Grant Sends LCC Students To Japan
Leeward Community College students visited Nijo Castle in Kyoto during their weeklong trip to Japan. Photo from LCC.
For the second year in a row, Japanese language students at Leeward Community College embarked on a journey to Japan that took them Nagoya, Gifu and Kyoto thanks to a $58,000 grant from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership. During their weeklong stay, the students had the opportunity to visit schools, interact with local students and tour historical sites.
“This trip was a perfect combination of studying abroad as students and visiting some famous places in Japan as a tourist,” explained LCC professor Yumiko Asai-Lim, who served as a chaperone.
The group was comprised of 20 students who were enrolled in a Japanese summer course. Professor Kazuko Nakamitsu served as the trip’s director.
The students got a taste of student life in Japan with visits to two universities – Gifu University and Nanzan University. At Gifu, the students had the opportunity to sit in on lectures, with topics that include Japanese linguistics and the significance of second language acquisition.
At Nanzan, students had the chance to spend the day with their international classmates. Groups of Nanzan students showed the LCC students around campus before splitting them into smaller groups to take them around town. At the end of the day, each group presented how they spent the day – in Japanese.
“The fact that they had to use Japanese with Japanese-speaking people really helped them and encouraged them,” said Asai-Lim. “They were surprised at how much they can communicate with them, and we were happy to see it.”
The group also visited a number of historical sites, including Nagoya Castle. They also took a one-day bus tour to Kyoto, where they visited temples.
The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership aims to strengthen ties between Japanese and U.S. citizens and promote collaboration between the two countries. The grant funded airfare, group ground transportation and hotel accommodations for individual students.
