Mr. Kurogawa Akio who is planning new life at Yeungnam University after retiring as an elementary school teacher for 35 years
[2011-1-19]
Mr. Kurogawa Akio (62, Photo)who never left Okayama, Japan throughout the sixty years of his life. He is now planning a new life at the Korean Language Institute of Yeungnam university. It is for planning a new life as a Korean language teacher who teaches Korean to Japanese people.
The time when he started getting interested in Korea was after watching 'Winter Sonata' about 10 years ago. "I could recollect my high school years from the looks of characters appearing in their uniforms. Japanese dramas are only rampaging with sex and violence. They do not have the attraction of impressing people emotionally like Korean dramas. That's the reason why the Korean wave started spreading based on elderly group of people in Japan since ten years ago.
His interest toward Korea naturally led to studying Korean. But he had no choice but to be satisfied only with self-studying Korean through NHK as he was working as an elementary school teacher. Then in March of last year, he decided to start studying Korean on a full scale after retiring from his life as a teacher for 35 years.
Despite the concern of his family, he carried out his first oversea study in July of last year. By participating in 'Chunma International Summer School' that Yeungnam University prepared for foreigners, he studied together with people of various nationalities for the first time in his life and also experienced Korean traditional culture such as Korean traditional pottery, natural dying or tea ceremony, etc.
"My family was worried and dissuaded me at first when I told them I would study abroad at an age of over sixty. But they couldn't make me turn against my decision. I would have to live for several more decades from now and my family in fact understood my mind that I cannot be wasting my life as an old man who is good for nothing."
But he who was not satisfied only with learning Korean for one month took a decisive action to study in Korea again in December 24th of last year. And he is in the process of 'studying hard' without caring about the cold wave by registering the short-term special lecture course of Korean language which the Korean Language Institute of Yeungnam University established until January 28th.
"In Japan, the second Korean wave is spreading now. It is far greater than what they think of in Korea. It won't cool down easily either. If the Korean wave of 1st generation started spreading through Korean drama was something to just vaguely yearn about Korea based on elderly group of people, the 2nd generation Korean wave of idols such as Girls' Generation, Kara, TVXQ and BigBang, etc moving the hearts of teens and twenties in Japan is rising now. They are not passive. They want to sing along Korean songs by themselves and want to assimilate with Korea. In the charity event of Korean entertainers held in Tokyo Dome at the end of last year there was no place to set our foot on. And The demand toward learning Korean language is increasing. This is the reason why I got to have the wish to become a teacher of Korean language."
His facial expression holding the elevated dream in planning the second life despite the hardship of living alone in a one-room apartment at an age of over sixty is bright like a boy.
He who say that he was very surprised by the spacious campus scale and number of countless foreign students when he came to Yeungnam University for the first time said that "It seems Korea has far greater global potentials than Japan. I think it is a matter of time for Korea to become the center of Asian culture community if Japanese or Southeast Asian people appear in Korean dramas" and gave a bright smile by saying that "Although Korean letters are easy to learn because it's scientific, the Korean language is still difficult because there are many usage. Although studying abroad for a long time would be difficult due to my circumstances, I'll diligently learn Korean by registering a short-term special lecture course held during every vacation until I become fluent in Korean. I'm also thinking about challenging in the Korean language teacher qualification program. Wouldn't I be teaching Korean in Japan about five years later?".
