October 7, 2024
A Japanese Student’s Love Letter to the RGV
Story by Melissa Cortes Santiago
Edited by Abigail Vela
We often hear the phrase, “aqui en el Valle no hay nada,” [there’s nothing here in the Valley] or some iteration of it. Maybe you’ve even said the phrase yourself. For many of us, this idea has been taught and passed down for generations through family members, friends and even educators. The notion of “you have to leave the Valley to get anywhere in life” hurts and damages our community.
Although there are and have always been people actively working to dismantle this notion, it can sometimes still be shocking when we encounter people from vastly different parts of the world living in the Rio Grande Valley. This might be because it directly contradicts the narrative many of us grew up with.
This was certainly the experience of Mina, a Japanese national who came to study in the Valley. Her decision to study and live in the RGV was almost always met with huge disbelief and shock by Valley natives, which is a striking contrast with Mina’s perception of our community. Her story is one of personal growth and overcoming challenges, ultimately leading to a deep and unique love for the RGV and those who live here.
From Tokyo to South Texas
Going to college and moving to a new town where you don’t know anyone can be difficult. Now imagine that instead of being a four or five-hour drive from your hometown, you are a 14-hour flight away from your entire family!
“I decided to leave Japan and […]go to school in the US because I wanted to improve my English level by putting myself in an environment where I needed to use English all day, like 24 hours,” said Mina. “At the same time, I wanted to be more independent.”
Mina grew up in Tokyo and had previously lived in Florida with a host family, but she wanted to continue immersing herself in American culture. So, she began looking for community colleges throughout the U.S. that she might be able to attend. In her search, none of the colleges truly piqued her interest until she came across STC’s international students page.
“When I found the website, it was super interesting. I realized people here have two cultures– Mexican culture and American culture.”
Many people might fall for the harmful and false narratives about border towns and not give themselves a chance to experience the beauty, cultural diversity and richness of our community. But Mina’s curiosity about what living in a binational community was like was enough to convince her to move to the RGV. After completing a mountain of paperwork and going through the long and bureaucratic process of getting a Visa, she enrolled at STC for the Fall 2019 semester.
“When I actually left Japan, at the airport I cried. I was so scared to say goodbye to my family, grandparents and friends because if something happened to them, I didn’t know whether I could come back. It’s felt more realistic.”
Building a Home Away from Home
Finally, arriving in Texas was a cultural shock for Mina. She had to familiarize herself with TexMex culture, something she didn’t experience during her time in Florida. In Japan, not much emphasis is put on ethnicity. It is a homogenous society, with over 90% of the population being Japanese. Mina remarked that it wasn’t until she arrived at the RGV that she recognized herself as being Asian and a minority. There were many other cultural differences she had to get used to.
“I had a huge language gap, more than right now, and I didn’t know what was popular here, what kind of things people here liked, or what they do at school,” she said. “So it took a while to find my comfortable zone.”
Studying at STC and later UTRGV also posed unique challenges. The international student population at STC is very small. UTRGV has a bigger international student population but is still relatively small, with 780. In comparison, New York University, one of the larger universities in the country, has over 24,000 international students. Finding people who had similar experiences of obtaining Visas and going through the immigration system was very difficult to do in the Rio Grande Valley.
Normally, these cultural barriers pose a huge challenge when making friends or trying to form genuine connections. Although Mina did struggle at first, she was able to find a couple of people she really connected with, something she attributes to the friendliness and openness of Valley natives.
“That was one of my biggest culture shocks. People didn’t know who I was and they weren’t asking me for anything. They were just focused on showing me love, accepting me and welcoming me with a big heart,” said Mina. “That’s not easy to find in Japan or in general, so that’s one of the things that I like about the Rio Grande Valley.”
From the moment she arrived, she felt people had her back. When her luggage was missing for a couple of hours at the airport, she met a stranger who supported her and even introduced Mina to her daughters, who would later become some of her best friends. During the peak of COVID-19, when there was a shortage of eggs, a woman at the grocery store noticed Mina was not able to get a carton of eggs, so she gave her the one in her cart. Mina has many more stories like these—random acts of kindness from strangers who didn’t think twice about helping her when she most needed it.
“Japanese people always show appreciation. We often say thank you in our daily lives. But the meaning of thank you was different, more genuine, when I said thank you to the people who helped me during that time,” she said.
Future in the RGV
Through trials and tribulations, Mina persevered and eventually graduated from both STC and UTRGV. As she likes to put it, she was “able to make a life in the Valley.” What kept her going through this was the friends and connections she made along the way. Although it seemed a little impossible at the beginning of her journey, she was able to make long-lasting friendships that will probably last the rest of her life.
“If I think about each and every one of my friends here, I could cry. I really love each and every one of my friends in the valley. They’re so special to me. They taught me how to be brave, how to believe in myself, how to rely on others and how to accept myself for my weaknesses and strengths,” Mina said.
These connections encouraged Mina to continue her journey here in the Valley. She has even started an Instagram account, trying to educate other Japanese people on the beauty of the RGV. She hopes that she can help rewrite the narrative of the RGV so that one day, people will no longer say that there is nothing here.
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