Joseph Walters (AY 2018-2019)

August 23, 2019

My name is Joseph Walters and I am a senior with a major in EALC.  Before going to Japan, I had little experience in Japanese life outside of Japanese classes and I had wanted to know more about what Japan was like.  As such, I believe that going through the YiJ program was one of the best experiences regarding Japan I had ever had.  Since my goal in going to school is to one day become a translator, I knew that going to Japan to further my Japanese lessons would be an excellent choice.  But I did not realize just how effective the YiJ program would be at allowing me to travel Japan while indulging myself in the culture and people.

Though having a host family was an idea that was also new to me, I wanted to challenge myself.  Since I chose a family that could not speak a lot of English, it was a very good way to challenge myself to learn Japanese at a faster pace.  By living with them over the course of nine months, I was able to grow very close to them in ways I did not expect.  Though I had to return to America, I still hope to keep up these bonds I have forged, and I look forward to seeing them and all the new friends I have made again someday!

Getting the chance to go to a Japanese school for an entire year was one aspect I was looking forward to and now having gone to said school I am very happy that I was able to.  Both the trips to Mt. Kouya in Wakayama and Hiroshima were very fun and getting to hang out with so many students from around the world was very inspiring.  Some of them have become very close friends of mine and made the trip even more fun!

Though I was very nervous to try such a long and life changing experience, now having gone through it I am very glad that I did.  The experiences that I was able to go through and the people that I met will be memories that I will never forget.  My Japanese can still use a little bit of work, but I know now more than ever that Japanese was the right choice of study for me and the YiJ program was an excellent choice to pursue those goals.  It did a very good job at making studying more engaging while also showing another side of the world that can be hard to see in Illinois.  If you wanted to get another idea of what the world is like outside of America, I think the YiJ is the perfect experience.