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USC student earns Japanese Government scholarship
A childhood fascination with Japan has blossomed for University of the Sunshine Coast business student Daniel Gillham who will spend the next two years studying at Waseda University in Tokyo.
Daniel, 20, of Woombye, tomorrow (4 April 2007) will jet off to Japan after earning a two-year Japanese Government scholarship to do a Masters of Business degree at one of the country’s most prestigious private tertiary institutions.
He said he was thrilled about the scholarship, worth at least $100,000, which will cover his tuition fees, his return air fares and a living allowance of about $A2000 a month.
To earn the scholarship, Daniel had to undergo a rigorous application process which included demonstrating his fluency in the language.
“There’s a lot of work involved, but I would encourage anyone who’s studying Japanese here to look into it,” he said. “The Japanese Government is extremely generous.”
Daniel first learned some Japanese when he was in Year 6 at Darwin, then furthered his language skills as a holiday hobby when he lived on the Darling Downs during his early teens.
He studied Japanese at Sunshine Coast Christian Outreach College (now the Suncoast Christian College), then majored in Japanese when he started his combined Bachelor of Arts and Business degree at USC in 2004.
“The chief reason I came here to USC was to study Japanese and to get on the Global Opportunities (GO) program,” he said.
This program enabled Daniel to study at Nagoya University for Foreign Students for 10 months in 2004, during which time he became fluent in Japanese.
Daniel said he loved Japan for its geography and climate, for the conveniences available in its big cities and for the way Japanese people cared for each other.
“For me, the best part about Japan was the convenience of living there,” he said. “I found it hard when I got home to Australia that everything was closed from 6pm.
“I like the fact that people care about one another, even though it might be done out of their cultural obligation more than anything else.
“It is great to see the lengths that someone will go to look after another person to make sure they’re comfortable and not left out in a situation.
“It’s a beautiful place geographically. In Japan everything is green and it’s cold … and I love cold weather. So, climactically, it really suits me.
“Because so many of my experiences have been lived in Japan, it’s an integral part of me. It’s like home.”
Despite the cultural differences, Daniel said the Japanese way of life had become very similar to Australia’s.
“A lot of the generalisations that people have about Japan were correct in the boom and the bubble, but now life in Japan is quite a lot like here.”