Serving on the Peace Corps

This post was contributed by Jack Nelson.

My involvement in SJA began while I was studying Japanese with Ma-Sensei at Yorktown High School. I graduated from Yorktown in 2020 after also attending the Virginia Governor's Academy for Japanese. I continued studying Japanese at Carleton College, and I studied abroad with the Associated Kyoto Program at Doshisha University.

After I graduated from college in 2024, having spent 7 odd years studying Japanese, I surprised everyone, including myself, by not going to Japan, but joining the Peace Corps to teach science in a rural high school in Kenya for two years. Suffice to say, Kisumu is not Kyoto, but my experiences learning Japanese and studying abroad were the best preparation I could have asked for. I came to Kenya feeling confident and ready to embrace the challenge of learning new languages (Kiswahili and DhoLuo) and adjusting to a completely different culture. Even compared to studying other foreign languages, I think learning Japanese really stretched me to see the world from a different perspective and open myself to new ideas about culture and communication. Without these experiences, I doubt I would have had the confidence or inspiration to approach something as intimidating as Peace Corps Service.

I admit I did not expect to use much Japanese in rural Kenya, but I quickly learned that there is a Japanese development agency analogous to Peace Corps, called the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and I’ve become friends with a JICA volunteer my age. It has been so rewarding to compare our experiences. I think there is a misconception that Japanese is only useful in Japan, but it has been a source of connection and friendship for me around the world. 

I’m so grateful for the work that SJA has done to promote education for people like me. The opportunities I was provided to study back in high school have had an impact on my career and friendships that I could have never expected. If any readers have questions about study-abroad in Kyoto or Peace Corps service, they should feel welcome to reach out to me.