UNAIR NEWS – Ronintya Ikaputeri has loved everything which has Japanese flavor since she was in High School. So it was just natural that that she chose Japanese Literature Department at Universitas Airlangga. Supported by her passion, Puteri always got good Grade Point Average (IPK). In fact, she admitted she didn’t have any special tips to get excellent IPK that took her to snatch the title of best graduate with IPK 3.89.

“I studied the night before the test, I practice my kanji and in terms of grammar I always read and memorize it, so that I won’t forget,” said Puteri.

She had her own method of learning. One of them was by watching lots of Japanese drama. She used her hobby to learn. From the dramas she watched, Puteri knew new vocabularies.

“So, when you’re watching drama don’t just focus on the handsome actors, but also learn sentence patterns in the conversation. Then, when watching Japanese TV broadcast, usually you can see Japanese writings on it. I memorize the kanji from it,” she explained.

For her, being excellent in Japanese was not an overnight success. Difficulties were abundant. For example, she found it hard to find what to research when writing her final paper, and she was muddled. In the middle of her topsy-turvy world she decided to watch a Japanese drama entitled “Dokushin Kizoku” to relax. Unexpectedly, she got an inspiration to write her thesis about Hikonka phenomena (un-married people), the actor’s case in the drama.

“I bumped into the drama unexpectedly. After watching it until the last episode, I realized I could use it for my final paper. Fortunately, it connected too with my passion in culture. Automatically I also studied about Japanese social life, and right now there are a lot of social problems in Japan, one of which is the hikonka phenomena,” explained Puteri.

In the end, all her hard work during college was paid by winning best graduate for the graduation period of December 2016. Puteri hoped after finishing her study she could get a job in accordance to her specialty.

“I dreamt of having a job that has Japanese taste in it – a Japanese teacher or work in a Japanese company. Furthermore, I like travelling. When I have a job later, I’m going to save so that I can travel around the world,” she said. (*)

Author: Fafa Hariani

Editor: Nuri Hermawan