Inside the World of JICA Students (Part ⑨)

At JICA Tokyo, we regularly feature JICA Students. We will be sharing a series of interview articles by the JICA Niigata Desk’s International Cooperation Coordinator with students from a developing country.

Inteviewer: OYAMA Tatsuya (JICA Niigata desk)

This time, we interviewed Ms. Punnasa, a student from Thailand currently studying at Meiji University. In her home country, she has experience working as a policy analyst at the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society and is conducting research on developing cybersecurity curricula for upper secondary schools in Thailand. Despite being in a completely different environment and culture in Japan, she is leading a busy yet fulfilling student life.

Punnasa has been passionate about foreign languages, especially English, since childhood. During high school, she studied in New Zealand, an experience that strengthened her desire to learn more overseas. After visiting Japan three times, she was deeply impressed by its lifestyle and culture, which inspired her to set a goal of studying in Japan. Around that time, she discovered that JICA’s programs aligned with her professional work, and decided to pursue her long-held dream of studying in Japan to learn from its extensive expertise.

However, starting life in Japan came with some challenges. The language barrier was significant, and Arranging housing took some effort, but was resolved smoothly with support. Thanks to the dedicated support of JICA staff, she was able to establish a stable life.
Now, she can read and write hiragana and even understand basic kanji. She finds life in Japan truly fascinating—the courtesy, respect for rules, and consideration for others are qualities rarely experienced elsewhere. Punnasa strongly recommends Japan as one of the best destinations for international study.

JICA Tokyo regularly organizes programs that allow participants to experience Japanese culture. Punnasa enjoyed a tour of Kamakura and tried skiing for the first time in Nagano. Looking ahead, she hopes to actively explore traditional cultural experiences such as kabuki and sumo to deepen her understanding of Japan even further.

After graduation, Punnasa plans to return to Thailand and continue working in the same position. She expressed her intention to actively share the knowledge and experiences gained in Japan with her colleagues and make the most of her study abroad experience. Digital policy is in high demand worldwide, influencing a wide range of areas such as infrastructure development, human resource management, and cybersecurity. Punnasa is strongly committed to promoting joint projects between Japan and Thailand in digital policy development in the near future.

It was a truly enjoyable experience to speak with Punnasa and feel her respect and interest in Japanese culture. Listening to her, I was struck by Thailand’s remarkable economic growth and the rapid development of its digital sector, which suggests that collaboration with Japan will continue to expand in the future.
As someone from Hokkaido, I am very familiar with snow every year, but hearing her excitement gave me a fresh perspective.I feel I can welcome this winter with a different mindset.
Engaging in conversations and exchanges with people from diverse countries is a valuable opportunity to broaden one’s horizons and encounter new perspectives, and this interview was a perfect example of that.