This blog post introduces how to effectively write your own experiences and thoughts in the Japanese Language Department’s personal statement.
Write about your academic experience and what you learned
Japanese taught me that studying can be fun.
Until I was in middle school, I was very passionate about sports and played on the school soccer team. My skills were recognized, and I dreamed of becoming a soccer player, but I had to give up on that dream after I hurt my leg badly. So, after I entered high school, I often felt down and couldn’t concentrate on my studies. Then, I chose Japanese as my second foreign language, and I became interested in studying after seeing my Japanese teacher, who always had a bright and cheerful attitude in class. The Japanese teacher had studied in Japan herself and always made us laugh by wearing new costumes.
I wasn’t very interested in Japanese culture or the language, but the Japanese teacher was so cheerful and I wanted to look good in front of her, so I studied Japanese hard. As I worked hard, I started to enjoy it, and I especially enjoyed the lessons because the teacher taught us through the lyrics of various Japanese songs. There is a Japanese version of Yoonha’s song “Comet,” so I memorized the lyrics, studied the words, and learned a lot of Chinese characters while interpreting the lyrics. In the case of Chinese characters, there are many cases where they overlap with the standard Chinese characters used in Korea, so I was able to improve my grades in the Chinese character subject by studying Chinese characters through Japanese, which was a two-for-one deal.
After memorizing words, I usually learned whole sentences or studied grammar for reading comprehension. When I had trouble studying, I watched Japanese anime, movies, and novels recommended by my teacher. I mainly watched The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino and Love Letter by Shunji Iwaida. Both works are representative Japanese cultural content adapted from novels, and I was impressed by the way they dealt with devoted love. Through these works, I was able to study basic Japanese grammar and learn the structure of sentences, which had a positive impact not only on my studies but also on the direction of my life and my values. In this way, the Japanese language classes gave me strength and courage during a period when I had lost my dreams and was wandering, and I regained my interest in studying and my diligence to study not only Japanese but also other subjects.
Write about your major school activities and what you learned
Deciding on a future career through the Japanese Culture Club.
I joined the Japanese Culture Club because I wanted to experience Japanese culture properly, as I had a turning point in my academic life when I took a Japanese language class in my first year. The Japanese Culture Club was a club where we shared, discussed, and experienced various aspects of Japanese culture. In fact, it was especially meaningful because we interacted with students from a local Japanese school called Sagakitahakko, and there were separate classes for Korean culture and Japanese culture. In our club, we not only engaged in activities to experience traditional Japanese literature and modern cultural content, but also exchanged letters with local students.
In our club, we had a natto food experience and a yukata wearing experience to experience traditional Japanese culture firsthand at the beginning of our club activities. We chose natto as a representative food of Japan because it is a food that often appears in Japanese movies and cartoons and is unfamiliar to us. We bought natto, a local food sold in Japan, at a foreign grocery store and prepared the ingredients for the number of people. Then, we decided to make Korean-style natto and eat it to compare it with this food. First of all, Japanese natto had a sticky liquid like soybean paste and tasted bitter, just like the one we saw in the video. Our natto contained eggs, so it was less bitter and had more of a miso taste. As I compared these two, I thought that just as Japanese food is sometimes adapted to suit Korea, Korean food like bulgogi and kimchi is also being adapted to suit Japan, and that this is how cultures interact with each other.
Experiencing Japanese culture was fun, but the activity I was most enthusiastic about was penpalling. I had never traveled to Japan or met Japanese students, so it was very strange to be exchanging letters with a foreign student. So I told my penpal a lot about Korean culture and sent a letter with a photo of me wearing a yukata during club activities. We became very close as we shared our club activities and interests, and we talked a lot about our personal and school lives. Sometimes, snacks were sent from that far away place, and my pen pal sent a greeting from her homeroom teacher.
In my second year, I ran a club booth at the school festival, and the memories I shared with my pen pals were displayed in the exhibition hall inside the booth. I was happy to see my friends from other classes looking at the stories and photos I shared with my friends, as if I had become an international embassy. I also cooked and sold Japanese food that I had made during club activities, introducing various Japanese dishes such as okonomiyaki, takoyaki, and natto rice. Although my cooking skills were lacking, all the friends who ate said it was delicious, and I was proud to have won second place in the festival judging for the food culture parade.
Consideration, sharing, and cooperation: Examples and lessons learned
Participating as an event assistant at the Japan-Korea Culture Festival.
My Japanese teacher, who introduced me to the joys of Japanese culture and language, was a participant and interpreter at the annual Japan-Korea Culture Festival held at COEX. She also suggested to the club members that they participate in external festivals to engage in bigger and more rewarding activities. We participated in the school club activities, but within the festival, we helped out as event assistants, helping out from start to finish.
First of all, I participated as an event assistant and often visited the COEX event hall to help set up and clean up the booth. It was my first time setting up the venue or setting up the stage, so it was both exciting and a good learning experience. We adjusted the stage position for the rehearsal performers, marked the floor of the performance hall with traffic lines, and installed information boards and maps at the entrance. We also worked together to put up Japanese-style decorations near the entrance to attract the attention of people visiting the theater. Due to a lack of manpower, everyone who was preparing for the performance, the on-site staff, and our students all worked together to move them. While doing so, we also got to know the local people and had a chance to have a simple conversation in Japanese.
On the day of the event, many visitors to the venue and students and event officials who had come from far away Japan gathered together. It was the day when we would be able to show off everything we had prepared, so we were in charge of a small part, but we were all nervous together. It was a festival with a lot to see and enjoy, including a performance by a Japanese troupe performing the classic “Gi-in Yeoljeon,” a singer who had come to perform in Japan, and a Korean singer Yoon-ha. The high school students from Shikata, who were on a school trip, also stopped by the festival during their trip and got to meet us. I also had a great time meeting a pen pal I had only exchanged letters with until now. It was a meaningful experience where we worked together with our friends to do good things and also got to make good friends while looking at other cultures with an open mind.
Efforts and preparations related to motivation and career plans
Developing Korean Wave cultural content and promoting it in Japan.
The reason I applied to the Department of Japanese Language and Literature at ○○ University was because I was very interested in Japanese culture and the Japanese language. During my high school years, I focused on improving my Japanese language skills by studying mainly Japanese language courses. I believe that my basic knowledge of Chinese characters and words, understanding of grammar, conversation skills, and writing skills are sufficient for me to study in depth at university. In particular, I have a good knowledge of Japanese literature and culture because I have read many haiku poems in Japanese novels, movies, and literary works, which are cultural content of Japan.
In my first year of high school, I simply liked the Japanese language class and wanted to get better grades, but after that, I became interested in Japanese literature and culture, and my range of activities expanded. So I joined the Japanese Culture Research Club and actively participated in club activities, and I even held a festival by interacting with local students. That’s how open-minded and open-minded I am to people with different cultures and new foreign cultures. Just as I became a better person by learning their culture, I have a dream of working in Japan as a person who introduces Korean culture and the charm of Korean Wave content.
Specifically, I would like to research traditional Korean food, traditional culture, and pop music content that is currently actively expanding into Korea and develop it into content. In fact, there are many organizations, such as the Korea Culture Content Agency, that develop and research such content, and I believe that I have the qualities to grow as a researcher as I am well-versed in the characteristics of both countries. To develop Korean Wave cultural content, we need to know our own culture well, but we also need to understand what the Japanese, our core target audience, really want to enjoy. To do so, we need to understand the Japanese people’s hearts and use our insight, and I think the content I learned in the Department of Japanese Literature will be of great help to my research.
