At the beginning of my freshman year at St. Olaf, I thought that I had my life planned out. I was going to be a music major and later go on to teach orchestra, but I realized very quickly that was not what I wanted. Naturally, I felt panicked. The music program was the main reason I chose St. Olaf. I remember thinking that I had no other passions besides music and was worried that I was wasting my time going to college if I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Looking back I recognize that this is a struggle many college students face, but I feel lucky that it wasn’t too late for me in my college career to discover this and change my academic focus.
I spent the rest of my freshman year and beginning of my sophomore year taking classes in as many departments as I could in order to figure out what else I might be interested in. Remembering that as a kid, I had interests related to Japanese culture, such as anime and Japanese music, I chose to start taking Japanese language classes. At the time I honestly did not believe that this would lead me to major in Asian studies and Japanese. I had already completed my language requirements through Spanish courses so I only intended to take Japanese while I thought I had some free room in my schedule. This of course couldn’t be further from what happened. As I approached the end of my fall semester sophomore year, I came to the realization that I wasn’t actually enjoying any of my classes… except for Japanese. So I then proceeded to make a seemingly rash decision by going to Quimby sensei’s office hours and telling her that I wanted to be a Japanese major, and soon afterwards an Asian studies major as well. Learning Japanese felt like a natural progression for my interests, but that was only the first step for me in discovering what Asian studies really was. I first started taking courses that I knew I would be interested in relating to Buddhism, Literature, and other topics. I feel that classes like these gradually exposed me to different aspects of various Asian cultures, but I had not yet conceptualized what “Asia” was. This changed when I took the Asian Conversations program.
I really didn’t know what I was getting into as I enrolled in the Asian Conversations program. To be honest, I primarily chose to do the program so that I could go on the interim trip. After all, I already had most of the GEs from the courses, but I heard from all of my friends who had done the program beforehand that the trip was amazing and I had to go. I would later realize that Asian Con certainly did not begin or end with the interim trip. As I began the first course, Wong Laoshi and Professor Williams wasted no time in forcing us to expand our thinking about Asia. In high school, there was relatively minimal education about countries outside the U.S. Even back then, the way I learned about the U.S. was through its history. History can tell a lot about a place, but it is by no means the only way to conceptualize one. Exploring Orientalism, geobodies, picture essays, and museums, just within the first month of Asian Con, certainly expanded my thinking.
Prior to the course, I had not considered what ways “Asia” could be defined. One of the concepts that stuck with me very clearly after Asian Con was how we discussed culture in the class. Culture is not just the festivals people take part in, the food they eat, or the way they dress. Culture really just involves anything that someone in that group does. I realize that the vagueness of that statement might make culture seem even less clear than before, however, I think it is precisely that reason that I love it. With this, nobody in China is excluded from Chinese culture. The differences between the elderly and young people, the modernizing cities and rural landscapes that people live in, the foreigners who move to China, they all become part of Chinese culture as they help define how life is lived in China. Personally, I just feel excited thinking about how all these different aspects of culture intersect and influence each other. Thinking about Asia and the cultures within it as constantly changing makes me see that I will always have more to learn about Asia and new perspectives to learn about.
When it came to the interim trip, however, I was not quite ready to apply the concepts I learned to my experiences until I noticed something that really forced me to use the knowledge I had gained. This was my trip to the Shanghai museum, specifically when I saw the exhibit for indigenous people from around China. It reminded me of my initially limited view about culture as I looked around and mainly saw ancient clothing, tools, and a variety of intricate masks. The museum displayed their culture as stuck in the past, when in reality there was much more to be said about those groups than they tried to represent. Asian studies has improved my critical thinking skills by making me take into account how perspectives can really influence the narrative created in one’s head. Before learning about culture in this way, I would not think about the different ways that culture exists within and around people, but learning that has helped me to see that I need to look at everything from multiple perspectives to get a more complete understanding of something.
At some point during my time in Shanghai, I had a realization that I had nearly as much interest in China as I did about Japan. Perhaps it was the novelty of my first time traveling to China, but I had a feeling that there was more I wanted to learn. This led me to enroll in the beginning Chinese classes starting my senior year. Since I don’t know the next time I might have access to so many resources for learning Chinese, I decided that there’s no better time than the present to start learning. Honestly, I’m glad that I did start because my decision to learn Chinese has not only furthered my interest in Asian studies, but it has also expanded my desire to continue learning languages.
Outside of academics, Asian studies has also strongly influenced my life. The most important part of my co-curricular career has without a doubt been the Taiko drumming club. I knew I wanted to engage in a club that was at least somewhat related to my budding interest in Asian studies, yet I was hesitant to join since I was still very nervous about meeting people and hadn’t made many friends yet. During the first practice I joined Taiko, I was relieved to hear the senpai of the club introduce that they came from a variety of majors, ranging from Chinese, classics, and many others. My worry about the club quickly faded as I noticed that everyone was truly there to just enjoy drumming and I felt that I could be myself and enjoy drumming with them. Even among the senpai, there was a wide range of skill but they all worked together to make music together because they all enjoyed playing Taiko.
The people that I met in Asian studies classes and through Taiko drumming club have become such an important part of my experience that I cannot separate them from my individual journey in Asian studies. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to engage with people who share so many interests. To be able to engage with a community in this way only helps fuel my passion for learning more about Asian studies. Not just in classes, but in Taiko club as well, I began to hang out with other club members by joining “Taiko dinner” after every Friday practice. Eventually, I found myself hanging out with many of them regularly and even keep in touch with members who have graduated. I really feel that the community around the Asian studies department is one of the most valuable parts of my experience because it is something that I could never replace and has helped me grow my interest in Asia.
After graduation, I hope to be able to go to Japan through the JET program and teach English in Japan. I hope to apply the knowledge I have gained through Asian studies and my language skills to be a better teacher for my students. Thinking farther ahead my path is less clear. I currently have been struggling with the idea of how I will be able to keep my interest in different parts of Asia alive without the classes and community around the Asian studies department. Although it might be harder to focus on my different interests about Asia while I am in Japan, I know that I want to continue to develop both my Japanese and Chinese language skills.
Overall, my journey with the Asian studies department has truly helped me discover my passion and grow as a person. I feel incredibly grateful for having had the opportunity to meet such good friends and professors through this community at St.Olaf.