Indonesian Student Who Came to Japan for the International Red-White Singing Festival Is Now Studying Abroad in Japan!
2025/05/24 15:06
Indonesian Student Who Came to Japan for the International Red-White Singing Festival Is Now Studying Abroad in Japan!
NAYA’s Experience at the 11th International Red-White Singing Festival in 2023
https://www.yokosojapan.net/article.php/20231127irws2023_event_en
We interviewed NAYA, an Indonesian student currently studying in Japan, who won the Osaka Tourism Chairman’s Award at the 2023 International Red-White Singing Festival.
How She Came to Japan
NAYA first learned about the International Red-White Singing Festival during her fourth year of university. At the time, she was busy preparing for her graduation exams and didn’t initially plan to apply. However, encouraged by her teachers and parents, she decided to take on the challenge.
Having studied singing since the age of five, she carefully learned the meaning of the Japanese lyrics and sang “First Love” (by Hikaru Utada) with heartfelt emotion. After passing two rounds of selection, she was chosen to represent Indonesia at the festival in Japan. She was overjoyed to come to Japan and thoroughly enjoyed her time, being impressed by the cleanliness of the cities and the politeness of the Japanese people.
After returning to Indonesia, NAYA wanted to work in Japan. However, since her major was clinical laboratory science, not nursing or caregiving, it was difficult to find a path to Japan. While considering her future, she had the opportunity to have a meal with Mr. Haruyama, President of Handy International Network[*1] , who had invited her to Japan for the International Red-White Singing Festival.
Impressed by her confident singing and cheerful, considerate personality, Mr. Haruyama invited NAYA to work in Japan. With her parents’ encouragement, she decided to pursue this opportunity she had once given up on.
However, one condition for employment was to improve her Japanese to a business-usable level.
She immediately began studying Japanese, taking two hours of online lessons daily. Although it was a busy time, as she was also preparing for her graduation exams, she managed to keep up with her studies. She even had to be hospitalized for a month due to exhaustion, but ultimately, she achieved her goal of passing the JLPT N4 exam.[*2]
After graduating from her university in Indonesia, she took a three-month intensive online course focused on Japanese conversation at ECC, studying four and a half hours every day. Studying online with about 14 other students, her conversational skills gradually improved. She also met other Indonesian students from the course in person, and they encouraged each other to keep studying.
After completing the intensive course, NAYA came to Japan in March 2025 and is now attending ECC Japanese Language Institute Sannomiya School.[*3]
Impressions of Japan and Daily Life
NAYA enjoys Japanese food and finds everyone very kind, so she is enjoying her life in Japan. Sometimes she misses Indonesian food, so she cooks Indonesian-style dishes using seasonings her mother sends from home. The hardest part is studying kanji, but she practices a little every day.
She also noticed that Japanese people walk very fast, and that both trains and people are always on time, which she finds impressive.
Dreams for the Future
First, NAYA wants to master Japanese and use her skills in Japanese, English, and Indonesian to support Indonesian and other foreign staff working in unfamiliar environments such as Japanese hospitals and care facilities. Many graduates from medical-related universities and higher education institutions in Indonesia struggle to find good opportunities and fair wages at home, so she expects more people will want to work in Japan in the future. She hopes to provide comprehensive support for foreign staff in hospitals so they can live comfortably and securely in Japan.
Also, since singing has always been her passion and has opened up new opportunities for her, she wants to continue singing to encourage others, even alongside her work.
NAYA spoke brightly about her dreams. It is now common to see foreign staff working in caregiving and medical fields in Japan. These are high-pressure, stressful workplaces, but foreign staff have become indispensable. People like NAYA, who support them, are also invaluable. We hope she will continue to bring joy and encouragement to everyone, sometimes through singing, just as she always has.
NAYA is scheduled to perform at the 13th International Red-White Singing Festival at the Osaka-Kansai Expo on September 19.[*4]
(Photo: With her teachers)
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