[The last renewal of this page: Jan.11, 1998]

I was in Spain to study its language and culture, and have the experience of banking bussiness as trainee, from July,1984 to august,1985. ( For one year, one month, one week and one day! )

* July - August, 1984
I lived in dormitory for college students in Madrid. A student of University of Madrid was my first private teacher.

* August - September, 1984
I bought a used FIAT128, and challenged to a big tour for all around Spain driving for 8,882 Kilometers (5,500 miles) for 38 days. I visited almost all parts of Spain including Mallorca Is. and Ibiza Is.. There were many villages and towns where people welcomed me, saying that I was the first Japanese that ever had visited there.

* October,1984 - April,1985
I lived in the dormitory of the University of Valladolid which has an old history of more than 500 years, in the city of Valladolid with 100 Spanish studentes. I was auditing regular courses at the University for three months until the foreigners course which was my main project begun in January.

+ I used to have a lot of small trips to many places with Spanish students in every weekends and holidays.
+ In the winter vacation, I had a trip to all around Portugal in my car.
+ In the spring vacation, I had a trip to France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, by trains.

* May - August, 1985
I lived in an apartmenthouse at the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in Castellon de la Plana, north of Valencia. I had a chance to work in one Spanish bank as trainee to learn Spanish banking bussiness.


2.Record of my Trips in Spain (Written in 1984-85)

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3.Spain, the country which has me got Free

Till I got to Spain, The U.S.A. had been the country which atrracted me the best.( Please refer to the page "Hamradio and I" ) The U.S.A. is a country of justice, where the strong rights will be given to those who has discharged their duties and responsibilities. In this sence, the U.S.A. is a very reasonable country. However, that is also true, that sometimes I felt uncomfortable even though I was admiring it, because I always had to bring the "textbook" with me in my mind to keep my behavier correct.

My first impressions in Spain were as follows;

+ Dirty. ( In many bars and coffeestands, I had to sweep out the garbages on the floor with my foot to get may place to stand in at the counter.)
+ They don't keep promisses strictly. They are not punctual on time.
+ They don't work seriously.
+ The don't control their emotions well, and sometimes act as little children.

In general, the impressions were negatives. People there always saying to me that the Japanese people works seriously, and they are very intelligent peoples. At that time, I had a sort of conscious of our superiority to them.

A half year later, when I got abled to speak Spanish well, oneday I was asking to my Spanish friends wether if they were interested in going to Japan and living in Japan. I was expecting positive answers, but they said ,"Oh, NO! I can't understand Japanese people. I don't understand for what they are living!" That was a big surprise for me. I felt as if I was hit strongly back of the head with a big hammer.

Till that time, I had been believing that they were respecting Japanese people. But the truth was that they are holding Japanese people cheap, as japanese people doesn't know how to live their life. It was since that moment, in which I begun to understand Spain, and begun to love its country and people there from deep in my mind, changing my negative assessment on them for 180 degrees.

People there lives putting a big importance on their emotions. That's true that people is not an existance which can live very logically, measuring everything with "textbook". A people is a people just because he contains some contradicion. When I recognized it in them, I found myself got free from the feeling uncomfortable I felt in the U.S.A., and the concept of values in Japanese traditions.

Living in Spain, I can feel the time passing by. At night ,when I get to my bed, reminding what has happened to me in that day, I got a lot of memories, as much as for one week of which I could get if I were in Japan. Each moment and each day has a lot of contents and is long. In Japan, working in a company, it's very common to say"Oh, A week passed already!". It appears to me that living in this way is the same as dash and run his own unique life closing his eyes at the maximum speed.

I just wanted to show Spain as well as what I have learned there to other people. Thus, I got reached to make this page.


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