I arrived at the Kansai International Airport on August 31, 2005. I was the last of all of the trainees to arrive. It made me happy to set foot in Japan.

At the beginning, there were many things that surprised me about Japan, as the culture was so different from that of Indonesia. For example, there are big public baths for men. In Indonesia we always bathe alone.

I spent the first three months of the training period learning Japanese and Japanese sign language. At the beginning I did not understand them at all but I gradually improved. Japanese grammar is difficult, but interesting. I was very happy to be able to read and write Japanese. I would like to continue studying Japanese.

I often came across new sign language when I was communicating with Japanese deaf people. I observed their sign language carefully, understood them and acquired new vocabularies.

I spent the Japanese New Year at the home of Mr. Takashima, in Sapporo. There were four people in his family; himself, his spouse and their two daughters.

It was extremely cold in Sapporo and there was a lot of snow. Every morning I helped the family sweep the snow. It was such hard work but it was also a great experience. They also took me to skiing. I had never skied before and I fell over a lot. After much practice, I eventually managed to ski.

Mr. Takashima told me a lot about the activities for and by deaf people, and gave me advice about my individual training. We had many other exchanges. Mr. Takashima was like a Japanese father to me. Even after the home-stay we chatted a lot online. I wanted to see them again so during Golden Week I revisited Sapporo, and I learnt more about deaf peoples’ activities. I also traveled with them. They were very memorable experiences for me.

In January, I went skiing in Niigata with the other trainees. I managed to ski well because of my previous skiing experience in Sapporo. We skied for two days, even though we had little visibility on the first day due to heavy snow. On the second day we were blessed with good weather and perfect visibility. The natural scenery was great and I felt wonderful.

Accessibility to information is so important for deaf people. In order to obtain information, it is essential to promote sign language as a communication tool, have more sign language interpreters and make more text available by way of various media including subtitles on TV. However, in Indonesia, it is hard for deaf people to access information. For example, even though Indonesia has five times as much land as Japan, there was only one sign language interpreters in the whole country. There is no standardized sign language either—each region has its own sign language.

I took the individual training to improve information accessibility in Indonesia. Since I am a badminton player, I also learnt about sports for persons with disabilities.

The organizations of the deaf need to have strength if they wanted to promote accessibility to information. There is the Indonesian Association for the Welfare of the Deaf in my country, but they do not have enough strength as an organization to promote sufficient activities to meet for the needs of the deaf in Indonesia. I wanted to learn from Japanese organizations of the deaf, as they have a lot of knowledge and experience that could be used to help strengthen the Indonesian Association for the Welfare of the Deaf. Japanese organizations of the deaf have special sections and committee that can quickly and promptly put necessary activities into action. The best thing about them is that they have a strong network. For example, the organizations of the deaf in Kyoto and Osaka exchange information and their different committee communicate with each other to work in collaboration. If such effort is put into an organization to make it more systematic, I felt the Indonesian Association for the Welfare of the Deaf could be a much more powerful organization.

In order to maximize the impact of the organization of the deaf within a society, it is also important that the general population have a raised level of awareness and understanding of the challenges faced by the deaf. In Japan, the National Congress of the Deaf meets once every year, and a large number of people gather at the congress from all over Japan while in Indonesia, there is a National Board Meeting held only once every four years. There were approximately 3,000 participants in the National Congress of the Deaf, but it was not just the board members who took part: there were the deaf and people without disabilities from the public as well as mere observers. I felt that this wide range of participants helped in promoting understanding of the deaf and sign language. In the future, I would like to host an Indonesian National Congress for the Deaf.

Communication between the deaf from all over Japan is very easy because Japan has developed a standardized, common sign language. However, in Indonesia, the deaf have a hard time communicating because each region has different sign languages. It would be ideal to have a standardized sign language even though it will be difficult to achieve quickly as Indonesia is composed of so many islands. Nevertheless, we will keep trying. I would like to produce books and enlighten people via television and newspapers to promote the standard sign language. However, because regional sign languages are just as important as the standard sign language: ,I would like to create regional sign language books. I would like to treasure each region’s original sign language, while finding ways to promote communication amongst deaf people within and between the different regions of Indonesia.

It was a surprise for me that there were so many sign language interpreters in Japan. The deaf can obtain a lot of information if there are interpreters. I could also participate in many lectures and conferences in Japan. I feel the strong need to train and develop more sign language interpreters in Indonesia. It would be ideal if there were interpreters for standardized sign language, but until that happens, I would like to help develop sign language interpreters for regional sign languages.

I am a badminton player. I participated in many badminton sessions and matches for the deaf in Japan. Japanese players are good and have great techniques. There are also many competitions. There are many good players in Indonesia but there are not as many competitions. In Indonesia, the National Sports Games for People with Disabilities is held once every four years, but it is annually in Japan. Japan also has many sports associations of the deaf, whereas Indonesia has none. If there were more competitions, players could brush up their skills. If there were sports associations, players could enjoy the sports in a stable environment.

I experienced a lot of changes in myself after the training period in Japan. For example, in Indonesia, I communicated with people vocally rather than via sign language. Now the sign language has become the most important communication tool for me. I also obtained a lot of knowledge and experiences. I used to just sit and listen in conferences or lectures, but now I am more active and ask questions.

The Duskin training was very good; I went to many training centers and studied many things. I also made many friends. Thank you so much to everyone at the Duskin Ainowa Foundation and JSPRD. I will do my best to put everything I learnt into practice in Indonesia.