Column series begins! Former TV TOKYO announcer Miyu Iketani reveals “Why I went to China as a newlywed.

Miyu Iketani, 28, is a former announcer who left TV Tokyo at the end of September. This fall, she went to China to make a new start as a graduate student. Every other week, she will report on her life as a foreign student in China. We will bring you her report in a series of articles.

Hello everyone.’ My name is Miyu Iketani, and I joined TV Tokyo in April 2007 and left the company this September after five and a half years with the company.

I recently reported on SNS that I am living abroad as a graduate student. This fall, I entered a university in Tianjin, China, where I am studying translation, interpretation, and simultaneous interpretation methods as well as practical research. I have a mountain of homework every week and am having a hard time in an unfamiliar environment, but I am managing to do my best with a lot of help from my Chinese classmates.

I am very fortunate that FRIDAY Digital is going to start a series of articles on me. I will be sharing a lot about my life as a foreign student in China, so please look forward to it.

Why China?　Why now?

In this first installment, I would like to talk about the background of why I decided to go to graduate school in China, which I am sure you are interested in.

The kicker is that I went to China when I was a university student to write my thesis. Until then, I had seen many negative news reports about China and did not have a good image of the country, but the Chinese people were very kind to me as I spoke in broken Chinese. I still remember being moved by the warmth of the people and thinking, “Someday I would like to use the language of this country to interact with the people of this country.

I decided to study Chinese in earnest, but I had my hands full preparing for my new job at TV Tokyo, which I was to join in six months. After joining the company, I was so occupied with my life of working during the day and going out for drinks with business associates at night that time passed by very quickly.

My classmates are Kasumi Mori, who graduated from TV TOKYO last March, and Hitomi Tanaka, who is still working hard at TV TOKYO. The two of them have been at a glance since I was job hunting, and they seemed to have a sparkling aura that was different from mine. Even though we were undergoing training together, compared to the two of them, my transcript clearly had fewer double circles. I felt an overwhelming difference. I was impatient to be the one who would be chosen when compared to them, but gradually I began to think, “These are the people who will become professional announcers,” and I no longer even felt impatient.

Then, Hiroki Takahashi, a former TV TOKYO producer, approached me. He told me, “If you pursue the things you love and multiply them, you may be able to become the one and only.

Hearing those words, I saw hope that instead of waiting to be chosen to match someone else’s likes, it might be better for me to refine what I like until I can make it my strength. If I could accomplish something new, it would be a cane to support me when I felt like falling down in frustration. With this in mind, I began to study Chinese in earnest, using the time I had available at COVID-19 crisis.

I set my goal as passing HSK Level 6 (HSK 6 is a Chinese language proficiency test, with levels 1 to 6, and the highest level, Level 6, is for those who have mastered more than 5,000 words in common use), and from there, I studied hard every day. I get up early in the morning and solve past HSK questions before work. During lunch break, I listen to a listening CD while eating. When I get home, I review the past exam questions I solved in the morning. Every day, I could feel the motor in my head revving at full speed.

Looking back on those days, I sometimes ask myself why I was able to work so hard. The answer lies in my childhood experience.

I was not a “normal kid. I walked the neighbor’s dog without permission, let the kindergarten bird go free,…… and when I lost the key to my house, I climbed the wall and broke in through the upstairs window. He has always acted out of character and has always annoyed his parents.

I always got angry at them for some reason even though I didn’t mean to offend them. Because I was frustrated by this, I decided to always make my own goals and do my best for my lessons, school events, and studying for entrance exams. I was praised only for that attitude. Even now, that memory from my childhood is probably my driving force.

After becoming an announcer,

I was told, “You should behave in a more announcer-like manner that would help the presenter stand out.

You should work on it with a heart that will make everyone around you fall in love with you.

I was once advised to “act more like a female TV announcer,” and to “work with a mindset that will make everyone around you fall in love with you.

Is that really the right thing to do? When you think about it, no matter how much others may say so, once you actually take action, only you can take responsibility for it. I always want to decide my own actions based on how I feel and what I want to do. And when I make a decision, I want to do my absolute best to finish it.

In my mind, there is a lot of value in “deciding for myself. I think that is why I had the courage to dive into a new world overseas.

If you want to study abroad, it’s now or never!

It was around the time I obtained HSK Level 5, one step away from achieving my goal, that I began to think about studying abroad. It had been two years since I began studying in earnest. However, I also felt a dilemma: I could read and write well, but I could not speak well at all. I naturally began to think that studying abroad was the only way to improve my conversation skills.

Above all, I wanted to feel again the excitement I felt when I came to Tokyo from Shizuoka as a university student, as if my world had expanded and I could become anything I wanted to be. I have reached the age of Alaska and got married in March of this year. Once I have children, it will no longer be realistic for me to go study abroad on my own. I was surprised to be separated as a newlywed, but I felt that if I missed out now, I would never be able to go. When I came to realize it, my intention to study abroad was firm.

If I was going to go, it was now or never. I immediately proceeded with the application procedures and was accepted into the graduate school.

In China, I will do my best not to go bald (I went bald once due to stress ……) and increase my cane in life.