Exchange Student Program The Soka University is presently engaged in academic exchange agreement
with 96 universities in the world. In the Philippines, U.P . had entered
into this agreement with the Soka University in 1988, and De La Sale in
1996. Every year, two exchange students from each university are dispatched.
Aside from that, because this is the only English speaking country in
Asia, many Soka University students came here to study at their own expense.
Furthermore, short term language training program is launched in Kalayan
College where Dr. Abueva, a friend of President Ikeda, serves as principal.
File 023: June 2008
Masao Doke
(Ateneo de Manila University)
My name is Masao Doke, a junior student majoring in Sociology with focus on International Relations at Soka University, Japan.
I stayed in the Philippines from April 2007 to March 2008. I first studied
English in Baguio City with a private tutor for six months, and then moved
to Manila to study at Ateneo de Manila University.
What brought me to the Philippines?
with his friends at SGI Philippine Culture Center
"For what purpose should one cultivate wisdom? May you ask yourself
this question." This is one of the famous lines given by the founder
of Soka University, SGI President Daisaku Ikeda to us Soka Students. Since
such a question never came to me before, this urged me to ponder about
it more. So I started to read and digest Pres. Ikeda’s guidance to seek
out the answer to this question, "why do I study?" Through reading
and understanding his guidance, I found them to strongly touch my heart.
Among them are, "I have, you might say, put down a few points in time
and space. What I ask you to do is join these points into lines and with
these lines create the three-dimensional structure of world peace."
And "I believe that a University's mission should be to save people
who, much as they might have wished, have not themselves been able to receive
higher education."
"Create the three-dimensional structure of world peace," "serve
people who have not themselves been able to receive higher education"
- those lines prompted me to think of working not only for myself but for
the people who have less opportunity to lead a full life. Needless to say,
working outside Japan requires speaking foreign languages. So I decided
to study English in the Philippines because I was interested in Southeast
Asian countries and my friend told me that when it comes to studying English,
the Philippines was the best place to study among those countries. Unfortunately,
I didn't know much about the Philippines at that time.
Life in the Philippines
with his friend in Baguio City
with his friends in Baguio City
with his friends in Bicol province
with children in Bicol province
I was all excited and a little nervous at the same time in the airplane
going to the Philippines because this was the first time for me to go abroad
alone. I still remember that I met a lot of problems on my way to Baguio
City from the airport since I wasn't able to speak English at all. However,
every time there was a problem, the Filipinos I met along the way patiently
listened to my poor set of words and kindly assisted me. From then on,
I started to love the Philippines very much.
Baguio City was just amazing for me. Everything was utterly beautiful and
peaceful; the city has a moderate climate, plenty of green surroundings,
calm atmosphere and nice people. I also love Baguio SGI members who took
care of me nicely ever since I first attended their meeting. Manang Lily
has offered her house as a venue for SGI meetings. I often dropped by her
house even though there was no meeting because I simply loved to see and
have conversation with her. Manong Pong, who gave Buddhist lectures weekly
to the members, taught me not only about Buddhism but also about leadership,
business and many other things through his deep knowledge and life experiences.
The other members were also nice and always welcomed me with their bright
smiles. Indeed, the days I spent there were simply happy.
After transferring to Manila, I was so enthusiastic about studying in college because I expected to further improve my English through attending classes and conversing with other students. Unfortunately, however, ADMU did not offer any English course for those who had difficulty in English. Suffice it to say, I had no choice but to take regular courses like other students. After the first week of the semester, I had to admit that it was unexpectedly difficult for me to understand and discuss academic matters in English. I couldn’t help feeling that I was not standing on the same ground with other students, which led me to develop an inferiority complex.
Through chanting however, I began to think that this difficulty I’m going
through was telling me that I was taking a sanguine view of studying abroad.
Although I’m planning to study graduate school abroad in the future, without
going through the difficulty at ADMU, I still might have been too optimistic
about the whole thing. Knowing that I still had a long way to go, I became
determined to double up my efforts rather than being depressed. The conviction
that came forth from my daily chanting was that my diligent prayers and
efforts would surely come to bear even if my English skill then was not
good enough to understand what is being discussed in class. As the semester
came to a close, I was astonished when I received my grades for the three
paperwork I turned in wherein I got A, B+ and B+ respectively. Those might
not necessarily be excellent but I thought that I was somehow able to accomplish
something.
The longer I stayed, the more I came to love many things in the Philippines
especially the food, sari-sari (variety) store and jeepneys are among the
things that still remain vivid in my memory. I love Filipino food such
as sisig (pig's head and liver served usually on a hotplate), sinigang
(sour soup delicacy), adobo (marinated pork or chicken dish), tilapia (cichlid
fish commonly served deep-fried), lechon (suckling pig), Jollibee's fried
chicken, kamote cue (sweet potato on a stick), turon (spring roll), taho
(soft tofu or bean curd), pancit canton (stir-fried noodle dish), century
tuna, etc. As for the sari-sari store, it became my daily routine to go
there saying, "Tao po. May fruit-soda po kayo? (Hello there. Do you
have fruit soda available?)" The ate (woman shopkeeper) would answer,
"Meron (Yes, we do)," and then I would say, "Puwede ipa-plastic?
Tapos dalawang itlog din po (Can you place it in a cellophane container?
And kindly add two eggs as well)." This must be quite usual and not
especially interesting for Filipinos but such things somehow made me happy.
It's because I somehow felt that through these interactions I was getting
close to the Philippines. Jeepneys were my favorite means of transportation.
I find it very cool since there is no jeep that is exactly alike in terms
of appearance and that each jeep has its own design and interior. I even
used to imagine that Soka University would someday set up its own jeepney
bay in the campus. In this manner, there are many things that I love about
the Philippines!
My Determination
My determination is now to become a regional development planner who can contribute to the development of rural areas which are likely to be isolated and have little access to social, medical and other public services. Through my experience at ADMU, my conviction of the power of faith has been strengthened. Whenever I feel like giving up, I would always ask myself, “For what purpose should I cultivate wisdom?” so that I can recall the reason for my existence and redouble my exertion to attain my mission.
It is said that there are some economical and political problems in the Philippines. And more often than not, the value of the country tends to be measured in terms of its material possession without paying much attention to its people and culture. However, what I noticed through my stay here is that there are a lot of things I have learned from the people: their cheerful, warm and optimistic hearts as well as the Filipino’s spirit of pagtutulung-tulungan (togetherness or helping each other) – which can be seen especially in close relationships among family and community members. Those unseen values have never stopped to impress me. That’s why I strongly hope to visit this country over and over again in the future.
Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat! Mahal ko ang mga Pilipino!
Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!
(Thank you to all of you, my beloved Filipinos! Hurray to the Philippines!)
