[SSJup81]

I’ve seen this thread, but never had much of an opportunity to read through it. Every time I came to this thread to read/participate, I always got distracted by something else. Anywho, I finally read through the entire thread. I have no papers to write at the moment, and the tutoring session I have set up for tomorrow, I’ve already written out my lesson plan and such for it. That aside, it was nice reading through this, although, imho, most of what was said is just common sense. If one has depression issues and such at home, moving to a new country isn’t going to magically fix that. It’s like a person who had social issues or depression issues, and suddenly became rich. Money doesn’t “fix the problem”. If you’re a negative person in general, even with money, you’re still going to be negative.

That aside, I’ve always wanted to live in Japan for an extended temporary stay (by extended, I mean more than an actual year). I’d been interested in the country for years, and, ironically, since I’ve gotten older, one of my main interests of the country, aside from the whole harmonious atmosphere it seems to give off, is the country’s educational set up. I’ve been curious of experiencing it, or observing it, first hand for years. I am an aspiring instructor, so who knows what I can possibly learn from the way instruction is done over there. I also have a slight interest in ESL teaching, especially after coming across a student who had just moved to the US and was enrolling in the middle school I was working in. She was from Vietnam, and her English was very limited, just as her mother’s was when trying to speak. Her other son, who’d lived here for a good while, had to do all of the speaking. I felt bad that I couldn’t help in some way (especially since I hadn’t taken my “Introduction to Serving English Language Learners” class yet). I had to write the girl a pass and all that, but she still couldn’t communicate well, aside from the basic, “Hello” and such.

Hm, other reasons I’d like to go to Japan is to just challenge myself. I’ve lived in Richmond, Virginia for the majority of my life. I was too young to remember what New York was like for me. I want to experience another culture. I would like to see what it’s like to live in Japan, and I’d also like to improve my language skills. I’ve been studying Japanese for a good long while now, and it’s still pretty bad due to the fact that not too many Japanese are around me, so what better way to improve it than by going to Japan to actually practice it? I also would like to travel around the country, see the sights, see some of the festivals, experience the cuisine firsthand, attend a concert, experience maybe some healthy living (in the sense of using stuff like public transportation, and having more of an opportunity to walk places, as I’ve always lived in an area where a car is a necessity, not a luxury), maybe go to an onsen, etc.

The only things I could see me being a bit iffy on, are squat toilets (erm…given my height), my hair (I'm black, and wear it braided...and blacks are a major minority in Japan), and not having a dryer, as they aren’t all that common, which I knew prior to stepping into this thread. I haven’t had to hang laundry in years. lol I guess it’s like having to go back to a typewriter after using a computer for many years, but I’m sure you adjust.

I applied to JET for this year, but was rejected, so I can only hope I can manage to get in for next year, and while anticipating that, I can continue with working on my licensure. So, for the skeptics, I’m not one of those people who want to do JET just to get to Japan, I want to become a teacher, and it helps to observe different methods so that you can help fix up your own teaching techniques. Also, I feel that JET would help me tremendously for when I do return here, if I’m accepted. It would show that I’m a flexible person to even consider such an endeavor in the first place and that I have international experience to boot. I truly feel that it’ll look very nice on my resume.

As for the whole anime/manga thing, I do like some anime, but I prefer manga to it in most cases, but, as I stated earlier on, it should be common sense that what you read in a manga or what you watch in an anime is in no way a complete reflection of what the country is like. Anyone who believes so is definitely delusional or is either living in a fantasy world. That would be like someone moving to the US in hopes of becoming a Cowboy, because of our old shows based around westerns.

Oh, one more random thing…back in the 90s, seems anime was called “Japanimation”. As a matter of fact, I called it that for years, up until the early 2000s. Cartnoon Network even used to have a block once a week called “Saturday Japanime” in its earlier days. Used to show things like Voltron.

*Realizes this is longer than I thought*