You drag yourself out of bed at 9:00 in the morning. Remember, you have to hurry. It starts and 9:30 and you can’t be late. You arrive at a church called Zion Lutheran. You walk into your small classroom that only has one big table in the middle. You see your teacher and your friends. At 9:30 your class starts the subject reading. You read a simple book and sometimes you have to finish your small essays. Next, you have math. Even though it is just regular math, sometimes it can be tricky. Both of these subjects are hard because they are in Japanese. You are spending another day at school. Let me rephrase that, another Saturday at school.

Nao Oya ’23 loves to travel and experience new things. Oya’s family travels to Japan every year, and they love to go sightseeing while there. Oya lives in a family of six, she has two sisters, one brother, her mom and dad, and of course her dog Robo. Robo is a cocker spaniel and a poodle mix.

“I can’t remember how many times I’ve traveled to Japan, but I have been going to Japan almost every year since I was born,” Oya said.

Oya’s family loves traveling to Shibuya in Tokyo, Japan. Shibuya is very well known for the Hachiko statue, which is a statue of the Shiba dog. There is a movie about a Shiba dog named Hachiko. In the movie the dog waits at a train station for his owner to come home every day. One day Hachiko’s owner doesn’t come. “Hachiko waits and waits but his owner still hasn’t come home. In the end, we find out that the owner died,” said Oya.

Shibuya is a great place for walking. “You just walk there, and you can go anywhere,” said Oya. Specifically, Oya’s family loves walking to a place called Takeshita. There are plenty of amazing stops in Takeshita for a bunch of sweets and snacks. Oya loves the bubble tea there and the Totti Candy Factory. At the Totti Candy Factory, they have giant rainbow cotton candy. Another one of her favorite places to get sweets with her family is called the Cozy Corner. The Cozy Corner is a small store. They have cakes and cream puffs there. “The cakes there make my mouth water. They aren’t super sweet like cakes in America. They usually have a lot of fruit on top whether its strawberries, blueberries, peaches, or kiwi there is almost always some type of fruit on top or inside,” Oya said. At the Cozy Corner after you purchase the sweets they put them in this cute box that says “Cozy Corner” on it. Before you leave the workers there ask you how long the way back home is. If it is past a certain time they put dry ice in the box so the desserts stay cold.

In Shibuya, there are many places to shop. Oya said, “There are arcades, clothing stores, dollar stores, and Disney stores.” Oya, her sister Akimi, and brother Taka love going to the arcade. “We love playing games there because there aren’t any arcades in America, “Oya said. Many people in Shibuya go to a clothing store named Bape. Bape is short for a bathing ape. “It’s kind of a big store like Gucci, but not that big,” Oya said.

A unique place Oya and her family travel to in Japan is called Miyajima Island. It is known to have many cute deer. “I went there and I saw so many cute deer that live on the island. One time I saw a deer eat someone’s newspaper,” Oya said. The Miyajima deer are different than deer we are used to. They are very friendly and you can easily pet or feed them. Another place they like to visit is called Owakudani. Owakudani is a valley of active volcanoes. Many people eat black boiled eggs there. There is a belief that if you eat a black boiled egg you will live longer. Oya has actually tried a black boiled egg before. “It tasted like a regular egg but it smelled like rotten eggs,” Oya said.

Imagine how difficult school can be. Then imagine learning the information in a different language. Oya goes to Japanese school every Saturday. The school is located at a church called Zion Lutheran. During class, the students learn math and English which is taught in Japanese. In English class they read a simple Japanese book and sometimes they write essays. Japanese is really difficult and frustrating to learn because there are so many letters in the alphabet. Each letter has its own characters. Each character has its own meaning and sometimes they share meanings which makes it more confusing. Even though Japanese school can be stressful for Oya, she loves seeing her friends there. Her good friend Hanah Kitamoto ́22 goes to Japanese school too. In addition to schooling, sometimes the class gets together to do fun things. Last Saturday they went to Wilson’s Apple Orchard to get apples and apple turnovers. “That was really fun because. When we were little we loved playing games and racing each other. But now we love picking apples. We love apple turnovers and apple cider,” Kitamoto said. The class also does a New Year’s gathering. “New Year’s is really important in Japan,” Kitamoto said. The class usually does the gathering at the Coralville Public Library. People bring in food to the gathering. Normally some people bring sushi, bread and pasta. At the gathering they also play fun games like bingo.

Oya enjoys hanging out with her good friend Alice Doresco ́23. They meet through a friend in seventh grade at lunch. Oya and Doresco enjoy riding roller coaster rides. They love going to Adventureland and their favorite ride is the Monster. They also enjoy watching scary movies together. “We want to watch IT Chapter Two,” Doresco said. Oya and Doresco both play the cello. They also enjoy getting bubble tea together. They either go to Bubble Pop downtown or they go to the mall to get bubble tea. Doresco has their order memorized. Doresco said, “We like regular milk tea with tapioca bubbles.” Oya and Doresco like baking cookies together, especially baking Christmas cookies.

When Oya grows up she wants to follow the footsteps her dad Hiroyuki took, and become a neurosurgeon. Oya started learning about neurosurgery from her dad. She found it really fascinating and started asking her dad questions about neurosurgery. Oya said, “He started teaching me and telling me everything about it. I just thought it was really interesting. Then I started looking up things about the body by myself.”

Japan has a big impact on Oya’s life because she goes to Japanese school every Saturday and travels to Japan every summer.

¨I’ve met some of my best friends through Japanese school. I don’t think I would be their friend if it weren’t for my culture,¨Oya said.