Japanese Government (MEXT) Postgraduate Scholarships

MEXT Alumni Personal Experiences

Susan Meehan - Kyoto University

In February 2008, the JICC conducted an interview with Susan Meehan, who spent a year in Japan on the JET programme, and another 2 years as a research student in Kyoto on the MEXT scheme (Japanese Government Scholarships in Japanese Studies).



Please give a brief self-introduction, including reference to your duties as a Japanese Government Scholarship and JET Programme participant and to your current occupation.

Since June 2006 I have been working as Programmes Officer at the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, a UK charity whose aim it is to promote UK-Japan ties - we are celebrating the Foundation's 20th anniversary this year. Most of my work involves our grant-giving programmes and the Daiwa Scholarship Programme.

Before this, between July 1998 and June 2006, I worked for the Japan Information and Cultural Centre (JICC), which is part of the Embassy of Japan in London. My main duty was to assist the Education Attache, sent over from the Japanese Ministry of Education, usually on a three-year stint, with the JET Programme (until 2000) and also with the Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarship programme. Working in the JICC, such a hive of Japan-related cultural activity was an unforgettable experience.

Had it not been for my experience on the JET and MEXT Scholarship programmes, I don't think I would have ever heard of or applied for these jobs at the Embassy and the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation. Having lived in Japan I wanted to make the most of my Japan-related experience.

Since 1999 I have also been a British Association of MEXT Scholars (BAMS) Alumni Association committee member. I would like to encourage any former Scholars who have not heard of us or joined the Association to contact me.

I set off for Shiki City, Saitama Prefecture in 1990 as an Assistant English Teacher on the JET Programme, having never been to Japan before and having picked up only a few words of Japanese at the intensive language course for new JET participants at the Pre-Departure Orientation.

After two years on the JET Programme I came back to the UK and next, having armed myself with a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) qualification I returned to Japan to teach at a private English School in Fujisawa-Shi, Kanagawa Ken for one year. During this time I applied to a Master's course at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London. Two years as a research student on the MEXT Scholarship in Kyoto followed. At Kyoto University my research concerned South Americans of Japanese descent who had emigrated (or come back) to Japan taking advantage of the new immigration laws favouring the Nikkei, people of Japanese descent. I opted for this line of study as, being of Chilean and British parentage, I felt some kind of empathy with the South American Nikkei. My study focused on the younger school-age generation of so-called 'newcomers' to Japan - their absorption into local Japanese schools and a study of what Japanese language provisions were made available to them.


Why did you apply to join the Japanese Government Scholarship Programme and JET programme?

I wish I could say that I'd had a compelling reason for going to Japan on the JET Programme such as a deep-rooted ambition to learn how to play the shamisen or learn calligraphy or see lots of kabuki. I happened upon Japan accidentally when I found out about and then applied to the JET Programme and was fortunate to have been selected as an Assistant Language Teacher.

At the time of applying, one of my sisters was finishing her studies in the United States, my brother had been living in Kenya, Sudan and Turkey and was soon off to Argentina and my other sister was living in Chile. To be honest, I felt that I needed to face the challenge of living somewhere new and felt that Japan, the furthest of all the countries I had considered teaching English in, would do. I also felt that it would be my own experience.

My initial two years in Japan were to direct my future path and motivated me to complete a Master's in Japanese Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, during which time I made a stab at consolidating my sparse knowledge about Japan. This further deepened my interest (in Japan) and led me to apply for the MEXT Scholarship.


Please describe one of the most memorable experiences from your time in Japan.

I had more memorable experiences in Japan than I could ever enumerate. Living in Shiki and forming part of that relatively small community was very special as was the luxury of being supported by the Japanese Government while studying in Kyoto. I loved traveling around Japan and will never forget taking the shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto with my parents and being delayed by the snow, nor the 3-day ferry trip from Yokohama to Okinawa. One memorable experience which stands out is my visit to Oizumi-machi and Ota-shi in Gunma in 1996. At that time, one in ten of the Oizumi-machi population was a Brazilian or Peruvian Japanese (Nikkei) and the way aspects of South American culture had percolated into the town was fascinating - I had feijao in the local Brazilian department store, visited the local video store which had a steady supply of Brazilian soaps being sent over for the expats, went to the biggest Latin American disco in Japan which attracted people from all over Japan and was greeted by the younger culturally 'affected' Japanese with kisses and handshakes rather than bows.


What did you learn from your stay in Japan and your participation in the Government Scholarship programme as well as JET Programme?

I learnt that it can, at times, be difficult and nerve-wracking for a qualified Japanese teacher of English to be paired up with a native English speaker in the classroom and that the most effective way to improve English education in Japan is to encourage or give more Japanese English teachers the opportunity of living in an English speaking country for a length of time.

I learnt that real communication involves a meeting of hearts and minds. It doesn't matter how good someone's Japanese or English is; if they're not interested in communicating with you there'll be an impasse while others with just a smattering of English or Japanese but willing to engage won't hold back. I learn how complex identities are and was constantly baffled at being taken for Japanese or partly Japanese at times. That expat communities can be rather tedious and small-minded was, at times, also reinforced. I Iearnt to become friends with people of all ages, as up until my initial encounter with Japan I hardly sallied forth from my age group and comfort zone.


What would you say to someone who was considering applying to join the Japanese Government Scholarship Programme and JET Programme?

I cannot recommend the programmes highly enough. To anyone interested in the MEXT Scholarship, I can confidently say that the luxury to be able to devote 18 months or two years to the study of Japanese and your own academic interest is unusual and perhaps a one-off in life and the most should be made of this opportunity. My other piece of advice to those lucky enough to be awarded the Scholarship would be to encourage them to spend time engaging in activities in Japan which can't be done elsewhere - I think the reading of certain books can be done back in the UK, whereas meeting Japan-based academics, going on research trips within Japan and going to the onsen cannot.

To those interested in the JET Programme, I would say it's less about you and more about your students and fellow teachers. Be open to new experiences and make an effort to make a difference and become involved.