ANNA M.
It takes guts. . .
One situation in my life that really took guts was moving to another country. It was very difficult for me because I left my home and everything I knew before. I was scared and didn’t know what will happen next. But I wanted a better life for my family, so I had to do it. It was not easy to start from zero, learn new language and solve many problems.
This experience made me stronger and more confident.
New information I learned about Akisa Fukuzawa
I learned that Akisa Fukuzawa created her own women’s baseball team called Columbus Jet Stream. At first there were only four women, but later the team grew and even became popular in their city.
I also learned that she did everything by herself – she recruited players, coached them, played, and even paid for things. It was very difficult because there were not many opportunities for women in baseball.
Another interesting thing is that many players in her team were working moms with different life problems, and baseball helped them feel better. This shows that baseball was not only a sport, but also emotional support for many women.
Choose some quotations and explain them.
Quote 1: “My mom always told me to be strong.”
I think this means her mom was very important for her. She helped her believe in herself and not give up. This is also important in my life because family support really matters.
Quote 2: “Baseball was not only a game for me.”
For her baseball was something bigger than just a game. It was her passion (IKIGAI) and a big part of her life. I think it is important to have something like this in life.
Quote 3: “I wanted other girls to know they could do it too.”
This means she wanted to inspire other girls and show them that they can also be successful. This is important for me too because I think people should support and motivate each other.
Quote 4 “You can do this.”
This quote shows how the husband supports his wife and believes in her. It is important because it gives her confidence.
Quote 5: “This is for you.” At the end of the film, the husband buys a training field for her. This shows his love and support. It is a very emotional moment. Also, I like this idea: the family supports her together. Her son also believes in her. This shows that family is very important and gives strength.
I think these moments help us understand that support and love can change a person’s life and help them follow their dreams. 
SIDI
How important is it/was it for you to make your parents proud?
Maybe parents feel proud of their children in different ways depending on age. At the beginning, it is usually about school success and good grades. Later, it becomes about work and society. During school, I tried to succeed only to avoid criticism from my parents and comparison with others. I did not really focus on making them proud.
When I was young, I did not pass the exam to enter middle school, and that was a disappointment for them. Then I repeated the year and passed with high grades, and my father was proud. I was happy, but I was not proud of myself because I worked very hard for a short moment of happiness.
Later, I passed the high school entrance exam, but without high grades, even though it was difficult, and my father was not happy with it. With time, the pressure to get high grades became less.
I learned that children are more influenced by their parents’ actions than their words. If parents push their children without being a good example, it can affect how children see them. I think parents should make their children feel proud of them first.
Quotations from the video
“I don’t really have a thing”
This means that the person does not have a clear passion yet.
“If you build it, they will come”
This means that if you create something good, people will come to it.
“Japan was a box, and now YOU’RE a box.”
This means that a person may limit themselves, just like Japan was limited before. In other words, you are now a restriction, just as Japan used to be a restriction. VASILLI
How important is it/was it for you to make your parents proud?
I have always wanted my parents to be proud of me. From a young age, they gave me the freedom to make my own choices, whether it was different activities, my career path, or even the country where I wanted to live. They have always supported me.
At the same time, when I made big changes in my life, I sometimes felt that they were a little worried or disappointed, even if they didn’t show it directly. I believe they simply wanted the best for me.
I am a very empathetic person, so I can easily feel other people’s emotions. Because of that, I was able to understand how they felt, and sometimes I experienced those emotions myself.
As I got older, I started to focus more on my own goals. I still care about making my parents proud, but now it is also important for me to follow my own path and feel happy with my decisions.
It takes guts. . .
One situation in my life that took a lot of courage was when I decided to completely change my career path. I left my previous field and started learning design from the beginning. It was not easy, because many people around me said that I wouldn’t succeed. I felt unsure and sometimes afraid, but I knew that I wanted to follow my passion.
Now I am going through another big change. After moving to the United States, I realized that the job market here is different, so I am adapting and rebuilding my career to fit this new reality. It also took a lot of courage to move to the U.S. I knew it would be difficult, but I still decided to take that step. Before the move, I hoped that everything would go smoothly, even though I had read many stories that said the opposite.
In reality, I spent six months in detention, which was a very stressful and challenging experience. However, I didn’t give up. Now I am free, living in the U.S., and continuing to move forward. This experience taught me that courage is not about having no fear, but about continuing even when things are difficult. SERGEI K.
“Ikigai”
It means a purpose in life. For Akisa, baseball is her ikigai. It was always her dream to play baseball. It makes her happy and gives her energy. It is not easy for her because people do not understand her. But she keeps going and works hard for it. She really wants to follow her dream.
What new information did you learn about Akisa from the supplementary materials?
After watching the video and reading the text, I understood that Akisa is a very strong and determined person. It was always her dream to play baseball. But her parents did not support her. She moved to Ohio alone to follow her dream.
It was hard for her in a new country. People did not always understand her. Even her husband did not always understand her passion for baseball. She worked hard and did not give up. She really loves baseball and it gives her energy. She wanted to create a women’s team and follow her dream together with them. She is kind and wants to support others.
I think Akisa is a very inspiring person. Her story shows me that I should not give up.
NAN
How important was it for you to make your parents proud?
When I was a child, I would study hard and receive certificates as many as I could. That made my parents feel proud of me when they talked to other parents talk about their children together. In the eyes of other parents, I’m basically the model “good kid”.
Doing homework immediately as soon as I got home from school.
Never ask parents for pocket money.
Be extremely obedient.
Rarely argue with parents.
I was the so-called good kid that everyone talked about. At that moment, it seemed that I was really enjoying all the praise.
As I grew up, I gradually realized that my life lacked self-awareness. I seemed like a puppet in my parents’ hands. They requested me to do this. That meant I would never do that. That time, I suddenly realized that I should be the owner of myself. I began to think about myself.
I cut my long hair and even dyed it purple.
I got a small tattoo that I never dared to imagine before.
Those behaviors exactly shocked my parents greatly. I thought that during those days they might be upset and be worried about me.
However to be honest, I felt happier than ever before. What really made them nervous was that I began to think about quitting my stable job, but what surprised me was that they didn’t completely block me. Instead , they started to learn to respect my opinion. Finally, through my efforts, I did get a better job that made my parents much prouder of me. YEN-TING
It takes guts. . .
I think my biggest and most courageous thing was that I got married and moved from Taiwan to New York. Before that, I was a clinical psychologist, and I really loved doing my job. However, I decided to leave my career and my comfort zone.
Here, everything is all new to me in a different country. It was not easy, and I felt like a baby when I do anything there. Still I feel proud of myself, because leaving a career and starting from zero is always hard.
Yoshiko and her husband talk about their commitments which (in her opinion) are all about HIS family – She says “none of this is mine.” Is that the type of relationship you have in your life?
I can understand Yoshiko thinking about this relationship. I think maybe it is the influence of Asian culture. When you get married, you became a part of your husband’s family. You are expected to get involved with them. However, that would be difficult, because sometimes they do not accept you as part of their family.
I think if you and your husband are from different families, you need to be more patient and respectful of each other, and you need to build your own new values and relationship in your new home. CELI
How important is it/was it for you to make your parents proud?
I’m an industrial engineer with a master’s degree in finance; I feel that, in terms of my education, I did make my parents proud. Currently, however, I am not working in my field. My father paid for my education, yet he has never reproached me for not working in my field; in fact, he often tells me that he is proud of the daughter I have become.
I feel that the one area where my parents are not proud of me stems from the fact that they attend an evangelical church. From the time I was born, I always went to church with my parents, but at the age of 21, I left the church, a decision my parents were not very happy about. Today I’m 30 years old, and my mother still asks me: “Celi, when are you going to go back to church?”
Making my parents proud has always been important to me because I value their sacrifices and support. ABDOU
How important is it/was it for you to make your parents proud?
In the documents studied, Akisa Fukuzawa explains that in Japan, her parents had a specific plan for her: to attend a top university, get a great job, and find a husband. When she chose to follow her passion for baseball by moving to the United States, her father stopped speaking to her and her mother remained very critical. For Akisa, it was difficult to satisfy them because their expectations did not align with her dreams.
My personal experience relates to this theme of perseverance in the face of social expectations. After my Bachelor’s in Mathematics in 2013, those around me doubted my abilities. Coming from a modest family, I did not have the means to go abroad immediately, and I had to teach in secondary school for three years. In 2016, when I decided to try my luck at the University of Dakar, some told me I would never be admitted because the academic level in Senegal was considered superior to that of Guinea.
Unlike Akisa’s parents who opposed her choices, my father was my greatest support. He told me: “In life, you must have good ideas and persevere to achieve them.” Thanks to his encouragement, I passed the admission tests. The day I received my acceptance, I promised my father that I would go to study in France a year later. I kept that promise: after my first year of a Master’s degree, I was accepted at the universities of Versailles and Evry. Despite financial difficulties, I obtained my visa and was able to reach Paris to continue my studies.
Just like Akisa, who eventually founded her own league despite her mother’s skepticism, I learned that the importance of making parents proud sometimes lies in the strength drawn from their support (as with my father) or in the will to prove one’s worth despite doubts (as Akisa did). As I got older, I realized that perseverance is the key to transforming a personal ambition into a success that the family can be proud of. RUIPING
Quotations from the video
It’s cool that YOU have a thing. I don’t really have a thing.
This quotation comes from Akisa’s son, which shows that Akisa had a passion for building a baseball team for women players. This is something our society needs, and she truly loved doing it, not for money. However, her son did not have the same kind of desire.
I think this is important for me as well. It is a luxury to have something you are truly passionate about. I am still looking for it, and I believe it is never too late to start. Once we find it, life becomes more meaningful.
Japan was a box, and now YOU’RE a box.
This means that in Japan, her parents didn’t support what she wanted to do. They hoped she would live a “normal” life, going to school and getting a high-paying job, regardless of whether it was what she truly wanted. Now, her husband is doing the same thing. He wants her to work as an accountant to earn money and doesn’t care about her dream of building baseball team.
It takes guts. . .
Recently, I had the courage to join a meetup. I was very hesitant to join a badminton meetup because I am not good at English and was afraid that I might not understand others when they talked to me, which could make the atmosphere awkward. Even though I had known about the meetup for two months, I didn’t go until my friend asked me to exercise together. I finally got the courage to join the meetup with her.
Over there, I played badminton with different people and had small talks with locals during breaks. I got to know some good restaurants and gained more than I expected. It was really worth it! JOSÉ
How important is it/was it for you to make your parents proud?
I never really tried to make anyone proud. All along, I was trying to make myself happy and proud. As I grew up, my goals were clear, and I always focused on obtaining and achieving whatever I thought I wanted or needed. EVGENY
Baseball is the most popular sport in Japan (with soccer in second place). It’s especially widespread in schools. The premier baseball competition is the National High School Baseball Championship. Japan also has more than 100 women’s baseball teams. That makes Akisa’s passion for baseball easier to understand than it may have appeared in the film.
She actually created her first team while still in Japan. Because university programs in sports administration are more developed in the U.S., she enrolled at Ohio University. Today Akisa leads the women’s baseball team Cherry Bombs. As in the film, she built this team largely through her own resources and effort.
The article argues that, in practice, women were barred from baseball in the U.S. from 1931 to 1993, with many girls redirected into softball instead. Akisa studies gender barriers in sports at the university, particularly misogyny (discrimination against women) in baseball. BRUNO
How important is it/was it for you to make your parents proud?
It is important to me because I want to give them back a little of what they gave me, though now that I am older, I seek for them to feel proud of who I truly am, rather than of what others expect. After all, my happiness is the best way for them to feel at ease and proud of the path I have chosen.
They felt proud when I moved to a new city, managed to make it on my own and became stable. The time they didn’t feel proud was when I neglected some responsibilities to go out with friends breaking their trust.
It takes guts. . .
Much like Akisa who had the guts to carve out her own space in a world not designed for her, I moved to New York alone two years ago. I did so while shouldering every role in my own life — finances, logistics, and emotional resilience and, having conquered the solitude of the metropolis, I felt the empowerment of someone who no longer waits for opportunities, but builds them instead. MARIA K.
It takes guts. . .
When I was 25 I had a situation that took guts.
I worked in a big gas and oil company in the north of Russia (Nizhnevartovsk). I got a chance to move to Moscow for a new position by internal transfer in the company. It was my big dream because Moscow is the capital and a very beautiful city. I wanted to live there, but I had nobody in Moscow. It was scary to move and live alone. I didn’t know if I could do everything by myself, but also I felt very excited.
I took a risk and moved. I worked a lot and everything was good. In the end, I worked in this company for 12 years, I had two awards for my contribution to the company. I felt very happy and in the right place, and I bought my own apartment in Moscow. It was my second dream! Later I met my husband in Moscow, moved to the UK because he lived there at that time, and then we moved to the USA together.
I’m thankful to myself for this courage. If I didn’t do it, maybe I would still live in a small town and not have everything I have now. I’m happy and try to follow my heart even if it needs guts and risk!! OLEG
It takes guts. . .
I also had a situation that took guts. When I came to America, I was scared but I started a new life. I felt nervous at first, but after some time, I felt proud of myself. I did it step by step and now I feel stronger.
“Ikigai”
Ikigai means reason to wake up in the morning. It is something you love to do. For me, ikigai is to learn new things and work hard. It gives me energy every day. I think it is important to have ikigai in life. YULIANA
How important is it/was it for you to make your parents proud?
It may seem strange, but I never tried to do anything simply to make others proud of me. Perhaps that is because, when you are loved unconditionally, you don’t need to.
In my daughter’s case, I was always proud of her when she was little, because she participated in so many competitions—and always won. Now she has grown up, and what I would like from her does not align with her own desires. And so, thinking back to my own parents, I find that I am proud of her not because of her achievements, but simply because she is a genuine and kind human being.