Anna Matsushita

  Please listen to this as an old woman’s rambling reminiscence. It happened more than thirty years ago.   For someone like me, who had spent the years from the end of junior high school through high school in Britain, the Japanese university entrance examination system was an entirely unfamiliar world. What worried me most was hearing that the English used in entrance examinations was largely based on American English.   Let me start with the examination itself.   By the time I sat for the entrance examination at my second-choice university, I had already received a rejection from another university. I therefore attended a short summer course offered by a cram school, where I was taught things such as how to write academic essays in Japanese. There, I was told that, although it varied from university to university, American-style English was often used in entrance examinations.   Then came the day of my second university entrance examination. ...

  Permit me to indulge in a bit of nostalgic musing, a reminiscence from nearly forty years ago. At the time, my family had relocated to London due to my father’s work. As a result, I found myself attending an international school in the city, and, after a spell, transferring to another one. London, even then, was a vibrant mosaic of cultures, a veritable melting pot of peoples. Yet, these two schools, both ostensibly “international,” had strikingly different demographics. The first school I attended had only a sprinkling of British students. The rest of the cohort hailed predominantly from the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, with a significant number adhering to the Islamic faith. This was, of course, decades ago, and one imagines the mix has shifted since. At that time, however, it was clear: the school’s corridors echoed with a rich blend of accents and languages from these regions. What struck me most was how forthcoming everyone was about their origins. It was as if announcing ...

  This happened about forty years ago. I was at school in England. One day, a student a year above me saw me reading a newspaper in the classroom. Some time later, he came across me in the corridor and said, “Will you bring the newspaper of yours?” In other words, “Could you bring me the newspaper?” Without giving it a second thought, I replied, “Roger, Wilco.” I turned around to go back to the classroom and fetch the newspaper I had left there. But before I could take a single step, a Canadian teacher who happened to be nearby exclaimed, “What did you just say?!” “Er… I said, ‘Roger, Wilco.’” “What does that mean?!” “It means more or less the same as ‘Aye aye, sir.’” The Canadian teacher looked even more confused. I explained, “If ‘Aye aye, sir’ is a naval expression, ‘Roger, Wilco’ is something you hear in aviation radio communications.” The teacher did not seem convinced. Instead, he asked me, “Why does a Japanese girl like you know military terminology?” I cannot remember exact...

     "Whoa, you can like, speak English? No way, like a native or something!" This was a catchphrase of a former supervisor during my time at a certain company. He seemed to believe that calling someone “native” just because they could use a bit of English would somehow flatter them. It struck me as shallow.   In the professional world, whether during meetings, business exchanges, or social dinners, I’ve had numerous opportunities to use English. Over time, I’ve observed two ideals emerge:   *Achieving near-native fluency in English is, of course, desirable.   *Yet, equally critical is the ability to communicate effectively with those for whom English is not their mother tongue.   These ideals reflect a challenging paradox.   The Challenge of Non-Native Communication   Having attended an international high school, one of the most valuable lessons I gained wasn’t just English proficiency—it was the ability to comm...

    This is a story of a Japanese girl who was totally obsessed with Ameirca, based on my real experience of encountering many people at a University in Tokyo back in  90's.. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   I never lose. No way, no how. That’s just not me. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve been obsessed with America. Like, OBSESSED. Back in the Showa era, around 1970's, Japan was flooded with all this American stuff—TV shows, movies, music. You name it. And let’s be real: America is just... wow. It’s the best at everything. Biggest, strongest, richest. The land of freedom and opportunity. Where else has THAT much influence on the whole world? Nowhere. America’s the kind of country everyone looks up to. The kind of country people dream about. The kind of country that someone as amazing as me deserves to be in. Someday, I’ll live there. I’ll talk just like them....