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Okay. Before I begin my posts on Hokkaido and the activities I will be doing here, I need to get this off my chest. I waited two weeks before I would post this, just to avoid saying something stupid while in blinding rage. Now that I’ve calmed down from a rage to a very pissed off mood, I think it’s time to tell you what Hokkaido University (Hokudai for short) did to me recently. Many of you may already know what’s going on through my facebook and twitter status updates, but I feel it’s necessary to post the evidence to the public for all to see. I will first lay out all the emails, highlighting and bolding important key phrases, along with my responses. After that I will state the rumor, my angry rant, and the unfortunate outcome.
INTRODUCTION:
I have ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Basically in laymen terms, my brain’s working memory takes longer to process information, thus it takes me longer to complete tasks or do problem solving than it would for normal a person. However, this can be either a handicap or a blessing depending on the task at hand. In academics this is a serious handicap for ADHD kids or adults like myself. This is a common not so big of a deal disorder, and most people can live just fine with it given their lifestyles are forgiving enough. Either way I had to fill in this information on the medical form along with the medication I will be taking with me to Japan. In Japan, this is a recognized disorder and Ritalin is distributed with proper medical documents for ADHD patients, just like in the states, but much stricter.
THE EMAILS:
Email #1 (May 26th, 2010; 6 days before departure):
Ed:
I would redo the form. I already had to assure them it is was only a learning problem, but apparently my word doesn’t mean anything.
Best,
[Person A (UMass)]
——————————————————————————————–
[Person A (UMass)] Quoting [Person B (UMass)]‘s e-mail
——————————————————————————————–
Hi Edward:
Apparently, the information you put on the Medical Form about the ADHD has freaked out both the coordinator at Hokudai and the host families he/she has approached about hosting you. He/She is wondering if you would re-consider and
stay at the DK House instead.
Alternatively, you could re-do the Medical Form and put different information on it. I am attaching the form, and I will consult with [Person A (UMass)] about this matter. I am hoping that to get back to you ASAP.
[Person B (UMass)]
——————————————————————————————–
[Person B (UMass)] Forwarding [Person D (Hokkaido Uni.)]‘s e-mail
——————————————————————————————–
Hi,[Person B (UMass)]
Thank you very much for your email.
I would like to consult you about Mr Charlebois?.
He wants to stay at a host family’s house and have experiences of real Japanese life style.
And I definetly want his wish to come true!
However, as a side of host family, it’ s going to be a big challenge.
To be honest with you, I have asked some host families to have him stay with them.
But I couldn’t get any good answers.
I understand their feelings too.
They don’t know how to deal with that disease and there is also a big barrier to communicate with him whose first language is different from them.
I would like him to participate in HU summer session program.
But without detailed information about his ADHD, we cannot ask host family to
have him.
I also think it might not be possible for you to have his disease information because of privacy protection.
And I cannot ask you about it anymore.
So if it won’t be possible for us to have enough information about his disease, will it be OK for him to stay at DK house?
I am looking forward to hearing from you and since the starting date is getting really close I would like to finalize this matter by this week.
Thanks.
Best regards,
[Person D (Hokkaido Uni.)]
My Reaction to Email #1:
I lol’d hard that [Person D (Hokkaido Uni.)] called it a disease and thought nothing more of it. I decided to not bring my medication to Japan, just to be safe and to remove any fear or doubt, and stated so in the new medical form.
Email #2 (June 1st, 2010; 24 hours before departure):
Dear Ed:
I just heard back from Hokudai that they are insisting on receiving a letter from your doctor. I am wondering if you can quickly contact your doctor and ask them to write a letter about the ADHD in which the doctor should explain something along the lines of the following:
*this has become a commonly recognized problem in the U.S.
*it is not considered a barrier to being able to live in another culture
*it is not considered a barrier to being able to stay with a host family
*it has more to do with having a hard time settling down to study—or something like that
IF your doctor could fax it directly to the following number within the next 24 hrs., that would greatly save time:
[Person D (Hokkaido Uni.)]
Section for Student Exchange
Hokkaido University
Fax: XXX-XXX-XXXX-XXXX
Please let me know if you have been able to arrange this, and thank you.
Yours,
[Person B (UMass)]
My Reaction To Email #2:
I laughed again and shook my head, but did as they asked. I called my doctor and had the letter emailed by my father. Everything was all set. At this point I was less than 12 hours away from boarding a plane to Japan.
EMAIL #3 (June 9th, 2010; 7 days after arrival in Japan!):
Dear Edward,
I’m writing to you to follow-up on the situation involving your housing during the Hokkaido summer program. As I think you are aware, the Hokkaido International Services Office was having a difficult time placing you in a homestay, which you had requested, because your Hokudai health form indicated that you have ADHD. I’m sure you know that there are many misconceptions about ADHD in Japan, so that situations like this are, unfortunately, not uncommon. The ISO informed us late last Friday that they could not secure a homestay for you, and that you would be placed in the DK House during the program. I sent a strongly-worded email back to the ISO, indicating that the International Programs Office at UMass does not consider ADHD to be an impediment to studying abroad, that we send a number of students with ADHD abroad every year with absolutely no incident, and that [Person A (UMass)] and IPO fully support your participation in the program and in the homestay housing option, and that we consider this situation to be discriminatory. Unfortunately, the ISO has written back to say that, since homestays are in short supply this year to begin with, and that ADHD is only poorly understood in Japan, a homestay just couldn’t be found.
I am so sorry, Edward, that this is the outcome of the situation, as I know that a homestay experience can be terrific way to learn a host country’s language and culture. [Person B (UMass)] tells me that you have been traveling and visiting friends in Japan this past week, so we are hopeful that this has provided you with a good taste of the homestay experience. I also know that living at DK House places an additional financial burden on you; a burden which this office feels is unfair, under these circumstances. Therefore, the International Programs Office will be absorbing the additional $120 housing fee charged for DK House, plus we will be awarding you a $500 summer scholarship, to defray the cost of your meals. The $500 will be applied to your Bursar’s account within the next couple of weeks. If you are enrolled in Excess Express, then the money should be transferred into your checking account.
Best of luck on your program!
[Person C (UMass Big Wig)]
My Reaction To Email #3:
Whaaaaa….tttt!? :’( Never have I felt so useless or angry at my own ADHD after reading that letter. It’s bad enough I hear others in the states say its a fake disability or some other stupid ignorant crap. RRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE! WWWWWWWWRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYY!!!
THE RUMOR & MY RANT…WELL… RAGE ACTUALLY:
First, I need to point this out. The entire purpose of this trip was solely on Japanese speech practice and listening comprehension. It was the one thing I fell short in for my abilities in the Japanese language. I made this very clear in my “Statement of Purpose” letter to Hokkaido University and in my homestay biography form I had to fill out.
My goal was to spend two weeks in Tokyo, to relax and prepare for my host family. Then four weeks of intensive Japanese speech practice with my host family. Finally, (this part was suppose to be a surprise for you readers actually), go on a six week backpack trip and travel throughout all of Japan to concrete in what I’ve learned from my host family. That is how important the host family was for me, my money was invested on them to make this worth my while.
Unfortunately, it did not turn out that way. Instead Hokkaido University did the following:
- Place me in a DK House dormitory instead of a host family.
- Billed me for the DK House dormitory.
- Place a financial burden on me for food that would have been supplied by my host family.
- Place a financial burden on me to find Japanese conversation partners, forcing me to cancel half my trip.
- Broke United States Disability Discrimination Laws. (This is a gateway source)
- Broke Japan Disability Discrimination Laws. (This is a gateway source)
- Lied to me about not having host families available.
- Use a lower level representative as a shield to hide from the complaints of my home University.
Lets, take a look at the last two. First the no available host families. Disregarding the evidence in the emails that they do have host families available for me. Last week during a Hokkaido tour I was offered by a Hokudai Student Exchange Rep., the opportunity to meet with an available host family to practice my speech once in awhile! Interesting! Second, is the use of lower level reps. as a shield. This may just be a rumor, but I’ve been hearing that there was an email battle, (probably between [Person C (UMass Big Wig)] and the Hokudai Office), which ended with the Hokudai Office dodging any more complaints by directing them to poor [Person D (Hokkaido Uni.)]. How thoughtful of them!
Honestly I want to sue the bastards for the laws they broke and the crap they put me through, but for now I must wait.
What about the other stuff the Hokkaido Program offers? The field trips and cultural activities I could do on my own for many times cheaper than the tuition I paid for. The Japanese classes I’m forced to take are useless. They are two, almost three years below my own level; literally introductory Japanese courses. Thanks, but no thanks.
THE UNFORTUNATE OUTCOME:
So with all the crap that has gone on, things finally settled down after about a week now. About two days ago I finally realized I had a huge financial crisis on my hands. Although UMass was extremely kind enough to adsorb the surprise bill from Hokudai, and give me a $500 scholarship for a month of food. It is still not enough to make this trip worth while. How so you ask?
Now, if there is one thing I’m good at, it’s being extremely stubborn on not giving up, even when I want to. So being that I have no host family to practice my Japanese with, I must go to the only other place there is for Japanese conversation. The bars and clubs. I hate bars and clubs, especially clubs! Plus, I can’t always drink because of my medication. The only exception to this is ABC; Amherst Brewing Company in Massachusetts. I did originally intend to go to the bars for my research on Sapporo Brewery wiki, but not nearly as frequent as I must now. This means that I have to spend a lot more money than what I have budgeted myself for, and my practice has to be un-medicated. I can see it now; un-medicated ADHD kid heavily buzzed trying to learn Japanese. Yeah, that is going to go over very well. I could just not drink the alcohol, but then I won’t make any conversation friends here, one thing Japan is obnoxious about, is making sure they shove as much alcohol down your throat as possible. I swear they can out drink the Irish. My tolerance is just under a quart of 3.3% alcohol level beer in one hour, they can double that… with 5% alcohol level beer.
So what I did to make this all work out, is to make a big sacrifice to my trip plans. I canceled my six week backpack trip and paid a $150 fee to change my flight date to the earliest I could get after the Hokudai program is over. So hopefully, I will learn something from my bar conversations instead of just slurs. I will be back for the month of August with no job until September. Did I mention I hate bars and clubs? Yeah I did!
So thank you Hokkadio University for bending me over and shoving !@#$%^&* way up there. It’s comfortable just like you said. I’ll just tack this tiny financial conundrum onto my already $90+K tuition debt I’m already in. No really, it’s not a big deal, thank you… for wasting my money and time!
OTHER THOUGHTS:
There is one positive thing I learned from all of this. When I saw the introductory level of other students from other universities attending this program, I was absolutely shocked. Their Japanese abilities after one year schooling was horrible in comparison to my own schools curriculum. Although I still think my Japanese department needs improvement, we truly are miles ahead of almost every university in the states. Plus, on a separate note, my school stood up for me and even footed my surprise bill from Hokkaido. This makes me proud to be called a University of Massachusetts Amherst student!
Oh yeah, and here’s is a fortune I got from the Hokkaido Jingu when I was still in rage that I thought was fitting for this post.
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Ugh, what a mess. That’s cool of UMass to stand up for you like that and absorb costs, but it’s just a nice occurrence in an all-around crappy situation. It doesn’t even sound like it’s a host family issue, seems more like the university just wanted to avoiding having to lift a finger to fill out your medical forms. Since ADHD is recognized in Japan then it definitely could be brought to a court, not that I doubt for a second that Hokudai, if pressed in front of a judge, would just give that BS “it’s difficult” answer that Japanese institutions are so fond of to explain their action. UMass ought to consider dropping any exchanges or partnerships with Hokudai, and thankfully they sound appropriately upset with them.
Sucks about the rest of your trip, but hopefully you’ll get some worthwhile practice out of it.
Also, lol @ your “disease.” So now that you have an incurable disease do you get to be a Key character? :3
Hahaha, so true with everything you said! UMass probably would drop Hokudai if it wasn’t our sister university. Hokudai was founded by our first president of UMass, William S. Clark.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Clark#Massachusetts_Agricultural_College
Key character!? Oh man, you don’t even know the half of it! I’m on such an epic tale right now, this will go down in RPG history.
Hey Ed,
First off, I’m very sorry that this happened. These things, as you know, are not well understood in Japan. That’s one thing you have to be culturally sensitive of, when applying abroad to a country like Japan.
However, I do have to disagree with you… on a lot of points.
1. The suing of Hokudai. Basically a waste of time. Hokudai didn’t actually do anything to discriminate against you; the families did. They shared their information with the families, and due to a misunderstanding of what ADHD is– culturally– the families decided they did not want to do that. Nowhere in the emails did it say ‘we have no families’, just that ‘we have no families willing to take someone with ADHD’. While that totally sucks and comes from a cultural background of misunderstanding everything to do with learning disorders, it’s something that you just have to suck up. And it isn’t Hokudai’s responsibility. Nowhere has Hokudai ever PROMISED students going abroad that they can get a homestay, be they available, or not. So suing is not only not an option– but this isn’t exactly the university’s fault. It’s a cultural issue, that as a student of the culture, it’s your job to understand and try to change.
Just getting angry about it will turn off anyone’s ears from listening to good arguments.
2. I still don’t see how this made you lose 5000 dollars.
The students in HUSTEP, who have lived here a year, get 800 dollars a month to live on. Not only do we have to use that to pay our rent and utilities, aka. 300 dollars– which Umass is covering for you– but we have to use the remaining 500 to pay for everything else.
With that 500 a month, we are able to eat out every night, travel, go to bars and clubs 3-4 times a week, and generally get around with NO problem. Not only that, but, since Hokudai is a campus– there are clubs for people who want to get to know and speak with foreigners, in Japanese. I suggest looking Sakura Club up. They meet once a week and go do things, for free. And you will make friends who you can see on weekdays, outside of bars and clubs.
In all, I’m saying, don’t over react. It bites that you didn’t get the homestay that you wanted. But unless you’re planning to go to host clubs? It was no reason to cut your trip short, or imagine huge expenses in trying to learn the language.
Lastly, if your language level is too low for you, talk to Yamashita and he’ll move you right up.
In regards to 2. Although I didn’t lose 5Gs, I did lose out on being financially secure for the backpack trip. $500 a month is roughly $15 a day, enough for heading to the bar once a day, but not eating any other meals or snacks, plus I already lost $90 of that towards a bicycle. My intention is to go out everyday and constantly practice, and I need to go to the bars for my research on Sapporo Brewery. Without going into detail about my money and how the numbers are crunched, I can hardly see how $500 will last me an entire month. Being that my budget is already extremely tight for this trip, it’s difficult to pull off the six week backpack without the burden. I also set financial buffers for myself, which I can not tap into unless there is an emergency. With the new situation, I would have started to tap into those funds up to half way through my backpack trip. Plus the risk that I will not gain enough Japanese practice now during my Hokkaido trip has increased, in which I am not willing to take that higher risk. From a money point of view, in the best interests of what I could still achieve effectively, I chose to cut my trip short and invest more in the Hokkaido trip.
As for taking any action yet against Hokudai, I am holding off for now to see what will happen on its own. Its been made very clear though by my peers that what went down is more than just host families deciding not to take me in. I probably should have made that more clear. Sean (the top commenter) kinda hit the nail on the head actually.
Also the language level I’m in is the highest they offer. =P
I regards to 1. I will just stand by this quote.:
“I also think it might not be possible for you to have his disease information because of privacy protection.
And I cannot ask you about it anymore.”
If anything, if they actually went to host families that is…, they should have not told any of the host families, or at least, they should have tested the water first. I am aware of the cultural differences with ADHD in Japan, however ADHD is still widely known and treated throughout Japan in various ways (not always medication). Plus, other students from our university with the same condition as mine or worse have had host families with the Hokudai program in the past. This brings in the suspicion of what Sean (top commenter) stated,
“It doesn’t even sound like it’s a host family issue, seems more like the university just wanted to avoiding having to lift a finger to fill out your medical forms. ”
After reading that comment I remembered Forrest saying something very similar to me just before I left for Japan. The problem is that I can not prove or disprove this! So currently suing Hokudai is truly a very big waste of time and money, which is why I have decided to sit and wait.
It really is unfortunate that ADHD is so misunderstood. But it doesn’t seem like Hokudai is being insensitive, they probably did try to find you a host family. I do agree with Maddie here that suing the university wouldn’t actually do anything but waste more time and money.
Also I got along just fine in Japan not telling the Japanese people I met anything about why I am such a spaz other than that “I’m just full of life”. It was cryptic enough, and a lot of Japanese people actually thought it was cool and then wanted to talk to me more. I’m sure if you just be your bad-ass self and join a school club you can find plenty of people to talk to. You don’t just have to get drunk everyday.
If you do choose to go to bars I’m telling you there are plenty of “townie” bars in Japan that are really inexpensive and full of hilarious/ interesting people who will talk to you.
As appealing as host families seem I know lots of people who stayed with them and never really talked in Japanese to them, and often lamented having the curfew that prevented them from going out to meet Japanese people. DK House is where I stayed in Saitama, its not the best place in the world but it does offer you a lot of freedom, and there usually are Japanese people living there. Just accost them or even the manager of DK house for conversation. Hell even do what lots of Japanese people did to me and just go up and ask people if you “can enjoy a conversation in (English/Japanese) together”.
Also old people, they are the shit in Japan. Totally hilarious, full of stories and compliments, often sound drunk so you have to listen better, thus you get better at listening. And most of all old people often are willing / wanting to talk to you. Its great.
I understand why you are enraged, and its totally valid. But don’t give up, theres no reason that you can’t still go on your trip and continue to get better at Japanese while traveling. Just use that rage to motivate you to bother every Japanese person you can for conversation.
Hey, Hokudai has a hospital (=北大病院) with super-high reputation! Couldn’t they just get the doctors there to see you instead and confirm “ADHD is not a big deal”??
Hey Ed
Sorry to hear about your MAJOR travel SNAFU- hope you get the chance to enjoy your trip and it makes it all worthwile!! Keep us posted with pics of the university and local area anyway!
Good luck(how do you say that in Japanese? who knows maybe I can learn a little Japanese from your blog)
Kim
Hey . . .
You know, I tried to chat with you on AIM and was mildly annoyed that you were never online! So I poked around a bit and found this! :-o
I’m really sorry about your travel plans. I know that the Japanese program is a huge investment that you make, and I was surprised that you are this dedicated to speech and kanji.
Hope all goes well for you in August! Hopefully things will get better there and here.
Ada
You’re a fucking fag. I’m sure your Japanese sucks and you’re just a whiney little bitch. Go back home and stop wasting time at my school you spaz.
You mad?
Hi, you don’t know me but one of my friends posted your journal entry on facebook. I’m one of your sempais from hokkudai. It sounds like you’re really upset and I don’t want to come off as if I’m discounting or belittling your experience, but I wanted to give you some food for thought.
Firstly, while ADHD is recognized in Japan it isn’t over-diagnosed the way it is in the states. Only extremely dysfunctional and/or anti-social cases get diagnosed at all. From the perspective of the host families, for you to include ADHD on your forms, you’re basically saying that you are affected by this condition to the extent that you have difficulty functioning period. Also, if you are taking one of the medications commonly prescribed for ADHD in the states, you are probably talking about bringing a controlled or illegal substance into their homes. (And no, just because you have an American prescription does not make it okay to have illegal drugs in Japan.)
Also, even in the United States where we have equal opportunity housing and anti-discrimination laws, none of them apply to a homestay situation because you would be sharing the house with the landlord. Even in the states, individuals have the right to choose who will live in their own house based on whatever criteria they feel like. It would be different if you were renting an apartment or dorm room from these people.
If you’re looking for conversation practice, one option is to attend class. Even if you are reviewing the same material that you have already learned the teachers at Hokkudai are excellent. Making friends with other students is also a great way to practice your Japanese (and they won’t cost you money.)
I won’t comment on whether going to bars is a good back up plan or not. It works for some people. (I wouldn’t be going so much that I would have to give up an awesome backpacking tour, but that’s just me.) Have you considered what effect this sudden increase of intake of alcohol is having on you? If you’re taking ADHD medications, you could be rocking some serious drug interactions. If I’m not mistaken, Ritalin + Booze = uncontrollable rage/high blood pressure/stroke.
The first rule of studying abroad is to take care of yourself and keep yourself healthy. If you don’t do that then you won’t have any fun at all.
Looks like somebody didn’t read the post and comment section close enough. :) You mad too?
FYI, if people even in the states had a choice to deny or allow people to rent, it can only be for financial reasons, criminal record, or bad references. Too bad Japan also follows this law too.
Yes, ADHD meds + alcohol does equal bad. That’s why I was sarcastic.
I’ll be blunt folks, if you don’t care to go as far as reading the post and being consice with your argument and think about what you are going to write, then I will start deleting your comments. Potentially locking this post, since I have moved on to more interesting things in life. I have one class left before I graduate with my BA in Japanese Language, I don’t need to be stuck on this post stating over and over what has already been said.
For the record, my professors, advisors, and international reps have all looked into this. I was wronged, and it was illegal. End of story. I doubt you can prove that six professionals, maybe more who work behind them, were wrong.
Edit:
Comments locked. Have a lovely day! :D