Interviewee name:  Sakiko Umeki
Interviwer name: Sanja Trajkovska
Interview Date: 10/20/2006

Introduction
Sanja:  Can you please tell me your name, where you come from, your year of study and your major?
Sakiko: My name is Sakiko Umeki. I come from Japan. I am a sophomore and my major is International Relations, but my original major in my university in Japan is North American studies.
Education
Sanja:  Why did you choose St. Cloud State University as your international study site?
Sakiko:  I chose St. Cloud State University because it had an exchange program with my university in Japan.  I first wanted to go to New York, but I couldn’t because I didn’t have a high enough GPA, so I had to come here.
Sanja:  How is the educational system in your country different from the one in the USA?  Please explain about all levels of education.
Sakiko:  Students first go to Elementary school for six years, then they go to Junior High School for three years, then they go to High School for three years and finally if they choose to, they can go to university/college for either two or four years.
Sanja: Can you please tell me something about your university?
Sakiko:  My university is called Akita International University. It is located in a rural environment in Japan and consists of only five hundred students and most of the professors are from other countries, but there are also some professors from Japan. Classes are taught in English and we can easily make friends because it is a small university. Students are required to live in the residence halls for one year and they are also required to go on a study abroad program for one year.
Culture and Religion
Sanja:  Since the kimono is a very important part of your culture and tradition, can you please explain what it is and on what occasions you wear it?
Sakiko:  Kimono is a traditional Japanese dress and we normally don’t wear it, but old people do. We wear kimono for the coming of age ceremony, that is when we turn 20 and also for tea ceremonies. Children wear kimonos when they are 3, 5 or 7 years old.
Sanja:  Can you tell me something about geishas and what they do?
Sakiko: Geishas are women who entertain people by dancing and singing.  Some people think that geishas are prostitutes, but they are really not.  The geisha culture is mainly located in Kyoto, the former capital of Japan.  Geishas are very expensive and only businessman and rich people can afford them. Geishas wear kimonos and put on make-up, so that they look pretty.
Sanja: Can you tell me something about samurai?                                                                                      
Sakiko:  Samurai are warriors and they were popular couple of hundred years ago, but there aren’t any samurais now.
Sanja:  Can you please tell me something about sumo wrestlers?
Sakiko:  Sumo is a very popular sport in Japan and it is a type of wrestling.  Sumo wrestlers are very big and they have to eat a lot to be big. Currently, there are more sumo wrestlers from other countries than from Japan.
Sanja:  What religion do most people practice in your country?
Sakiko:  Most of the people in Japan practice Christianity, Buddhism and Shinto.  Many people practice both Shinto and Buddhism, which is kind of weird.  In a typical Japanese house, you’ll find sacred objects of both Shinto and Buddhism and people go to both temples and shrines. When someone dies, we go to a temple, but for New Year’s Day, most of the people go to a shrine.
Sanja:  What about your family?  Is religion an important part of your family life?
Sakiko: Yes, my family practises both Shinto and Buddhism, so we have sacred objects of both Shinto and Buddhism in my house.
Food
Sanja:  OK, can you please describe some of your national food specialties?
Sakiko:  Japanese people eat healthy food. Soya food plays a very important part in our daily diet.  We make many things from soy, such as tofu and choya, which is a soy sauce and we also drink soy milk.  Soy is the most important part of Japanese cuisine. We also eat fish, such as sushi.  Sushi is raw fish with rice and it is usually prepared in restaurants, not at home. Other traditional dishes include navee which consists of vegetables, meat and noodles. Everyone eats navee from the same pot.
Sanja: Can you explain what sake is?
Sakiko: Sake is a very strong alcoholic beverage made from rice and there are many kinds of sake made in different regions of Japan.
Sport and Music
Sanja:  What’s the most popular sport in Japan?
Sakiko:  The most popular sports in Japan are baseball and soccer and many children engage in these sports.  When the World Cup in soccer takes place, soccer becomes very popular and people who don’t normally watch soccer, suddenly become big fans of soccer.
Sanja: What type of music do you listen in Japan?
Sakiko: We mostly listen Japanese pop music, but we also like American pop music. There’s also Japanese rap, but I don’t like it, it’s kind of weird.
Family Life and Holidays
Sanja: How do you keep in touch with your family and friends in Japan?
Sakiko: I sometimes call them and I also use MSN Messenger to talk to them, but usually I send them e-mails.  Sometimes it’s very hard to talk to them because the time difference between Japan and the USA is 14 hours.
Sanja: How many members does an average family consist of?
Sakiko:  An average family consists of four or five people.  Nowadays, there are more and more families that consist of three members, that is a mother and a father and a child, but I think it’s very common to have two children.
Sanja:  Who in your family earns an income and who determines what happens in a family?
Sakiko:  In my family, both of my parents earn an income, but my father is the one who determines what happens in our family.
Sanja:  Do men and women have equal rights in Japan?
Sakiko: According to the laws, men and women should have equal rights, but in reality they don’t have equal rights at home or in some companies.
Sanja:  Who does the household chores?
Sakiko: Mostly women do the household chores, but some families decide to divide all the responsibilities in the household equally.
Sanja:  Can you tell me something about Japanese weddings?
Sakiko: Wedding ceremonies take place in temples. The bride and the groom wear traditional Japanese clothes such as kimono and the bride wears a wig. When the couple decides to get married, the groom goes to the bride’s house to ask her parents for permission to get married. It has recently become very common to have wedding receptions in hotels and not to wear traditional clothing, but to wear wedding dresses instead. I think weddings are becoming more westernized. People usually get married at the age of twenty-six, if people get married after they turn thirty, we call them loosers.
Sanja:  Do you have arranged marriages?
Sakiko:  Yes, but they were more common long time ago.  The brides’ parents used to make their daughter marry someone from the neighboring village.
Sanja: Can you tell me how you celebrate Valentine’s Day?
Sakiko:  On Valentine’s Day, the woman gives her boyfriend chocolate and she tells him that she loves him. On March 14th, there is a holiday called White Day and on this day the men who got chocolate for Valentine’s Day give a present to their loved ones.
Sanja: What are some of your most important holidays and how do you celebrate them?
Sakiko:  The most important holiday in Japan is New Year’s Day.  For this holiday, we eat special food called ozoni. It consists of different types of ingredients such as lobster, eggs and beans. We also go to a shrine to pray for a good year and the whole family gets together.  What I like the most about New Year is that little children and teenagers receive money from their parents, aunts and uncles.
Government
Sanja:  Can you tell me something about the type of government in Japan?
Sakiko:  Japan has a parliamentary system, so we don’t have a president, but we have a prime minister.  We have an emperor too and he used to be very powerful long time ago, but right now he has no power at all.  He is a just a symbol of the country.  So, he has no influence on politics, he just represents the country.
Lifestyle and Views
Sanja: What are the major differences in comparing your life here and at home?
Sakiko:  Here, I live in a dorm with people who only speak English and I have to use transportation if I want to go somewhere off-campus.  If I were in Tokyo, I could go by train anywhere I want.  Trains are very frequent, they come every ten minutes, but here I need to have a car to go somewhere or I have to use the bus.
Sanja:  What do you like the most about the USA?
Sakiko: People here are very friendly and nice and I like the weather here better because the weather in Japan is very humid.  What I really like about St. Cloud is that there are parties all over the place on weekends.
Sanja: What don’t you like about the USA?
Sakiko:  I don’t like the food here.  I’m getting tired of eating burgers and French fries all the time.
I don’t like that there is racism in the USA.  I know that some people hate Asians and there have been many incidents where people have been killed because they are Asians.  I don’t like that people call us yellow and that sometimes we are discriminated.
Sanja: What surprised you the most about the USA?
Sakiko: It surprised me that when people walk on the street even if they don’t know you, they greet you, they say something like: “Hi! How are you?” or “How is it going?”   We never do that in Japan.  People are very friendly and talkative and they always greet me.
Sanja: What is the image of the USA in your country?
Sakiko:  We think of the USA as a dangerous country because we watch violent movies that involve murders, rapes and racism.  However, we also think of the USA as a very liberal country and we think that people can do whatever they want here.
People in Japan think that when you go to the USA, you’ll get fat because of the fast food.
Sanja: When you go back to Japan, what are you going to tell your family and friends about Minnesota and St. Cloud?
Sakiko: When I go back to Japan, I’ll tell my friends and family that it’s very cold in Minnesota, there’s allot of countryside and it is very quiet and peaceful.  I’ll also tell them that people in Minnesota are very nice and friendly.
Sanja: What kind of culture shock did you experience when you came to the USA?
Sakiko: I was really shocked that people here shake hands when they greet each other and in Japan we never do that.  We greet each other by bowing.  We also never hug or kiss, not even with our parents or siblings. It’s appropriate only for couples to show affection to each other.  We are a culture that doesn’t touch, and if we hug or kiss in public, people would think that’s weird.  So, I was very surprised when people here tried to shake hands with me when we met.
Clothing
Sanja: What about clothing? How do you dress in Japan?
Sakiko:  People in the USA don’t care how they are dressed, especially at college.  People wear mostly jeans, sweatshirts and hoodies, whereas in Japan everyone is very careful about the way they are dressed.  People are very fashionable and wear fancy clothes and young people use most of their money for shopping.  Even at college in Japan, people dress very nicely and don’t wear casual outfit like they do here.  I was surprised to see that college students here carry bag packs. In Japan, we don’t carry bag packs and girls especially dress very fashionably.  Clothing is very important in Japan and everyday you have to think what clothes you are going to wear, whereas here I can wear whatever I find in my closet.  It doesn’t really matter how I am dressed here.
Transportation
Sanja: What means of transportation do you use in Japan?
Sakiko: The most common means of transportation is train and trains come every five minutes.  Trains are very common especially in Tokyo because it’s a big city.  Some people in Tokyo don’t own cars, but they use trains instead.  Trains are very convenient because they can take you anywhere.  Usually trains are not very crowded in the afternoon, but they are really crowded in the morning when everyone goes to school or work.  Since it’s very crowded, sometimes you can’t move.  Young girls don’t like when old men come near them and sometimes they touch them.  This is very unpleasant and it’s a very big issue in Japan.  Lots of high school girls are touched by men in the trains and it’s really scary.  It’s not very safe for girls to ride on trains alone.  Since it’s a very big problem, some train companies decided to make separate compartments for men and women and I think that’s a good idea.
Closing thoughts
Sanja:  Is there anything else that you would like to tell me about Japan?
Sakiko: Yes, there’s another difference that I noticed between the USA and Japan.  In Japan, it’s very offensive to ask women questions about their weight.  We don’t tell anyone how much we weigh.  Also, earthquakes are very common and they happen once a week on average.
Sanja:  What are your plans for the future?
Sakiko:  After I graduate in Japan, I would like to work in Disneyland in Tokyo because that has been my dream for a long time.
Sanja:  Sakiko, thank you very much for agreeing to do this interview with me! Have a nice day!