In last month’s Think Kindness campaign, many boxes of shoes were generously filled by community members, faculty, and students. However, there was one very special box that came all the way from Japan. It was sent by a former student, Dan O’Brien (class of 2005), who learned about the shoe collection through our very own Hilltop Echo website.
Dan O’Brien sent a very thoughtful letter that explained how after spending about a year and a half substituting (including at CMS and CHS), he accepted a job teaching English as a second language in Fukushima, Japan. He has been in Japan for three years and is returning to America in the spring. This is one of the reasons the shoe drive was such a great opportunity for him, as he explains, “In Japan, you change shoes for everything-indoors, outdoors, gym, dress-up-and because of that, I have more than I can bring back with me.” Because it takes about two weeks to ship a package around the world, O’Brien quickly packed up of all of his shoes, saving only two pairs for himself.
O’Brien was actually a member of The Hilltop Echo when he was a senior. “It was a fantastic experience,” he says of that time,” It was my first time writing and contributing to something outside of a standard English course, and was a unique opportunity to explore writing articles. I loved that we worked in the computer room together, as it gave us a strong sense of community and allowed us to consult each other about articles-we really had a chance to work together to focus on goals, meet deadlines, and put out a physical copy of our writing.”
He wrote for the entertainment section of the newspaper back in high school, so he did many CD reviews. O’Brien explains,” I would choose a band or album to review for the week, listen to it a lot throughout the week, research about the band and any past releases they may have had, and write a review of an album. I did that my entire time on the paper, but was allowed a lot of freedom in what I wrote, which was great.”
Many may wonder, how does a Chardonite end up halfway around the world? It turns out that Dan O’Brien heard about a teaching program that was searching for full-time English teachers from a college friend. She explained what their job was like, how he would interact with the community, and their purpose for teaching in Japan. He adds, “I felt very strongly that it was something I was supposed to do. After the Tohoku earthquake in 2011, I knew I had to come here — to show the people around this area that they are cared about, and to help out however I could.”
Mr. O’Brien was happy to provide insight into what this job entails, describing, “My job in Japan has a lot of variety. I work as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Tamura city, Fukushima prefecture. I teach in one middle school and two elementary schools.
In the middle school I work alongside two Japanese teachers to plan and prepare lessons and provide pronunciation and linguistic support; I also create and lead games, activities, and any other form of communicative activities. It’s definitely an English as a foreign language course, so we study a lot of grammar, sentences, and pronunciation. One surprising thing that I found is while the students are very quiet and diligent in class, during their free-time they are just as animated and open as American middle schoolers-kids are kids wherever you go!
In the elementary schools I am the main teacher for English classes. I visit one elementary school per week, on a rotating basis between the two.
Every year in October my American co-workers (there are 12 American teachers in Tamura city, including me) and I plan and teach a two week English camp for all the 6th grade students in the city of Tamura. We try to make it really fun for the students, so have them create teams, decorate posters, learn shopping vocabulary and dialogue and role play going shopping in English, and we have a giant Halloween party on the last day of camp. Halloween has just been catching on here in Japan, and every year it seems to get bigger and bigger. It is great.
I also teach evening classes once a week at a private English school. Many students go to these extra after-school tutoring centers to get extra practice in their subjects and really, they have these schools for any subject you could imagine!
Ultimately, Japan is an extremely homogenous society-only 2% of the population here is foreigners living abroad. As such, a key part of my job is just to be friendly, open, and show my students and the Japanese community that foreigners care about them and aren’t scary or anything!”
As many will recall, Fukushima is the area that was devastated by an earthquake, causing a tsunami and nuclear crisis in 2011. When asked about Fukushima, O’Brien says it is recovering, albeit slowly. The community is cautious about the radiation concerns, and the Japanese government is cautious about it as well. He elaborates,” Many of the students in the schools that my co-workers and I teach are refugees from the evacuation zone. Tamura city is pretty close to the power plant and affected area. Luckily, the mountain range shields this area from a lot of the radiation-we have a remarkably low amount here, considering that we are fairly close to it. There is cleanup every day, and there is progress being made-in a few months, one of the abandoned towns, Miyakoji, will be re-opened for residents to return.”
Dan O’Brien, as a former student and substitute at Chardon, has also dealt with the tragedy of February 27th. He expresses,” It was difficult to be in Japan during that. It still is around this time of year. I grew up in Chardon, and came back to substitute in Chardon. I’ve had you guys in classes for almost two years prior to moving to Japan. To be an entire world away and hear about the news was heartbreaking. I wanted nothing more than to be with my community, the students, teachers, and my friends at that time. My American co-workers here in Japan listened to me and prayed with me, but it was difficult not being able to tell or explain what happened to the Japanese people I work with. They don’t have a mental grid for that manner of tragedy (firearms are virtually illegal in Japan), and trying to explain it would have been incredibly difficult, I think. One thing that did help was being able to get on the internet and see the candlelight vigils, and read all the news articles about the subsequent good that CHS and the greater community has been doing. I am so incredibly proud of all of you, and how you have handled and healed from the tragedy.”
Overall, O’Brien has learned much from his experiences in Japan. He concludes,” Over the three years I’ve been here, I have figured out what is really important to me and those parts of back home that make me who I am, and I am confident in who I am because of that. I have also learned about other cultures, and I now have a much bigger appreciation for and understanding of those living outside of their own culture-whether it be exchange students, refugees, or recent immigrants. I have been in their shoes now, and it has definitely made me want to help and befriend foreigners living in America when I return to the United States. I think we have a lot to learn from each other, and by living in another country for some time you really gain a more international perspective. Also, I have learned to laugh at myself more and take things more lightly than I used to. You make a lot of mistakes being new in a foreign place, and unless you can laugh at yourself, you’ll have a really difficult time accepting that!”
This just proves that no matter who you are or where you come from, there is a world of opportunity waiting. With enough dedication and courage, students, and anyone, can cross continents and change the world, one person at a time. So life’s waiting for you-take the leap!