World regional studies and international relations teacher Shannon Nolan attended Kadena High School in Okinawa, Japan eight years ago. Nolan reflects on her time in Japan and shares how it impacted her career and home life now.
How did you get the opportunity to go to high school in Japan?
“My dad was in the army and he got stationed there and it was either he went there without us or we move there and we obviously want to be with my dad so it was an easy choice to move there.”
What was your favorite part about going to high school in Japan?
“I met such a diverse group of people. Military schools have people from all over the United States. I have so many Japanese friends, so I really got to know people from all different ethnicities, all different religions, all different lifestyles. I also got to travel quite a bit in high school. We did these things called Far East, which was our version of a state championship. Your varsity team would get to go and compete in another country for a week and at the end of that week, whoever was the winner was the Far East champion and that was a huge deal.”
What would you say is the main difference between going to high school in Japan vs the United States?
“We lived on a really small island so I think I missed out on a lot of the pop culture that was happening in the United States. Netflix was just becoming a thing, we didn’t have American TV. We had one movie theater that would get movies three months after they’d been out so we kind of had our own unique culture of American culture and Japanese culture.”
Do you know any Japanese?
“No way fluent. I could get around, I could use public transportation, I could go grocery shopping, I could go to restaurants, I could communicate with my classmates in kind of broken Japanese and broken English. I really struggled with reading, but I could speak pretty well while I was there.”
Why did you decide to teach in the United States?
“My plan after college was actually to go and teach in American schools abroad. But I met my fiancé, and you just change your plans when you fall in love.”
What is a favorite memory that you have from Japan?
“Going to Far East where we would travel with our sports teams and our club teams. Getting to spend seven days in a new country with your best friends is just such a cool experience. I really loved my teachers. One of my favorite teachers [from Japan] is the reason I became a teacher.”
How did your time in Japan affect the way you teach?
“It was like a military base school, you always have people moving in or out. You would have at least one person, a new person, once or twice a month coming into your classes, and your friends are always leaving. I think now, as a teacher, I’m really conscious of the new students, I want to make sure they feel welcomed. I really get how tough it can be just coming into a new school.”
Would you recommend spending time abroad to others?
“Absolutely. 100%. I’m trying to hit 30 countries by the time I hit 30 years old, so I got five years. I’m at country 24 right now. I’ve backpacked by myself, I’ve gone on trips with friends, I studied abroad, I’ve lived abroad. It really makes you feel grateful for what you have, but also traveling just gives you peace of mind that the world is huge. Your problems, your everyday, it’s so small and it makes you grow.”
What did you learn from your time in Japan?
“I appreciate my friendships, just focusing on the fact that they might not be in the same location forever. Appreciating other people’s cultures. I went from being the majority to being a minority culture in Japan and that was a really tough transition and no one really talks about how hard that can be. It just really taught me to appreciate the diversity in people and appreciate everyone’s experiences and honestly, it was just so much fun. Living in Japan was one of the best things I will ever get to experience.”
What’s your favorite story to tell people about your time in Japan?
“My dad and I used to go scuba diving, we’d wake up at 5:30 in the morning, and we’d jump off the coast of the seawall, which is essentially between our town and the waters, and you could just jump off and go swimming in the ocean.”
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