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BREEZE #86

DECEMBER, 2014: BREEZE ISSUE #86
A FREE MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER FOR FRIENDS OF JAPAN & TEACHERS OF JAPANESE

2014 FUKUOKA JAPANESECULTURAL EXCHANGE
PROGRAMBY JOSHUA NETTLES
California State University Long BeachLong Beach, CA
First Impression and Thoughts
On November 12, 2014, I was fortunate enough to be
selected by the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, who wastasked with finding a candidate to participate in theinaugural Fukuoka Japanese Cultural Exchange Programfor one week. Ever since I had begun studying Japaneseseriously as an undergraduate I had wanted to spend timein Japan to experience what it was really like with my own
two eyes. Without this opportunity I am not sure I would
have ever been able to go to Japan because I have tofinancially support myself and my sister who is currently
still in school all while continuing to work on my Masters
project. Taking an entire week off of work was a financially risky decision, but knowing that an opportunity
like this would more than likely never present itself to me again I decided to take the gamble and put inthe application.
Students from Vietnam, Malaysia, The Philippines, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Australia, SouthKorea, India and The United States all gathered to have their first Japanese experience in Fukuoka
prefecture. The ages of participants ranged from 17 years old to 26 years old. Being the oldest of theparticipants I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get along well with the other participants especially since I
was the only student from the other side of the Pacific Ocean. I was also concerned about my Japaneseability since I haven’t had much time to dedicate to advancing my language ability with school and work tofocus on. I know that many people in Asia can speak Chinese and have ability to read countless numbersof Chinese characters which is an overwhelming advantage when it comes to learning Japanese. Also,
Korean is almost grammatically identical to Japanese making it easier for speakers of Korean to learn
Japanese. For Americans, Japanese is not only grammatically and orthographically difficult but
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pragmatically difficult as well.

After spending a total of over 14 hours on an airplane I finallyarrived in Fukuoka, Japan on November 12th at around noon. I
was relieved to find out that many of the other participants had
shared my concerns and I found them all to be extremely friendly
and intelligent people. Many of us could probably communicate
with each other more efficiently in other languages, but to myknowledge all of the students took this opportunity to practicetheir Japanese conversational ability and refrained fromspeaking other languages.

Fukuoka
So after an entire week in Fukuoka what makes a prefecture that most people have never heard of standout from the others? Well, Fukuoka is in a pretty strategic location. It is within Ferry distance of SouthKorea and not far from the rest of Asia. For students who are interested in international business in Asia I
believe that studying abroad in Fukuoka would be a great opportunity to make connections. Sure, you canmake connections anywhere but just like in Los Angeles there are really too many people to really meetsomeone and form a strong bond and it is also difficult to find the right people. Fukuoka is big enough toattract people from many parts of the world but yet small enough so that it is easier to meet people
without getting lost in a sea of acquaintances.
It is also relatively cheap to study in Fukuoka. Honestly almost
anywhere on the planet has cheaper tuition and living expenses
than Los Angeles but Fukuoka is also cheap in comparison toother major cities in Japan. According to the presentation thestudy load at the average Japanese university is light enough toallow students to work part-time jobs to help fund their study
abroad experience in Fukuoka. There are also scholarships
offered by the government and many support programs forstudents who wish to study in Fukuoka.
I’ll be the first to admit that in comparison to Los Angeles there isn’t THAT much to see in Fukuoka, but for
those looking for an experience outside of tourism I believe it is one of easiest places to live in Japanespecially for those who wish to improve their Japanese language ability. I didn’t come across a single
person in Fukuoka who could speak English at a conversational level and that’s probably because mostpeople seemed more interested in other Asian languages. This means that in order to get by you’ll haveto rely on your own Japanese ability. However, based on my experience even if your communicative ability
is low the people are friendly and patient enough to try and understand what it is you’re trying to say.
I remember flying over Fukuoka and being amazed at how muchgreen I could see from nearly 20,000 feet in the sky and on myway back to Los Angeles all I could see were lumps of brown formiles. So if you’re someone who appreciates trees and would
like to be surrounded by nature but still have access to a largebut not too large city then Fukuoka may just be the place you’relooking for in Japan.

Japanese Exchange Program
I think the program really helps give students an idea of whatkind of place Fukuoka really is. It all felt really genuine to me and I don’t think anyone was really trying toPrivacy - Terms

impress us to influence our opinion of Fukuoka. Sure, we were given the chance to have many rareexperiences in Fukuoka but my impression of Fukuoka is entirely based on what I observed around rather
than what was being presented to me.
I think one of the strongest points of this program is that not only
did we get to learn about Fukuoka but we also were able tolearn about the countries that the other participants had comefrom. I think this program is necessary because it is true that not
many people know of Fukuoka or its charm and appeal. I hopethat in writing this article and sharing my experience that it may
inspire others to give Fukuoka a chance and experience it forthemselves. I certainly wasn’t disappointed and I doubt anyone
else would be either.
I hope that the program continues for many years to come and I’m looking forward to see what future
participants have to say in regards to their experience in Fukuoka. Hopefully I didn’t mess up too badly inFukuoka and they’ll allow another student from the United States to participate next year.
Concluding Comments
To my professors: Thank you for recommending me for theprogram and always being supportive of my efforts to learn
Japanese. I certainly couldn’t have not made it this far without
you and I am truly grateful.

To our lovely Japanese tutors in Fukuoka: I You’re all amazingpeople and hopefully we’ll meet again soon. I wish you all thebest in your future endeavors and if you are ever in Los Angelesor need help with anything English related don’t hesitate to getin touch with me!
To my host family: Thank you for taking care of me while I was in Fukuoka. I truly had a great time and I
can’t wait to see you all again. I’m not sure how difficult it is for a foreigner to pass a Japanese university
entrance exam, but I’ll definitely be putting forth a valiant effort to make it back to Munakata soon.
To my fellow exchange students: It was a pleasure meeting you
all and I’m glad that we were able to become great friends. I’m
not really great with social networking or chat programs but I’ll
be making an effort to stay in touch! Hopefully we’ll see eachother again.
To the Japan Foundation Los Angeles: Thank you for being soflexible with the application process. None of this would havebeen possible without you all presenting me with thisopportunity and for that I am sincerely thankful.
To the Fukuoka Japanese Exchange Program Staff: First I’d like to apologize for the inconveniences I may
have caused by not responding to e-mails immediately and the whole withdrawing cash situation. I’d liketo think that some of the Japanese SOUL (inside joke) has rubbed off on me as a result of this program
and thus made me more conscience of what is considered to be a timely response. Second, I’d like toPrivacy - Terms
thank you all for making this program possible. I had a great time and learned quite a bit about Fukuoka. Ihad wanted to study in Japan before this program but it wasn’t until after that I had decided that I wanted
to study in Fukuoka. Without this program who knows when I would have had my first experience in Japan,
but more importantly than when I’m happy to say that my first experience was in Fukuoka and that I am
eternally grateful to all of you who helped make this possible.

Thanks for reading!
Joshua “Jojo-tan” Nettles

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