Life in arguably the biggest city in the world, is bound to be different than here in Wellington. Noah Miura is an exchange student from Tokyo. He has been all over the world, and now he has come to New Zealand. He’s a student here at Wellington High School for eight months, and is experiencing our Wellington lifestyle from a different perspective.
The population of the metropolitan area of Tokyo is about 37 million people, it has more people than 136 countries around the world. This is gigantic compared to the metro population of Wellington which is just 400,000. I don’t know how I would feel about leaving my city to go to the other side of the world by myself. This is Noah’s life. Bouncing between cities around the world and experiencing the different cultures and what they have to offer.
Wellington isn’t the first place outside of Tokyo where Noah has gone to school.
Noah’s dad is from South Africa, and in 2013 Noah visited Africa and went to school in Uganda for nearly a year. Going to school in Japan, Uganda and New Zealand have been three completely different experiences. Living in Uganda he needed to be able to handle the circumstances of being in an undeveloped country. Noah has experienced the best and worst of different countries, cold showers in Uganda for nearly a year would be something none of us would want to do.
I met Noah in class, and at first I didn’t talk to him very much. As I talked to him more, I learnt about his experiences in multiple different countries each with a unique culture. It was very interesting to hear what his life was like back in Japan, and how different our two schooling systems are. I wanted to find out more about how he feels about New Zealand, and ask him what he does/doesn’t like, and what surprised him about our country and Wellington High School.
Is there anything you’re not used to here at Wellington High School?
Yes, the use of cellphones here is crazy and almost the opposite to Japan. It’s so strict we aren’t even allowed them at lunch time. They have to stay with the teacher for the whole day.
What’s the most different thing about Kiwis compared to the Japanese?
Kiwi people aren’t so stressed. I don’t see many people here get angry. I feel that Kiwis are very optimistic, whereas Japanese tend to think negatively and get stressed out about their jobs. I see stress almost everywhere in Tokyo. I can’t really explain it, but I get a way more relaxed vibe in Wellington than when in Tokyo
What’s your favorite thing about New Zealand?
The food! I love kumara and fish and chips. Hokey pokey ice cream is also one of my favourites. But the best thing about New Zealand is the diversity. I was very surprised to see how New Zealand embraces the Maori culture. In Japan, the indigenous people, called Ainu, are discriminated against badly. They weren’t even officially recognised as the indigenous race until 2008. Seeing a TV channel here called The Maori Channel, and the use of the Maori language as well as English, is just not something I would see back in Japan.
Japan is made up of 98.5% of people who are ethnic Japanese. This is a huge percentage compared to the ethnic groups which make up New Zealand’s population. According to the 2013 New Zealand census, NZ Europeans make up just over 70% of the population, which is a lot lower than the Japanese population in Japan. There are 600,000 Maori in a country of 4.5 million. The population of the Ainu people is unknown, however, it is estimated to be between 20,000-200,000 which in a country of 130 million, is not a lot at all.
Noah said that when he leaves New Zealand he is going to visit the Philippines and Singapore to “look around” before returning to his home in Tokyo.
By Nico Henneveld
Images attached to this article
