School Systems

School systems are very different in every country.
In Japan, school year begins in April and ends in March. Also, students usually wear uniforms up until high school.

This is a picture of my high school's class room.

In Australia, school year begins in January and ends in December. Like Japan, students wear uniforms as well.

Also, one of my friend from Sweden told me this interesting fact in Sweden’s college system. He says school system in America is very different from Swedish system and he thinks it’s very confusing.

According to him, first of all, school tuition is free in Sweden.

Second of, Swedish college students take only one class at a time. Students take one particular course for about a month, take exam and pass it, then take next course for a month and so on.

He says he doesn’t necessary dislike system in America where students take several courses at the same time for about four months.
I think this system in Sweden is unique.

In Japan, people call four years of college life is a summer vacation of your lifetime. Literally, it is very easy to graduate in Japan. Instead, we all have to take this massive entrance examination to get into college. No matter how you did well in high school, if you fail the exam then you cannot get into college.

Also, students take up to about 24 credits per semester. This describes how easy to take classes in Japan. If I take 24 credits in America, I would die of homework.

Holidays

Americans are all about parties and celebrations.

I think the funniest thing here is how they celebrate other country’s holiday. Maybe this is because there are so many people from all around the world in America, but I still think it is pretty funny.

For example, March 17th is St. Patrick’s Day which is an Irish holiday. However, almost all the Americans wear green to show their respect for Ireland. In this YouTube video, one lady clearly said “everybody is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.”
I’ve heard that the Chicago River is dyed green on St. Patrick’s Day, beers are dyed green too, and there are St. Patrick’s Day parades everywhere around the nation.


I have been to Ireland, but I felt like American people are more excited about the holiday than people in Ireland, which I think is interesting.

I mean, how much dye do you need to dye entire river?

Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo is coming up soon. And I have heard lots of celebrations and parties for the holiday.
Especially since I am living near Washington D.C., it was good for me to learn about those holidays, too.
Other than Cinco de Mayo and St. Patrick’s Day, I know there were Chinese New Year’s celebration, Japanese cherry blossoms festivals, and many other cultural celebrations.

This is one thing I like about America. People in America accept others and celebrate each other’s holiday as much as they can.

Vegemite

Vegemite is possibly one of the worst food existing on the earth.

However, my friend from Australia loves Vegemite. People in Australia somehow like this food.
Vegemite looks like a dark chocolate, but tastes like a dead fish. (Not really eat a dead fish, but you can imagine how horrible it would taste…)

The taste is extremely rich, but there’s no possible way to accurately describe the taste of the Vegemite. You have to taste it to find out how it’s like.

Vegemite is a paste made from yeast extract, and it is full of Vitamin B. Since the taste of Vegemite is unique, you cannot eat it by itself. You usually spread it thinly onto toasts or crackers to eat.
Vegemite is similar to Marmite, but according to my friend from Australia, those two are completely different food and he thinks Vegemite is way better than Marmite.

Sine Vegemite looks like chocolate cream, I used it as a joke for this year’s April fool.
I was going to put a lot of Vegemite on cookie, but my plan failed. If I put too much then it smells like a dead fish and people would realize something is wrong with the cookie.


I just drew smiley face on each cookie, and people did not even notice it was a Vegemite because I couldn’t put too much on it. Next year, I will make some cupcakes with Vegemite fillings. It would be nasty, I can tell.

Story of Russia and China

One of my best friend at George Mason University is an exchange student from Russia.
She is in a different exchange program, but we talk a lot to learn about each other’s country and culture. What fascinates me about her the most is what is she studying.
Her major is surprisingly, Chinese. However, she told me that many Russians are studying Chinese and many Chinese students are learning Russian. So to her, it’s not a big deal at all.

Russian and Chinese are definitely one of the world’s hardest languages to study.

However at the same time, Russia and China are neighboring countries and it is natural that people in those countries travel to each country and learn their languages. It is like people in Europe can speak multiple European languages.

However to me, Russian and Chinese are far different language, so it was interesting to learn the fact that those two countries have a connection like this.

Also, Russia and China are two completely different countries.

Matroshka from Russia


Building in Beijing

As I mentioned first, Russian and Chinese are two hardest language to gain. You would need much efforts to learn and master those languages.
Maybe someday in the future, Russia and China would lead the world…

Sushi in America

So, whenever I introduce myself that I am from Japan, people tell me how much they love Sushi.

Well, of course I like Sushi, but in fact, Japanese people do not really eat Sushi. It’s more like a food for special occasion.

This is the picture from New Year's day celebration.

When I eat Sushi in America, I felt something weird. They look same, but they taste different. And recently I found out why they taste completely different.

The Sushi rice is lacking basic ingredients.

Sushi means “vinegar rice”. Therefore, Sushi rice must have some vinegar to taste good. However, I don’t taste vinegar in any Sushi I had in America, and that was the reason I felt weird eating Sushi in America.

As you can see in this YouTube video,
Sushi rice needs a vinegar. Maybe foreign people won’t like Sushi if it contains vinegar, and that should be the reason why Sushi in America doesn’t taste like vinegar.

I haven’t been to nice Japanese Sushi bar in America recently, so I am not sure about Sushi provided in those restaurant. But those cheap Sushi you can buy at grocery store definitely do not contain vinegar.

Melting Pot...?

America is the country of melting pot.
At least, I used to think America is the melting pot.

My ultimate goal is to be a journalist who travel around the world and tell people about each country’s unique culture. I do not want to talk about general culture many people already know. I want to talk about my own experience because as a world traveler, I know you do not really feel the “real” culture unless you spend some time in that country.

I thought America was a melting pot, and this was one of the reasons I chose America to do my one-year studying abroad program. America consists of people from all over the world, and I can experience and see various cultures at once.

However, I found very interesting line when I was reading textbook for my public relations class.
The text said “people used to think America as a melting pot…”

This textbook is called “Public Relations: A Values-Driven Approach” written by David Guth. The first publication of the book is 1999. I don’t know when he referred to in this text, but I thought it was interesting to say that America used to be melting pot.

According to Guth, America used to be a melting pot where people from all around the world live together. However, nowadays, America became the country where each ethnicity not only can live together with each ethnic identity but also can have universal identity as Americans.

Either way, this country fascinates me in terms of fullness of cultures.

My life so far...

I have a very unique childhood.

I was born in Tokyo, Japan. However, since my father used to live in Chicago, my parents wanted me to become an international person instead of being typical Japanese. They knew the world was becoming more globalized and it would be good for me to know more than one language. So, I started learning English when I was two.

I liked learning English, and it became natural to me since I was learning it so long. As I liked English, I also liked to interact with foreigners and that was the reason how I become interested in learning different cultures.

When I was in fifth grade, I did my first exchange program to San Francisco, California. It was only two weeks stay, but I enjoyed experiencing different culture.

After that, I participated in many exchange programs. I spent a month in Sydney, Australia when I was in seventh grade. A month stay in Vancouver, Canada when I was in eighth grade.

Then, here comes the turning point in my life. I was chosen from my father’s company to become a full year exchange student.

The organization called Youth for Understanding game me full scholarship to my exchange program.
http://www.yfu.org/
I became an exchange student to Oakton High School in Oakton, Virginia when I was a sophomore in high school. To spend a year in America definitely changed myself.

It wasn’t easy to live in a country where nobody spoke your language. I was vexed at my own lack of knowledge of English and lack of courage to talk to people. However, to come to America to learn English and culture was my longtime dream. I knew that was what I wanted, so I never gave up. This experience gave me self-confidence that I could believe in myself to achieve what I want to do.

After I came back to Japan from one-year stay in America, I did an exchange program to Ireland for a month.
Then here I am today at George Mason University as a direct exchange student.
After this, I will go to France to attend language school to learn the language and its culture.

My journey will never end.