Yuma Nagasaki
19th Ship for World Youth Program (2006) Japan
- Position at the time of participation
- No job (traveler)
- Current status
- Manager, Free Bird Institute Limited (Language School in Fiji)
Brief history
Born in Osaka (Japan)
Graduated from Kobe University
System Engineer of Bank (3 years)
World Journey (2 years)
* 19th Ship for the World Youth
Manager of a Language School in Fiji (Present)
Q. Why did you participate in the SWY program?
(1) Connection
I was sure that it would be my great asset to meet and have discussions with attractive people who have gone through competitive selection processes by the respective governments. I was sure that I can make life time relationships from this encounter.
(2) Sharing my experience to youths
I thought I would have some opportunity to share my experience that I gained through my world journey for 2 years which just finished rightly before the start of the program.
Q. How was your experience? What did you gain?
When I joined the SWY program, I was 29 and one of the oldest participant. The administration may have expected my leadership, but actually I was very overwhelmed by the energy of the young participants. They showed me their leadership instead, and I actually learned a lot from the younger participants.
When I traveled around the world for 2 years (about 80 countries), I was not able to find a country that made me feel like I wanted to live there for life. But the SWY program made me find my destined country in only about 40 days.
The country I found was Fiji, which was one of the participating countries. I got very fascinated by the Fijian ways of thinking and that made me immigrate to Fiji right after completing the program. This outcome was far beyond my expectation.
Q. How did your participation influence your life (career) after SWY?
I selected “Education” as a course-discussion theme and discussed eagerly with participants from a variety of countries. That is why I got more interested in education and I am now in education field. My main jobs are to support overseas students who come to Fiji to study English and manage Fijian teachers.
I work in Fiji for 8 months out of a year, and for the rest of year, I travel, write articles and books, and look after my son. To make the most of my free time in 2013, I joined the 25th SWY program as a facilitator of the “Education” discussion group, and the 40th Ship for the South East Asian Youth Program as an administrative staff. Finally, in 2017, I got a chance to be involved again in the SWY program as a national leader of Japan.
Q. What is your intention and goal of your life?
Although Fiji is a very familiar country to the participants of this program, but generally speaking, Fiji is not so famous among ordinary Japanese. I have been trying my best to let more Japanese know about this very unique country Fiji, by launching a book “Fiji’s Happiness Theory” in 2015 and by uploading some articles on the web media.
I would like to continue working on what I can do so that more and more people will know about Fiji and be attracted to visit the country.
Q. Please write any episode or words that you remember from your SWY experience
[Memorable scene]
When my group members assembled for the first time and introduced ourselves, I was so nervous that despite my intention to give them an impression that I am a sunshiny person, I talked about my most recent heartbreaking news and said, "Recently I broke up with my girlfriend who I went along for 4 years."
In consequence, people became silent, and the warm atmosphere of the group was about to freeze. Suddenly, a female Fijian broke into laughter. That triggered other members to laugh too. Luckily the atmosphere didn’t go worse and we were able to keep the good mood.
After the introduction of all the members, I asked her what made her laugh so much. She answered, "It was not funny at all, but when we are sad, we should laugh about it."
What she said impressed me a lot. At the same time, I was touched to see someone practicing what she said. This was a catalyst that got me interested in Fiji.