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Japanese exchange students enjoying their last days at MHCC
The Advocate
Students visiting MHCC from Ryukoko University in Kyoto, Japan, will be returning home Sunday after living an experience that some say is invaluable to learning.
The exchange students — Hiro Hironobu Shimizu, Nao Ueda, Shoko Miyamoto, Kento Shimoe, Misaki Nakamura, Akiko Saito, Tetsuya Tamada, Mayuki Kaito, and Yoko Tashiro — all said that when they return they will feel homesick for Oregon.
Asked what they would want to take home with them, Shimizu said, “Clothes sizes. My clothes size is very difficult to find in Japan.”
Tamada said, “American girls. They are more beautiful than in Japan.”
Saito said, “No tax on shopping. It’s cheaper than Japan.”
During their visit, the exchange students attended “Saturn Up Close” in the college planetarium and the student art exhibit in the Visual Arts Gallery.
MHCC instructor Shawn Osborne said they went snowboarding and did a lot of shopping.
According to Osborne, the students participated in ESL Café, a group that gives non-native English speakers a chance to have discussions about their experiences with language-learning students.
“The program expands the world and allows students to share real life experience outside of textbooks,” said Osborne.
The MHCC campus is very different from that of Ryukoko University according the Japanese exchange students and, as Ueda said, “(Mt.) Hood is much bigger.”
Miyamoto said, “There’s no parking on campus for students in Japan, only teachers.”
Shimoe said, “The really big TV. My university doesn’t have televisions.”
Asked if their campus has a student center similar to MHCC’s College Center, the students said, “There are only classrooms.”
Another privilege MHCC students have that Japanese college students do not is the ability to bring laptops on campus. “American students can bring laptops to campus; it’s not allowed in Japan,” said Nakamura.
All of the exchange students are studying English at Ryukoko University and being an exchange student creates cultural awareness, which is important in international communications, according to Osborne.
Once the students return home to Japan, they are required by the university to write a report about what they learned from their visit and how they plan to continue their studies at the university. Asked what they plan to do when they graduate, Shimizu said, “I want to maybe live in New York and teach Japanese to Americans.”
The students agreed unanimously that they would like to say thank you to MHCC instructors Osborne and Yoko Sato and the Japanese language students who have supported them since their arrival.
However, the thank-you goes both ways, said Sato, who teaches Japanese courses to MHCC students, emphasizing that the experience is valuable to her students as well. “This program offers a quick, economical way to do a cultural exchange,” she said. “Why not take this opportunity to see what the Japanese college students are really like?”
Sato said, “This is a chance to get connected as a class and group of youths and maybe even cultivate into world peace.”
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