Sep 30

Life After JET: What’s in a name?

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Ashley Davis is a former CIR for Matsushima and Otsu (2019-2022). She is currently living in Chiba Prefecture after working post-JET in the tourism sector in Japan.

It’s funny how much little moments can matter and butterfly out to unexpected connections. As I face an unexpected difficulty with my employment situation, I find myself looking back on the positive moments of my life including how important one’s community is.

One of my tasks as the CIR for Otsu City would be to assist foreigners coming in for municipal paperwork.

There was a Venezuelan couple who would often come into city hall and ask for me as they were having a child throughout my tenure. One day, I was conversing with one of them to pass the time while we waited to be called for paperwork. It might not seem like much, but we got on the topic of naming conventions. As an American, is Andrea a more masculine or feminine name? Growing up in the USA during the 90s, I would say feminine. Conversely, I was informed this can be a masculine name in Spanish speaking countries.

Later, I was looking into my family tree for one reason or another. I know that Americans are said to have a unique relationship with our familial roots, but we all came from somewhere, and my family never really documented stuff on one side. I never saw a picture or knew anything about my paternal great grandfather. I knew my father did not really have any records or details either. However, I realized that sometime after immigrating from Sicily around the Great Depression that my great grandfather had angelized his name – it was originally Andrea.

Thanks to this couple leading to this realization, I was able to find documentation showing my great grandfather moving to Michigan to work in engineering. Not only did this governmental paperwork include his name and occupation, it also included an old photo of him. I passed this onto my father, and I like to think it helped him get some closure.

So, my advice to all JETs is to continue to listen to people even if what they are saying might not always seem important to you at the time. You never know what might happen.