American Kids Abroad: American School in Japan

[harajyuks]

Tamina!



[harajyuks]

Kronebuger!!!

[JT0420]

ASIJ is a good school with a very rigorous curriculum that will prepare one's child to be successful in college, but there are some serious issues including poor management (Tim Carr, former headmaster of the school was completely incompetent), nepotism (students who are superior in athletics or some other extra-curricular activity may be passed over in favor of another student who is the son/daughter of the coach/director) and the quality of the student body (bratty, rude, sense of entitlement)

[Yukawrenn]

I'd want to go to ASIJ. <--- but it's too expensive :I

I'm a returnee living in Japan.

I was born & raised in the U.S. til I graduated middle school,

so I'm having such a hard time in my Japanese school..

it just gets me p'od that japanese kids go to these schools just to learn english because they have $

[sakuraiben]

@Yukawrenn actually thats sort of a lie. I'm actually born in the U.S. and have U.S. citizenship. You have to have to have a relationship with the U.S. to get into to ASIJ

[andyat98]

@sakuraiben no you don't

im half canadian and half japanese you dont have to american

[sakuraiben]

@andyat98 wait are you Andy Takagi?

[addanoid]

I go to asi now and i've lived in Japan for a long time. I'm half american half british but i consider myself from tokyo. Japan is great, and it's a hard language to learn but i am fluent and i take french at school. It's not fair to say that we are brats. Most of are parents are CEO's of company's and so we do have money but we are also very culture smart and we actually know the difference of china and japan. ASIJ is an amazing school so dont bad talk it if you haven't gone hear.

[muzicluvvver]

i know kids from here :)

[novajoke]

Hate to say this but kids in these schools are typically spoiled brats since their parents are super loaded. They were ashamed to be American when George W. Bush was the president from Y00-Y08. To be fair, they are well rounded people but their political views are one sided in my opinion. I've discovered that they didn't like "military families" since they thought they were "less educated" than their parents.

[andrew319]

I graduated ASIJ back in '06 - If you look at my profile, you'll see a Teacher Recruitment Video..

I do admit a lot of families are rich, but many of them come to Japan on expat packages and when they go back to their home country.. they live pretty normal lives

[sakuraiben]

@andrew319 my friend said he is getting sick of the school a bit from rich people. I feel the same with rich people in our school

[andrew319]

But anyways, I just have the point out... that I feel that one of the reasons I felt some angst towards kids at base schools because of the very aggressive attitude- (bad sportsmanship or what not) BUT with that said, once you get to know the guys, we're on good terms.

DEFINITELY NOT their education level.

[sakuraiben]

@andrew319 we have bad sportsman ship? and were not on educational level? You must be kidding

[MHKeith]

@novajoke i'm an expat kid, but i have lived in small town usa, and gone to public school. These kids are upper middle class, but they're not loaded and the only reason they get to go to this school is cuz school and housing is a part of their expat package, that somebody else pays. They do tend to be quite liberal, but that's due mainly to the fact that the world is very liberal in comparison to america. And the military families on base were just flat out mean/rude at sports events.

[novajoke]

@MHKeith

Yes the world is more liberal compared to America. If you lived in Japan or other parts of Asia, you'll understand...... Yeah military brats don't have any class whether you like it or not..... What's up with that?? I laugh when they preach they are serving their country, blah, blah, blah but if that's true, they should have more class in my opinion. To be fair, I've met some really cool military kids that were disciplined, learned Japanese, just got along great..

[PinkIcexMellow]

i can relate about not knowing where i'm from~

[Chicken10843]

Man what Id give to study In Japan.

[LoveYamachan]

if i was given the opportunity i'll gladly learn it!

imagine ur in japan?! but can't totally blame them for not learning japanese, coz in reverse there are lots of immigrants in canada that have lived here for decades and yet doesn't know english~ they survived coz they just stick to their communities so it's the same with these students...

[pedazodecola]

ok, i was not trying to be mean or anything just so you know. I didn't realized he was being modest but i should have because modesty is important in Japan.

[pedazodecola]

I agree that what they learn about the people and culture is valuable, but I don't know if it's as valuable as learning the language. The reason being is that once you reach a high level of language skill, it enables you to learn even more about the people and culture and connect with them more. This cannot be disputed. I think these kids have a great opportunity but it's a shame the school let's learning the language take a backseat, a real shame.

[mkarplus]

I get what you're saying, but pls understand- the average time an American student spends at ASIJ is 2-3 yrs, not ten (those kids are the exception and many of them are fluent). These kids are in HS, not college and most were plucked from their hometowns involuntarily. Some make the most of it better than others. The majority of kids do study Japanese where they all learn hiragana, katakana, and basic conversation skills. It's not as bad as you think - the one kid in the video is being modest.

[MHKeith]

@mkarplus agreed, and japanese is a requirement k-6, but pretty much after elementary school the school is more concerned with making sure these kids are well rounded, global citizens who get into good colleges.

[pedazodecola]

I think it shows a lack of interest in the language and culture if you live somewhere that long and still only know a little of the language. These kids talk about how interesting the culture is yet their language skills are still basic despite the extensive amount of time in which they could have EASILY became fluent IF they wanted to. Obviously that wasn't on the list of priorities though, so to an extent their talk of how interested they are in the culture is bs. language is part of culture.

[yoka955]

I partly agree with you. Idk if you would call it lack of interest. I think that what happens with SOME of us Americans is that we think or get the impression that some how our language is more important than others, going by the fact that it is practically the second language of most of the countries in the world, although of course it doesn't mean that most people in these non-native-English-speaking countries are fluent because a lot are not. So i think sometimes American's feel like

[pedazodecola]

It's not hard, and yes this comes from experience. Japanese 4 experience. I'm not bragging, I'm just saying that I'm not some guy who has no clue what he's talking about. It's good to know enough to get by but I still can't believe some of those kids who've lived there 10 or more years and only know the "getting by" amount. Let's be honest, that's pathetic and it's insulting to a country when you live there that long and still barely know any of the language.

[yoka955]

continuation; sometimes American's feel like there is almost no need to study English, which of course i think is narrow minded. anyways, yes, i don't think there really is any excuse for them not to learn Japanese fluently. Take the Chinese schools in America for instance that are for Chinese-Americans, all of the Chinese can speak fluent English in those schools, and that is because they feel like there is a lot more of a need to learn the language, where as these people can have a comfortable

[pedazodecola]

Wtf is up with some of these kids who have lived there for many years and still don't know any japanese?

[mkarplus]

Everyone knows enough to get by (order food, take a taxi, ask directions, etc), but it's a tough language to learn. What they learn about the people and culture is just as valuable.

[yoka955]

continuation 3; life just knowing enough Japanese to get by, where as you can't really do that in America. I am not defending it and saying it is wrong or right, i am just stating my opinion on probably why most of these American or international students don't really become fluent in the Japanese language.

[AkitaTom]

Fantastic video, a very intersting insight into an international school in Japan. I wish i could see more! 5 Stars~

[Momokodeeeesu]

何で日本でアメリカの高校があるの？

アメリカに日本の高校もあるかな～？

[namenlos07]

3:45...was that ryan higa???

[animefanxxD]

woah it looks like him!

[namenlos07]

scary...xD

[ButterscotchGurl]

OMG MR HUBER!!!!!!!!! HES MY BROS GUITAR TEACHER!!!!!!!! i luv my asij! its best school out there. so amazing. the only problem is wut that boy said that ppl move so much. its hard. oh ya, and some ppl r wonderin wut that buzzin sound is, its the sacadas. jtlyk. and ya ppl do ask lots of wierd questions like the driving one and the china one! its so funny. i just laugh and walk away wen ppl ask me. and Japan and China r so not alike @ all@ so its so funny!!!!!!!! thanz fer postin!

[chasinglights08]

YEAHHHH ASIJ ROCKS!!!!!!!

[yourworstniightmare]

OMG I WANNA GO THERE

[luddite333]

I look back on my year at ASIJ with nostalgia (1987). The most fun was smoking cigarettes in the courtyard with Ken Fukuda. from Zach Vishanoff

[JwenBrykowski]

I went to ASIJ as well, and this video is so true! Mr. Huber rocks!

[hapaxjalapenox]

T_T so true! my dad was in the military so i was brought up in okinawa, japan. born in the US. aaah this vid just explains me so well

[museumgirl67]

i graduated from asij in 1985 and this video was true of students in my time as well. nice job... by the way, VERY 80s music too!

[whosthatpuppy]

i miss it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!