January 3, 2008

Bluffton grad Jenni Pastore turns language education into a lifetime work in Japan

FAMILY PHOTO — Bluffton’s “Japanese ambassador” Jenni Pastore, stands beside the photo of her grandfather, Jim Barbieri, in the News-Banner office. Pastore returned to Japan earlier this week to resume her work as an English language teacher in Kofu, where she is turning the passion for the Japanese language that she initially picked up in the Bluffton school system into a life journey. (Photo by Frank Shanly).

Jenni Pastore may have been born and bred in Bluffton, but the education she received here has quite literally opened up a whole world of opportunity for her.

A 2001 graduate of Bluffton High School, Pastore actually began studying Japanese at Bluffton Middle School, with teacher Linda Worman, who offered the “Magnet Program” to her students.

“I really took a shine for it when I was young,” recalled Pastore. “I enjoyed learning new vocabulary. I think that since I have lived in Japan, its really taken off, but I did get a really good foundation at school, and I am very grateful for that.”

Pastore, who spent the holidays with family members in Bluffton, readily admits Japanese is a difficult language to learn, and one that literally takes a lifetime to master. As well as having to learn two phonetic-based alphabets (katakana and hiragana) there is a seemingly endless stream of kanji (Chinese) characters that must be memorized.

“When I got out of high school,” remembered Pastore, “I could handle general conversation, we knew the basic alphabets, and I knew a little bit of kanji.”

On graduation from Bluffton, Pastore headed to Earlham College in Richmond for four more years of Japanese studies, graduating in 2005. From there, it was one very big step into the world outside of Indiana.

“I had applied to a few English (language) schools and was hired by a private company that teaches adults and children,” explained Pastore. “It was originally called Nova Corporation, but last October, it went bankrupt and was bought by another company, G. Communications.

“It is a language school. Teaching English is a huge industry, as there are people learning it for all sorts of reasons, jobs, travel, a hobby, or even parents trying to get their kids an edge at school, and so on. For quite a while, it was about a 60-40 mix of adults and kids,” Pastore noted.

Pastore’s first job took her to the Japanese city of Kofu, which is about 90 minutes west of Tokyo by train. The capital of Yamanashi Prefecture, it is located in a very mountainous area, but aside from that, there were many similarities to Indiana.

There are a lot of similarities, between Kofu and Indiana.” noted Pastore. “Agriculture, some big industry, size, pace of life and temperature.

“It’s a very rural area. Kofu City itself is perhaps about the same size as Fort Wayne. But the outlying areas have a lot of natural scenery. Lots of mountains and rice fields. Mount Fuji is very close by and you can climb there. The Fuji Five Lakes surround the area and attract a lot of tourists and it’s a nice place to go for a stroll. And its a good area for fruit, especially grapes and peaches, and has a few wineries,” Pastore added.

The area also has a lot of history, being the “home base” of the Takeda clan, which rose to prominence during the Sengoku Jidai (Civil War) period which lasted from approximately 1467 to 1615, and co-incided with the arrival of the Europeans.

Japan in general, also is a very safe country, with relatively little crime. So adjusting to the new environment was not such a major task.

“There was some adjustment,” recalled Pastore. “I had a good handle on the language, so it was just a matter of orienting myself, and figuring out which train lines to take, and finding my way around a new town. But the people are very friendly and helpful, and I’ve never really felt uncomfortable there.”

One big difference is the availability of public transport in Japan. The train service is regular, and buses and taxis are also readily available.

“I love the train system,” enthused Pastore. “It’s one of my favorite things there. Most people still have a car, but for my own purposes I don’t need one.”

Pastore found plenty of work to do in her new job.

“There is a lot of technology and engineering firms in Kofu, and they often move people overseas, so they need to learn English,” she noted. “Also, there are a lot of housewives, just looking for something extra to do during the afternoon. I’m also able to do some extra translation work, and I’d really like to develop that for the future.”

When she first moved to Kofu, Pastore lived in a company apartment with other employees. But after about a year, she moved into her own place.

Which brought up Japan’s other main method of transport.

“It (the apartment) is about 15 minutes (to work) by bicycle. Lots of people use bicycles, and all around the railway station are signs saying ‘Do not park your bicycle here.’”

Unlike in many western countries, where you would have to padlock your bicycle if you left it somewhere, in Japan you don’t. It is very rare for bicycles to be stolen from the racks at the stations.

“If they do steal them, its only for a short joyride and then they bring it back,” laughed Pastore.

While Pastore still intends to return home some day, she hopes to continue her Japanese experiences for some time yet.

“My contract is renewed on an annual basis,” explained Pastore. “I don’t know if I want to live there permanently but I certainly want to stay there for a few years yet and make more improvements in my Japanese.”

I was really lucky to get that start at Bluffton with Linda Worman’s program. I’ve heard that they recently canceled it, which is a shame. It was a huge draw for me and hopefully in the future they can start something like it up again.

“For me it has become something of a ‘life path,’” Pastore said.

frank@news-banner.com

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