Japan-Palau Alumni Series: Vol.36- Mr. David Mason

Mr. David Ramarui Mason, 33 years old, is an alumnus of the Japanese Government MEXT scholarship Research program. He went to study Urban Engineering at the University of Tokyo from October 2017 to March 2020. He is the son of an American, Mr. Robert Mason and a Palauan, Ms. Cornelia Mason Ramarui.
 
Mr. Mason`s educational journey begins with his elementary schooling mostly in the United States and a few years in Korea. After elementary he went to Kinnick high school in Yokosuka, Japan while his father was in the US Navy from year 2008 to 2011. He continued on to pursue his undergraduate studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and graduated in 2015 with a Bachelors degree in Environmental Policy and Planning.
 
After graduating from Virginia Tech, Mr. Mason returned to Palau later that same year, where he had the opportunity to work on various projects. While working on one of these projects, he met a professor from the University of Tokyo. The professor encouraged Mr. Mason to study at his laboratory at the University of Tokyo in Japan. Recalling his past memories in Japan, Mr. Mason thought it was an excellent opportunity.
 
He applied for the scholarship in 2016 and got accepted. He went to Japan in 2017 and graduated in 2020 earning his master’s degree in Urban Engineering.
 
At the University of Tokyo, Mr. Mason studied Urban Engineering under the Japanese Government MEXT Scholarship Program. His academic experience was both rewarding and demanding. He described his studies as very intense, recalling semesters in which he attended multiple seminars and delivered as many as five research presentations. During his time at the university, he learned hiragana, katakana, and was able to incorporate some Japanese into the introductions of his presentations. He also completed an internship with a landscape architecture firm, where he successfully gave a presentation in Japanese.
 
Mr. Mason spoke highly of his professor, who provided tremendous support throughout his graduate studies, particularly in guiding his research on urbanization and climate change in Palau. Mr. Mason’s thesis was later published in an academic journal in 2020. Using data collected from Koror and Airai, his research concluded that population growth contributed to the severe 2016 drought and recurring coastal flooding. He emphasized that these environmental challenges were not caused solely by global climate change, but were also influenced by urbanization and domestic development patterns. According to Mr. Mason, this finding is somewhat encouraging, because while Palau cannot control global climate change, it can manage its own development policies and infrastructure planning to better address issues related to land and water resources.
 
Beyond academics, Mr. Mason greatly enjoyed university life in Japan. He appreciated the beauty of the University of Tokyo campus, especially during autumn when the ginkgo trees turned brilliant shades of gold and orange. He initially lived in a university dormitory for one year before moving into a share house and later an apartment in Ueno.
 
Mr. Mason also traveled extensively throughout Japan. He traveled to Osaka Prefecture, Wakayama Prefecture, Sadogashima in Niigata Prefecture, Nishinomiya city in Hyogo Prefecture, and several other places. A longtime baseball enthusiast who played during both high school and college, he especially enjoyed his visit to the Hanshin Koshien stadium. His favorite Japanese baseball player is Shohei Ohtani, but his favorite Major League Baseball team is the New York Mets, which also has a Japanese pitcher on its roster.
 
Life in Tokyo differed greatly from his earlier experience living on the Yokosuka military base, which he described as “a little America” due to its highly Americanized environment designed primarily for U.S. sailors. This time, he experienced Japanese daily life more directly and independently. Thanks to his previous experience in Japan and better technology, navigating the train system and traveling around the country was relatively easy and it allowed him to visit his friends who were former JICA volunteers.
 
Mr. Mason also fondly remembered Japan’s affordable and delicious food culture, mentioning that even supermarkets and convenience stores offered high-quality meals. He particularly enjoyed sushi and laughed while recalling a time he asked for lemon at a sushi restaurant. One of his favorite experiences in Japan was working part-time at a ramen shop that specialized in tonkotsu ramen. His favorite dish there was the yuki ramen. He worked only a few lunch shifts each week, typically three to four hours at a time, but found the experience extremely enjoyable. He described his manager as very kind and trusting, sometimes leaving him in charge of the shop alone, making him feel as though it were his own business. Mr. Mason later encouraged a university friend to apply for a job at the restaurant, and both of them eventually worked together on the same shifts.
 
Before returning to Japan for graduate school, Mr. Mason worked as an intern at the Office of Palau Automated Land and Resources Information System (PALARIS), a national geospatial office. He later assisted with the Koror-Airai Sewer project (KASP). He also worked at the Palau Chamber of Commerce and contributed to the Complete Streets-Walkability road improvement project.
 
After graduating from the University of Tokyo in 2020 and earning his masters degree in Urban Engineering, Mr. Mason moved to Sweden, where he started a family. He is currently employed as a Geographic Information Systems Analyst (GIS) Analyst at the Nordic branch of the British company RES.