After returning from Spain, my original plan was to study multicultural education at a Japanese graduate school. That field of study was relatively new in Japan. I found a supervisor and discussed my future research based on the perspectives of language, culture, and gender.
But I started working because of my engagement. Later, I finished graduate school in America because I couldn’t give up my goal. I still keep in touch with this professor.
Last month, my kids studied at a Japanese public school. My eldest daughter said to me, “Japanese kids should speak English!”
She is half Japanese, but she doesn’t speak Japanese. She found a way to survive in a Japanese school. She had an interpreter. Her best friend was born in Japan but has Ghanaian parents. Other friends were Pakistani, Indian, Brazilian, and Chinese. They were able to speak two or three languages.
Japanese society has changed in 20 years. I grew up in a conservative family and started studying English in middle school. At the time, foreign countries were far away from my own. But I don’t think so now.
Photos by LILI
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