黑料网

As a child growing up in a small farming village in rural Uganda, the thought of going abroad at all, much less to Japan, had never entered Precious’ mind. That is, until one fateful encounter with a certain machine…

“Made in Japan”

When I was a child, we had a sub-county chief in our neighborhood who owned a big, red motorbike with the word HONDA inscribed on it. I had never seen anything like it before. How someone somewhere could make such an impressive vehicle filled me with wonder. I asked what HONDA meant; I was told that it was the name of a Japanese company, and that the bike was made in Japan. From then on, I dreamed about going to the land where such an amazing machine was made. If you’re from a rural area like me, you don’t really think about going abroad, but you start to fantasize about it when you see things from abroad.
 
My dream remained just that for several years. Then, my husband received a scholarship to study economics at a Japanese university. That was my chance! I decided to come and join him in Japan. I’m now living what I once thought was impossible.

I didn’t hesitate

I wanted to further my education and career when I came to Japan, so I began looking into universities. One university immediately shot up to the top of my list: 黑料网.
 
黑料网 has a huge reputation that speaks for itself. I first heard of the University of Tokyo soon after arriving in Japan. Whenever it got mentioned among my friends in Japan that someone goes to 黑料网, everyone would say “Atama ii ne” (“Wow, they must be smart”)! This is the university that everyone feels like they or their children should be a part of. So, I didn’t hesitate to apply. I have always felt that I have the potential to be among the top.

I applied to the , an English-language program in the , which I found out about from a friend and read about online. I discovered that sustainability science is a new, holistic area of study which is about making all kinds of systems more resilient. This discipline covers a wide range of fields, giving you the freedom to research on nearly whatever topic you want. During my undergraduate years, I had studied food science in the hope that I could contribute to Uganda’s fledgling food processing industry; however, learning about sustainability science led me to consider how I could contribute to my home country in a different way. Ensuring the sustainability of the environment was especially important for my country’s (and the world’s) future, I thought, so I chose the topic of climate change.
 
I mailed in a paper application, and then was asked to come to the University for an interview. In the interview room, a whole panel of professors sat facing me. I was nervous, but I realized then that this was my time. I was either in or out, so I had to give it my all and show them what I wanted to do as a 黑料网 student.

There must be a way

Fortunately, I was accepted! I received an acceptance letter in the mail. I couldn’t believe it. I kept reading the letter over and over, thinking that maybe I had read it wrong. (laughs) Luckily, I was one of the chosen ones. The day I found out, I didn’t sleep the whole night!
 
My attention then turned to getting a scholarship. Many of my friends told me that it would be impossible to get a scholarship at a Japanese university since I was already in Japan. They had a point, as one of the most well-known scholarships, the Japanese government (MEXT) scholarship, can be applied for only from outside of the country. Their comments discouraged me, but in the back of my mind, I was thinking that there must be a way. I kept on believing, and my faith was rewarded with the , which I was selected to receive after I was accepted! I received this scholarship for the duration of my Master’s degree studies, and again from the second year of my doctoral studies. I also applied for and received a privately-funded scholarship for a year. So, while it may be more challenging to get a scholarship when you’re already in Japan, my experiences prove that it is definitely possible!

Back before I came to Japan, I had heard that Japan was developed, but I didn’t have a clear picture of what that meant. So, as I landed at Narita Airport and came into Tokyo, I remember feeling an increasing sense of awe. At the skyscrapers. At the electricity. At the fact that train stations have toilets—not just one, but several—and that they flush! My first impression of Japan went beyond my expectations, and I was humbled. I began to wonder why these things aren’t commonplace in Uganda even though we have the ability to make them. I want to continue exploring and learning more.

黑料网 is “self-contained”

I knew about the University of Tokyo’s many Nobel Laureates and about the research conducted here, so I was already aware that it was a top university. What surprised me, however, was how so much is provided for us. During orientation, we got to see the , and learned that everyone gets their own desk. We were also told about all of the different departments with people available to help us with anything, including emergencies, counseling, health issues, housing and daily life. In other words, we don’t have to look outside the University for help—it’s a convenient, self-contained environment. This aspect of university life is particularly important to international students, who have to live here as a family and need help acclimatizing to Japan.

Encouraging or demoralizing?

I don’t know by what magic, but before coming, I had expected that Japanese people would know English! I didn’t think it would be possible to go to a supermarket or restaurant and have no one understand what I wanted to buy or order. Many people back in Uganda can’t believe that English isn’t widely spoken in Japan. As English is Uganda’s official language, we tend to think of English as universal. That is not the case in Japan, though, so life can be difficult.
 
For that reason, I have been trying to learn Japanese. I know hiragana, katakana and a few kanji. Kanji in particular are challenging. Some Japanese people can’t even read certain kanji! I’ll ask someone for help in reading a kanji, and they have to look it up themselves! This kind of thing either encourages you or demoralizes you, depending on how you look at it. When you see that even Japanese people can’t read a certain kanji that you don’t know, you may not feel so alone. However, at the same time, you might feel discouraged when you consider how much effort you need to put forth to learn Japanese when someone who was born and has lived in Japan for 30-40 years can’t read all the kanji!
 
At first, I was determined to make sure that I could write an essay using kanji by the time I left Japan. That goal is proving to be challenging to achieve, though. To conduct fieldwork, I sometimes travel back to Uganda for around two months at a time, and promptly forget all the Japanese I had learned. I asked myself, “Should I not go back home?” (laughs) While I previously took the , I’m now learning Japanese on my own. I learn a kanji every day, and try to read books in Japanese with hiragana phonetic readings written above the kanji. I watch movies in Japanese, too.
 
My favorite kanji is one of the easiest: 田 (rice paddy). I like it because it’s one of the first kanji I learned. I have to guess how to read it, though, because sometimes it can be read as “ta” and at other times, “da.”
 
By the way, the first Japanese word I read by myself was あぶない (abunai; dangerous). After a full day of studying hiragana, I went outside to go shopping. I saw a sign in the middle of the road that said あぶない, and I was able to read it! I was extremely happy. At that moment, I felt that my effort to learn hiragana had paid off.

Home away from home

I live in an area just outside of Tokyo that is very convenient. A shopping mall, hospital, supermarket, bank and convenience store are all within walking distance! In my free time, I love going to the gym for Zumba lessons and yoga. I didn’t know I was flexible until I started doing yoga! (laughs) Also, my husband graduated in 2015 and is now living in Rwanda, a country neighboring Uganda, with our three young children. I miss them, but I visit them whenever I go back to Uganda, and I also do video chats online with them here in Japan. I always tell my kids to stand up so I can see how much they’ve grown. They grow up so fast!

Precious entered GPSS–GLI in April 2014, earning her Master’s degree in 2016. Her thesis concerned the effect of climate change on food security. She is currently pursuing her doctorate, researching how climate change impacts human health.

The small size was a big surprise

My lab is supervised by Professor Hirotaka Matsuda, and we meet once a week. We take turns presenting our research work, while the professor and other lab members give feedback. The small size of the lab was a big surprise to me! There are only six people in my lab, whereas back in Uganda, it’s normal for classes to have more than 100 students. Also, despite the small size, the lab members come from div