An exceptional experience
Dear readers and hopefully future JLCC students. My name is Marcel Mager from the 23rd JLCC class, (but everyone just calls me Maru). I am currently enrolled as a graduate student in the health and sports science course at the Kyushu university. In this article I want to shed some light on my experience as an exchange student in the JLCC program and explain how I went from being an exchange student to a grad student.
First some background information. I am from Munich in Germany where I majored in Japanese studies. In 2018 I went to explore Japan on my own for 4 weeks, with barely any knowledge of the Japanese language. Even though it was difficult at times, I fell in love with Japan as a country and decided that I want to come back no matter what, which led to me enrolling in Japanese studies. I am certain that at the time, I already thought about living in Japan for an extended period of time. As part of the Japanese studies, we get a chance to go to a Japanese university for one year, if our grades are good enough. So I studied hard, and after 4 years, me being a graduate student already, because I had to postpone my exchange year twice due to some global pandemic, I finally made it to Fukuoka in October of 2022.
My goals back then were simple. Improve my Japanese as much as possible, make a lot of Japanese friends, and figure out whether I can see myself living in Japan for a prolonged period of time. I definitely achieved all three goals. But let’s start with the first one.
I knew from my seniors back in Munich, that the JLCC exchange program of the Kyudai is the most difficult one out of every program I could have chosen, however also the most effective for learning japanese. And I wasn’t disappointed. In the beginning, I could hardly keep up with the level and pace of some of the language courses or JACs as they are called. I would oftentimes sit in the library for hours with other exchange students to do homework or prepare presentations. But they truly were very effective in improving my language proficiency. I think that the speaking course helped me the most with my daily life, because we really learned how to communicate effectively, without making many grammatical errors. A big part of that was the instant feedback we received from the teacher during discussions or after presentations.
On the other hand, the JL and JC courses really improved my reading and writing skills. These are basically courses in which you learn the Japanese language and culture through a variety of different topics. My three favourites were Japanese music culture, where we learned about various different types of Japanese music and instruments, got to play the taiko drums, as well as other traditional instruments with members of Kyudais music clubs, and we even had the host of a local Fukuoka radio station give two lessons. Society and local dialects was incredibly interesting as well. Especially learning about the different dialects and their peculiarities was very fun. Lastly the course about all things Kyushu, where we learned about the different prefectures of Kyushu and their characteristics. These were just my favourites, but every course was highly interesting and there was never a boring class, which was certainly also thanks to the teachers, who were always really motivated and happy to teach about their subject.
Apart from the classes we also got to experience Japanese culture first hand on the various trips we took as a group. My favourites were Zazen meditation and a trip to Yoshinogari historical park, but I want you to experience those on your own, so I won’t spoil it for you now.
All in all, the courses and extracurricular activities really helped in improving my language skills and understanding of the Japanese culture. But I definitely also needed some activities to balance the difficult classes and mountains of homework. One of activities were walks on the nearby beach… lots of them (which I highly recommend in the evening or nighttime). The other activity I did was sports, which also brings me to my second goal: making a lot of Japanese friends.
Group Photo of the Track and Field Field-Part at the Nanadaisen 2023
I actually heard from other exchange students, who don’t speak Japanese very well, that they sometimes felt unwelcome in clubs and circles. I think, that this is oftentimes because the Japanese students are not very confident in their English, but in my experience if you can speak some Japanese and try your best, you will certainly be warmly welcomed by everyone. I personally always loved doing sports, which is why I pretty much instantly joined the badminton lovers circle.
At first I was hesitantly greeted in a slightly broken English, but as soon as I started speaking Japanese, everyone had a big smile on their face and we instantly started chatting. I am pretty sure, I was the only foreigner in the circle for at least 5-6 months, but I will never forget the moment one guy said to me: “Are you participating in the next tournament? It’s just not the same when you are not there.” Which made me really happy because I felt like a part of the circle then. It was also in the circle where I met my first good friends and very helpful people. Even though I only knew him for about 4 weeks at that point, when I got sick with covid at the end of November 2022, one circle member did my grocery shopping for me, because I wasn’t allowed to leave my dorm room. (I am still very grateful for that Fujimasa). Then in march of 2023 I broke my foot during practice. One of the members rode my bicycle back to my dormitory, two other members drove me to the hospital, and helped me understand what the doctor told me. And even though we are always standing on the badminton court as rivals, we can make fun of each other, laugh together and have fun, which I strongly believe is most important.
I also did track and field back in Germany but sort of lost my motivation during the last few years. But as I saw members of the Kyudai track and field club lifting weights in the weight room one day, I somehow joined the club on a whim. There I met even more funny and interesting people who I can gladly call my friends now. Everyone was always so highly motivated to improve, that I got pulled along and started to regularly participate in the trainings, however still with no aspiration to partake in competitions. All that changed, when I watched my teammates compete in the big spring event. Everyone was fired up, giving their best, which ignited my flame again as well. That lead to me participating in the Nanadaisen in Tokyo, a competition involving the 7 big national universities of Japan. It was a great experience, being able to compete alongside the other students and cheering everyone on, and before I realized it, I registered for the decathlon in the next big tournament which was held only 2 month ago in May of 2024. During the competition I actually injured my head pretty bad, but still decided to finish all 10 disciplines. And I managed to make more friends with students of other universities. I was even invited to train with the track and field club of the Kanoya university. Can you believe that?
I have to say joining the circles and clubs really made my exchange year an unforgettable experience. Balancing out the stress of the courses, improving my Japanese, meeting new people and making many friends along the way even at other universities, truly awesome. And yes, I know I did too much sports sometimes, but I didn’t want to do it any other way… Though I guess sometimes I should have used some of that time to study some more.
2024 Spring Intercollegiate Track Meet Decathlon Shot Put
Making many friends did really help me with my third goal and the decision, if I can and want to continue living in Japan for longer. It actually strengthened my desire to extend my stay so much so, that I am now enrolled in a graduate program here. It certainly wasn’t easy though. It all came to be because of the mandatory classes you have to take during the JLCC program. These are basically courses, any student of the Kyushu university can choose. I thought to myself, If I have to choose a course, I want to at least choose something I want to know more about, so I picked nutrition science. In that course I actually met three of my teammates from track and field, and my now supervisor. The course really got me interested in nutrition and health and sports science as a whole, so I decided I want to try and pass the entrance exam for the graduate program. But since the JLCC program ends in august and the graduate program usually starts in April, I needed to first enroll as a research student. For that I needed a supervisor. My nutrition science teacher was not very fond of the idea at first and I really had to pester him a lot, until he finally gave me a chance. I am pretty sure he was very annoyed at me at some point. Becoming a research student I could focus on studying for the entrance exam, which was of course in Japanese. Luckily I had a study partner from China, and with combined efforts during our study session we managed to pass the entrance exam and enroll in the health and sports science course at the Kyudai. Because the entrance exam was in Japanese, I am sure that the JLCC program had a huge part in me passing the exam.
Since enrolling in the graduate school, my days have become more stressful again. Many reports and presentations, seminars with the teachers, but it is well worth it because I get to study something that really interests me, and I get to do in here at the Kyudai in my favourite country. By the way, I am the first non-asian foreign student in this course since 15 years or so. I am still meeting my friends and continuing with badminton and track and field, although not as frequently as before. I am currently preparing for my next track and field competition, which I am looking forward to very much. I also work as a teaching assistant for the sports classes that all the first years have to take. And I even became really close with my supervisor, even though I annoyed him so much. I am very much used to being here by now and can confidently say, that I am currently living my dream here at the Kyushu university.
It has been a long journey to this point and many people helped me along the way. I want to thank all the friends I made, all the teachers and staff of the JLCC program and student exchange centre, and my supervisor, for helping me out whenever I needed it.
For now my next goal is to graduate from here in 2026, but I am not yet certain, where this will take me in the future. Right now I am strongly considering staying in Japan for at least a few more years. I am very much looking forward to what the future holds in store for me from here on.
Wow, this article is a lot longer than I expected. I hope, my story was interesting and maybe even helped you in your decision to come to the Kyudai and join the JLCC program. I am 100% convinced that you won’t regret it, as it has been, and still is an exceptional experience for me.
Thank you very much for reading.
Maru