From September 1991 to January 1997, I was in Australia as a student of an English school, a preparatory, and a university. This is a story of my experience at that time. (I have changed the title from A Survival in Australia)

1. Innocent Abroad

(2) The Red Doors
September 14, 1991

Our car was proceeding smoothly along a spacious street of six lanes that runs between sparse eucalyptus (blue gum) groves. I enjoyed the calm and bright scenery, which for me is very typical of Australia. The abundant green is somehow elegant, unlike heavy green of the laurel in Japan. And people. Wait a minute. Certainly I can't say that my driver, Bryan, is an elegant guy at all. No way! But there is no rule without an exception. Perhaps other Australians are nice and elegant.

When I looked outside, it was novel to see just a couple of cars passing at high speed on this six-lane street. I was used to seeing a mass of cars in traffic jams in central Tokyo, and I felt a sense of freedom at the lack of traffic here.

I had heard that Australians are very fond of the color red, and that seems to be true. In only a few cases was an entire car painted red, but many cars have a door, part of the hood, the roof, or a tire cover painted in red, often in a strangely designed pattern. I wondered what meaning it has for Australians.

Although the places on the cars that were painted and designs of the paint were different, the color, a kind of muddy vermilion, was identical. I felt that I had often seen this color in Japan, but I could not remember where. At that time, I felt exhausted; I had not been able to sleep on the plane, and it was difficult for me to think, so I went back to simply looking around.

A couple of cars were waiting to turn on a green light. Bryan said to me proudly, “In English we call this a traffic jam. That is, there are so many cars that everyone has to slow down. It is necessary to wait patiently.”

He talked more slowly. “Do you have traffic jams in Tokyo?”

I thought he was giving me a lesson in English, so like a good student I answered, “Yes, of course.” But I searched the street for signs of a traffic jam. Where was it? There were only eucalyptus (blue gum) groves; we were at the only intersection that I could see; and there was more than two meters (6.56 feet) distance between cars.

Bryan said it is necessary to be patient, but I wonder if he can be patient in Tokyo as well. This is because traffic jam in Tokyo is not the same as in Sydney at all. In center of Tokyo, so many cars are running on a street that only small number of cars can finish crossing over the intersection before the green light changes to red. Although they wait the next green light, some of them have to wait the third green light. Thus, many cars on a main street often have to wait for the fourth or fifth green light. Only the case, we call it a traffic jam. When you can cross the intersection within the first or second green light, we don’t regard it as traffic jam even if you have to wait for long time. Now the situation has been bettered to some extent though we still have extreme traffic jams at the tollgates on holidays. We are allowed only to say a remark, such as “It is crowded as usual, is it?” It is impossible to explain this reality with my shabby English. I should begin English lesson as soon as possible. I was in a hurry.

I was curious to see what distance Bryan would keep between cars. There was no car behind us, and a car in the next lane kept a distance of around two meters between cars. This is evidently a traffic law in Australia. But there was one critical Australian rule that I failed to learn from this. Later I learned that you can’t be in a hurry if you want to get along in Australian society.

1. Innocent Abroad
(1) ABC College*
September 14, 1991**
The sky is "ao (blue)" in Sydney. Ah, no! It's not "ao" but blue definitely. Gee, I have no other word than blue to describe this sky. Really pure and fresh blue the sky is! All of a sudden, something happened in my mind. I named the color "Sydney Blue" by myself. In both languages, Japanese and English, "ao" and "blue" don't seem to have positive connotation. But this blue sky certainly cheers me up. Why? I wonder. I must find my own place this time or never..., perhaps.

First of all, a view of everything itself in Australia is totally different from in Japan. The reasons for such clear view are obviously not only I had just come out of the dimly lit room of a plane. The most impressive thing at that time was that I was able to see even the frizzy petals of cardinal hibiscus blooming at the end of this apron, though my eye site is extremely short besides astigmatic. Since then, I have often been deeply impressed with how dry air this land has, and so how clear outline everything has. Only one step on the airport gives me such a difference. Then, Australia must give me a lot of fresh matters I have never experienced.

Now, I am not in Japan any more. To some extent, I might be able to say that I have succeeded as an owner of a stenography office in Tokyo, where I always had to be aware of my own situation and social status. I have left complicated human relationships and harsh competitions to that country. I have to keep neither weasel smile nor insensibility that I have kept so long time that I myself often feel as if it is my innate personality. I am in Australia now. Closeness, discrimination based on prejudice, and self-centered mind, all those are shortcomings only in Japan, not in any other countries.

Australia is far from Japan, to my delight. It needs ten hours flight from Narita to Sydney. I am a foreigner who doesn't have enough language skill. I can be remote to any social and human compelling forces, even if Australia has something like that. I will seek only friendship with Australians. Of course I should do my best to learn English and Australian social custom. But I am positive as I used to work hard throughout my life. I have accomplished all requirements of the surrounding people. My parents wished me to be helpful as my mother's proxy. My senior colleagues have had a catchword, "konjo (guts)", in common. In addition to them, the high schools, both junior and senior, are famous or infamous for their cramming system of education.

English. Yes, I should attend an English college at first because I wish to be a good English speaker not to be the so-called JAPANGLISH speaker. I hope the college would be good. Following an advice of a female staff of the Australian Embassy in Tokyo, I have paid the smallest amount of the fee. It affords 20-week lessons so as to transfer the school after around 5 months in minimum. I can hardly cover my strain though I am often said to be an easy-goer. I passed through a gate for the immigration procedure taking a good bite of my lip.

Outside the gate, there was a man among the people who were obviously waiting someone getting off our plane. He seemed to get weary of waiting for me, keeping a sheet of paper (the size is demy 8 vo.) with my name on it. I couldn't help laughing. Until that time, I didn't think of how long time I spent in the apron. Also, I was satisfied with my own choice. Indeed, a school located in the suburbs is better than that in the midtown area to enjoy Australian life. He has a typical figure of Australian middle age men with the lanky limbs and a suntanned face attached on a beer belly. He also has a blunt look. Certainly, he must be an Australian! When "tranquilness and pastoral" wear a polo shirt and a pair of knee pants, it must be him.

At first, he tells me he is in charge of taking care of me today in very rapid talking, if my listening is correct. According to his way of talking, he looks like an influential person in the school. Then, I should establish a good relationship with him.
"Nice to meet you!"
I stretch out my hand toward him making as good smile as I can, but he would not even see my hand and hurries out. I thought so at that time.
"Excuse me, my suitcase!"
No way! I bought the Samsonite just for this trip, and the color is new trend of this year so that it's higher price than other colors. These are crucial facts in addition to the importance of the contents.
"Yes."
He tries to say something but stops it and shows me a sign on the ceiling instead.
"I see."
It is a place for baggage of the passengers. After all, this is his daily task. He must know everything about these kinds of procedures that newly arriving foreigners are required. I'd better to follow him rather than I tried to find out by myself.

By the way, how come he wouldn't tell me in English as if I can't speak English at all? Certainly my English is not perfect, but I have passed a qualifying examination for English study in Australia. In fact, this is the first warning about my study, but I was really unaware of the danger at all.

* Hereinafter, all proper nouns are fictitious names. The reasons are; there are so many names that I have forgotten some of them, and I don't want to be a hypocrite fearing violation of others' privacy. I just intend to write everything as accurately as possible from my point of view.
** They say that the so-called bubble economy in Japan bursted after a sharp drop of stock market in October 1990. As all Japanese believed it was just temporal slump at that time, there was no remarkable influence on society.

I’d like to make up for shortage of information and detailed explanation in terms of above article as the footnotes.

INNOCENTS ABROAD:
Japanese people are often shocked to hear of other Japanese who were the targets of rudeness or even criminal nehavior while visiting another country and sometimes blame the victims for going abroad without sufficient knowledge of the country and culture they are visiting. travelers cannot know everything about a country they are going to visit--if they did, why would they visit?--but they should learn enough to get along comfortably and safely in strange surroundings.

ENGLISH:
It is obvious that you must have achieved a certain level of skill in speaking English when you are going to go to an English speaking country. The problem is what level. In Japan, people are regarded as high level English speakers when they get the marks in TOEFL or IELTS required by the schools. But these marks actually represent the minimum skill level needed for daily life in that country. No one should think that these English skills are sufficient to get along in a foreign country with no difficulty.

As with so many things in life, good will on the part of both parties can solve problems. Japanese speakers and native English speakers can have good relationships when they want to communicate with each other. Many Japanese know the conventional greetings in English, but these do not carry a person far in a foreign land. Learning to discuss more problematic issues is obviously much more useful for people going abroad. And remember that it is not necessary to be perfect in English to function well.


COSTS:
Costs are the most critical matter. Most Japanese believe the cost of studying in Australia is much less than the cost in U.S.A. But the cost of living in Australia is not an insignificant cost as many Japanese and Australians believe. I will discuss the reasons in upcoming articles.

In my case, I had to spend around 12,000,000 Japanese Yen (JPY) in total for my five year study program in Australia. That amount included the costs for English school in Sydney for four months, for one year at a public preparatory school for overseas students who want to enroll in Australian universities, for an Australian university for four years, and for twice returning to Japan.

I think the total costs are not so much less in Australia than the total costs of studying in U.S.A. We can save on living expenses when we set our minds to it, but we cannot save on study expenses.

Did I enjoy an extravagant life in Australia? No, not at all. During most of my time in Australia, I lived in a shabby room in a dormitory or shared a flat. I went on only two trips during those five years, and I never went to the Japanese restaurants that are famous or infamous for their prices.

But I was unable to live the life style that Australians expected of me. For example, I did not live in a small room located far from school, sharing with several other Asians, and working (not studying) hard to earn my living expenses. A guidebook provided by the library of Australian embassy tells me that. If I had led such a life, a half of my actual total expense must be enough for my study costs in Australia as a whole.

Australians seem to have a different sense of the value of money. At that time, one Australian dollar (1 A$) was worth about 100 JPY. In Japan, 10,000 JPY does not strike people as big money even in our present recession. But a public servant of the Australian federal government looked shocked when I told him I had been cheated of 100 A$.

DESTINATION:
Japanese who wanted to study abroad in English-speaking country once had the choice of either the U.S.A. or Britain. In recent decades, the choices were broadened to include Canada and Australia. When I was choosing a country to study in, I thought the U.S.A. or Australia would be better for me, since Canada and Britain would be cold in the winter.

The embassies in Japan are the first gateways for Japanese candidates for study abroad, and one of my reasons for deciding to go to Australia rather than America was my experience at the embassy of each country. As it turned out, this was my first mistake.

I used the Google search engine to get information about Japanese studying in each country. At the web site of the Australian Embassy (http://www.australia.or.jp/seifu/embassy), I found all the information in Japanese, and I had a sense of Australia extending a welcome to Japanese students. The web pages told how easy and enjoyable studying in Australia is.

On the other hand, the American web site (http://www.japan.usembassy.gov/t-main.html) gave me the impression that the U.S.A. was not very interested in having Japanese students come there to study. Only the top page was in Japanese. The procedures and facilities for study there were described, but I did not get the sense of welcome that I got from the Australian pages.

At the Australian Embassy a female officer assigned to work with Japanese students very courteously helped me. Most of the guidebooks had Japanese versions. I paid a copying fee of 20 Japanese Yen (JPY) per page for those that do not have Japanese version, copied the pages, and took them back to my room to read them. They were full of good things about Australia: there are more Japanese learners than in any other foreign country; even though Australia is a developed country, living expenses are very low; there are a lot of Asian students in Australia; and Australia has an Anti-racism Act to make sure that everyone is treated fairly.

At the American Embassy, I was not even allowed to enter the buildings. I was referred to the center for Japanese students which was located at the next station on the subway line. The center was crowded; I did not have easy access to the information I needed, and I could not even find a chair. Only a few of the documents had versions in Japanese. I wanted to copy them to read in my room, but the copiers were so busy, I could not wait for a turn.

I found a leaflet for Asian students which said that Asian students, though they seem to like to go to schools outside the big cities would do better to go to schools in the urban centers. The reason for this recommendation was stated very ambiguously. The leaflet seemed to say that city people were more accepting than people in rural areas. To me that means racism, and at that I was completely won over to Australia's side.

When I look back on it, I think this was a mistake. I think now that the American information was more accurate than the Australian information. All foreign students in America and in Australia will have unpleasant experiences unless they have a good ability to read documents in English. And contrary to what seems to be said in the Australian guidebooks, the ability of Australians to speak Japanese is on a par with the ability of Japanese to speak English.

On the questions of living expenses and racism, the reality was not as simple as the information I got from the embassy led me to believe. There is racism in both countries (rather in any country), but I think that in America it is more openly acknowledged than in Australia. Later I will discuss racism in detail.

Needless to say, an ideal country does not exist. Every country is unique, and every country has its problems. One of the fruits of studying abroad is learning how a country is unique and what problems it has.

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