I recently had a chance to interview Naomi Erlewine. Naomi transferred from NYU to ICU to learn more about her Japanese heritage. She graduated in 2010 with a B.A. in psychology and is currently enrolled at Teachers College, Columbia University with a specialization in bilingual education.

JICUF: Thank you for taking the time to visit the Japan ICU Foundation’s office and agreeing to this interview. Could you start by telling me a little about your history and how you ended up at ICU?

Naomi: Thank you for inviting me! I grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota to an American father and Japanese mother. At home we spoke both English and Japanese and I attended a Japanese school on Saturdays.

When I was accepted at NYU I was excited to focus on music, but I didn’t feel like I was able to express my whole self without speaking Japanese regularly. I was also unsure of my identity and felt like the only way I could figure things out would be to live in Japan and study there. So, I applied to ICU and was thankfully accepted. One of the most appealing things about ICU (among many!) was that I could take courses in both English and Japanese. It was exactly what I was looking for and I have no regrets that I transferred.

JICUF: Please tell me more about your experience at ICU. Likes and dislikes?

Naomi: Oh, I liked so many things about the school and community! There was a really interesting mix of people on campus. There were people who had grown up in all different parts of Japan and around the world and quite a few people who were “culturally in-between,” like me. One of the biggest things ICU gave me was the gift of learning about myself.

JICUF: That’s wonderful! Were you involved in any clubs or activities at ICU?

Naomi:  After transferring – the first thing I focused on was the practical stuff like getting around, purchasing the commuter pass and registering for classes.

Next, I focused on meeting new people! I decided to join a club, but wanted to do something really connected to Japanese culture so I focused on dance. I began with Nihon buyoh (traditional Japanese dance) at first, but had trouble sticking with it because it’s a very subtle dance form and you aren’t supposed to smile. As you can tell, I like to smile!

The next type of dance I tried was Soranbushi – a dance that originated in northern Japan. It incorporates movements of fishermen pulling nets out of the sea and is popular in school performances.

JICUF: Did you have any difficulty adjusting to life at ICU?

Naomi: Well, the coursework in Japanese was difficult at first. During the first year I was there, I was in Japanese language classes for native Japanese speakers whose reading and writing wasn’t up to the college level. I had to brush up my reading and writing fairly quickly because I was a psychology major and most of my courses were in Japanese.

It was challenging because I was able to read my Japanese textbooks, but not fully understand them. For one of my classes, I had to get help from the TA once a week. I would study on my own and then we would go over the material to make sure I had really understood the material correctly. I even bought a device to record my course lectures for a while because I often missed things during lectures. Little by little, I got used to it and it was a great learning experience.

JICUF: Wow, that takes a lot of hard work! I’m happy that you feel you got a lot out of it. Did you stay on campus during your time at ICU?

Naomi: I lived in a gakusei kaikan, a kind of dormitory that housed female students who attend many different colleges and universities in Tokyo. I was on the floor with a majority of study abroad students. Students attending at Sophia, Waseda and ICU. Other floors were for girls from all over Japan. It was an incredible experience even if it was a 30-minute bike ride from campus!

JICUF: Haha, well it must have been! Are you still in touch with many people from ICU and the dorm?

Naomi: I’m still in touch with many of my ICU friends. One of my closest friends is in the U.S. right now, but the majority of my friends are still in Tokyo working hard!

JICUF: What would you say are the best things about study abroad?

Naomi: Whether you are studying in Japan or a different country, you learn so much from immersing yourself in another culture. It makes you realize a lot of things you were previously taking for granted. There’s the initial frustration that comes along with culture shock, but it makes you grow and is totally worth it.

JICUF: I agree! What are you doing now?

Naomi: I am at Teachers College, Columbia University studying Bilingual/Bicultural Childhood Education.

JICUF: What does that entail exactly?

Naomi: Haha! Good question. The program covers the basics for someone who wants to become an expert in bilingual education. Not everyone will become a teacher, but I am on the elementary education teacher certification track.

There are many different bilingual education programs, including heritage language education, like the Japanese Saturday school I went to as a child. But if I were to have an ideal job after graduation, I would hope to be in a dual language program.

JICUF: Can you elaborate more on what a dual language program is?

Naomi: In a dual language program, half the students in the class are native speakers of one language and the other half are native speakers of the other language. In this kind of setting, students not only learn from the teacher but they also learn a lot from each other. As part of my program, I’ve been observing Japanese and English courses at the Japanese Children’s Society in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. It’s been a great learning experience and most of the students will return to Japan in 2-3 years.

JICUF: That’s great! Why do you think you decided on bilingual education?

Naomi: It’s a result of my own experience growing up with two languages. When I was a kid, I was looking for a role model who was bilingual, but I didn’t really have someone like that in my area. It took time for me to find a setting that allowed me to explore my cultural and linguistic identity. I found that at ICU, and am hoping to get involved in something similar in the US.

I feel like I better understand myself now. So now I want to help the next generation of children living in multicultural environments. and speaking two or more languages. I want to support their personal and academic growth. That’s why I’m interested in bilingual education.

JICUF: Have you had any jobs before and what do you hope to do when you graduate with your focus on bilingual education?

Naomi: After I graduated from ICU, I spent 2 years working for a small media translation firm that specialized in subtitling and dubbing TV programs, documentaries, and movies. Many of the projects were for NHK documentaries. I coordinated many translation projects while also subtitling a music program.

After returning to the US in the spring of 2012, I worked at a Japanese manufacturing company in the Chicago area. I did a lot of in-house translating and interpreting, in addition to general administration and data tracking. I was at this company until the summer of last year, when I began preparing for graduate school.

I am on track to graduate in May of 2015 and hope to teach as a Japanese-English bilingual elementary school teacher. In fact, if there’s anyone in the ICU alumni community who is involved in Japanese-English bilingual education, I would love to hear about their experiences.

JICUF: We will have to see if there are other ICU alumni involved in the bilingual education community that might be willing to give you advice!

Naomi: Thank you so much. That would be immensely helpful! I would also love to support other ICU students though I’m not sure what I can do being outside of Japan. I would like to be in touch with ICU students that come to the NY metro area and maybe there’s some way to help current September students overcome culture shock.

JICUF: What a generous offer! Let’s end with some words of advice you might give to current ICU students.

Naomi: Make the best of the time you have at ICU. As much as schoolwork can keep people busy, you can learn so much from the students at ICU and the positive energy. ICU is a unique setting and the people you come across are one of a kind. Take advantage of it!

JICUF: Thank you!