Daiwa Tohoku Scholarship Report by Michiyo Miyamoto, 9 September 2013

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation and the British Council for awarding me a Daiwa Foundation Tohoku Scholarship. The Scholarship was a significant life-changing experience and allowed me a memorable 14 months in London, making my long-held dream of ten years – to study abroad – come true. In spite of this desire, since my college days, to study and live abroad, I was like a person standing still on the diving board shying away from jumping for a long time. However, the Scholarship gave me a supportive push to take a leap. It was a significant decision for me to leave my job and spend 14 months in London, 6,220 miles away from Tokyo. However, I can say with complete honesty that it was an appropriate course of action for me.

Reflecting over the past 14 months in London, I would not have traded this experience for anything.

I took a three-month academic English course before starting my Master’s course at King’s College London. The three months were quite intensive and really fruitful for me. I learned many things, not only English but also cultural differences. In the English course, I acquired academic English skills needed for my Master’s course, including writing essays, giving presentations, note-taking and finding and reading references. Obtaining these skills within three months was very tough for me but these skills actually helped my postgraduate study. The course also provided me with the great opprtunity to make good friends from various countries. There were, especially, many other Asian students in my class including Chinese, Taiwanese, South Korean, and Thai. Talking with them about a lot of things gave me the chance to become aware of my nationality and to build my identity as Japanese for the first time and to consider Japanese history from the point of veiw of diplomacy and political relationships with surrounding countries. This also allowed us to get to know each other better. If I hadn’t had the chance to study abroad and had remained in Japan where there are few opprtunities to meet foreigners, I would never have become aware of these things. Much to my delight, these classmates, who shared joys and sorrows with me in the English course, are still my great friends even though we entered different Master’s courses and colleges.

As to my postgraduate student life, my Master’s course – MA in Conflict, Security and Development – at King’s College London, certainly widened my knowledge and helped me develop a rational understanding of the topics surrounding pre-, during, and post-conflict environments. Not only the lectures by top professors but also debating with my course mates , who had varied and international backgrounds, enriched my perception of the topics discussed and deepened and stimulated my intellectual curiousity. Before entering the Master’s course I had been interested in humanitarian aid from my experience of volunteering activities at evacuation centres and in costal areas damaged in the tsunami when the Great East Japan Earthquake sturck in 2011. However, while having studied many topics about conflict, security and development, I became aware that I had been extremely tunnel-visioned. I realised that the course I took is really in-depth and quite unique. To be honest, although my first choice was a different course, now I am sure that this course was right and the best for me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have found so many interesting topics and become aware of so much. In addition, unlike students at Japanese universities, I received the impression that many students in the UK are hardworking and undertake study with the utmost energy. Their effort overwhelmed me at the onset but it always boosted my motivation.

My student life in London also provided plenty of challenges. With each difficulty, I have learned to be tough and to overcome gradually. For example, the insurmountable barrier that I have faced has been the language, even though I completed an English course. Sometimes the barrier significantly let me down and made me feel terrible about myself. However, little by little, the barrier has been lowered, thanks to a lot of my international friends. To be honest, at the beginning I did not have confidence in speaking English and was always complaining about my situation and how I couldn’t feel any progress in my English. Meanwhile, I’ve grown utterly disgusted with myself. After that, although I am shy, I tried not to hesitate to ask and talk with people in English even though my speaking is far from perfect. I realised that language is just a tool of communication. Plus, through discussion in seminars, I realised that sitting without saying anything means one is almost non-existent in the UK. This was really a good opprtunity for me to reflect and to improve myself. Furthermore, student’s life was much tougher than I had expected on some days. I had a lot of things to do both before and after lectures and seminers, like preparing for presentations, reading the set books, and writing essays. I was stuck in libraries from early morning until late. But, gradually, I rejoiced at being up to my neck in study everyday. I had never studied so hard. But, in retrospect, I owe my student life to all the support of many excellent friends and course mates from all over the world. As they always tried to listen me and warmly treated me. This is one of the significant benefits and treasures of studying in abroad.

Looking at my life in London, London was full of surprises! The first surprising thing was the racial diversity. London is a really cosmopolitan city and is like a small world. Coming from Japan which is rather mono-cultural, seeing a lot of races in a city was really impressive. In addition, even though there are lot of immigrants and cultures, they have mixed well, harmonising and respecting each other’s cultures. Plus, compared with Tokyo, I find people here are quite friendly. I have often been spoken to by people in town. Even though we are strangers, I like people speaking to me without hesitation, complaining about the delayed bus and the weird wheather. The other surprise is the abundance of natural riches and rich contacts between people and nature in London. There are many beautiful parks in London , more than in Tokyo, and people here seem to enjoy these parks. When I saw, for the first time , people lying on the grass in a park even at lunch time, it was a fresh experience for me, because most Japanese tend not to lie on the grass in a park. They won’t even sit on the grass, maybe because many parks in Japan do not allow us to step on the grass.

Once I experienced lying on grass, I became addicted to staying in parks under the nice sunlight. Now, having picnics at parks is one of my hobbies. I have learned from people in London how to be relaxed and how to become refreshed with nature.

The other surprise was the presence of art in people’s lives. While many museums in Japan set a high entrance fee, most of the interesting museums and galleries in London are free. Opening the door to the arts to the public in this way allows them to enrich their minds. As Somerset House is located next to my college, I quite often enjoyed watching many impressionist paintings at the Courtauld Gallery as a break. I hadn’t ever been up close to so many paintings ever before. This also provided me with emotional richness.

Thus, my 14 months in London provided an invaluable experience and irreplaceable lesson for my self-improvement. With this experience in London, I would love to further my career and try to work abroad. I am sure that without the Scholarship, I could never have experienced this precious time. Once again, I am sincerely grateful to the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation and the British Council for this great opportunity.

Michiyo Miyamoto