BRECHAS Y SU CLASIFICACIÓN

In Mari‟s university, non-EU overseas students accounted for 45% to 50% of the total postgraduate population when she was enrolled (personal communication with the international office). She had frequent contact with other international students, given the high ratio of international students in her programme and at Julie and Rhonda‟s Bible study. During the first interview, she mentioned that she talked most frequently with a Korean female classmate who was asked by their programme coordinator to help Mari join the programme midway from January (MA-200209-INT1). So I asked her with whom she felt the greatest affinity during her early period in the UK:

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Mikio: When you compare Japanese, other foreign nationals and British people, to whom do you feel an affinity the most?

Mari: Um……. Such as people from other countries? Mikio: Yes.

Mari: Then it‟s Koreans (laughs). Mikio: Oh really, not Japanese?

Mari: Oh, Japanese too. It‟s Asians, like Koreans and Taiwanese. Mikio: Why is that?

Mari: Why (laughs)? It‟s because culture is similar and it might be that I‟m comfortable.

Mikio: Oh right. Did you have such an experience you felt that way? Mari: Hmm……. It‟s rather like they also approach me, my Korean and

Taiwanese classmates. (MA-200209-INT1)

During her early period in the UK she identified with her Korean and Taiwanese classmates, since she felt that they were culturally similar and approachable. When she used the term “Asians” (Line 07), it is most certain that she was referring to “East Asians”. She appreciated their thoughtfulness shown to her.

However, it is an oversimplification to state that she felt an affinity with other East Asian students regardless of the time and settings of their encounters. In fact, during the interview in December 2009, she questioned and reconsidered such statements:

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Mikio: You said before that you feel affinity toward Asians, particularly Koreans and Taiwanese the most because their ways of thinking and speaking are not too different, they are culturally similar and that their English is easy to understand. Do you still feel that way?

Mari: Hmm… well… let me see. Probably, but perhaps not as much than before? Um, I suppose my Asian classmates by then were being considerate because I joined from Term 2.

Mikio: Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.

Mari: Oooh, mmm, yeah, now, now it depends on each person, I guess? Mikio: Hmm.

Mari: For example my supervisor is a native speaker and I was a bit nervous to talk, but as I had several meetings it became natural… er, I was able to talk without being nervous. Conversely, though the people may be Asians… if I don‟t know them well I find it awkward to talk. (…)

Mikio: I want to ask you further about the fact that you used to feel affinity toward Koreans and Taiwanese but now you don‟t feel it so much. Why is that?

Mari: Well, even though they may be Taiwanese from Asia, some may be really fluent. Um, I met someone who wasn‟t interested in Japanese or Asians. Apparently, my friend spoke to that fluent Taiwanese but was met with a frown because my friend‟s English was incomprehensible, though I didn‟t experience this.

Mikio: By a Taiwanese?

Mari: Yes. So after all, I thought it‟s a bit misleading to think it‟s easy to talk, or difficult to talk because someone is a Taiwanese or an Asian. I guess it rather depends on character… hmm. But if I‟m in a strange place and there are just native speakers and Asians, I suppose I‟ll talk to Asians first. (MA-301209-INT2)

Her affinity toward the East Asians dwindled and was rather replaced by the idea that it depends on people‟s personality rather than ethnicity. As Lines 19 to 23 indicate, she

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came to know a Taiwanese student who was not open to her and she began to feel closer to people with whom she had a pleasant interaction rather than people who had a similar ethnicity. It can also be inferred from Lines 27 to 29 that while she may approach other East Asians when in an unfamiliar setting, this does not mean maintaining an unchanging affinity toward them. Initial approachability did not guarantee a lasting relationship for her.

Although Mari shifted to looking at the personality of individuals rather than their ethnicities, socialising with diverse international students brought about a broadened world-view nonetheless. She decided to volunteer to teach drama in India before returning to Japan (MA-201209-EMA3). She appreciated the multicultural experience she got in her three years abroad:

Extract 4.13 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Mikio: What‟s the value you‟d like to bring back to Japan from the UK? Mari: Oh, value? Oooh… I think I also wrote that [in the memo]

(laughs). Mikio: Right.

Mari: Hmm… oh yes, um, when I was in the UK and the USA, I got to talk to people from various countries, not just British people. So I got to know about the situations of various people in various countries which were interesting.

- 156 - 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 (…)

Yes, I found out about social situations (laughs). And my view, my world-view broadened considerably so I want to bring that back.

(…)

Mikio: So you understood the situations and values of people from other countries but what specifically does it mean to bring them back to Japan?

Mari: Oh. For instance in Japan I feel that every news is biased toward America.

Mikio: Hmm, yes.

Mari: And for example India and where else? Also Pakistan and the Middle East are hardly ever reported but every country is the same. It‟s not just America that's important, or rather a country of great value. Every country has values which… er, I want to tell everyone. I think I can talk about those kinds of things to others. I think information in Japan is very biased because mass media only brings information necessary… for its country. But people in other countries have their own social situations so I think it‟s important to know that. I think it is very biased or it was biased.

Mikio: Oh right.

Mari: For example if I didn‟t encounter Africans and various people in the USA, I don‟t think I wanted to go to India. I think I was more Euro-American-oriented. (MA-150210-INT3)

She talked as a teacher and she wanted to bring back her broadened world-view and knowledge about people from various parts of the world less familiar in Japan, especially places outside the Euro-American world which she discovered through socialising with other international students both in the USA and in the UK. This is remarkably different from bringing back more tangible values such as pedagogy from her master‟s studies. As a teacher who spent three years abroad, she wished to bring

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back to Japan the international insights she acquired, and which she valued, the by-product of studying.

Her inquisitiveness to explore the world beyond the Euro-American world did not wane after returning to her work in Japan, as the following e-mail I received in December 2010 confirms: Extract 4.14 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

I enjoyed the Christmas party with the Filipinos. I was surprised to see how many Filipinos were there. A Filipino NGO is planning a project in a primary school in a disputed area between Muslims and Christians, so I proposed doing a drama class there.

(…)

I find it intriguing that I‟m forming connection with people outside the English-speaking countries (India, Philippines) after finishing studying in Britain and America. (MA-271210-EMA6)

After returning to Japan, she formed friendships with Filipinos and aspired to go to the Philippines to teach drama. Thus, her return to Nagoya as an English teacher did not necessarily chill her inquisitiveness to explore the unknown world beyond the Euro-American world.

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In this way, she first tended to feel affinity toward East Asian students but later began to make decisions based on the personality of individuals through interactions. She valued socialising with other international students very highly because her world-view broadened, and she enjoyed exploring world affairs beyond the Euro-American world already familiar to her.