家族留学奮闘記

This is going to be my first installment in English. The major reason why I will write in English is simply because I want to be able to express my true inner voice other than in my first language, Japanese.

My bold but reckless plan to go to the US with my family dates back to around 2020 when the COVID-19 crisis hit the whole nation. All of a sudden, most economic activities came to a halt with the state of emergency issued by the government of Japan. The word "pandemic" was just a term in a dictionary to me, which didn't have any practical connection with my world. I never imagined that I would see a TV reporter in a very serious mood briefing the outbreak of an unknown infectious disease spreading all across the world.


With the sudden disruptions caused by the deadly virus, people were forced to confine themselves at home to reduce the risk of being contracted with the virus and of spreading it nationwide. Following the government order, almost all facilities, including schools, stores, and restaurants, were shut down. It was actually my first time staying in my house for such a long time with my family without going to work. Looking back, one of the fortunate things during the state of emergency, if I am allowed to say, was that I was able to spend much more time with my family, playing with my sons, cleaning up my house, doing laundry for my family, all of which I had never done before the pandemic. I started to see my existing world from a totally different perspective. At the same time, I had some time to reflect on my past and to think about my future. I started to hate myself for the fact that I always stayed in my comfort zone, where I have a house, my beloved family, a very rewarding job, but tell my kids to be more ambitious at the same time. I intuitively thought that I am a hypocrite because I do not practice what I preach to my kids. That was a sudden revelation that came out of the blue during the tumultuous times in 2020. The COVID-19 forced people into a closed space but indeed opened my eyes to a new journey.

Before my departure for the US, people often asked me, "Why do you go now?" or "You already have a decent job. What's the point of getting a master's this time?". My answer was, "It's never too late to learn. I am not going just for the degree. I am going for myself and my family." There is no right or wrong answer for our life. If you strongly believe your choice is right, that might be YOUR right answer. Steve Jobs once said at Stanford commencement, “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” I wish to be true to his saying, especially at a turning point in my life.

I would like to conclude with a famous poem by Robert Frost.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Written by Robert Frost