ABSTRACT
This chapter presents ethnographic case studies of short-term study abroad participants in Japan and discusses their detailed processes of socialization over the program period. The chapter focuses on three individuals who could be seen as ‘loners’ based on their interpersonal behaviors yet whose actual socialization processes were distinct and unique. The chapter highlights the focal participants’ initial motivation for study abroad and their orientations in interpersonal relationships, changes in their perspectives in the middle of the program, and their interpretations of the outcome of study abroad, based on their responses from semi-structured interviews. Their behaviors through participant observations, activity logs, and recordings of interaction were also analyzed in terms of how their perspectives could be interpreted in regards with their actions or vice versa. Their socialization processes were affected by a multitude of elements, including individual orientations, network positioning, and environmental factors.
