1 year on MEXT - Excited for the Future – Darey Ann Louisville
2023/6/27
1 year on MEXT - Excited for the Future – Darey Ann Louisville
I can't believe it's already been over a year since I moved to Tokyo, Japan!
Sometimes I still pause to look around and pinch myself as I realize that this is something I once could only dream and pray about…
Reflecting on what I wrote in my previous piece, I truly feel like I have spread my wings and am now soaring across this new stage in my life. In this new level after having cleared the boss fight, if you will.
I have grown in my faith in Christ, in my social connections and also in my mental health.
This is not to say that it has always been a walk in the park here in Japan. (After winning a boss fight in a game, the next levels become increasingly difficult, but at the same time they are also more rewarding to clear as you’ve also increased your skillset.)
I’ve left my entire life and everything I've built up in my home country Suriname–where I grew up and lived for almost three decades–to go live on the other side of the globe in a country where most people don’t even know that my country exists. Safe to say I was expecting some challenges. But I must say, I was/am pleasantly surprised about my experience in Japan. Making generalizations isn’t always helpful, but I’m blessed to report that so far I’ve experienced the people of Japan to be very friendly and respectful overall, and Japan itself to be very safe and clean.
Daily Life
It has often happened that I accidentally bump into someone in a crowd, and before I get the chance to apologize, they beat me to the chase with a bow and a flustered “Sumimasen!” (Excuse me! / Sorry!).
That is one thing that was very new to me, compared to back home: the bowing!
Everyone bows, for everything, everywhere! And everyone apologizes, for everything!
The bowing is a sign of respect, and can range from more of a casual head nod to a deep bow, bending at the waist. I actually quite liked it and picked up the habit within my first month or two. Now I don’t even think twice about bowing when saying thank you, or entering a facility. In fact, I’ve even started doing the bowing head nods on phone calls! It will be interesting to see what will happen if I visit back home, where we don’t have this culture…
Another new thing was that I finally got to experience all four seasons.
Last fall, I was just in time to see the beautiful flower fields in Furano, Hokkaido.
And then winter was very exciting for me, because it was my first time experiencing snowfall.
It only snowed for one or two days in Tokyo, so next winter I might try and go to the snow festival in Hokkaido.
The spring season was also very beautiful; I saw the cherry blossoms for the first time.
I remember that during one of my interviews at the Embassy of Japan in Trinidad, I talked about how I wanted to see the sakura, and I finally got my chance when I walked through the stunning cherry blossom corridor in Saitama.
This will be my second summer here, but as a Caribbean girl, the heat is not new to me!
And then transport. We don’t have trains and metros in my country, but now they are part of my daily commutes. Tokyo’s public transport system is ranked among the best in the world, so it has been very convenient getting around. The trains are clean and the rides are usually very quiet and peaceful. However, sometimes it gets so busy that the people pack into the trains like sardines in a can. I've often been one of those sardines…
There is so much more to tell, and as I’m scrolling through my camera reel and foraging through my memories, it’s so hard to pick what I want to highlight! After living in Tokyo for a year, I’ve gotten so used to the daily life here that it’s becoming harder to distinguish which things used to be novel to me.
But one of the biggest highlights of my life here is all of the people I’ve met. I've found such a supportive community here within my University, my fellow MEXT students, and my church. In them, I truly have a chosen family away from home, consisting of people from all over the world.
It was also great to meet one of my fellow MEXT scholars from Trinidad all the way over on this side of the earth. After reading Anastasia Ramjag’s story on the Embassy of Trinidad’s MEXT Scholarship series and keeping contact online, I was so excited I finally got to meet her in real life when we went to see the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra last year!
Studies
As a research student, I'm a member of Sugano lab, one of the few laboratories in the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) that researches computer vision.
My lab does projects about creating datasets to train models for better detecting the human eye gaze, and also works on interactive machine learning. This is where users with no experience in computer vision or machine learning can help with creating datasets for these models by playing games designed by my lab. This year I participated in my institute’s Open Campus, where all of the laboratories at the institute, including mine, put their projects on display. It was great to be able to help introduce people to the wonderful world of computer vision.
One amazing opportunity I had because of my affiliation with UTokyo, is the fact that I got the chance to participate in a Women in Tech event, where I got to tour the inside of Google Tokyo's headquarters and have a conversation with the recruiters and other employees there. This event was a collaboration between UTokyo and Google. It was a very eye opening experience and made me appreciate my position as a MEXT student at UTokyo all the more, as I wouldn’t have gotten this opportunity otherwise.
I'm currently preparing for my summer entrance examinations and am hoping to enter a graduate program by April 2024 at the latest. The entrance examination process at my graduate school is extremely challenging, and this was one of the biggest factors on my mind when I mentioned in my introduction that life in Japan is not always a walk in the park. As this new “boss fight” is approaching, all I can do is try my best and trust God with the rest.
All in all, I’m hopeful, grateful and humbled. My life has completely changed, and I would truly not have it any other way. I’m excited for the future, and no matter what it holds, I will keep Japan in my heart forever.
MEXT Scholarship Series: 1 year on MEXT - Excited for the Future (Japanese Embassy Facebook)
MEXT Scholarship Series Archives
Sometimes I still pause to look around and pinch myself as I realize that this is something I once could only dream and pray about…
Reflecting on what I wrote in my previous piece, I truly feel like I have spread my wings and am now soaring across this new stage in my life. In this new level after having cleared the boss fight, if you will.
I have grown in my faith in Christ, in my social connections and also in my mental health.
This is not to say that it has always been a walk in the park here in Japan. (After winning a boss fight in a game, the next levels become increasingly difficult, but at the same time they are also more rewarding to clear as you’ve also increased your skillset.)
I’ve left my entire life and everything I've built up in my home country Suriname–where I grew up and lived for almost three decades–to go live on the other side of the globe in a country where most people don’t even know that my country exists. Safe to say I was expecting some challenges. But I must say, I was/am pleasantly surprised about my experience in Japan. Making generalizations isn’t always helpful, but I’m blessed to report that so far I’ve experienced the people of Japan to be very friendly and respectful overall, and Japan itself to be very safe and clean.
Daily Life
It has often happened that I accidentally bump into someone in a crowd, and before I get the chance to apologize, they beat me to the chase with a bow and a flustered “Sumimasen!” (Excuse me! / Sorry!).
That is one thing that was very new to me, compared to back home: the bowing!
Everyone bows, for everything, everywhere! And everyone apologizes, for everything!
The bowing is a sign of respect, and can range from more of a casual head nod to a deep bow, bending at the waist. I actually quite liked it and picked up the habit within my first month or two. Now I don’t even think twice about bowing when saying thank you, or entering a facility. In fact, I’ve even started doing the bowing head nods on phone calls! It will be interesting to see what will happen if I visit back home, where we don’t have this culture…
Another new thing was that I finally got to experience all four seasons.
Last fall, I was just in time to see the beautiful flower fields in Furano, Hokkaido.
And then winter was very exciting for me, because it was my first time experiencing snowfall.
It only snowed for one or two days in Tokyo, so next winter I might try and go to the snow festival in Hokkaido.
The spring season was also very beautiful; I saw the cherry blossoms for the first time.
I remember that during one of my interviews at the Embassy of Japan in Trinidad, I talked about how I wanted to see the sakura, and I finally got my chance when I walked through the stunning cherry blossom corridor in Saitama.
This will be my second summer here, but as a Caribbean girl, the heat is not new to me!
And then transport. We don’t have trains and metros in my country, but now they are part of my daily commutes. Tokyo’s public transport system is ranked among the best in the world, so it has been very convenient getting around. The trains are clean and the rides are usually very quiet and peaceful. However, sometimes it gets so busy that the people pack into the trains like sardines in a can. I've often been one of those sardines…
There is so much more to tell, and as I’m scrolling through my camera reel and foraging through my memories, it’s so hard to pick what I want to highlight! After living in Tokyo for a year, I’ve gotten so used to the daily life here that it’s becoming harder to distinguish which things used to be novel to me.
But one of the biggest highlights of my life here is all of the people I’ve met. I've found such a supportive community here within my University, my fellow MEXT students, and my church. In them, I truly have a chosen family away from home, consisting of people from all over the world.
It was also great to meet one of my fellow MEXT scholars from Trinidad all the way over on this side of the earth. After reading Anastasia Ramjag’s story on the Embassy of Trinidad’s MEXT Scholarship series and keeping contact online, I was so excited I finally got to meet her in real life when we went to see the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra last year!
Studies
As a research student, I'm a member of Sugano lab, one of the few laboratories in the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) that researches computer vision.
My lab does projects about creating datasets to train models for better detecting the human eye gaze, and also works on interactive machine learning. This is where users with no experience in computer vision or machine learning can help with creating datasets for these models by playing games designed by my lab. This year I participated in my institute’s Open Campus, where all of the laboratories at the institute, including mine, put their projects on display. It was great to be able to help introduce people to the wonderful world of computer vision.
One amazing opportunity I had because of my affiliation with UTokyo, is the fact that I got the chance to participate in a Women in Tech event, where I got to tour the inside of Google Tokyo's headquarters and have a conversation with the recruiters and other employees there. This event was a collaboration between UTokyo and Google. It was a very eye opening experience and made me appreciate my position as a MEXT student at UTokyo all the more, as I wouldn’t have gotten this opportunity otherwise.
I'm currently preparing for my summer entrance examinations and am hoping to enter a graduate program by April 2024 at the latest. The entrance examination process at my graduate school is extremely challenging, and this was one of the biggest factors on my mind when I mentioned in my introduction that life in Japan is not always a walk in the park. As this new “boss fight” is approaching, all I can do is try my best and trust God with the rest.
All in all, I’m hopeful, grateful and humbled. My life has completely changed, and I would truly not have it any other way. I’m excited for the future, and no matter what it holds, I will keep Japan in my heart forever.
MEXT Scholarship Series: 1 year on MEXT - Excited for the Future (Japanese Embassy Facebook)
MEXT Scholarship Series Archives