日本の貢献留学のブログ - Studying Japanese Art & Culture

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A blog written by Ashton Will, the art teacher and graphic designer of The Consulting Arts. This blog will detail several aspects of his semester abroad studying in Japan weekly, including art he has created and seen, observations about Japanese society in the community, and his own interactions with Japanese culture. This is an ongoing project for Ashton as a Gilman Scholar and a Gray Fund for International Study scholarship recipient, functioning as a give-back service project.

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Randolph-Macon University featured Ashton in its news this week:

Once I arrived at the university, I was shown to my own dorm room, PXL 20220820 053817708which is somewhat of a luxury compared to the standard two-person dorm rooms at Randolph-Macon. The lighting and air conditioning were actually connected to my room key, under a system where they'll only turn on when my room key is set in a slot on the wall.

PXL 20220715 142305371 2I'm Ashton Will, an art teacher for The Consulting Arts and a senior at Randolph-Macon College  majoring in Studio Art and Asian Studies.

PXL 20220821 023400390In Hirakata city, there is a Shinto shrine a short walk away from the Kansai Gaidai campus. When talking about traditional Japanese places, there are two types that come to mind - jinja, or the Shinto shrine, and tera, the Buddhist temple.

For my semester abroad, I will be staying in the country for over four months as a direct exchange student. This means that I had to get a Student Visa to visit the country, and it ended up being the main cause for concern in whether or not I would be able to travel abroad.

I arrived to Narita International Airport after a breezy twelve hour long flight. PXL 20220819 065350777MPNRT ended up being the most complicated airport during my trip to arrive at Kansai Gaidai, since it's where I had to verify my visa, confirm that I was Covid free, and transition from international flights to a domestic flight.