S4E19: Seattle Colleges Conversations with! International Student Haruto Hamada of Japan

In this our 19th (nineteenth) episode of Season 4, Seattle Colleges host Evan Franulovich interviews international student Haruto Hamada of Japan about his experience here at Seattle Central and about life in the United States. 

1:19 - Meet Haruto!

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Transcript

Evan Franulovich  0:05  
Welcome to Seattle Colleges International Programs and our show Conversations with! where we talk to people that help you understand how you too, can be an international student in the United States and why Seattle Colleges should be your first choice. We'll talk to students and staff and agents and government folks, all kinds of people about what you can expect when you're getting ready to apply or travel here, what you'll experience while you're with us, and how it can all lead to an amazing life. Don't forget to check out the Seattle Colleges International Programs website at intl.seattlecolleges.edu where you can find a treasure trove of information about the school, the programs here and best of all, fill out and submit your application. Again, that's intl.seattlecolleges.edu.

Evan Franulovich  1:04  
Hey everybody, welcome back to Seattle Colleges Conversations with!, right here in Seattle Washington. The northwest corner of the United States. Happy to have yet another guest from the great country of, Japan! Welcome, why don't you tell everyone who you are, where exactly you're from in Japan. Why you're here, what you're studying and how long you've been here. 

Haruto Hamada  1:27  
My name is Haruto Hamada. I'm from Japan, originally from Singapore, but Japan Saitama. It's a city in the Kanto area, nearby Tokyo.

Evan Franulovich  1:45  
Okay, it's big city.

Haruto Hamada  1:47  
Yes, it is. I was born in Singapore. I lived there for four years, until I was four years old. After that, I moved to Indonesia, Jakarta. Big city.

Evan Franulovich  2:01  
Is that a big city? Crazy city.

Haruto Hamada  2:03  
And I lived there until I was eight years old. So I lived there for four or five years, and then back to Japan. And, yeah, studied abroad in New Zealand for like, a month.

Evan Franulovich  2:14  
Where?

Haruto Hamada  2:15  
New Zealand.

Evan Franulovich  2:15  
Oh, New Zealand, cool. 

Haruto Hamada  2:17  
And yeah, I came back to Japan and, well, I'm here in America now.

Evan Franulovich  2:23  
You're here in America. Okay, so, do you have any memories of Singapore? Like, four years old is pretty young.

Haruto Hamada  2:29  
Yes, it is. I mean, I remember stuff. Not like, perfectly.

Evan Franulovich  2:36  
Right.

Haruto Hamada  2:37  
But, I mean, yeah.

Evan Franulovich  2:38  
Images.

Haruto Hamada  2:38  
Images, yeah.

Evan Franulovich  2:40  
But you must remember moving on to Indonesia pretty well.

Haruto Hamada  2:43  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  2:43  
What was that experience like, do you remember?

Haruto Hamada  2:48  
I was excited, in a way, because I was having a lot of friends.

Evan Franulovich  2:55  
Right. 

Haruto Hamada  2:55  
It was a quite fun school life.

Evan Franulovich  2:58  
Was it?

Haruto Hamada  2:58  
It was. It was an international school, so I was speaking English every day.

Evan Franulovich  3:03  
But your first language is Japanese, obviously. So when you were in Singapore, you're probably at home, you're speaking Japanese in the house?

Haruto Hamada  3:13  
Yep.

Evan Franulovich  3:13  
 Right?

Haruto Hamada  3:14  
And outside, I speak English.

Evan Franulovich  3:16  
Oh, you did?

Haruto Hamada  3:17  
Yeah. I mean Singapore, these people speak English too. 

Evan Franulovich  3:20  
You're basically a native English speaker. 

Haruto Hamada  3:24  
Okay.

Evan Franulovich  3:28  
You feel very comfortable, obviously,

Haruto Hamada  3:30  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  3:31  
I mean, your English is great. Okay, so then at eight you go back to Japan?

Haruto Hamada  3:35  
Yep.

Evan Franulovich  3:35  
And you're there until you graduate high school? 

Haruto Hamada  3:38  
Yes, well, I'm except for the (inaudible).

Evan Franulovich  3:40  
You are a high school student?

Haruto Hamada  3:41  
I'm 17 years old.

Evan Franulovich  3:43  
What? We're just meeting for the very first time. So forgive me here. Okay, so you're still a high school student?

Haruto Hamada  3:50  
Still a high school student, and I'm in college right now. 

Evan Franulovich  3:53  
So how much more time do you have before you graduate high school?

Haruto Hamada  3:56  
I have one year. So I'm going to graduate high school, we graduate in March, right? So, 2027.

Evan Franulovich  4:05  
Wow. 

Haruto Hamada  4:06  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  4:07  
So this is the first podcast where this has happened, where I have someone who's still in high school come and then they're going home. 

Haruto Hamada  4:15  
Okay? 

Evan Franulovich  4:15  
I mean, I'm guessing somebody had mentioned to you that we have a high school completion program. Did you consider just staying and doing that?

Haruto Hamada  4:23  
Well, I mean, I wanted to go to a Japanese university. Well, I'm thinking of it, right now. The purpose for me coming here was seeing how college studies work and to learn about computer science from a Professor.

Evan Franulovich  4:38  
Yeah, yeah. 

Haruto Hamada  4:40  
That was the main purpose for me, that's why I just came for the IP short certificate.

Evan Franulovich  4:45  
Sure, yeah. So, our short-term certificate program is usually not used in this way, so I'm really stoked to hear that this is something you did. Just so our listeners know we have a short-term certificate program in addition to our other programs, like, university transfer, where you do the 2+2, vocational training, English studies. Short-term certificates, you can do a 3, 6, 9, or 12 month program. You chose to do a?

Haruto Hamada  5:14  
Three.

Evan Franulovich  5:14  
Three months. So does that mean you're on vacation? You're doing it during a vacation period? 

Haruto Hamada  5:19  
Not at all. I'm in school right now. I'm pausing studying at high school right now. So, yeah, it's quite tough.

Evan Franulovich  5:24  
So will that set you back, or are they is the high school just working with you?

Haruto Hamada  5:30  
Working with me, and they stopped my education, like, I'm not there, but they managed for me to stay within the same grade.

Evan Franulovich  5:39  
That's so cool. 

Haruto Hamada  5:40  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  5:40  
So, will they give you credit for what you did here?

Haruto Hamada  5:43  
Yes, I think they will, because I'll get a certificate, maybe not a credit. Because of my certificate, it means I'm a graduate of a three-month, one-term program. I'll show them that, but yeah, I'm concerned about it.

Evan Franulovich  6:01  
Okay, so you're still in high school. What's the name of your high school? 

Haruto Hamada  6:03  
My high school is Shojikaya. 

Evan Franulovich  6:05  
All right. Shout out. Yeah, cool. Is it just a typical Japanese high school? Is it public, private?

Haruto Hamada  6:14  
It's a private school.

Evan Franulovich  6:16  
Okay. 

Haruto Hamada  6:16  
It's in the northern part nearby another city.

Evan Franulovich  6:19  
Okay.

Haruto Hamada  6:20  
It's not in like, real Saitama, but, yeah. It's a private school and it's a cool school.

Evan Franulovich  6:26  
International?

Haruto Hamada  6:27  
Not at all. 

Evan Franulovich  6:28  
No, it just happened?

Haruto Hamada  6:29  
Yeah, I think this term or this year, there was only like three people who studied abroad, including me. So it's not a big international school.

Evan Franulovich  6:41  
So when you told your friends you were gonna do this, what was, what was the reaction?

Haruto Hamada  6:45  
Well, I was talking about this, like, long term, because I love going to other countries. 

Evan Franulovich  6:51  
Yeah.

Haruto Hamada  6:51  
That's my future dream. So well, people might be surprised. They will also know that it's my personality.

Evan Franulovich  6:57  
Right? 

Haruto Hamada  6:57  
That's what I want.

Evan Franulovich  7:03  
So that's very cool. All right, well, let's talk about this. So you are in Japan, and you're thinking about, how did you hear about Seattle Colleges?

Haruto Hamada  7:16  
I got an agent Japan.

Evan Franulovich  7:19  
Okay.

Haruto Hamada  7:20  
And they looked up a place I could study computer science at.

Evan Franulovich  7:26  
right 

Haruto Hamada  7:26  
For a major, but I'm 17 years old.

Evan Franulovich  7:29  
Yeah.

Haruto Hamada  7:29  
I didn't want to go to high school. 

Evan Franulovich  7:31  
No.

Haruto Hamada  7:31  
Because it's not like a big thing and it's the same. I only wanted to learn computer science. So it's perfect here, because in three months, it gives me an entry way to Python and JavaScript.

Evan Franulovich  7:47  
Right, right.

Haruto Hamada  7:47  
 But, I mean, it's really what I wanted to do.

Evan Franulovich  7:53  
So how many classes did you take in total? 

Haruto Hamada  7:56  
Well computer science, which was computer science 110?

Evan Franulovich  8:03  
Okay.

Haruto Hamada  8:04  
That was the Python one.

Evan Franulovich  8:05  
Okay, and you'd never explored Python before?

Haruto Hamada  8:09  
I actually did. It was not that hard for me.

Evan Franulovich  8:15  
Okay.

Haruto Hamada  8:16  
But I could review everything. And it was really fun to learn from someone, because I was learning on my own.

Evan Franulovich  8:22  
Yes.

Haruto Hamada  8:23  
All the time. 

Evan Franulovich  8:24  
Do you feel like you really improved a lot, or do you feel like you pretty much where you were when you started?

Haruto Hamada  8:30  
I actually improved in a way, because I didn't know certain things. And, you know, you can always learn something.

Evan Franulovich  8:30  
For sure. Yeah, yeah. I just wanted to make sure you got some good information while you were in there.

Haruto Hamada  8:41  
It was really good. 

Evan Franulovich  8:42  
Oh, good. And then the other classes?

Haruto Hamada  8:44  
It was,  IT 100, 102? I was learning that at the North College. 

Evan Franulovich  8:50  
Oh, so, so you went to both Central and North? 

Haruto Hamada  8:53  
Yes.

Evan Franulovich  8:53  
That's super cool. Wow. Lots of interesting things going on here.

Haruto Hamada  8:58  
Other one is English 85,  that was required, I took it online. 

Evan Franulovich  9:02  
Oh, okay, sure. 

Haruto Hamada  9:03  
And ISD. That was the Kevin one. 

Evan Franulovich  9:09  
Yeah ISD 200.

Haruto Hamada  9:11  
Introduction of college, I think?

Evan Franulovich  9:14  
Yeah.

Haruto Hamada  9:14  
Right, yeah. So those four classes.

Evan Franulovich  9:16  
That's kind of cool.

Haruto Hamada  9:17  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  9:17  
What'd you think of that ISD class?

Haruto Hamada  9:19  
It was really fun. I made a lot of friends there. 

Evan Franulovich  9:21  
That's a great place to make friends. 

Haruto Hamada  9:23  
So yeah.

Evan Franulovich  9:24  
And you know, so Kevin O'Connor, who did podcast interview just before he walked in the room, he told us all about ISD 200 because I hadn't really asked any questions about that in the past. And he was explaining your final project. So what did you do for your final project?

Haruto Hamada  9:41  
So our final project was a group presentation, and like going around Seattle.

Evan Franulovich  9:49  
Okay.

Haruto Hamada  9:49  
I made a group with my friends, and we went to South Center Mall. 

Evan Franulovich  9:55  
Oh, cool. 

Haruto Hamada  9:56  
And the neighborhood, was like a Park. What was it? The Japanese Garden Park.

Evan Franulovich  10:03  
Where is that?

Haruto Hamada  10:04  
It's like new, it's down by UW. 

Evan Franulovich  10:06  
Oh, sure, okay.

Haruto Hamada  10:08  
It's like, somewhere there. And Halloween.

Evan Franulovich  10:13  
Cool.

Haruto Hamada  10:14  
Like, yeah, many events.

Evan Franulovich  10:18  
Gotcha. Okay, well, South center, for those of you who don't know. South center is in the southern part of the city, like practically, not even in Seattle anymore. 

Haruto Hamada  10:26  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  10:26  
It's right there.

Haruto Hamada  10:26  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  10:27  
Is it in Seattle proper? Is it? 

Haruto Hamada  10:29  
I think it's not. 

Evan Franulovich  10:30  
Oh, that's why. Maybe Tukwila. So do you live down that direction?

Haruto Hamada  10:35  
I don't. I live in Wedgwood. 

Evan Franulovich  10:37  
Where's Wedgwood? 

Haruto Hamada  10:38  
It's new. I'm an Evan of Kevin, but it's like near Roosevelt station.

Evan Franulovich  10:45  
Oh, sure, yeah, gotcha. So my wife works at Roosevelt High School. 

Haruto Hamada  10:51  
Oh, really? 

Evan Franulovich  10:52  
I'm there. That's where I always take the subway to, is Roosevelt. Probably run into you there, but you know, you're 17. So what's your housing situation? You rent a room?

Haruto Hamada  11:04  
I do, a house, a host family. 

Evan Franulovich  11:06  
Oh, homestay program.

Haruto Hamada  11:08  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  11:08  
Cool.

Haruto Hamada  11:08  
Yeah. It's a really cool family. 

Evan Franulovich  11:10  
Is it?

Haruto Hamada  11:11  
It's a cool family.

Evan Franulovich  11:12  
Typical American family?

Haruto Hamada  11:15  
I think it's typical.

Evan Franulovich  11:16  
Okay.

Haruto Hamada  11:16  
Yeah, but it's really fun with them.

Evan Franulovich  11:18  
Are they really, do they ask you a lot of questions about where you're from, or do they kind of leave you alone?

Haruto Hamada  11:23  
Well, we do converse a lot. We talk a lot.

Evan Franulovich  11:27  
Yeah.

Haruto Hamada  11:28  
During, like, free time. 

Evan Franulovich  11:29  
Cool. 

Haruto Hamada  11:30  
Well, there's also private times. And it's like, so chill. And it's easy going. I like it.

Evan Franulovich  11:37  
So when you set up your homestay, did you work through one of our homestay agencies, or did your agent might set something up?

Haruto Hamada  11:44  
Agent set it up. I think they contacted another agent here. 

Evan Franulovich  11:49  
Okay.

Haruto Hamada  11:50  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  11:50  
Probably.

Haruto Hamada  11:51  
Yeah, it was an agent to an agent.

Evan Franulovich  11:53  
Okay, yeah. Just so you guys know, we have a lot of different homestay agencies in the Seattle area. We can give you a list of those. Or if you're working with an agent already, they may already be familiar, so that's cool. Let's talk about the agency experience, overall. Good experience for you?

Haruto Hamada  12:11  
Yes, it is really good.

Evan Franulovich  12:13  
So you want to shout out your agent? What's the name of the agents? 

Haruto Hamada  12:16  
My Japanese agent is Exil. Thank you very much. Yeah, and my home state agent is Abode. 

Evan Franulovich  12:24  
Oh, yeah.

Haruto Hamada  12:25  
Abode, so thank you very much.

Evan Franulovich  12:27  
Yeah, good job. Good job. That's cool. That's awesome. What's been the biggest culture shock though? You know and you speak English really well, you you're kind of international already, so you must have an idea of what to expect, but what has been really, what you didn't expect?

Haruto Hamada  12:44  
Well, that's a difficult question. Let's see.

Evan Franulovich  12:47  
That is a difficult question, right? 

Haruto Hamada  12:50  
Yeah, America was very, I thought people were closer with each other, but in Seattle, it's not like that. I think, like, people are on their own. They have, like, personal space and don't talk to each other so much. It's a cool city.

Evan Franulovich  13:14  
Yeah.

Haruto Hamada  13:15  
Chill. I mean, it's like, not crazy America. Seattle is a really chill place.

Evan Franulovich  13:22  
Right. So actually, I love that feedback. It's a really great observation. I lived in China for four years, and what I learned in China was that they're very community oriented. So like, you go to the parks and they're, you know, guys playing mahjong or cards or women dancing. I mean, there's all these community activities. We don't have that kind of community spirit. Yeah, as much. I haven't been to Japan, so I don't know what it's like in Japan. You have people dancing in the park?

Haruto Hamada  13:53  
That will not happen in Japan. 

Evan Franulovich  13:54  
Okay.

Haruto Hamada  13:57  
Yeah, I like America, and especially Seattle, because the public transportation is really, really good here. I mean.

Evan Franulovich  14:05  
Really good in Seattle. 

Haruto Hamada  14:06  
I thought that it was horrible as a foreigner, like imagining of like America, like New York City. I don't know how those places are, but, I mean, I heard that it's not that good.

Evan Franulovich  14:18  
I mean, I think Seattle is definitely one of the better.

Haruto Hamada  14:21  
Right?

Evan Franulovich  14:21  
I mean, we have so many choices, busses, subways, street cars, water taxis. I mean, so much to get around. You don't really need a car.

Haruto Hamada  14:29  
Yeah, so easy to go around. 

Evan Franulovich  14:31  
Did your host family take you anywhere? Did you go on any special weekend trips?

Haruto Hamada  14:37  
Yesterday, I went to Bainbridge. 

Evan Franulovich  14:39  
Oh, very cool. 

Haruto Hamada  14:40  
It was really fun. I ate some fish and chips there.

Evan Franulovich  14:42  
Nice.

Haruto Hamada  14:43  
Yeah, it was a really good place. And I went to Leavenworth. 

Evan Franulovich  14:47  
Oh, yeah, which is very cool.

Haruto Hamada  14:48  
Yeah, last week, but it was flooding. 

Evan Franulovich  14:50  
Tell everybody what Leavenworth is.

Haruto Hamada  14:52  
Leavenworth is, is it a German?

Evan Franulovich  14:54  
Yeah, it's a German themed.

Haruto Hamada  14:56  
Themed town, and it's a really cozy town. I like it. It's a small town, but they have, like, stores around.

Evan Franulovich  15:02  
So many stores. 

Haruto Hamada  15:03  
I think it's the best season to go, if it's winter, because of the Christmas lights. 

Evan Franulovich  15:08  
So many Christmas lights.

Haruto Hamada  15:10  
So good. I loved it. Yeah, and yeah, it was really cool there. 

Evan Franulovich  15:13  
Yeah, he did allude to the fact that we are experiencing some flooding in Washington right now. Hopefully this rain that we're getting will dissipate a little bit this year tends to be really rainy. I don't know what the deal is. I mean, last I don't remember being this rainy last winter. So this is just an extremely rainy one. You got lucky, but you got here at the beginning of fall. 

Haruto Hamada  15:35  
Yeah, September.

Evan Franulovich  15:36  
Weather was great in September, right?

Haruto Hamada  15:38  
September was really good. It was not that good from like October.

Evan Franulovich  15:42  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  15:43  
Starts to get dark, starts to get wet, and this year is just a little wetter than normal, so unfortunately, there's some flooding, but you were safe. The roads weren't washed out or anything.

Haruto Hamada  15:53  
It's really good. 

Evan Franulovich  15:55  
Leavenworth is a great place to go, if you like rock climbing, there's some really great rock climbing there. There's both granite and sandstone. It's really, really great. Highly recommend that if you're into outdoor activity, lots of hiking. But the town itself is really fun. If you just like to shop and look around, really cool. Well, that's great, but you're leaving when?

Haruto Hamada  16:20  
December 26.

Evan Franulovich  16:22  
The 26th?

Haruto Hamada  16:24  
After Christmas. 

Evan Franulovich  16:25  
So are you gonna spend Christmas with your host family then? 

Haruto Hamada  16:27  
Yeah, I think so, yeah.

Evan Franulovich  16:29  
Okay, because you're on vacation now, right? 

Haruto Hamada  16:31  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  16:32  
School just ended today.

Haruto Hamada  16:34  
I just finished my exam.

Evan Franulovich  16:37  
Cool. How'd it go? 

Haruto Hamada  16:38  
Yeah, it was okay. I think I'm fine, like, got 90% or something. 

Evan Franulovich  16:42  
Oh, yeah, that's good. 

Haruto Hamada  16:43  
I think I'm fine.

Evan Franulovich  16:44  
That's really good.

Haruto Hamada  16:44  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  16:44  
And so you have a little time, you have, what, a week and a half?

Haruto Hamada  16:44  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  16:45  
So what are you going to do?

Haruto Hamada  16:51  
Maybe spend some time with my friends. 

Evan Franulovich  16:54  
Yeah.

Haruto Hamada  16:55  
Here during my last moment. 

Evan Franulovich  16:56  
So are most of your friends domestic students, or are they mostly International students?

Haruto Hamada  17:01  
Some people are international, some people are domestic, and some people are not even in school right now.

Evan Franulovich  17:06  
 Oh, okay. 

Haruto Hamada  17:06  
One is working at Amazon. 

Evan Franulovich  17:08  
Oh.

Haruto Hamada  17:09  
Yeah, my friend.

Evan Franulovich  17:10  
How'd you meet him? 

Haruto Hamada  17:11  
So I play volleyball, and I went to this club here in Seattle. You know, the volleyball club, and I met people there and made a team with my friends.

Evan Franulovich  17:20  
Sweet. 

Haruto Hamada  17:21  
It was really cool.

Evan Franulovich  17:23  
Well, I'm actually glad you said so many great things in this interview. I was not expecting all this great stuff. I get approached a lot by international students, and I'm guessing my other recruiters do as well. They ask about sports, and Seattle Colleges does not have a organized, formal sports program, but a lot of our students like you, they'll join a club.

Haruto Hamada  17:43  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  17:43  
So you like volleyball. 

Haruto Hamada  17:45  
I do. 

Evan Franulovich  17:45  
I coached volleyball. I love volleyball. Yeah, I coached for three years up in Alaska. But, so you came here. How did you find the club for one thing, and then how did you get started in it?

Haruto Hamada  17:57  
I found it before coming here. 

Evan Franulovich  17:59  
Oh, you did?

Haruto Hamada  18:00  
On the website, Seattle Colleges, there was a club. Yeah, it just said volleyball. So I contacted the president, but unfortunately, it was not updated. I didn't get an email from him, and after that, I just got another contact from some the Vice President, and it was okay. So I just got in, went there, and it was fine.

Evan Franulovich  18:28  
Right.

Haruto Hamada  18:28  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  18:29  
Where do you play your games? 

Haruto Hamada  18:31  
We don't actually have games. 

Evan Franulovich  18:33  
No, you don't?

Haruto Hamada  18:34  
Like a tournament. We don't have that. But just play free in the Mac.

Evan Franulovich  18:40  
Oh. So just across the street.

Haruto Hamada  18:43  
Yeah, we do that on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Evan Franulovich  18:47  
Gotcha. What time?

Haruto Hamada  18:49  
To maybe 2pm ish until like four or five.

Evan Franulovich  18:53  
Yeah, I think I've seen you guys down there. I sometimes I run on the indoor track that's upstairs. I don't know if you've seen it or not, but I'll be running around. I'll see people gathering to play volleyball. So if you like volleyball is a really great club. I've talked to other students that are involved in it. So yeah, it's pretty popular. Other clubs that are pretty popular. I know a lot of students get together for badminton. I know a lot of basketball, basketball, football, European football, soccer. Now, speaking of that, you're not going to stick around for World Cup, huh? I mean, Japan's going to be around.

Haruto Hamada  19:24  
I know. Well, I couldn't. So yeah.

Evan Franulovich  19:27  
Are you a football fan? 

Haruto Hamada  19:28  
I am not a big fan.

Evan Franulovich  19:29  
Well, Japan's going to be in it, so we're going to be rooting for Japan. 

Haruto Hamada  19:33  
Thank you.

Evan Franulovich  19:34  
Of course. Anybody, no offense, but I don't want to see France win again. I don't want to see Argentina win again. I want someone new, like Croatia or Belgium or Japan or Senegal, some other country.

Haruto Hamada  19:50  
Of course. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  19:51  
That would be great. All right. Well, that's okay, so you're gonna go home, and as soon as you get home, do you have to go right back to school? Or do you have a little break?

Haruto Hamada  20:00  
I think I have a little break, but I have club activities, which is actually volleyball.

Evan Franulovich  20:04  
Oh you play volleyball in Japan.

Haruto Hamada  20:05  
A little bit more competitively. 

Evan Franulovich  20:07  
Ah.

Haruto Hamada  20:08  
Yeah, I have my activities immediately.

Evan Franulovich  20:11  
You're going to be doing that any, so you must be pretty good volleyball player? 

Haruto Hamada  20:15  
I hope so.

Evan Franulovich  20:17  
Any, any dreams of being on the national team?

Haruto Hamada  20:20  
Not at all.

Evan Franulovich  20:20  
Okay, is there a position you like to play?

Haruto Hamada  20:25  
I like to play right side. 

Evan Franulovich  20:26  
Okay.

Haruto Hamada  20:27  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  20:27  
Cool. Nice volleyball is great. I love it. So you've done volleyball? Have you been involved in anything else, club wise or?

Haruto Hamada  20:35  
Not so much. The only sport I did, like, swimming.

Evan Franulovich  20:39  
Okay.

Haruto Hamada  20:39  
That was, yeah.

Evan Franulovich  20:40  
Where? Because we don't have a pool here at Central. So where do you go to swim? 

Haruto Hamada  20:45  
I don't swim here, like, I was swimming in other countries.

Evan Franulovich  20:49  
Gotcha, very cool. Yeah, if you want to swim, I know there are some pools nearby. 

Haruto Hamada  20:49  
I think there's a community center that has like open pools, right? 

Evan Franulovich  20:56  
Oh.

Haruto Hamada  20:56  
I mean, yeah, they do a lot. These community centers in Seattle are really convenient.

Evan Franulovich  21:01  
Yeah, for sure,.

Haruto Hamada  21:02  
Highly recommended.

Evan Franulovich  21:03  
Yeah, I know some, there's a few like, I know there's a YMCA just up here on the hill that's within walking distance. They might have a pool. Have you been in there? 

Haruto Hamada  21:10  
I have not.

Evan Franulovich  21:11  
Okay, they might have a pool. But check it out. Okay, so you're here for a quarter, you're heading home. You're gonna get back to school after you graduate. What's the plan? I mean, you want to go to university in Japan, you said.

Haruto Hamada  21:15  
Yes, I do. 

Evan Franulovich  21:18  
And what do you want to study, computer science or?

Haruto Hamada  21:27  
well, I'm not a math person.

Evan Franulovich  21:28  
Okay.

Haruto Hamada  21:29  
So I just do computer science for fun, and maybe plus activities ,like, plus education. So I think I'm gonna enter a university with English.

Evan Franulovich  21:39  
Oh, okay.

Haruto Hamada  21:40  
Like, you know, language major or something.

Evan Franulovich  21:43  
Right? With the goal of teaching someday, or do you wanna?

Haruto Hamada  21:47  
My future goal is to get in to a company like Amazon or Microsoft, but that's like tech companies.

Evan Franulovich  21:54  
Right.

Haruto Hamada  21:54  
Eventually you need to do computer science. So that's why I'm here right now.

Evan Franulovich  21:57  
Right. Well, Japan has its fair share of tech companies. 

Haruto Hamada  22:00  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  22:00  
Sony, just as a start, but working for a Japanese tech company. Does that not interest you?

Haruto Hamada  22:07  
Also interesting. But future, for my future, I really want to go around the world. Yeah, other countries, so.

Evan Franulovich  22:15  
Cool.

Haruto Hamada  22:16  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  22:17  
Maybe you start your own companies. Entrepreneurial spirit.

Haruto Hamada  22:22  
Maybe.

Evan Franulovich  22:23  
All right, well, that's cool. So you've been in a class, in an American classroom now. You've been in a classroom in Indonesia, and you obviously you've gone to school in Japan. What have you noticed are the big differences in the way lessons are delivered, say, between America and Japan? Because it's very different, right?

Haruto Hamada  22:47  
It is. Well, I think Japan is more strict in a way. Everyone does the same thing, and they try to stick in the same level. Teachers don't change their teaching methods, like, they do the same thing in a year and with the same approach, and same timing. So some people might not be good at that specific subject or that, what? That.

Evan Franulovich  23:18  
That's all right, take your time, because it is a complicated thing to answer.

Haruto Hamada  23:22  
Yeah, like that. How do you say, index? That little subject inside?

Evan Franulovich  23:34  
Like, a topic?

Haruto Hamada  23:37  
Yeah, I mean topic, like topic of learning. 

Evan Franulovich  23:40  
Okay. 

Haruto Hamada  23:42  
People might, you know, not be able to be that, like catching up with people.

Evan Franulovich  23:49  
Right.

Haruto Hamada  23:49  
But people, the teachers, don't actually stop there. Maybe they just.

Evan Franulovich  23:53  
They just keep going.

Haruto Hamada  23:54  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  23:54  
If you fall behind, too bad.

Haruto Hamada  23:56  
So that happens sometimes. So, yeah, study along and.

Evan Franulovich  24:00  
Right.

Haruto Hamada  24:00  
But here in America, it's like the professors are more personal with the studies. Like, if you ask the professor, they could give you an answer or an advice of that topic. So it's more a good place to learn, if you want to.

Evan Franulovich  24:00  
Hmm.

Haruto Hamada  24:01  
It's more of a learning place than just a graduation or a certificate. So that's what I think is the difference, I guess.

Evan Franulovich  24:30  
Cool. Yeah, no. I think that's pretty, I think, I mean, I don't know. I haven't been in a Japanese classroom, but I know in the US, there's a lot of differentiated instruction, they call it. So students at different levels, the professor or teacher, if it's a high school, they'll kind of change the material to fit that student's, either talents or abilities, so that everybody kind of goes at their pace, kind of.

Haruto Hamada  24:55  
Yeah, that happens, but most of the time not in Japan.

Evan Franulovich  24:31  
It's a little user friendly, I guess, we would say in the U.S.

Haruto Hamada  24:55  
Yes, that was the word I was looking for.

Evan Franulovich  25:05  
I mean, it makes it more challenging for the professors, because sometimes they have to really be creative in the way they deliver the instruction to multiple people. But yeah, that's cool. So you haven't had much time. You're only been here for a quarter, so you haven't had time to go see any other parts of the U.S., have you? Like, you didn't go to California?

Haruto Hamada  25:26  
Not at all.

Evan Franulovich  25:27  
Bummer.

Haruto Hamada  25:28  
 Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  25:29  
Next time. Well, maybe you'll get hooked up with Amazon or something.

Haruto Hamada  25:33  
Yeah, I did. I went to Microsoft and Amazon. 

Evan Franulovich  25:35  
You went to their campuses?

Haruto Hamada  25:37  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  25:38  
Tell us about it, how did you do that?

Haruto Hamada  25:40  
I had a friend. I got a connection from LinkedIn.

Evan Franulovich  25:49  
Okay.

Haruto Hamada  25:50  
I use LinkedIn. So, yeah, a graduate, a student who graduated, like a year ago, from here, Central?

Evan Franulovich  26:00  
Fom Seattle Central. 

Haruto Hamada  26:01  
She was also doing computer science, and she had a friend in Microsoft and like other places. So, yeah, she connected me with them, and I was able to get in. 

Evan Franulovich  26:13  
Cool. 

Haruto Hamada  26:14  
Yeah, it was really cool there.

Evan Franulovich  26:16  
Guys. That's a really great illustration of how to network. So, yeah, sometimes creating opportunities for yourself just from people you may or may not have met before, that's awesome. That's really good idea. I've heard of other people using like Facebook groups, but LinkedIn is a great source as well. Cool and so that was Microsoft, you said?

Haruto Hamada  26:38  
Microsoft and Amazon. 

Evan Franulovich  26:39  
It worked the same way for both?

Haruto Hamada  26:41  
Yep, mostly.

Evan Franulovich  26:42  
So what did you do? Did you go and get a tour? I mean, did you go spend a day with somebody? What did you do?

Haruto Hamada  26:48  
It was a tour for Microsoft. He drove me to Redmond, the campus, the main one.

Evan Franulovich  26:54  
Right.

Haruto Hamada  26:54  
It was huge. It was really big there. He let me go inside Microsoft, and you know, he let me do a tour with him.

Evan Franulovich  27:04  
Like, Would you guys, what did you see? I mean, they actually,

Haruto Hamada  27:08  
Offices.

Evan Franulovich  27:08  
Yeah.

Haruto Hamada  27:10  
The huge restaurants there, for the workers.

Evan Franulovich  27:13  
Did you actually get to talk to employees? 

Haruto Hamada  27:15  
Yeah, I did. 

Evan Franulovich  27:16  
You did?

Haruto Hamada  27:16  
Yeah. It was really cool. 

Evan Franulovich  27:17  
What did they tell you? 

Haruto Hamada  27:19  
In the tech world, it’s common for people not to stick with just one company. Most people are often thinking about shifting companies to find the one they match with best. This was quite unusual for me at first, because in Japan, we typically stay with one company for our whole life.

Evan Franulovich  27:44  
Right.

Haruto Hamada  27:46  
So, yeah, like when getting a new job, they are thinking a lot about their future work-life balance and career path, I guess.

Evan Franulovich  27:55  
Right. Did you meet any Japanese nationals that were working?

Haruto Hamada  28:01  
There was a Japanese woman who was working at the Spheres at Amazon.

Evan Franulovich  28:05  
Oh.

Haruto Hamada  28:06  
Yeah, there was someone there with a Japanese name. So she talked to me, and you know, it was really fun talking with her.

Evan Franulovich  28:14  
That's cool. I've never, actually, I've been to the Microsoft campus. I've never been to Amazon. 

Haruto Hamada  28:19  
Oh, really?

Evan Franulovich  28:20  
 I know. I just haven't, never taken the time to go down there.

Haruto Hamada  28:24  
The Spheres were amazing. It's like a dome office. I think it was essentially like a greenhouse. Inside, there were lots of plants and greenery. It was really humid inside, and a lot of Amazon workers work there and use it as an office, mostly. So there are huge floors with massive desks and chairs everywhere, where you can sit around, open your PC, and work or do a meeting with your team.

Evan Franulovich  29:06  
And that's just downtown? 

Haruto Hamada  29:07  
Yeah, that's downtown.

Evan Franulovich  29:08  
I've never seen it.

Haruto Hamada  29:10  
Really. 

Evan Franulovich  29:10  
Yeah, I know I need to get out more often. That's great that you've done that. So when you went there, did you like spend the whole day, or did you just go down for a couple hours? 

Haruto Hamada  29:19  
It was just for a couple of hours after I finished my class.

Evan Franulovich  29:22  
Okay.

Haruto Hamada  29:23  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  29:23  
That's really cool. And someone just walked you around. Got to meet the one lady. What was your impression then, is it like? Did it feel different than what you were expecting? Or was it pretty much? 

Haruto Hamada  29:37  
Yes.

Evan Franulovich  29:37  
Oh, it did?

Haruto Hamada  29:38  
It did, because I went to Microsoft before Amazon.

Evan Franulovich  29:42  
Okay.

Haruto Hamada  29:42  
And Microsoft is a huge campus, like, actually, it’s like a park-ish style. But Amazon is more like office buildings, like towers and.

Evan Franulovich  29:54  
Right.

Haruto Hamada  29:54  
So it was a different theme. I was thinking that Amazon would also be a little bit more huge, like a big area, but it wasn't so much. So that was a difference for me, I guess.

Evan Franulovich  29:58  
Iteresting.That's good. Did you try to get into any other companies then? Just didn't get the opportunity, or?

Haruto Hamada  30:15  
I couldn't.

Evan Franulovich  30:15  
You cauldn't?

Haruto Hamada  30:16  
Yeah, I wanted to go to a startup company, like those new tech companies.

Evan Franulovich  30:20  
Sure.

Haruto Hamada  30:21  
I couldn't get anyone.

Evan Franulovich  30:23  
Ah, bummer. We have like 40 different AI startups in Seattle.

Haruto Hamada  30:28  
Yeah it's really cool.

Evan Franulovich  30:29  
Yeah, that's cool. And then there's also companies like Starbucks. Did you think about going to a non tech company?

Haruto Hamada  30:35  
Well, of course. I went to the Pike Place for.

Evan Franulovich  30:38  
Of course.

Haruto Hamada  30:39  
For the Starbucks and, yeah, like going around Pike Place, like a tourist area. It was really cool. Yeah, like a week ago I was going there like every day. So I love Pike Place.

Evan Franulovich  30:55  
Pike Place is very cool.

Haruto Hamada  30:56  
It's really cool.

Evan Franulovich  30:57  
When you've come it's one of the great places to start your visit to Seattle, start with Pike Place. Definitely go. I mean, I'm guessing you went to the Space Needle.

Haruto Hamada  31:06  
Oh, well, down, but I couldn't get up. 

Evan Franulovich  31:09  
Oh you did'nt go up?

Haruto Hamada  31:09  
I didn't. 

Evan Franulovich  31:10  
It is kind of expensive.

Haruto Hamada  31:12  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  31:14  
Sometimes if you go at the right time of day, I think you can save a little money or. I don't know, check around. I mean, it is expensive.

Haruto Hamada  31:21  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  31:21  
But it's one of those things you only do once, so it's like, I'll pay the 30 bucks, or 35 bucks. 

Haruto Hamada  31:21  
I should go there.

Evan Franulovich  31:21  
Well, you still have a few days, zip down there. 

Haruto Hamada  31:30  
Yep.

Evan Franulovich  31:31  
That area, by the way, there's also a lot of good restaurants. 

Haruto Hamada  31:34  
Yeah, there is.

Evan Franulovich  31:35  
Other things to see. And then there's some areas where there's like, like the arena is down there where you can go watch the sport. 

Haruto Hamada  31:42  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  31:43  
So check it out. It's really cool. What about the snow? Did you get up to the mountains at all? I know you went to Leavenworth, but.

Haruto Hamada  31:53  
Yeah, there was no snow. 

Evan Franulovich  31:53  
No snow, well yeah.

Haruto Hamada  31:53  
Well, I was planning to go to Mount Baker this week. 

Evan Franulovich  31:54  
Oh yeah.

Haruto Hamada  31:55  
From tomorrow, because of the flood and everything else, I couldn't, so I canceled it. 

Evan Franulovich  32:01  
You can't even get up to the mountain?

Haruto Hamada  32:03  
I think I could, but I just felt it wasn't safe enough, because I'm going back on the 26th. I don't want to get injured. 

Evan Franulovich  32:10  
Okay, sure.

Haruto Hamada  32:11  
So, yeah, I didn't want to take a risk, so I just didn't.

Evan Franulovich  32:14  
And just so you guys know, Mount Baker is a really large volcanic peak just to the north of us, part of the North Cascades National Park. We have three national parks, and that's one of them that's not too far away. So great skiing and snowboarding at Mount Baker. It gets like hundreds of inches of snow every year. I think there's quite a bit of snow up there. They're not open yet, but it's getting. This week it's supposed to be done. 

Haruto Hamada  32:39  
I hope so.

Evan Franulovich  32:40  
Yeah, yeah, me too. Do you ever ski or snowboard in Japan?

Haruto Hamada  32:44  
In Japan, once during a school trip.

Evan Franulovich  32:47  
Yeah. 

Haruto Hamada  32:47  
But that was it.

Evan Franulovich  32:48  
Some great skiing, snowboarding, yeah.

Haruto Hamada  32:50  
In Japan, it's like a huge thing.

Evan Franulovich  32:53  
So I know you play volleyball, but what other things do you? I mean, you must. Are you a gamer? 

Haruto Hamada  32:57  
Not so much.

Evan Franulovich  32:58  
Not so much, interesting. So what do you do in your free spare time then?

Haruto Hamada  33:03  
That's a good question. I actually don't like to make free time. 

Evan Franulovich  33:08  
You don't?

Haruto Hamada  33:09  
Like, well, I like to go around, even though I'm, like, by myself downtown or, like.

Evan Franulovich  33:17  
Cool.

Haruto Hamada  33:17  
UW.  

Evan Franulovich  33:18  
Yeah.

Haruto Hamada  33:19  
Of course, like those areas that have a lot of people. I love to go around places like those. And gathering souvenirs is also a thing for me here. Like, if I'm free, I just go around to Trader Joe's and, you know, look at stuff. It's really fun.

Evan Franulovich  33:33  
So are you taking a suitcase full of stuff back with you or?

Haruto Hamada  33:37  
So I was planning for getting back with two suitcases. That was my plan, but I don't think it will fit, so I'm gonna pay extra because I bought too many souvenirs for sure.

Evan Franulovich  33:53  
Yeah, what airline are you on, when you go home? 

Haruto Hamada  33:55  
(inaudible).

Evan Franulovich  33:55  
Oh, yeah, cool. You hear that. I mean, it's Trivia Time. Boom, boom, boom. We're gonna do two things. We're gonna do getting to know you and we're gonna do Trivia Time. Since we didn't do getting to know you earlier in the episode, we're gonna do it now. So these are two things, you just tell us which one you are more interested in. 

Haruto Hamada  34:15  
Okay.

Evan Franulovich  34:16  
All right. Super easy. First one, coffee or tea?

Haruto Hamada  34:21  
Coffee.

Evan Franulovich  34:22  
Coffee?

Haruto Hamada  34:22  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  34:22  
Kind of surprised you said that. I always think of Japan as being this tea country.

Haruto Hamada  34:26  
Yeah, it is. But after coming here, I became, like a coffee person, I guess.

Evan Franulovich  34:32  
Yeah. Do you have a favorite haunt, favorite cafe that you go to?

Haruto Hamada  34:36  
Yes, I do. The street, street across there's a cafe called Overcast.

Evan Franulovich  34:41  
Oh.

Haruto Hamada  34:41  
They have, like, it's like a doggy friendly cafe, I think. 

Evan Franulovich  34:46  
Really?

Haruto Hamada  34:46  
They have really good coffee there. I love it.

Evan Franulovich  34:49  
Cool. 

Haruto Hamada  34:49  
It's a really chill place.

Evan Franulovich  34:51  
Check out Overcast. I've never been in there, so I might have to go over.

Haruto Hamada  34:54  
Yeah, it's really cool there. 

Evan Franulovich  34:55  
Prices are good?

Haruto Hamada  34:56  
It is, it is .

Evan Franulovich  34:58  
All right, cool. All right. Next one, mountains or beach?

Haruto Hamada  35:02  
Oh, definitely beach.

Evan Franulovich  35:05  
Interesting. So you don't live near any real beaches.

Haruto Hamada  35:10  
Yeah, yeah. In Saitama, it's like an inland place. So I don't see beaches at all.

Evan Franulovich  35:17  
Never?

Haruto Hamada  35:18  
Never.

Evan Franulovich  35:18  
Never fly down to like Okinawa and hang out on the beach?

Haruto Hamada  35:21  
Nope, not at all. So that's why I think I like beaches more.

Evan Franulovich  35:24  
All right, cool. Early Bird or night owl?

Haruto Hamada  35:28  
Oh, night owl. 

Evan Franulovich  35:29  
I figured you'd say.

Haruto Hamada  35:30  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  35:31  
A lot of students are night owls. 

Haruto Hamada  35:33  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  35:33  
Books or movies?

Haruto Hamada  35:35  
Movies.

Evan Franulovich  35:37  
Okay, cool. We're gonna get back to movies in a minute. Texting or phone calls? 

Haruto Hamada  35:41  
Oh, phone calls.

Evan Franulovich  35:42  
Really? 

Haruto Hamada  35:43  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  35:43  
I've been asking this to a lot of students. I'm always shocked at how many you say phone calls, because I just figure younger generation, they're always texting with.

Haruto Hamada  35:51  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  35:51  
That's not really the case. Interesting, cats or dogs?

Haruto Hamada  35:55  
Dogs.

Evan Franulovich  35:56  
Dogs, do you have a dog back home? 

Haruto Hamada  35:57  
No, I don't. I'm just allergic to cats.

Evan Franulovich  36:02  
Well, I have a dog. You might be familiar with. It's a Shiba Inu.

Haruto Hamada  36:05  
Really?

Evan Franulovich  36:06  
Yeah, it's such a great dog. That's Molly. Shout out to Molly. Cute dog. I got that Shiba in China, and then brought it back from China. Somebody kind of let it go. So, yeah, great, great dog. City or country?

Haruto Hamada  36:22  
City.

Evan Franulovich  36:23  
Yeah, all right, adventure or chill at home?

Haruto Hamada  36:28  
Definitely adventure.

Evan Franulovich  36:31  
Summer or winter?

Haruto Hamada  36:33  
Oh, winter.

Evan Franulovich  36:34  
Okay, cooking at home or eating out?

Haruto Hamada  36:37  
Cooking. 

Evan Franulovich  36:38  
Yeah?

Haruto Hamada  36:39  
I love cooking.

Evan Franulovich  36:39  
Really?

Haruto Hamada  36:40  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  36:40  
What's your signature dish? 

Haruto Hamada  36:43  
My signature dish is karage,I guess karage.

Evan Franulovich  36:46  
What is that? 

Haruto Hamada  36:47  
It's a fried, Japanese style fried chicken.

Evan Franulovich  36:49  
What that sounds good.

Haruto Hamada  36:50  
That is good. 

Evan Franulovich  36:52  
I mean, I maybe I've had it so many times I'm given food and I don't know what the heck. I just eat it. And I'm like, I'm an eater, for sure, unfortunately. I mean, cool, good things. All right. Well, the trivia part of the trivia game, I'll ask you five questions if you get them. All right, you're on our wall of fame. If you don't, you'll cry yourself to sleep tonight, or maybe all the way back to Japan, you'll just be crying into your your pillow. All right, the first question is this, you are in the state of Washington in the north west part of the country. The state that's directly south of Washington is which state?

Haruto Hamada  37:28  
Oregon.

Evan Franulovich  37:29  
Oregon. That's right. 

Haruto Hamada  37:30  
Thank you. 

Evan Franulovich  37:31  
Ding, ding. You didn't go to Oregon though? 

Haruto Hamada  37:33  
I was planning to go to Portland on Black Friday, but

Evan Franulovich  37:38  
Oh.

Haruto Hamada  37:38  
I couldn't. It wasn't.

Evan Franulovich  37:41  
Well, you still have time. You could, actually, amtrack. You could catch a train.

Haruto Hamada  37:44  
Yeah, actually, I could do that. 

Evan Franulovich  37:45  
Go down there in the morning, come back the next day. You could, if you were so and it's really not that expensive. It's super cheap. 

Haruto Hamada  37:51  
Oh.

Evan Franulovich  37:51  
Yeah, I think you could probably get a ticket to Portland, if they're not sold out, like for $15-16, one direction. 

Haruto Hamada  37:59  
Oh, I didn't know.

Evan Franulovich  37:59  
If you get lucky. Just depends. Might be $20. It's not that expensive, though. 

Haruto Hamada  38:03  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  38:03  
It's really pretty reasonable. Okay, good job. All right. Question number two, now, baseball culture in Japan and the United States are really big. Yeah, we have had some really popular, well known Japanese players here in the city of Seattle, we have a professional baseball team in Seattle. What is the name of our professional baseball team?

Haruto Hamada  38:26  
The Mariners. 

Evan Franulovich  38:26  
The Mariners.

Haruto Hamada  38:27  
I actually went to the game. 

Evan Franulovich  38:28  
Yeah?

Haruto Hamada  38:28  
I did.

Evan Franulovich  38:29  
And they had a good season. 

Haruto Hamada  38:31  
Yeah, they did. It was really good. 

Evan Franulovich  38:32  
Very cool. Did you get to see anybody you knew that you'd recognize from back home? 

Haruto Hamada  38:37  
Not so much.

Evan Franulovich  38:39  
Cool. All right, good. Question number three, we have three national parks around our city. We already mentioned North Cascades. Can you tell me what the name is, one of the other two?

Haruto Hamada  38:51  
Gosh, national parks. 

Evan Franulovich  38:53  
Yeah, national parks.

Haruto Hamada  38:54  
In the city?

Evan Franulovich  38:56  
They're around, they're outside the city, quite a ways, but you can see them from the city.

Haruto Hamada  39:00  
Is it the one in? Mount Rainier? 

Evan Franulovich  39:03  
Yes. Mount Rainier. Good job. Mount Rainier National Park. It's the big one off to the south east, and then the other one across the water. Like, if you're down at Pikes, you look across the water there. That's the Olympic National Park.

Haruto Hamada  39:16  
Oh yeah.

Evan Franulovich  39:16  
Cool. Good job. All right, you were here for the short-term certificate program, you have to maintain your visa status even if you're here for the short-term certificate program, how many credits do you have to take in order to maintain your visa status? 

Haruto Hamada  39:33  
12?

Evan Franulovich  39:34  
Yes, nice job. You're knocking it out of the park. Good job. All right, last question, probably the most difficult. What was the last movie you saw in the movie theater?

Haruto Hamada  39:47  
In America? 

Evan Franulovich  39:47  
In America.

Haruto Hamada  39:49  
I watched. What was it? Chainsaw man, the Japanese one with my friends. It just came out, too. 

Evan Franulovich  39:59  
Yeah, is it good? 

Haruto Hamada  39:59  
It was really good. 

Evan Franulovich  40:00  
Is it a horror movie?

Haruto Hamada  40:02  
It's a.

Evan Franulovich  40:03  
Big chainsaw.

Haruto Hamada  40:04  
It's an anime. 

Evan Franulovich  40:06  
Oh, it's a anime.

Haruto Hamada  40:08  
A little bit ish.

Evan Franulovich  40:11  
Cool. I didn't know that was playing in the theaters. There's a movie that just came out recently called rental family. Have you heard of it? 

Haruto Hamada  40:19  
I have not.

Evan Franulovich  40:19  
Brendan Fraser's in it. It takes place in Japan. 

Haruto Hamada  40:22  
Oh really?

Evan Franulovich  40:23  
It's this guy who's kind of an out of work actor, and he gets jobs in Japan doing, like, commercials and stuff. He's obviously a white guy living in Japan, and they set him up with these things. But there's a company called rental family, and they rent him out to families to do things. It's really interesting. Lot of cultural stuff in it. I highly recommend it. I think it's really good. 

Haruto Hamada  40:45  
I need to check that out. 

Evan Franulovich  40:45  
Yeah, I'd be interested in your feedback. It's a pretty cool movie. Well, nice job. You're on the wall of fame, something you can put on your resume when you go back home. The wall of fame in Seattle. Awesome. Well, cool. Last two things I do before we say goodbye is, most of our guests here have probably heard Japanese before. We've had a number of Japanese guests already, but they may not have heard your version. So maybe you can just say 15-20 seconds worth of your version of Japanese. Say whatever you like. You know, you can say hi to folks back home. You can give advice to students or encouragement, whatever you think, just keep it clean. 

Haruto Hamada  41:39  
(Speaks Japanese).

Evan Franulovich  41:40  
Cool. Mizue will listen to it and tell me what you said. Last question I always ask our guests, you've been through the process. You did some research. You came to Seattle. You were here. You were a student. Now you're getting ready to go home. If you knew someone back or you know a young person, maybe the parents are thinking about this. What kind of advice would you give them, or what wisdom would you give them?

Haruto Hamada  42:10  
Definitely, if you're going to America, you should go to Seattle. I'll say that's for sure.

Evan Franulovich  42:13  
Seattle's pretty cool.

Haruto Hamada  42:17  
Because it's really safe and it's a really small city.

Evan Franulovich  42:24  
It's pretty small.

Haruto Hamada  42:25  
Yeah, but you could walk around and it's small, but you could learn a lot of things here.

Evan Franulovich  42:30  
For sure.

Haruto Hamada  42:31  
And you could get a lot of experience in Seattle. So highly recommend Seattle. And you know, just do what you on.

Evan Franulovich  42:43  
I like it. Well, the nice thing about Seattle is we're really not too far from Japan. It's the gateway to Asia. So your flights, what about eight hours?

Haruto Hamada  42:51  
Yeah, coming is eight, going back is like 10,.

Evan Franulovich  42:54  
Yeah, why? 

Haruto Hamada  42:55  
Because of the wind, the wind goes the other way. So you need a.

Evan Franulovich  42:59  
So you're fighting the wind the entire way.

Haruto Hamada  43:01  
In the other way. 

Evan Franulovich  43:02  
All right, so eight hours to get here, awesome. Cool. All right, so know what to expect on your flight. That's awesome. Well, I wish you the best.

Haruto Hamada  43:11  
Thank you.

Evan Franulovich  43:12  
I'm actually really interested to hear what happens next for you. 

Haruto Hamada  43:15  
Really.

Evan Franulovich  43:16  
What happens after university, I think you have some exciting times ahead of you. So keep in touch with us. Please. 

Haruto Hamada  43:22  
Thank you very much. 

Evan Franulovich  43:23  
And if you come back to Seattle, of course, we can do another podcast, catch up on your life. That would be very cool. 

Haruto Hamada  43:28  
That'd be cool. 

Evan Franulovich  43:29  
All right, guys, thank you guys for joining us. We're here every Wednesday. You can like, subscribe and share. We're getting close to 100,000 subscribers now, so please tell everybody you know. We want your grandmother, your aunts, your uncles, everybody we want to. We want to break that 100,000 mark. We think it's great information for students that are thinking of coming and thank you again for coming. We appreciate your time. Have a safe trip back and Happy New Year. 

Haruto Hamada  43:59  
Happy New Year. 

Evan Franulovich  44:00  
All right, guys, take care. Bye, bye.

Evan Franulovich  44:05  
Conversations with! is painstakingly crafted for you by the Seattle Colleges International Programs department and supported by the lovely folks here on our campus. This show is produced and edited by me, Evan Franulovich. We welcome your emails and questions about coming to Seattle Colleges. Please reach out to us via our website or just give us a rating and a review on Apple podcasts as this helps others discover the show. Also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube at Seattle Colleges Intl. And be sure to check out all the shows here on Conversations with! Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.