Abstract

This book is a collection of essays describing the experiences of Japanese university students who studied abroad from December 2019 to the end of March 2020, when the new pandemic began.
The book consists of three parts. Part 1 is a collection of essays written by Japanese students who studied abroad and encountered the COVID-19 pandemic. Part 2 records a roundtable discussion moderated by some cultural anthropologists to take stock of their experiences. Part 3 is a collection of essays written by cultural anthropologists from the perspective of those involved in study abroad and university fieldwork.
This book explains the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic from October 2019 to March 2020 in Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Sweden, Mongolia, Fiji, Bangladesh, the USA, Cuba, Malaysia, and Kenya from the perspective of Japanese students.
This book vividly records the thoughts and actions of international students in an unprecedented crisis amid feelings of confusion, fear, hesitation, sadness, and anger. Because the stories are based on actual experiences, they are not intended to "prevent" the risks of accidents, crimes, conflicts/terrorism, disasters, etc., that may occur during study abroad. Instead, the purpose of this book is to compare the process by which students study abroad. University faculty and staff who support study abroad thought and acted in search of safety when a new disease, the novel coronavirus infection, spread and became more severe by the minute. People worldwide had only a vague idea of what was happening and how. The purpose of this book is to compare the process by which students and the university faculty and staff who supported them thought and acted in search of safety at a time when they had only a vague idea of what was happening to people around the world.
It is important to note that during the period from October 2019 to March 2020, none of the universities, the public institutions that funded their scholarships, their host universities and organizations, their host families and friends, or their Japanese parents and friends had an official, shared view of the nature and impact of the new virus. In other words, students studying abroad at that time had very few institutions or information they could confidently rely. Therefore, in the various countries where they were, students had to first ensure their safety in their current location based on the knowledge they had, the contacts they could rely on, and their quick thinking and judgment, and then communicate with various organizations and individuals to decide whether to interrupt or continue their study abroad program. This book aims to evaluate and learn from the students' trial-and-error process of staying safe while studying abroad in the face of shaky information and systems they have been able to rely on in the past.

Author’s Information

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