Tori

Student Stories

Tori joined the ICLC Uchinanchu Youth Scholarship to improve Japanese and reconnect with Okinawan roots. Through classes, volunteering, and cultural exchange, she gained language skills, friendship, and a deeper sense of identity. ICLC became a space for personal growth and meaningful connection to heritage and community.

“It’s truly a joy to learn and feel more connected to the multiple languages that my ancestors spoke!”

Before ICLC

　The first time I visited Okinawa was in 2014 with my grandfather, who is 3rd generation, to visit our relatives in Ginoza. My great-grandfather was 2nd generation and grew up in Ginoza between 1916 and 1928.

　My family has been active in the Ginoza Sonjinkai in Hawaiʻi since it was formed. I was able to come to Okinawa for the second time in 2018 with the Ginoza Kenshu Program. The program is built on the relationship between Ginoza and Sonjinkai's of Brazil, Peru, Argentina, and Hawaiʻi. Through the program, I lived in Ginoza for 3 ½ months while learning more about my Okinawan heritage.

　When I stumbled across the ICLC Okinawa Uchinanhu Youth Scholarship program, I was working at the Japanese American National Museum as a Digitization Specialist in the Collections and Archive Management department. During this time, I was at the intersection of next steps in my professional pursuits.

WHY ICLC?

Even before my program in Ginoza came to an end, I knew that I wanted to live in Okinawa for a longer period of time. As soon as I went back home to Hawaiʻi, I was looking for ways to move back to Okinawa and trying to figure out how to continue learning Japanese. At that time, I happened to stumble across ICLC’s website. Unfortunately, I was not able to move back to Okinawa immediately and when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, I had to shift gears and focus on finding a job.

In 2021, I moved to California but I continued to monitor ICLC’s SNS. In California, I became more involved in the wider Ryukyuan diasporic community and was active in the Okinawa American Association in Gardena and had created a podcast with friends called, Ichariba Choodee: Okinawan Voices & Stories. This was shortly followed by the creation of Shimanchu Diaspora Visual Archives. So when ICLC announced they were hosting a scholarship for diasporic Uchinaanchu (Okinawans), I was ecstatic and applied immediately. I had heard great things by previous students about the classes and knew that this was the perfect opportunity to improve on my Japanese.

The scholarship aligned perfectly with my goals to learn Japanese so that I could speak with relatives and for professional pursuits.

JOURNEY OF LEARNING JAPANESE

I only knew HIragana, Katakana, simple Kanji, basic words and how to introduce myself before moving to Okinawa. I was placed in the Conversational Beginner and was allowed to move to Comprehensive Beginner classes.

At first, the classes were easy but they soon began to speed up after the first semester and I began to have a more difficult time grasping the grammar in comparison to others. I often studied for 4 - 6 hours before and after class to make sure that I didn’t fall behind. The teachers were very kind, had great energy, and assisted when and where they could to help me understand the grammar better.

The class environment that ICLC provided allowed me to improve my Japanese language abilities. Before taking their classes, I could only understand very basic words but I am now understanding conversations better and can express myself much more clearly. It gave me the tools to continue learning Japanese even　when I am back in California and Hawaiʻi.

WHAT GAINED FROM ICLC

Thanks to ICLC, I have gained many new lifelong friends who were also on the Uchinaa Okinawa Scholarship with me while being allowed the space to strengthen my ties with relatives, friends, and community members.

Twice a week, I volunteered at the Okinawa Prefectural Library with the Genealogical Reference Service team and was able to assist various Sansei, Yonsei, and Gosei find their specific roots in Okinawa. The Japanese I learned at ICLC assisted me at the library and I was also able to use Japanese I learned at the library to assist me in class.