity. I felt myself sweating thirty seconds after I got
off the airplane, but it actually got better. I loved the heat and the humidity. Coming back toAlaska I missed the rain, and I longed to go on walks with my umbrella in the pouring rain andfelt nostalgic when rain would actually come.
Another thing that I found surprising was the level customer service. It was unlike anything I
had experienced in America. One experience that I still think about is the time when I forgot mytravel pillow when we were going through security. A woman came running up to me smilingvery widely with my travel pillow in her hands. I felt embarrassed on account of myforgetfulness, but she just smiled and bowed to me at least ten times. It was an amazing
moment and I soon thought afterwards that here in America the pillow might have been thrown
away….
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This was only the beginning of my understanding of just how polite the Japanese people are.
When we were in Osaka, my friends and I went to try the city’s delicacy, “Okonomiyaki”, which
can be described in English as a “Japanese pancake”. The cook prepares it right in front of you
and my friends and I had never had it before, so we didn’t know to wait for him while thepancake cooked, so he left and thinking it was done, we cut into it and he came back fiveseconds later slapping his forehead and saying, “aaiiii… it’s okay, I can fix it.” None of us
wanted to touch them again so when he finished we didn’t know whether to start eating or if hewould come back again, and when I called him over he became wide eyed and told us “Eat!
Eat!” and this came with even more laughing. After it all we got a picture with him and he gave
us hugs when we were leaving the restaurant.
One of the most rewarding aspects of this program was the homestay. That time alone
enhanced my Japanese by at least two times of what it was before. I was surrounded on all
sides by people speaking Japanese, with very sparse English. Since we were constantly
speaking in Japanese my confidence in speaking skyrocketed. Before the homestay when wewent to different places during free time I had to have my friends ask people where different
things were, but after the homestay I felt confident enough to ask on my own. I miss my hostbrother and family so much, and I am very grateful for all the experiences we had, from goingto a cat café, to riding the largest Ferris wheel in all of japan, to going to Kaiyunkan aquariumand seeing whale sharks, and then to the host Mothers best friend’s house where we ateamazing food and went to a festival. That homestay will stay with me forever and I can’t thankmy host family enough for taking time out of their busy schedule to make a place for me in theirhome, and in their hearts.
After the program had finished and I arrived home in Alaska, I shared my experience in Japanwith my parents, in the form of stories and souvenirs. Their eyes lit up when I showed themthings I had bought in Kyoto and shared about my visit there. My Grandmother was from Kyoto
and this made the visit to Kyoto even more important to my Father. One of the items I bought
was a painting of two cranes walking across a field of gold with a peach tree in the
background, and it was from a little store that sold traditional things. It was one of the mostbeautiful things I had seen in Japan. Seeing my Mother open it up, while I shared theexperience in Kyoto, made the moment more amazing. Soon thereafter, I went to visit friends togive them their gifts from Japan. Seeing my friends eyes light up with their gifts and theirappreciation of my stories, I was able to see that this trip didn’t just affect me; it also affected
the people around me and an amazing emotion washed over me.
To Taylor Anderson and Montgomery Dickson, I will proudly say that your lives were not lived invain. You are two truly extraordinary people that lived an amazing life and you have both
inspired me to study Japanese as much as I can and to join the JET program when I finish
college. Montgomery Dickson, I actually visit your hometown of Anchorage, Alaska, quite often,
and it is a beautiful place, but after this trip I won’t ever see it the way I used to, I’ll look atthings more closely and deeply, and I’ll see you in everything there, thank you for being who
you were, an amazing Japanese speaker, teacher, and to those that knew you, a friend. Taylor
Anderson, one of my closest friends on my trip was from Virginia, and I can’t help but think
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you must have been an amazing friend too. Through the videos that we watched of your life
you seemed like a friend to all, a very happy and cheerful person that loved to laugh, and I
wish that I could have met you, but I’m happy to say that I feel through this program experiencethat I’ve had an opportunity to experience things that are important to you.
Thank you to the Japanese Foundation for not only selecting me for this program, but providing
an experience that has truly enriched my life. Mr. Thomas Lin, our chaperone, has my gratitude
for not only sharing with us the Japanese culture, but for committing his time to the success ofthe 2015 JET Memorial Invitation Program. Many thanks to all who supported this program andmade this experience possible. I hope in the future to continue to share the experience withothers, to continue to learn Japanese, and teach others the traditions and culture I was blessed
to experience. With much gratitude.

NIPPON THROUGH MY EYES PHOTOSUBMISSION“My host brother and I out go karting”
During my homestay my host brother and I did
many things together. We met up with threeother host families and we made traditional
Japanese ceramics and went go karting. The
track was huge and it was a lot of fun. I’lldefinitely miss this day.

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Japan Found Me Campaign

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2015 JET-MIP Essay: Noah Lovell
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