Uruma-native Mariko builds bridges to Okinawa in her foreign cultures class at Korean high school June 13, 2021 Ryukyu Shimpo

Uruma-native Mariko builds bridges to Okinawa in her foreign cultures class at Korean high school June 13, 2021 Ryukyu Shimpo

Mariko Yokota (first row, second from the right) and her students making the heart hand sign


By Minami Asato Tamamoto

 

At Pyeongtaek Mechanical and Technical High School, located in Pyeongtaek, around a 90-minute drive from Seoul, Korea, Uruma-native Mariko Yokota, 33, teaches students about Okinawan history and culture in her foreign cultures class. Yokota had been a teacher for a number of years. She worked at Kadena Air Base previously, but has been in Korea since 2017 when her husband, who is in the U.S. military, was transferred there. She is also the mother of two children.

The school she teaches at in Korea has many students who go right into working at companies like Samsung instead of continuing on to university. Yokota has gathered a group of students who want to learn Japanese, and is in charge of a Japanese Cultural Experience Club, which comprises six 50-minutes lectures.

Each lecture has a theme such as “Korean lifestyle” and “Okinawa history and culture.” In the lecture held April 21, the class focused on the history of exchange and similarities between Okinawa and Korea.

Yokota explains, “Okinawa has the history and culture of champuru (a dish that is seen as a mixture of many cultures), and as a diverse, multicultural island, it can communicate to the world messages of peace and that ‘life is a treasure.’ She touched on the complicated issues that exist between Japan and Korea, telling her students, “I want us to work together to become peace makers.”

The students expressed their surprise with comments like, “I didn’t know about and island like Okinawa,” and “I didn’t think Korea and Okinawa would have so many similarities.” Yokota said of the issues between Japan and Korea, “Working to encourage everyday people to learn to understand one another like this creates ties from person to person. As someone born in the cultural mix and life-valuing Okinawa, my life work might be building bridges across different cultures, such as using Okinawa as a window to strengthening the bond with Korea. Harmonizing between societies and people with differing backgrounds leads to more peaceful world.”

 

(English translation by T&CT and Sam Grieb)

 

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