Hi, I’m Megan Omoto from Seattle, Washington and in April of 2019 I started school at the Tenrikyo Language Institute in Jiba. I’m in the Japanese Language Course along with 36 other students from around the world. I decided to enroll to TLI after I graduated from college in the summer of 2018. I enrolled because I’ve always wanted to learn Japanese and I thought that living in Jiba would also be a good experience for me.

While classes are sometimes tough or tiring and going back to the day-to-day schedule of school took some time to get used to, the program is really great. Learning Japanese isn’t easy but the teachers do a great job of explaining concepts so that everyone can understand. One of the coolest parts about going to TLI, and especially about living at the dorm, is that as time goes on you’re able to have conversations with people with whom there was a language barrier before. We also study the teachings in Japanese. Hearing a (simplified) explanation of the songs for the service has been particularly helpful for me. Even though I’ve read the English translations before, the meaning of the songs have never really stuck. But learning the meaning in Japanese helps me understand the song as well as the hand movements. This coming April I’ll be staying another year in Jiba as part of the Oyafuse program, continuing my Tenrikyo studies.