AIMS Study Abroad Report: Fall, 2015 Outgoing

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1 School at Waseda List of Courses at School of International Liberal Studies Universitas Indonesia (Indonesia) Indonesian I Basic Korean B Introduction to Sociology I stayed in Indonesia and studied in Universitas Indonesia from August to January through AIMS7 program. The life in Indonesia for 5 months was unforgettable and I am sure that this study abroad was wonderful experience and made me grow. I am going to introduce about my Bagus ( Great in English) experience in Indonesia. What I was surprised the most in Indonesia is that all of the people in Indonesia are so nice and friendly. Local people like guard men in our apartment, the staff of laundry shop and canteen are really friendly and talkative so they always talk to us in Bahasa Indonesia. They did not speak English at all, so we could practice speaking Bahasa Indonesia through chatting with them. Also, students of Universitas Indonesia especially buddy club members are also friendly. UI, which is abbreviation of Universitas Indonesia has buddy system, which is exchange students can have their own buddy. The buddy members are local UI students so when we have trouble in daily life they can help us and buddy system gives us the opportunities to interact with local students. Also, many events such as field trip and farewell party were held by the buddy club. Most exchange students joined these events so we could interact with not only local Indonesian students but also international students from other countries like Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea and so on. 1

2 During my stay in Indonesia I experienced many culture shocks and at first I found it is difficult to overcome because sometimes Indonesian life style is different from Japanese one. For instance, classes in UI usually focus on discussion. Also, when I take a shower hot shower did not come out. At first, it was little bit hard for me but after several weeks I could already enjoy these differences. The most favorite point of Indonesia for me is that Indonesia has lots of great place for sightseeing. I sometimes visited many tourism spots in Indonesia on weekend such as Bali, Yogyakarta and so on. Since each island has own culture, I could experience various culture through trip. Study in Indonesia gave me the opportunity to experience the foreign unique culture and encounter many nice and friendly people. I could experience many things what I cannot do in Japan. I appreciate all support for study in Indonesia. Saya cinta Indonesia! Terima kasih banyak!! I love Indonesia! Thank you very much!! 2

3 School at Waseda List of Courses at School of International Liberal Studies Universitas Indonesia (Indonesia) Indonesian I English Academic Writing Introduction to Sociology It was really nice experience to have opportunity to study in Indonesia. First of all, it was precious for me to study Indonesian language. In Universitas Indonesia, there were many exchange students, for instance, Malay and Brunei. Their language is Malay, and it is so similar to Indonesian language that I could communicate with those people using Indonesian language. At the end my life in Indonesia, finally, I could use Indonesian language at daily conversation level. In Indonesia, I learned definitely different culture from that of Japan. To be honest, in my faculty in Universitas Indonesia, I could not take many classes because of language matter. However, I could learn many other things which were much more variable than classes. In Indonesia, since more than 75% of people are Muslims, I could experience Muslim culture. From western point of view, Islam is often thought to be barbaric religion because of a small number of cruel Muslims. However, overall, Muslims are kind to us in Indonesia. They spoke to us cheerfully whenever we tried to communicate with them. I felt Japanese people were more unfriendly than Indonesian Muslim when I came back to Japan. Also, generally speaking, Indonesian people like Japanese people, so whenever I told to Indonesian people that I am Japanese, they often welcomed me heartily. They looked pleased to talk with us, Japanese people. I 3

4 thought it was thanks to significant effort of Japanese people who came to Indonesia and contributed to them. 4

5 School at Waseda School of Political Science and Economics Universitas Indonesia (Indonesia) Indonesian I List of Courses at Development Economics Islamic Financial Economics Humane Community in Indonesia In this exchange program of university of Indonesia, I learned a lot of Indonesian perspectives I would like to write two of them in this report. First, Indonesian people love their country, and they are making efforts for developing their country. Soon after I was arrived in Indonesia, the Independence Day came. There were a lot of events which celebrated the day. Some friends in university of Indonesia asked me when the Japanese one was. They wondered why Japanese did not celebrated the day of Japan like Indonesia. However, they think they should make Indonesia better and more efficient. A lot of economists predict Indonesia will become fourth economic power in the world until I discussed it with Indonesian students in the lecture but they think they have to make the country make more efficient for developing their country. There are too many people to get high income in each company. Now a lot of students try to make new industries to absorb surplus labors or poor labors. For example, when I visited some start-up companies, one of them was trying to make agriculture which used cheap labor, and made poor people have starts making products which is made from its own products. If Indonesia succeeds in using such power, Indonesia will become bigger economic power than Japan or other developed countries. 5

6 Second, for Indonesia, Japan is an attractive country but not a future partner. During my exchange program, I took MMI class which provided students to observe Indonesian ordinary life, so I was interested in Indonesian people s perspective on Japan. Thanks to the Indonesian class which is provided by UI, I can communicate with ordinary Indonesian who cannot speak English and get information from them. I often asked Indonesian people what they think about Japan. Their answers were surprising for me. For example, old Indonesians like Japanese products, but young Indonesians like Japanese culture. From my observation, old Indonesians, such as my friend s parents or some taxi drivers, know Japan through TOYOTA or HONDA. Old people in Indonesia calls a bike Honda, so they buy Japanese products and want to work Japanese companies. In contrast, young people in Indonesia, such as students, know Japan through Konan or Doraemon. They like and buy Japanese comics or programs but do not want to buy Japanese smartphones or laptops. Also, they are not interested in studying in Japan or working in Japanese companies. For example, UI students like Japanese culture but do not want to get master degree in Japan because it is too expansive for them to study in Japan, and they do not think Japanese academic level, especially in social science area, is higher than other countries. If this situation continues, in future, Japanese presence in Indonesia may fall down. Japanese students should not rely on legacy of Japanese high growth era and should make Japan more attractive for ASEAN students. In conclusion, Indonesian perspectives made me change my mind. Japanese students usually have to think about job hunting activity before graduation, so they cannot consider their nation s future in studying. However, Indonesian students learn future blue prints, and think what they have to study now. After this program, I began to think what I can do for future relationship between Japan and Indonesia. This program provides me a chance of expanding my scope. 6

7 School at Waseda List of Courses at School of International Liberal Studies Universitas Indonesia (Indonesia) Indonesian I Introduction to English Literature English Academic Writing I went to study abroad at Universitas Indonesia for a semester. It was a precious experience for me. Before I left Japan, I believed that what I only had to do in Indonesia was that I would concentrate on studying and keep up with the classes. However, as a student in School of International Liberal Studies, I did not think the lectures held in English were so tough for me because I already got used to them in Japan. In addition, I found the benefits of studying abroad were outside of classes. There are three points which I thought were beneficial for me, such as the local language, the different culture, and Indonesian friends. First of all, I could learn the Indonesian language effectively in the country where it is mainly used. Just wandering around the town in Indonesia, I saw signs or advertisements in the local language. Moreover, I had to communicate with the people whose mother tongue is Indonesian such as taxi drivers or staff in restaurants. This is because most of them could speak only Indonesian. Thus, I could memorize the words naturally and automatically. Secondly, I was exposed to the culture which I had not been familiar with. Since Indonesia is an Islamic country, I felt that there was an absolutely different culture from that of Japan. For example, I heard the sound of azan every day. Azan is the voice which a man reads Quran from a mosque. Azan sounded several times a day, including around 4 a.m., when I was asleep. Furthermore, we can easily find many musholla in Indonesia, where Muslim people pray. When I hang out with my Indonesian friends, they sometimes went there to pray. As a result, I could learn about the Islamic culture, which we Japanese do not know much about. 7

8 Thirdly, I could make friends with many Indonesian people. At Universitas Indonesia, there is Japanese department in the faculty of humanities. In the department, there are many students who are fluent in Japanese language. They were very eager to become friends with me. In addition, Indonesian people are interested in Japanese culture and they want to be friends with Japanese because there are a lot of Japanese products in Indonesia. For example, most of cars which are running on the street in Indonesia are made in Japan, and various Japanese foods are sold in the supermarket. Therefore, I could become friends with the local people in Indonesia. In conclusion, studying abroad in Indonesia was a precious experience for me because I could learn Indonesian language, Islamic culture, and I could make Indonesian friends. Firstly, I could memorize many Indonesian words by talking with the native speakers. Next, I could familiarize with Muslim s customs through the life in Indonesia. Lastly, I could become friends with a lot of people in Indonesia because most of them wanted to know about Japanese culture. These three benefits of spending time in Indonesia are very valuable to me. 8