Japan-Palau Alumni Series: Vol.27- Mr. Esilong Ngiraiwet

Mr. Esilong Ngiraiwet, 30 years old, is an alumnus of the Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarship’s Specialized Training Program. He is the proud son of Mr. Alson Ngiraiwet and Ms. Matski Taro from Ngardmau State. Mr. Ngiraiwet is blessed with two sisters.

He attended Ngardmau Elementary school and Palau High School. After graduating from high school he went to study in Japan under the Specialized Training Program to pursue his studies in Business. He learned Japanese language at Bunka Institute of Language from April 2014 for one year and then he went on to study Business at Tokyo School of Business for two years. He graduated with a Diploma in Business in March 2017.

During his senior year in high school, he was also selected to participate in the JENESYS Kizuna program to Japan, where his teacher, Ms. Yuri Kishigawa, informed him of the Japan Government scholarship program. Mr. Ngiraiwet eagerly applied for the MEXT scholarship, partly due to his experience during the program and also partly due to his Japanese ancestry. Mr. Ngiraiwet’s great-grandfather was Japanese, and because of this connection, he had always had a vested interest in Japan.

He told his story about when he first arrived in Japan for his studies. Due to some miscommunication, Mr. Ngiraiwet was unable to find the person who was supposed to meet him at the airport. He managed to get a bus ticket to Shinjuku Station, found a police box, and asked for directions to the Palau Embassy in Tokyo. The policemen helped him contact a taxi which then brought him to the Palau Embassy. This experience gave Mr. Ngiraiwet the courage and confidence to explore the country and make the best out of his time there.
 
When asked about what kept him going throughout his years in Japan, he said, “perseverance and determination.” Mr. Ngiraiwet studied hard, was never absent from class, and was only late to school once, and even then he had a good reason. He told us that he was only homesick during the first few days after arriving, because after that Mr. Ngiraiwet was so busy with school and transitioning into his new life that he didn’t have time to feel homesick. During the three years he studied in Japan, he was able to visit Palau during school breaks . He mentioned feeling homesick when he would return but quickly that feeling would go away once he would become busy with school life again.
 
After graduating in 2017, Mr. Ngiraiwet returned to Palau and enrolled at Palau Community College while seeking an opportunity to continue his studies in Japan. In September 2018, that opportunity arrived when he was accepted into an exchange program between the University of the Ryukyus and Palau Community College. He completed a one-year refresher course in Japanese before taking the university entrance exam, which he passed, gaining admission to the University of the Ryukyus' Global and Regional Studies Faculty in Okinawa as a third-year student majoring in Business Administration with a focus on Tourism Marketing. During his time at the university, he was guided by a professor familiar with Palau, whose support proved invaluable. Mr. Ngiraiwet successfully graduated in March 2022 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
 
A few months before graduating, Mr. Ngiraiwet secured a position with a Japanese company called Clean Technology Corporation in Osaka. He initially worked at the Osaka branch for six months before being transferred to the Kumamoto branch, where he spent another six months. During this time, he focused on learning about the company and its products. His final relocation was to the company’s new branch in Phoenix, Arizona, where he was asked to assist with its opening. This marked both his last transfer and his final year with the first company that had hired him.
 
Mr. Ngiraiwet spent a year at Cleantech Corporation before joining Kanken Technology US Inc., a different Japanese company based in the US, as a Field Service Engineer.
 
When asked about his memorable experiences in Japan, Mr. Ngiraiwet recalled the many prefectures he visited namely Hokkaido, Yamanashi, Nagano, Chiba, Hyogo, Wakayama, Kyoto, Mie, Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Tokushima, Kagoshima and Shizuoka. He mostly enjoyed the Snow Festival in Hokkaido. Mr. Ngiraiwet loves the onsen (hot springs) and karaoke.
 
 Mr. Ngiraiwet told us about his early struggles with learning a new language. Like most learners, he had to memorize kanji and learn how to write them. By the end of his stay in Japan, however, Mr. Ngiraiwet had earned his Japanese Language Proficiency Test N2 certification, the second-highest level in the JLPT certification system. He laughs as he recalls some of his classmates being surprised by the Japanese words he used, such as usagi (rabbit) and boenkyo (binoculars).
 
Mr. Ngiraiwet also mentioned that singing karaoke helped him learn to read and pronounce Japanese words. His favorite music genre is enka, and he is a fan of the famous enka singer Ms. Ishikawa Sayuri. His favorite songs by Ms. Ishikawa include "Tsugaru Kaikyo," "Noto Hanto," and "Amagi Goe." His favorite Japanese food is tensoba (tempura soba).
 
At the end of our interview we asked Mr. Ngiraiwet about his thoughts on the “tokubetsu” relations between Japan and Palau. He said that with the deep history and ever strengthening relations between the two countries, he hopes that Japan can include Palau in the visa exemptions countries list. He explained, there are many Palauan’s with Japanese ancestry and would like to spend more time in the country to hopefully connect to long lost relatives. With the extension of stay, this allows Palauan’s to do that.