MASATO SEZAWA

Through my study abroad, I thought that I wanted to experience more practical things in the environment where many different nationalities and backgrounds are crossing, also I wanted to contribute to Crossing Borders, which I can do from my experience learning in CB international course at Krogerup Højskole.I can say that my life has actually been connected to the NGO world. When I was 7 years old, my parents have donated money to UN Women, which is a body of the UN, to contribute to the promotion of gender equality, women’s empowerment, and education. My father worked at a company, meanwhile, he was also working in that organization as a secretary general. I think we don’t often have many opportunities to meet foreigners in Japan, so I really appreciate to be blessed with an environment where I can meet many people who are from outside of Japan, especially from Africa. Then, I was interested in what is happening not only in Japan but also in the world. Influenced by that environment perhaps, after I went to Soka university in Tokyo, I was interested in working abroad in the field of education, so I decided to do a Japanese language and cultural volunteering for 1 month in Indonesia via an NGO. Through that, I gained 2 things that I experienced and I had more confidence. Firstly, I was able to adapt to a new environment, which is totally opposite to mine, thanks to my strengths such as open-mindedness, curiosity, and “soaking-up-power”. Indonesia is known as the world’s 4th most populous country as well as the most populous Muslim-majority country. Religion, food, the way of socializing, and infrastructure are completely different from Japan. The place where I was sent was in the countryside, so there were not any internet connection or hospital, and black out often happens. Because of these conditions probably, their life is very slow and relaxing, also they don’t care about small things, and cherish the time spent with their family. By contrast, in Tokyo where I grew up, life goes on without a break, and people fray their nerves because they care too much about details. In addition, they were forced to work until midnight instead of staying with their children at home. That is why I really liked the Indonesian way of life. Although the environment and the people are totally different, I engaged with any community I encountered with my strong “open-mindedness”. However, the beginning was not so easy, and I was really struggling to talk with them because I could use neither English nor Japanese. Before, I was explained by NGO staff that I would be able to communicate with them in English, and especially in Japanese, because I was supposed to have a host family with a Japanese language teacher. However, this difficulty made me realize how important speaking local languages is to build trust, so I learned Indonesian and Javanese (local language in Indonesia) through ordinary conversation. As a result, I was able to build a trust relationship with more than 600 people, such as the host family, teachers, students, NGO staff, and even chefs at the store where we often went. Owing to this, our team-work worked very smoothly. Secondly, I learned skills and attitudes to implement a project from the start to the end by myself. Some of the things I learned were how to find out problems by listening to the voice of those who are working, how to suggest ideas creatively, and how to implement and improve them. For example, nowadays, more than 600 students are studying Japanese because many Japanese companies have been spreading to the Indonesian market. Also, Japanese sub-culture has gained tremendous popularity. However, when paying careful attention to what is going on inside the classes, we find out that learning Japanese is based on reading and writing, the students don’t have any opportunity to speak with native speakers. Therefore, I suggested doing a workshop which is not only focused on reading and writing but also on listening and speaking, and on Japanese culture such as traditional dances and Origami (folding paper). In addition, we discussed things which can be improved. Thus, I have been working with NGOs in different aspects, so I would like to use this experience and contribute to the CB team more!

Email: masato@crossingborders.dk