ALLISON – Travel in Japan – from South Korea

2024-04-24

Meet Allison, a South Korean university student majoring in Japanese history with a deep passion for Japan’s culture and history. Having explored multiple cities in Japan over three weeks, Allison cherishes experiences like the winter ocean view in Kamakura and the unique maid cafes in Akihabara. Driven by the dream of being a world traveler, Allison is dedicated to mastering the Japanese language and immersing further into the country’s heritage.

STUDY JAPANESE IN JAPAN

Interview – Travel in Japan

WHERE ARE YOU FROM?: South Korea
WHAT DO YOU DO IN JAPAN?: I traveled in Tokyo, Osaka, and nearby cities. – Kobe, Nara, Kyoto, Hakone, Kamakura, Yokohama. Totally, I stayed in Japan for 3 weeks and explored a lot of places. And I did homestay in Tokyo.
WHY ARE YOU INTERESTED IN JAPAN?: Since I was in high school, I had a great interest in Japan history and culture. So I am majoring in Japanese history in university. Also I have some Japanese friends from university and language school, and they made me be wondering about ‘Japan’ a lot.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO STAY IN THIS CITY?: I really wanted to travel a lot of cities, but of course Tokyo and Osaka are very cities in Japan so I decided to try these cities first. And they have good nearby cities to travel, so this time I planned to these two big cities and nearby cities.
WHERE IS YOUR LOCAL RECOMMENDATION IN THIS CITY?: For me, the best place was Kamakura that is nearby Tokyo. Because winter ocean view was really beautiful, and the scenery of that with old train station was great. And I also experienced Maid cafe in Akihabara. It was really interesting memory because it’s not common in Korea, and I can experience Japanese sub-culture.
WHAT DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST WHILE STAYING ABROAD?: The best was the food. I really love Japanese food that I usually eat Japanese food even in Korea. My favorite food is sushi and gyukatsu, so I was always looking for good restaurants and eat my favorite menus with highball.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE BEING IN JAPAN?: I gave a big challenge to myself, it was ‘trying to speak Japanese more than English’. Because I have been learning Japanese and I know only few words and expressions. But I thought real experience will help me to improve my speaking skill and confidence, so I tried my best during the travel.
DID YOU EXPERIENCE ANY CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE AND FUTURE PROSPECTS?: Yes. After traveling, I started to feel much closer to the country ‘Japan’. So I am going to study Japanese language and history harder and I want to be the expert of this lovely country.
WHAT IS YOUR DREAM?: My ultimate dream is to be a world traveler, and my dream in reality is to live a life like a travel. I want to keep exploring new things and learn a lot. I will not stop this journey.
MESSAGE TO OUR FRIENDS WHO WILL GO TO JAPAN.: Don’t hesitate to come to Japan. People are really nice, and here has a lot of good facilities, foods, contents. You will definitely fully enjoy and fall in love with Japan.
HOW DO YOU LEARN JAPANESE?: I studied Japanese in university class, which is included in my major class. I had focus more on reading than speaking, so I am weak at real speaking. Actually, I don’t speak Japanese really well, but the most important thing I think is to get a confidence and try to be in real communication situations and keep doing experience and practice.