Black Belt Web Sensei at Lyndon

Lyndon State College's webmaster, Takuya Shimamura studied martial arts while going to college in Japan and is a third degree black belt.

Shimamura occasionally travels to Boston to continue his study in Shorinji Kempo, a style of karate.

"There isn't much opportunity for that around here, which is why I was going to Boston."

When asked if he was looking for competition around the college, Shimamura laughed, encouraging others to pick it up and learn some new skills.

Shimamura was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. After graduating from college he moved to the United States at the age of 23, and studied exercise science at Keene State College in New Hampshire, eventually obtaining a degree. The difference in how colleges are run in America and Japan was a difficult thing for him to grasp initially.

"Getting into college in Japan is really tough. You have to study like two or three years just for the testing to get accepted. After you get in things are easy. When I started going to college here, I was surprised by how many papers I had to do, how hard I had to work."

Shimamura fell into the role of webmaster at LSC after taking a computer class at Keene. As he continues to develop LSC's website, his job continues to develop and grow as well.

"I took a computer class at Keene, and I liked it, but it was kind of boring. I started studying it myself on the side. The job (at LSC) started as maintaining the website; it grew into developing the website itself. For the past four or five years I've been a part of the marketing strategy here at the college, sending out email campaigns and monitoring the college's Facebook page. I also work on developing services for current students and prospective students."

One of the appealing things about America to Shimamura is the opportunity for work. Jumping from one career to another in Japan is a difficult thing to do.

"In Japan, after you pass age thirty or so switching a job is very hard. Once you get in a company, people tend to be there for a long time. When I lived in Japan, I had to put my date of birth on my resume so the employer could search by age. This was legal when I lived in Japan, it isn't now. But some (companies) still have a sense of when you pass age 35, the company just won't hire you. But here, there are far more opportunities."

Cultural differences can make it difficult for Japanese people to integrate into American society. This was not the case for Shimamura. "I think some Japanese people get depressed because of the cultural difference. The people are different, the food is different, but I didn't really have any cultural shock when I came to America."

Shimamura is married and has two daughters, ages three and five, who go to school in town. He enjoys reading non-fiction books on his Kindle, listening to music, and taking walks. He can often be found at the McDonald's in town on his computer. "McDonald's has Wi-fi," he said. "I need noise. I can't work in a quiet station. When I go to McDonald's, I work faster. A lot of different people walk in, and it gives me the chance to do some people watching."