Over half of a year ago, I chose to postpone my graduation and spend my final undergraduate semester in Japan. I will graduate with an undergraduate degree in Asian Studies. My intentions were to graduate and travel to Japan and become a part of the system this thesis explores. When I first began researching the education system in Japan years ago, I had looked at blogs and videos of foreigners living in Japan who had moved and taken English teaching jobs (they are the easiest jobs for foreigners to obtain). My main focus was Japan as a whole, the difficulties of being a gaijin, and the livability a gaijin will have in a homogeneous country.[1] I wasn’t focusing on the job but rather everything outside of the job, planning weekend trips if I lived in such-and-such town, or what food I just had to try when I arrived. It was a while before I looked at the status of English education in the country. When I did, though, I found that it wasn’t the best.

 

[1] A gaijin is the term used for foreigner in Japan. At times considered derogatory, it can be used to describe those with ignorance of Japan and its culture.