Voltaire Garces Cang(Profile)
I am fortunate, because I study in Japan.
I am now well into my thirties, and Japan sustained me throughout my years in school, until the present, after one Bachelorﾕs degree, two Master's, and a PhD within sight.
It is not all about the money, generous as many scholarship programs in Japan are.
It is more about the environment. It is about the overfilled libraries with books, journals and publications from all over the world, each readily accessed and available. Try looking for a dictionary in the Cebuano language: Does your library have it? How many volumes?
It is more about the networks. It is about the more than 100,000 foreign students who now study in different universities and schools all over the country. Among my close friends now are a Thai veterinarian, a Lithuanian social scientist, a Filipino microbiologist, a British anthropologist, and a Cambodian diplomat, all of whom I met in my undergraduate and graduate school years in Japan. And there are many others, from many countries and backgrounds.
It is more about the culture. It is about learning a language, customs, way of life, thinking and values different from your own, and discovering that deep down you have been enriched because of the experience, and by the knowledge that the differences matter only because you realize how much you truly have in common with the others.
It is more about the technology. It is about the whole internet information universe contained in a mobile phone smaller than your palm. It is also about settling water bills, watching television, learning a foreign language and paying for breakfast using the same phone.
It is more about the people. It is about schoolchildren who show you the way back to the station, housewives who let you in the bath first before everyone else in the family, and waiters who keep smiling while taking your complicated food order.
It is more about the country. It is about four seasons that come with distinct pleasures and beauty. It is about the azaleas in spring, the dragonflies in summer, the moon in autumn, and the clear, blue skies in winter.
It is more about knowing Japan, knowing yourself, and knowing how fortunate you really are, because you studied here.
It is not easy to fit the experience of ten years into one page. When I look back on the many people I encountered within those ten years in Japan and my gratitude for each of these encounters, I am unable to write anything at all. However, I would like to especially thank ASJA International, through which I am able to express my gratitude to this country, my heart's home, Japan.
ASJA International was the scholarship organization that supported me throughout my two years in the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies in Waseda University. ASJA dispensed not only scholarship funds, but through their program that included seminars and workshops on Japanese culture and study tours, I was given opportunities to experience the culture and meet Japanese in exchange activities. I joined in its many events, such as the International Understanding Seminar, the ASEAN Fair 2003, and the Academic Forum. These may not have been directly related to my field of study in graduate school, yet because ASJA held these events, and because through them I met other scholars and staff, my life as a graduate student became more enjoyable. Even now, countless memories from that time remain in me, and they remain vivid.