“OUR ASIA, OUR HOME!!”

Ritsumeikan university Mutsumi

“I want to communicate with many Asian people!!”

That’s why I applied for this program ASEP. My desire came true in this program. And I got a lot　of incentive and findings from many our friends: Asian people.

Collaborating with somebody is really difficult. I always feel that it is hard to make one presentation with several people in class. Therefore I was really worried, when I had heard we had to set one theme and make one presentation together. We communicated each other by the yahoo messenger. For Taiwanese and Malaysian students, it’s usual to use the yahoo messenger in order to talk with their friends. So it was a little bit hard for Japanese students to keep up with their quick response in English on the conference room. It is important not only to show my opinions, but also to listen what they said. Sometimes I was annoyed that I couldn’t tell my idea well in English. And I realized lack of my English skill. After our presentation was finished, we got larger satisfaction than I had expected. And we established friendly relationships.

Thanks to the difference of educational system, there was some difference between each student. First, our English skill was different. Age starting to study English at school is various. For example, in Taiwan it starts their elementary school. In Malaysia it starts in their kindergarten. Moreover, Malaysian students can speak Malaysian, Chinese and English. In Japan, it has been discussed about innovation of compulsory English education at elementary school for a long time, however, it hasn’t realized yet. Taiwanese and Malaysian students have used English practically since their childhood at school, so their English skill is very high. Second, there was difference of our presentation skill. I had rarely had a circumstance to present something on public before being university student. Many junior high and high school students in Japan have less circumstance of presentation than students in another country. I was very amazed with their high presentation skill.

Although Taiwanese appearances are similar to Japanese, Taiwanese behaviors are little bit different as Japanese one. Taiwanese are very open-minded and welcome for everyone. Actually I had worry that there were some people who have anti-Japanese sentiment because Taiwan used to be Japanese colony before. But I didn’t need such a worry. All Taiwanese I saw were very kind and welcomed me.

It’s a great pleasure to gain something new in communicating with many people. Continuing it can let us grow up. So it’s important to have courage to go out to new places and new world, meet many people, and communicate with them. That will be exciting and valuable for us.

All people are a diplomat of their country in such a place: ASEP, and we do tiny diplomacy there. Thought we can’t engage in diplomacy between politics, our tiny diplomacy will make better relationships in ASIA. I want to keep involving in treasure exchange in the future.

OUR ASIA, OUR HOME!!