My program was spent largely engaging with Japanese students. Our group visited many elementary, middle, and high schools, but also participated in cultural and recreational activities with college students. That facet of the program is what I valued by far the most and allowed me to make multiple friends across the world. I feel like I struggle to make friends, so I’m amazed every time I think about how effortless it was to make friends with the various Japanese students I interacted with.

My most prominent memories of the program are eating in local restaurants that students recommended, and I can’t emphasize enough how enjoyable it was. Conveyor-belt sushi and shabu-shabu (delicious vegetables and meat in broth) were fantastic, but even convenience store food was far better than any equivalent in the States. Curry pan was just a roll with curry inside but became a standout food item that I’ll miss unless I ever return.

I had heard about how many education abroad programs focus on sightseeing, but this opportunity to make real friends overseas was an experience I’ll cherish forever.

While away I was also able to pursue a personal interest I’ve had for years. My project for the program was to investigate the presence of Christianity in Japanese culture. Given prior research, I had expected Japanese Christianity to be simply different from what I knew of the religion in the United States, and that was mostly true. However, towards the very end of the program, I attended a local Christian service with a Japanese college student and marveled at how similar it was to a Christian service in the United States. I was astonished both at how familiar it was and by how everything I had learned until that point suggested that such a service didn’t exist in Japan. Many of the people in the church spoke English, and I was able to have some truly unique conversations with them about my project and their relatively rare perspective as native Japanese Christians. The Japanese college students had elucidated me on the details of Christmas in Japan, which includes fried chicken and romantic endeavors, but seeing such traditional Christianity almost hidden in Japan was mind-blowing. I’ve read that Christianity exists in some capacity in Japan, but going there and seeing it for myself was something truly special.

The photos I’ve attached are of me wearing a yukata (a traditional summer robe) in Kyoto and at a shrine near Matsue castle. I never would have got to do either without going abroad myself.

Name: Jesse Doolin
Status: Sophomore
Major: Political Science/Pre-Law
Hometown: Palm Coast, Florida
Program: A Day in the Life of Japan