When Marina was 12 years old, her parents sent her on a 2-week trip to the British city of Brighton to study English. So the incentive came, she began to study with a tutor (and there weren’t many of them in the 90s).
Marina Chizhova, Krasnoyarsk, Russia / Osaka, Japan
As a result, Marina entered the department of English and Japanese languages at Krasnoyarsk State University in 1999. I wanted to go into journalism, but I decided that knowledge of an exotic language was more unique, especially since I already knew the epistolary genre. Proof of which – Already 3 books written by her.
Already in her 2nd year, she taught English to prominent businessmen of the city, earning about $1000 a month. Very serious money for a student in the Russian outback in the 2000s. Yes and now!
Living in cold Krasnoyarsk seemed like a sad prospect to Marina, and she found a way out: at the age of 19, she took part in a Japanese government competition for Russian students. And she won! Having competed for 40 people per place. And together with a handful of students from all over vast Russia, I went to Osaka in October 2004, to its university, which is among the 50 best in the world.
I studied there for 1 year, majoring in Japanese language and intercultural communication. She was provided with a free hostel and a $1000 scholarship. At the same time, Marina studied at KSU and graduated as an external student with honors.
During her training, Hitachi invited her to work as a translator, where Marina later met her first husband. Hitachi – it is the second largest corporation in Japan. Then the time came for a second husband, two children appeared, as well as two popular books: “The Diary of a Modern Geisha” and “Japan from the inside.” They were preceded by a guide to Japan from the “Around the World” series.
In 2019, Marina created a travel company for discerning clients, GrandTourJapan, which has been working with great success: https www.grandtour-japan.com