Jasso Scholarship

Luck is a Lady with a Sack full of Money

It's possible that people who know me wont be suprised by this. I've been known to be a very lucky person at times. Right-place-right-time, what-are-the-chances-of-that, couldn't-do-that-again-if-I-tried sort of stuff. I don't expect it, and it certainly doesn't mean that I don't put all my effort into what I do anyway. However, it's nice when things tend to work themselves out. To quote my Uncle, "I'd rather be lucky that good anyday."

So about 5 days ago, I received an e-mail from the office, not anymore detailed than "someone cancelled their scholarship, you've been nominated for a Jasso, come to the office so I can explain". I thought to myself, "awesome, but I'm leaving Japan in less than a month."

A few of my friends here at AIU have Jasso scholarships. From what I'd heard they have a pretty hefty monthly stipend asscociated with them. However, like I said, I only have something like 3 weeks left in Japan. While I'm not going to refuse a months worth of scholarship, I figured that it was more likely that they'd simply missed that fact in the paper work, I'd tell them I was leaving, and they'd apologize and give the scholarship to someone who is here for a full year.

Apparently that is not the case. I went to the office to get the whole situation clarified. A slim Japanese guy with pretty good English informed me that I was more than nominated, I was selected for the Jasso and would be receiving the scholarship. Not just for this month, but the Japanese Government was going to retroactivly fund my entire trip to Japan, at $800 a month for 5 months, with an additional $800 scholaship on top. The man asked me for my bank information so that they could transfer close to $5,000 dollars into my account.

Flabergasted is a good word, because suprised simply wont do. The best I could do was ask "wha?". Most often Jasso scholarships are awarded either before you come to Japan or in your first month of being here. However, one girl that had received her scholarship before coming to Japan had cancelled her trip. Which left an open scholarship open for someone else. Apparently I was nominated for that scholarship, and now, 3 months later, the paperwork is just beggining to finish up. Why me? A writing major who has as much bussiness in Japan as he would in any other country? Apparently it came down to grades, my 3.7 at Ithaca impressed someone I guess.

So on December 11th, 11 days before I leave Japan, five thousand dollars will drop out of the sky onto my head. If you don't include room and board at AIU (which is cheaper than Ithaca) I have spent roughly five thousand dollars in Japan (including Air Fare). Which would mean that (if I didn't plan to go out and buy lots of shiny things with this money) I came to Japan for a semester for free.

Course it's not like I intended to come to Japan for free, so this means that everyone's souvenirs got a whole lot better. Additionally just because I got lucky doesn't mean I'll slack off. If anything it's taught me that hard work in school does actually pay off. Though, like my uncle says, "I'd rather be lucky than good anyday."

-Mack