After ASEP 2005

Ritsumeikan University Yumi Ichikawa

1. Presentation

At a preparation for the presentation in Taiwan, I felt that it is difficult to communicate by using email or chatting with people who I haven’t met before. When I wanted to tell my opinion, I tried to say in English but I couldn’t tell well. It took a long time that members of my group understood what I wanted to say and I got tired. However, I don’t think it was a waste of time because I could learn the importance of communication and discussion to succeed in the presentation.

2. Home stay

I enjoyed this home stay very much. There were 4 people in my host family and they were really kind. Especially, I and host sister became good friends. The third day in Taiwan we went to a downtown and took print club pictures. Then I was surprised the system of taking print club pictures in Taiwan. Because machines came from Japan and they aren’t translated in Chinese, Taiwanese can’t understand what the machine says, so they take pictures through their hunch or ask a staff for a print club and the stuff draws and stamps on them. I think it is an interesting system to use a Japanese machine in Taiwanese way.

3. Think about Taiwan

Through my trip to Taiwan, I felt Taiwanese teenagers are interested in Japan very much. In downtown, I saw a lot of things came from Japan. For example, there were many Japanese artists’ CDs in a CD store and there were many kind of Japanese fashion magazines in a book store. Then I heard from my host sister that Japanese cartoons are very popular in Taiwan. I have known that Japanese young cultures are popular in Taiwan but it was more popular than I expected. I think it is good but it is only from Japan to Taiwan. Japanese should know more about Taiwan because there are many good things and cultures in Taiwan. I could know wonderful things of Taiwan through the trip.

4. My Achieve and Goal

I’m not good to speak with people whom I meet for the first time because I often become passive and shy. However, at ASEP meeting, I realized that I have to be active because it will never start anything if I don’t try to be mixed up with people. After I realized it, I tried to talk with other participants. Then I could know about their home countries and make some friends. After the meeting, I reflected that I couldn’t speak well at my presentation. I thought a reason of it is I didn’t have enough confidence. It was the most serious problem of my presentation. When another group presented, they were smiling and looking audiences’ eyes. Their presentation attracted the audiences and they looked confident. I was impressed by their presentation. I want to be like them who have great confidence and attract audiences.