Case Study: International Student Mao Kinoshita

An education in Australia can be an education in life, as Japanese student Mao Kinoshita has found out.

Mao Kinoshita’s face breaks into a huge smile as she waves to another passing friend. She has been waving a lot this morning.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” she says, as she tucks a wayward lock of lightened hair behind her ear.

In one week she will graduate from three years of study at Sydney’s International College of Tourism & Hotel Management (ICTHM), with a Bachelor of Business in Hospitality Management.

She will accept her degree (her final year paid through a TourAust scholarship) wearing her mother’s kimono in front of her boyfriend Louis, her parents, grandparents, and a host of friends. Many of these friends she may never see again – in another two weeks, Mao returns home to Ikeda, Osaka, with her family. It’s an emotional time for the 22-year-old Japanese student.

“It’s just not enough time!” she says. “There are so many things I want to do before I leave. I’m really going to miss this, all of it.”

Discovering Australia

Mao’s first taste of Australia was at the age of 16, when her family visited Ikeda’s Australian ‘sister city’ – Launceston in Tasmania.

“We just loved Australia,” she says, “and came back every year for holidays.”

Then, after finishing high school in Japan, Mao convinced her parents to let her study English in Sydney.

“So I was at a college in the city [Sydney], and I saw a big poster [for ICTHM]. When I saw that picture I wanted to go there so much.”

She applied successfully, but it was not all easy going. Indeed, receiving her degree is a particular achievement for Mao, given that she quit the course after her first month at the college, and went home.

“It was really a stressful time for me, and one day I just said I can’t stay any more. I bought my ticket home the next day.”

But even at a distance, Australia’s allure soon overcame her fears. Back home she found she missed Sydney, and within two months her college friends had convinced her to come back to her studies.

No looking back

Upon returning Mao threw herself back into her studies and Australia’s enviable lifestyle.

“I love Sydney’s multicultural feel,” she says. “Everything was so good when I came back. I’d wake up to the sun shining, look out my window and see the beautiful beach – sometimes birds would visit my window. I really appreciated it this time.”

Mao became the secretary of the Student Body, and started dating her now boyfriend of three years. Outside class or studying, Mao and her friends could be found swimming, sunbathing and body-boarding at the beach, shopping and exploring the city, or organising one of the frequent student parties at the college.

A period of industry training offered another adventure. As the Japanese guest liaison at the front desk of a major Queensland hotel, Mao gained valuable experience and insight into her chosen career path.

Then there was the TourAust scholarship for her third year.

“The scholarship was the big thing for me; I really wanted a scholarship. I wanted to prove it to myself and my parents.”

And prove herself she did.

“When they were announcing it [the winner of the scholarship], they started by just describing the person, and I thought – ‘that could be me’. When they announced my name I started crying, I was so happy.”

Sayonara Sydney

As she prepares for her return to Japan, Mao remembers that when she first arrived in Australia, Japanese television was the thing she missed most about home, besides her family. But as her English improved, she became hooked on the reality television of her adopted home.

“Now I love Australian television,” she says. “I watch Australian Idol and Big Brother every night.”

But the loss of Australian television is the least of her worries. Her things-to-miss list has now expanded to include everything from the fresh sea breeze, Sydney’s great selection of food, the Manly Ferry that sails across Sydney’s beautiful harbour, all her international friendships, and her boyfriend.

“I’ve made so many great friends here, it’s going to be so hard to say goodbye,” she says. “I may not be able to stay long in Japan!”