My name is Erika Yoshida. I am sixteen years old. I was in
10th grade, and I’m going to be in 11th grade this fall.
My school is the Dwight School at 89th Street and Central Park West.
It is a small international school with about 400 students from Kindergarten to
12th grade. In my grade, we have 60 students. Approximately half of
the students are Americans, and the others are the students from all over the
world. We have many Jewish and Korean students. There are only three Japanese
students in the whole school; the others are in Kindergarten, and in 6th
grade.
I came to the United States on January 5, 2000. I was in
Sapporo, where I was born, before I came to the States. I was born on July 29,
1983. I am going to be seventeen this July. Anyway, when I was born, I had
already been given my name. My father had come up with my name three months
before I was born. My name, “Erika,” means beautiful in Ainu, which is
the language of the former inhabitants of northern Japan, Hokkaido. Another
reason for choosing this name for me was that “Erika” is also an American name.
My mother wanted to name her child by the name, which was easy to pronounce for
English-speaking people because she was not comfortable with her name, Kayoko,
which always confused her friends, when she was going to universities in Canada
and the United States. I really appreciate my name, especially since I came to
the U.S.
I am a tall girl even in the U.S. now. When I was in
Kindergarten and elementary school in Japan, I was extremely tall. Although I
was not a big baby, I grew up so quickly. For example, I was as tall as
six-year-old children when I was three. I was the tallest pupil in my grade
including boys, until around the time I became a 6th grader. Now, I
am 175cm tall, which is 5feet 9.
All the schools I went to in Japan were public school. My
Junior high school had strict school rules and dress code. We had a uniform,
which was completely outdated, since it didn’t change at all for more than
fifty years. Although my Junior high school was a nice place to study, and I
had learned a lot there, I didn’t like the school system with its unfair rules.
Teachers forced students to do what they wanted us to do, and didn’t try to
hear our opinions. I decided to go to a free high school, Sapporo Minami.
Minami means “South” in Japanese. I really loved that school, not only because
it didn’t have any dress code and unfair school rules, but also because it was
the best high school to study and to play sports in Northern Japan. My
classmates were really smart and serious about their grades. At the same time,
they were good at something other than study; some were good at playing sports,
some could play music instruments very well, some were talented in art. I had
so many good friends there and really respected them.
Although I was enjoying my life in Japan, I decided to go to
the United States with my mother. One day, she said she would go to Columbia
University as a visiting scholar for a year. She also said I could come with
her. I said yes at once because I love New York City. I also thought that
studying in New York was a great opportunity and actually it is. My parents are
letting me decide whether to stay in NY alone and continue attending Dwight, or
to go back to Japan with Mother. I really cannot decide which choice would be
better right now. I want to study Sports Medicine in Collage, and I think that
American University would be a better place to study it than in Japan. On the
other hand, I miss Japan and want to go back. So I really can’t decide. I still
have a half-year to think about it, so I will consider it carefully.
I want to have a career as a sports doctor. That’s why I
want to major in Sports Medicine. I would like to take care of top tennis
players because I am interested in that. I belong to a tennis club in my high
school. I have been playing tennis for seven years, and I was a doubles
champion of Hokkaido when I was in Junior high School. This summer, I am going
to go see the U.S. Open tennis tournaments at Flushing Meadows. I am looking
forward to watching it.