Earning a Master's Degree in Japan as a Black Woman: Navigating Culture, Language, and Work

September 28, 2020 Christine Job

SEASON 1 EPISODE 21 |Flourish in the Foreign - Black Women Living & Thriving Abroad

In this episode of Flourish in the Foreign, Annabell shares how her passion for architecture led her to pursue a Master's and continue her architectural design career in Japan.

Meet Annabell

Annabell completed her undergraduate architectural studies at the Caribbean School of Architecture in Jamaica. She moved to Japan in 2013 on the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Programme and taught English at a high school in Ishikawa Prefecture for 2 years. In 2015 she started her master's degree at Keio University. During her time at Keio she was able to do projects in Nepal and Thailand. She graduated in 2017 and landed a permanent job in the largest architectural firm in Japan, second largest in the world in 2018.

Connect with Annabell

https://www.instagram.com/annabellom/

In this episode of Flourish in the Foreign, Annabell, a Jamaican woman who currently lives in Tokyo, Japan, shares how she first went abroad when she was 19 to Saint Kitt's and fell in love with traveling. She studied architecture in Jamaica and participated in study tours to other Caribbean islands. After graduating, she participated in an urban planning and design summer school in Finland and was struck by the unfairness of how easy it was for native English speakers to understand the content compared to non-native speakers. She then committed to learning other languages and reaching out to people from other countries, as she felt it was an extension of imperialism for the rest of the world to have to adjust to English. She decided to move to Japan to teach English and earn money to pursue a Master's degree in architectural design. Annabell shares her experiences studying at Keio University, interning in Nepal, and adapting to the infamous Japanese work culture in Tokyo.

In This Episode We Cover:

Attending architecture school in Jamaica

Going to Finland for an architectural design summer course

The J.E.T. program

Living & working in Japan as an assistant language teacher

Applying for and earning a Master’s degree in Japan

Conducting research and constructing homes in Nepal

Being a Black woman in Asia

Japanese Work Culture

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