A Road to Cultural Ambassadorship: From Manga to the Consulate
Markesia Square (Chiba, 2017-2022)
Interviewed by Rashaad Jorden (Yamagata, 2008-2010 & Kochi, 2018-2020)
As a teenager, Markesia Square started to become deeply enamored with a certain form of pop culture. “In high school, when I was thinking about what I wanted to do with my future, I started to think about what gave me joy,” Square said. “Reading manga really gave me joy. It was like my oasis, basically. So, I made the decision in high school … I’m going to be a translator, and I’m going to translate manga into English, so I can give others the opportunity to experience that same sense of immersion and to discover manga for themselves in a similar way as to how I had.”
That interest in the language helped push Square toward a journey that has seen her spend a lot of time in Japan, including five years in the JET Program.
Her time on JET wasn’t her first time living in Japan. Square studied abroad at Kansai Gakuin University for 10 months, an experience that drove her to pursue another go around in the country. “I saw JET as a great way to learn about Japan and Japanese people of various ages,” Square said. “I wanted to be able to learn the nuances of the culture.”
Markesia’s debut on Japanese TV on the show “Why Did You Come to Japan?”
Square was placed in Katsuura, Chiba Prefecture, a place she felt, upon arriving, was in the middle of nowhere, but one with beautiful scenery that was both similar and different to that of her rather flat home state. “It felt like Florida because it had the ocean. But then it was different because I saw mountains — what I consider mountains because everyone was like, ‘Those are big hills,’” Square said.
Square went on to become the talk of the town — in a rather unexpected way. A crew from the show “Why Did You Come to Japan?” approached her while she was jogging one day in an attempt to conduct an interview. “I didn’t want to appear on TV because I knew anyone could come to Katsuura and find me,” Square said, adding she didn’t know if her contract permitted her to appear on TV, and that she had no idea what show the crew was from. “A few weeks later, I received a text from a friend, and they’re like, ‘Markesia, I saw you on TV … You were on Why Did You Come to Japan? … They were running after you. You told them ‘No,” Square said, before revealing the lengths the crew went to pursue her.
Markesia with her dance class members in Katsuura, Chiba.
That wasn’t her only memorable entertainment-related moment on JET. She once danced with AKB48, one of Japan’s most famous pop groups, during a concert in Katsuura and worked with members of her dance class over several weeks to master the moves seen in Ciara’s “Level Up” video. “I jokingly mentioned to my dance teacher that we should do Ciara’s Level Up dance. I played a small portion of the video for her and the others in my class, and asked her what she thought about it,” Square said. “I was actually pretty surprised she went with the idea, since it was completely different from anything that we had been learning thus far. We eventually ended up performing the dance at one of our community recitals, and it was so amazing.”
After JET, she returned to Florida State University — where she obtained two Bachelor’s degrees, one in International Affairs and the other in Japanese — to study for her Master’s in East Asian Languages and Culture. She also worked as a graduate assistant there, teaching Japanese classes while she was also taking courses. “My Japanese was definitely much better than when I had started, but I still never gave up my dream of wanting to get to the super duper fluent level where I could be a translator,” Square said, adding that a Master’s degree could put her in a better position to return to Japan for a teaching position — at a university.
Markesia at Sport’s Day with “Kappy”, Katsuura’s town mascot (a katsuo, a regional specialty item).
Square is now putting her talents to use in several roles, including the Cultural and Educational Advisor at a Japanese consulate in the U.S. and the coordinator for both the MEXT Scholarship and JET Programs. She has spent a lot of time promoting the JET Program throughout the years and imparting what she learned in Japan to students and prospective JET participants in the U.S.
“The JET Program definitely helped me because I have been able to continue to essentially be a bridge between the U.S. and Japan,” Square said, adding she views her current work as a continuation of the cultural exchange that began during her time on JET. “Being a cultural ambassador the other way, I was channeling a lot of the experiences and a lot of the lessons I learned teaching my students in Japan. And I brought those same skills that I gained through the JET Program with me to my classes at the university level.”
About Markesia Square (Chiba, 2017-2022)
Markesia Square participated in the JET Program from 2017 to 2022 in Katsuura City, Chiba Prefecture, where she taught across a wide range of ages, from kindergarten children aged 3–5 through junior high school. During her time as an ALT, she developed a strong foundation in classroom teaching and cross-cultural communication.
After completing the JET Program, she earned her Master of Arts in East Asian Languages and Cultures at Florida State University, where she simultaneously taught Japanese language classes at the university level for two years. Across these experiences, she has dedicated over seven years to cultural exchange and language education.
She currently serves as a Cultural and Educational Affairs Advisor at a Japanese consulate in the US. In this role, she continues her commitment to cultural exchange by coordinating the JET Program, supporting MEXT scholarship initiatives, and leading broader educational outreach efforts. Through these responsibilities, she continues to build on her long-standing commitment to cultural exchange, helping bridge understanding between Japan and the United States while supporting others as they begin their own journeys.
The Senpai Spotlight series features JET alumni from the US who have made successful careers for themselves in various fields—with the goal of inspiring JETs and JET alumni to pursue their own dreams while also offering some words of advice only a senpai could know.
If you, or someone you know, would like to be featured as a Senpai Spotlight, please reach out to us at contact@usjetaa.org.
This edition of Senpai Spotlight was written by Rashaad Jorden, a two-time JET Program ALT (Yamagata, 2008-2010 & Kochi, 2018-2020). During his second JET stint, he was the General Sports Editor for AJET CONNECT Magazine. As working for CONNECT was one of the most enjoyable aspects of his JET experience, he’s eagerly contributing again to a community that he treasures.
