Past Hokudai/Cast Entries

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Keita Ogawa

Keita Ogawa is one of my English teachers and he is very kind, so he cooperated with my research. I'm thankful to him for his goodness. 

He was born on Sep. 7, 1972 in Tokyo, Oota ward. When he was six years old his father had to move to New York for business. Keita really didn't want to go there and cried for two weeks in Japan. He shouted "If my grandfather is not coming with me, I'm not going to N.Y." He thought American people would eat him alive because they were very big and strong, so his grandparents came with him. He said that when he was a child he was a crybaby. He loves his grandfather and his grandfather also loves him. His grandfather always took him to anywhere with him.

Next, he arrived in N.Y and started to live there. He thought American people were very friendly, so he got used to living in there soon. He belonged to the soccer club and went to baseball camp, basketball camp and other camps during summer vacation. He enjoyed playing with his friends. He also belonged to the orchestra from ages 9 to 12. He played first violin. When he was at home he always watched TV ate snacks and drank coke, he liked to watch cartoons, for example, "Tom and Jerry", "Mickey Mouse". He suffered bullying from American boys. They said to him "You are not American." "You are Japanese!! So, you are not the same us!!" He often ran away from them.

When he was 12 years old he came back to Tokyo and entered junior high school. He started kendo and shogi because his grandfather said "It's important for you to learn Japanese sprits." He believed his grandfather's words. He also started bowling. He was absorbed in bowling. He wanted to be a professional bowler. The high school he wanted to go to was strong academically, so when he was a ninth grader he studied very hard.

He entered that high school and he started to play golf and liked to do oil painting. His dreams were to be a professional golfer or artist. His teacher praised his drawing, so he had confidence. He didn't want to be an office worker because his father was a really hard worker and he didn't want to be like him. 

When he was 18 years old he entered university. His dreams were still to be a professional golfer and artist but he also wanted to be a writer. Before graduating from high school he decided to enter the architecture department but his home room teacher said to him he couldn't go there, so he chose law department. His campus life was bad. He didn't go to school because there wasn't an attendance check system and he played with his girl friend almost every day. After two years he got dumped his girl friend. He was very low spirit and he cried every day. He smoked two packs of cigarettes in a day and listened to dark music from morning to night. He couldn't accept reality.

After graduating from university he lied to his parents. He said “I want to be a lawyer, so I’d like to study more and go to a vocational school to become a lawyer.” However it was a pure fabrication. To be honest, he didn’t want to work.
Five years later he was 24 years old, he got dumped again. He was in low sprits and cried every day. One day his father decided to retire the company and move to Kanazawa, because he had planned to live in Kanazawa in his old age. He had bought a house in Kanazawa when he was young. Keita was still in low spirits and he want to escape Tokyo, so he decided to move to Kanazawa with his family. He started to a new life in Kanazawa.

First, he didn’t have a job. He was a part time worker before finding job. Few years later he got a job. It was English teacher in the English speaking school. Seven years after moving to Kanazawa, he came to Hokuriku University. Now he is working at this university as an English teacher. 

He has a lot of hobbies. He has gone to flower arrangement and tea ceremony lessons since he was 31 years old. He learns how to do that and of cause he enjoys doing that. He still wants to be a writer. And then he got a new dream. It’s a pianist. He has played the piano since he was 25 years old. Playing the piano is the most important hobby or thing in his life. He plays the piano every day. He said “Playing the piano makes my good feeling.” He wants to learn more high level piano technique. His piano skill is approved by many people who are his students, friends and his colleagues.

These days he has started to study Chinese, because he thinks learning the tea ceremony and flower arrangement has its origin in Chinese history and spirits. He wants to know the roots of Chinese culture, so he is studying Chinese. He also thinks Japan's close neighbor is China. He explained his future. He is planning to go to China and he’ll study Chinese history and culture. If he had a chance to be sent to China on a cultural mission, he would really want to go there soon.



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Mirai Sozo is the School of Future Learning at Hokuriku University. The primary focus is on language (English and Chinese) and management (hospital administration, sports, and business).
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