Baku State University
SAKASHITA Taichi

The Way the Azerbaijani View the Japanese

“Where do you come from? Japan? Oh, the land of technology, yes?”
Many Japanese people have likely had this conversation with a cab driver overseas. Many people in Azerbaijan also think of cars and electrical appliances when they hear you are from Japan. Japanese cuisine is also popular with younger people here. Sushi rolls are particularly popular, and many restaurants in the capital city of Baku serve them. These things tell me that Japanese culture is spreading in Azerbaijan and becoming more familiar to the Azerbaijanis. However, not many Azerbaijanis have ever spoken to a Japanese person directly, due to the small number of Japanese residents in the country. While the number of people vacationing overseas has risen in recent years, their destination are primarily neighboring countries such as Turkey and Georgia, and European countries, and few have visited Japan even though they might be interested.

Sushi rolls are popular in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijanis Studying in Japan

Due to the economic situation in Azerbaijan, few students are able to study abroad at their own expense, and the majority of exchange students either receive a scholarship to study abroad or have had the tuition exempted due to agreements with other universities. Furthermore, Japanese-language education has not adequately spread to the secondary educational institutions in Azerbaijan, so most students who study Japanese starting to do so after entering university. This means that it is very difficult to acquire the necessary Japanese language abilities and also receive a scholarship to study in Japan while they are still at university. The Azerbaijanis also commonly see Japan as a place where the cost of living is too high for them, as a result of which there was a period of several years when no students participated in exchange programs.

Two Students who Applied to an Exchange Program

Then, in January 2018, two male students applied to participate in an exchange program. While they could not be described as the most talented of their peers, I was impressed by their passion, so I debated with the other teachers and approved their participation in the exchange program under two conditions: that they take extracurricular classes for the remaining six months, and that they achieve the required level of Japanese-language ability as designated by the receiving university. Six months later, the two students, having achieved both conditions, traveled to the partner university to study there for a year.

Life in Japan through the Eyes of Azerbaijanis

I gave the two students a task before they left. I told them to use the social media they had accounts on to post as much information as they could about their life in Japan, hoping that it would serve as a positive stimulus given the lack of other students interested in studying in Japan for the past several years.

Accordingly, they posted about their daily life as exchange students to Instagram and Facebook on a daily basis, showing that they were having a great time. Interestingly, thing that would be entirely unremarkable in the eyes of a Japanese person were seen as completely new to them, such as Japanese roads, parking lots, and shopping malls. Accordingly, the two were better able to communicate the appeals of Japanese culture from the perspective of Azerbaijanis than we Japanese would be able to. And just as I had hoped, the Azerbaijani students who read their posts began to imagine what it would be like to live in Japan, gradually becoming attracted to studying in Japan. Meanwhile, the parents of students in Azerbaijan were reassured by seeing other Azerbaijani students studying there, becoming to think about studying in Japan positively.

The two boys returned to Azerbaijan in September 2019, and I have been arranging opportunities for them to participate in Japanese speech contests and to share their experiences of Japanese culture with their peers. It seems that the other students can empathize with the reports from other Azerbaijanis who have studied abroad, giving them a greater sense of familiarity with Japan.

A student participating in the exchange program.

The Influence of the Two Exchange Students

Due in part to the influence of the two students, several more students applied for the exchange program the following year in 2019, including three from Baku State University and two more from the Azerbaijan University of Languages, and are currently studying in Japan. Furthermore, the number of students taking the test for Japanese Language and Culture Research Students, which many typically avoided due to its difficulty, began to rise, with three students receiving scholarships in 2019 to study in Japan.

Also in 2019, the Japan Azerbaijan Alumni Association (JAAA) was founded. The purpose of the association is said to promote exchange between former exchange students and increase the opportunities for them to make use of their experience. I look forward with some excitement as to how these students who understand the value of studying in Japan will apply their experiences to the benefit of Azerbaijani society.