Shirley Locke, mother of Madeline Locke, talks about her daughter’s pursuit of learning Japanese


From the moment our daughter started learning the different alphabets, she developed an independent motivation and work ethic that we had not seen before. This was “her thing,” and we could not help her with it (we do not know Japanese). So foreign to anything she had studied before, the discipline required helped her develop study skills that carried over to her other classes. Her grades/GPA were outstanding. Further she befriended a group of peers who, much like herself, were looking to be involved in something unique/somewhat counter culture (typical of many teenagers) but also had an intellectual focus. Previously more of a follower, our daughter became a leader, becoming the president of the Japanese Club. She began to think about future goals and started to explore avenues to pursue Japanese at the college level.

Madeline’s pursuit of Japanese opened up a new world for her and for our family. We hosted Japanese exchange students and she was able to travel to Japan for two weeks one summer with a school group, staying with a host family who had a daughter Madeline’s age. The experiences opened our hearts and minds to this very different language and culture. Learning how very similar our core values were enhanced our acceptance of the differences. Madeline became much more confident in her ability to explore new experiences and people. Her new knowledge helped her to objectively evaluate her own culture and its values.

Madeline has gone on to study Japanese in college and has been accepted to study at Waseda University in Tokyo for her Junior year. She is working toward a double major in International Studies and Japanese Studies. She hopes to attend Law School and gain employment in some facet of international law. We couldn’t be happier.

If your child wants to study this very different language, support him/her. Living in the greater Houston area, this turned out to be fairly easy for us. Even though we could not help her learn the language, we could and did help her learn more about the culture, the country and the history. This led to many great family outings.

These are some of the recommended activities that we enjoyed:

1. Attending cultural events: we saw a Noh theater presentation, attended the Houston Museum of Fine Art’s “Red Hot – Asian Art Today” exhibit, and attended various International Festivals in Houston.
   
   
2. Watching Japanese movies:  We particularly enjoyed the beautiful animation movies of Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle) as well as some of Kurosawa’s samurai movies.
   
   
3. Dining in Japanese restaurants and trying out recipes at home. We’ve all become sushi fans!
   
   
4. Supporting the Japanese Club at her school (primarily donating food, paper goods, etc.)
   
   
5. Attending the Japan Bowl contest in Washington, DC and celebrating the Cherry Blossom Festival.