Even though rural Northwest Tennessee is mostly made up of American-born English speakers, the University of Tennessee at Martin has welcomed an unfamiliar face to its campus and community, who will gladly greet any passerby with a “hello” or a “はいさい” [hai-sai].

Erina Toyama [とうやま・えりな] is a coordinator for the Japanese Outreach Initiative (J.O.I.) who will stay on campus from fall 2025 until the summer of 2027.

J.O.I. is a program that promotes cultural exchange between American students and Japanese citizens, being funded by the Japan Foundation and the Laurasian Institute for the past 25 years.

UT Martin Japanese professor Kyoko Hammond is the faculty member who originally proposed that the campus host a J.O.I. coordinator; she believed the growing foreign language program could benefit from one.

“I met three J.O.I coordinators in the past, and they all did a fantastic job with my students and in this community,” Hammond said. “So I wanted to actually invite one, you know, so that person can have all these cultural events much more often with my students and also in this community.”

Before becoming Martin’s J.O.I. coordinator, Toyama graduated from the University of Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan, with a degree in English culture and literature in 2024. During her time in college, Toyama worked abroad in China. After experiencing all the vast cultural differences between China and her native home in Japan, Toyama felt inspired to apply for a J.O.I. coordinator position.

“I felt that experience is really useful for me to making my own way, like, what kind job that I wanted…[and] what kind of life I desire. And then after I got this experiences, life experience in China, I decided…now is the time to give some more opportunity for the other people who have never experienced in different cultures,” said Toyama.

Toyama is specifically from Okinawa, one of the small, southern islands of Japan, which has a very unique culture and dialect of its own. For instance, instead of greeting others with the typical “こんにちは” [konnichiwa], the people of Okinawa greet one another with “はいさい” [hai-sai], which also means “hello.”

Toyama realizes that not many J.O.I. coordinators come from her home island, which inspired her to spread its little-known culture.

“That is one of the reason[s] why I [am a] J.O.I. coordinator,” she said. “I want to let them a chance to realize what is special for [them in their] culture. So that’s the kind of feeling that I wanted to bring from the Okinawan culture.”

While she had traveled to numerous countries, including New Zealand, South Korea, Mongolia and Thailand, Toyama had never set foot on American soil until she took her position.

When she first arrived in Martin, Toyama took a liking to the small town, but wished she could have experienced it during the day.

“All [the] downtown shops were closed already. [It was] still really pretty. I feel like it’s [a] really nice town,” she said.

As expected, she was welcomed firmly by Hammond, which led to her first real interaction with a native English-speaking American: Kyoko’s husband, German professor Charles Hammond.

“He was nice. He [gave] me some instruction to live in Martin here. Like what kind of people [are] here? What kind of culture [is] here? Yeah, it was so interesting,” she said.

So far, Toyama has enjoyed her first trip to America, witnessing its rich culture of the local farmer’s markets and its unique celebrations, such as the very recent UT Martin homecoming week.

“I really like the atmosphere at the farmer’s market. Children come to me and talk to me. When I [see] they feel happy, I’m also feeling happy,” she said.

At each farmer’s market, Toyama sets up a table where she can interact with the local Southerners. This has allowed her to share Japanese crafts with the children, such as origami [おりがみ] and kendama [けんだま].

Toyama was able to draw connections between homecoming and some traditions back in Japan, but was still pleasantly surprised by the “lip sync” and the “pyramid.”

“We have those kind[s] of school festival[s] in Japan too, but the…Americans like presentation,” she said. “Those kind of things [were] nice and I enjoyed [them] a lot.”

Despite her enjoyment of the country, Toyama is also aware of the negative experiences that she had never considered when she lived in Japan.

“Many people mentioned…[that] you shouldn’t go outside like randomly after 8 p.m. or 10 p.m. But in Japan, it’s not like that. Like, I… never paid attention to those kind of security things,” she said.

She has always been accustomed to late-night stargazing with her family, but the Americans helped her realize that it is not always the safest decision to go outside that late.

At UT Martin, Toyama has organized numerous fun events for her students, including the “Japanese Drama Time” meetings at 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and the “Hatake Club” meetings on Thursdays at 4 p.m. She wants to educate American students and herself about the differing cultures and their distinct habits and vocabulary, so she thought it best she do so by watching Japanese dramas and playing Japanese games for proper cultural exchange.

“Every session I try to bring some, like games or movies or pictures from Japanese social media…and then let them have experiences,” she said.

Japanese Life and Culture Club (JLCC) president Matthew Lannom, a senior accounting major from Bradford, has had many memorable experiences with Toyama thus far.

“Ever since Erina-san has gotten here, I think things…have gotten better as far as the program goes, because she brings a lot of energy and life to it. And I just kind of hope that that’ll just…keep on going,” he said. “And that even after she’s gone, that she will have made like a lasting impact and really improved the Japanese program [and] UT Martin as a whole, which I think she will.”

Martin will be Toyama’s home until summer 2027 arrives, and she encourages students to visit her in her office in room 130A of the Humanities building. She hopes that students will choose to experience other cultures, just as she has.

“When you get [older] and you have kids and a family, it’s really hard to take a risk, but now you can do everything. It makes you strong. So it will be, even it’s a really [hard] thing or sad thing, it will help you in the future. So take risk[s] [and] enjoy the cultural differences.”