MEXT Scholarship Series: Life in Shimoda City - Jonathan Ramtahal
2021/9/13
MEXT Scholarship Series: Life in Shimoda City - Jonathan Ramtahal
On October 16th, 2020, I boarded a Caribbean Airlines flight to Barbados in hopes that I can finally make it Japan without too many hiccups along the way, after 6 months of not being sure if I would ever get to Japan due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Fast forward roughly 11 months to Shimoda City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan and here I am! This little seaside city has become my home, although I am a master’s student at University of Tsukuba located in Ibaraki prefecture, I live at the Shimoda Marine Research Center, in order to complete my master’s and carry out my research. The center itself is quite large and houses Japanese and foreign research students and professors with various research focus within marine ecology and biology.
Shimoda City has an interesting history and played a very important part in Japan’s “opening to the world.” In March 1854, The Japan-U.S Treaty of Peace and Amity was signed and Shimoda was opened to foreign trade and commerce. This marked an important milestone in Japan’s history, leading to other trade agreements and as they say, “the rest is history”.
(See links for additional information):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimoda,_Shizuoka
https://www.izu-gyokusenji.or.jp/en/
A seaside city that stretches from the mountains down to the sea, with a sub-tropical climate, the summer is hot and humid and the winter…just perfect for a Trini like me. As someone who loves the outdoors, there are beautiful beaches all along the coast, hot springs or ‘onsen’ (温泉) in Japanese -which I have come to love in winter-, hikes, and lots of different activities to do. I am very fortunate that my research center is located in front of Nabetahama Bay, which is calm and beautiful and provides a nice escape from work. The city is known as a tourist destination within Japan and throughout the year, different festivals are held to mark changes in seasons, culture, and traditions of Japanese people. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 all of those festivals have been cancelled and I am yet to experience it, but I have been told that it’s a wonderful spectacle. The most famous of which is the Black Ship Festival that commemorates the Treaty of Peace, so named due to the black ships on which the Americans arrived to Shimoda. The city offers boats tours around Shimoda bay on an actual Black Ship (which I am yet to experience…because Covid-19).
Shimoda has a small population, which makes it quaint, and life can seem quite relaxed here, as it rarely gets busy throughout the city-the busiest I’ve seen is light traffic caused by roadworks or after work/school rush. The city hall offers Japanese language lessons, where retirees volunteer to teach Japanese. I was fortunate enough to meet some very friendly, kind locals who cannot speak English but nevertheless persevere to teach me, which I admire. Somehow between the textbooks, google translate, snacks and my poor Japanese, we manage to communicate well enough and exchange tit-bits of information, me telling them about Trinidad and Tobago and them telling me about Japanese culture. The atmosphere in Shimoda is generally laid back, you can always find ojiisans (お祖父さん-older men in Japanese) at the docks fishing from early morning to late evening, once the sun is out and even on some overcast days. On weekends locals go surfing or hang out at the beach. Even though covid-19 has caused a lot of restrictions to the way we live, I am grateful to have this little piece of paradise where I’ve been able to taste and enjoy a bit of Japanese culture within this little bubble, I can’t wait to experience more as time goes by!
MEXT Scholarship Series: Life in Shimoda City (Japanese Embassy Facebook)
MEXT Scholarship Series Archives
Shimoda City has an interesting history and played a very important part in Japan’s “opening to the world.” In March 1854, The Japan-U.S Treaty of Peace and Amity was signed and Shimoda was opened to foreign trade and commerce. This marked an important milestone in Japan’s history, leading to other trade agreements and as they say, “the rest is history”.
(See links for additional information):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimoda,_Shizuoka
https://www.izu-gyokusenji.or.jp/en/
A seaside city that stretches from the mountains down to the sea, with a sub-tropical climate, the summer is hot and humid and the winter…just perfect for a Trini like me. As someone who loves the outdoors, there are beautiful beaches all along the coast, hot springs or ‘onsen’ (温泉) in Japanese -which I have come to love in winter-, hikes, and lots of different activities to do. I am very fortunate that my research center is located in front of Nabetahama Bay, which is calm and beautiful and provides a nice escape from work. The city is known as a tourist destination within Japan and throughout the year, different festivals are held to mark changes in seasons, culture, and traditions of Japanese people. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 all of those festivals have been cancelled and I am yet to experience it, but I have been told that it’s a wonderful spectacle. The most famous of which is the Black Ship Festival that commemorates the Treaty of Peace, so named due to the black ships on which the Americans arrived to Shimoda. The city offers boats tours around Shimoda bay on an actual Black Ship (which I am yet to experience…because Covid-19).
Shimoda has a small population, which makes it quaint, and life can seem quite relaxed here, as it rarely gets busy throughout the city-the busiest I’ve seen is light traffic caused by roadworks or after work/school rush. The city hall offers Japanese language lessons, where retirees volunteer to teach Japanese. I was fortunate enough to meet some very friendly, kind locals who cannot speak English but nevertheless persevere to teach me, which I admire. Somehow between the textbooks, google translate, snacks and my poor Japanese, we manage to communicate well enough and exchange tit-bits of information, me telling them about Trinidad and Tobago and them telling me about Japanese culture. The atmosphere in Shimoda is generally laid back, you can always find ojiisans (お祖父さん-older men in Japanese) at the docks fishing from early morning to late evening, once the sun is out and even on some overcast days. On weekends locals go surfing or hang out at the beach. Even though covid-19 has caused a lot of restrictions to the way we live, I am grateful to have this little piece of paradise where I’ve been able to taste and enjoy a bit of Japanese culture within this little bubble, I can’t wait to experience more as time goes by!
MEXT Scholarship Series: Life in Shimoda City (Japanese Embassy Facebook)
MEXT Scholarship Series Archives