Fruitful and Filling

My time in Japan has been a series of eye-opening experiential events filled with fond memories and important lessons, but today, while fruitful, was a capstone — a chance to display our learnings as a cohort and showcase ourselves as TOMODACHI Inouye Scholars. Today, we were meant to present our action plans to the people and organizations that had supported our program. From the start, stress levels and tensions were high.

The day began with a visit to JICE’s office to work on our presentation. My group was

responsible for proposing our plan to conduct a series of workshops back at LMU. Our group’s goal is to take the lessons, principles, and values gained through our experience as

TOMODACHI Inouye Scholars and bring them back to LMU to inspire and teach community

members to be active and engaged leaders within their own communities.

Although we were nervous and unsure at times, after rehearsing and refining, the presentation went smoothly and successfully. This experience was a great opportunity for our cohort to learn how to work as a team and come together as one unit. I personally learned a lot about communication and the importance of proper discourse in order to find solutions.

After the action plan presentations, we had a courtesy call at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to meet with the Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ms. Eri Arfiya. The visit was highly choreographed — each seat was assigned, the questions were prepared beforehand, and even the photo was rehearsed. I was most surprised by how personable and charismatic Ms. Eri Arfiya was as she answered our questions and interacted with us. She was young, energetic, and in complete control.

Going into the courtesy call, we had only two questions prepared, but she insisted we ask her more, and the meeting ended up running longer than the allotted time. Overall, the visit was informative and provided an interesting window into Japanese politics and culture. Her words on proper representation within the government resonated with me. She stressed the importance of having elected officials of all ages and emphasized her goal of encouraging youth to participate in government and policymaking. Through this experience, I was able to catch a glimpse of state-level diplomacy — something very few people get to encounter.

The TOMODACHI Inouye Scholars Program and this trip have been amazing. Every day has left me with something to think about, and while the days have been long and sometimes exhausting, I believe there has been a profound impact on my life that will ripple from this moment onward.