This summer, Honesty Beaton (Wichita East, 2022) traveled to Tokyo, Japan, through a study abroad program with Johnson County Community College and its partner university, JFOU. While abroad, she took Intermediate Japanese in order to practice the language while learning more about it.

The experience included a variety of educational and cultural activities, including wearing traditional kimonos, participating in a traditional tea ceremony, practicing Japanese calligraphy, and exploring several Japanese art and cultural museums. Honesty noted that it was a phenomenal yet challenging experience to navigate a new city, communicate in another language, and embrace the challenges and rewards of experiencing a different culture firsthand.

“「雨にもマケズ、風にもマケズ」, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 ‘𝘜𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥.’ 𝘈 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥.”