Unlike the Lemony Snicket books, “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” a book about Tom Hyde’s life could be titled “A Succession of Rewarding Experiences.”
From writing and sending letters to foreign countries as a youngster, to taking advantage of numerous opportunities to travel and study abroad, to landing in a career that has immersed him in international issues, it seems Hyde has always been in the right place at the right time.
The 1986 UT Martin alum, longtime owner of a Management Recruiters International franchise, MRJapanese in Murfreesboro, is making sure that future UTMartin students have some of the same travel-study opportunities he had with a gift to UT Martin’s international education studies program.
Hyde is quick to credit UT Martin travel-study trips with many of life’s good fortunes, including meeting his wife, Yukari, having the opportunity to rear their three children to be culturally aware and providing the basis for an interesting and diverse career. He’s also maintained lifelong friendships as a result of his travels.
“When I was about 10 years old, something clicked, and I had a huge interest in what I called ‘things international,’” said Hyde. “I actually wrote to 100 countries around the world asking for information and to trade an attached $1 bill for their local currency. I was getting letters for months.” He also received books and posters that he displayed all over his bedroom in Greenfield, Tenn. “The fire was lit.” He added, “My parents never ventured very far from our area, but they were very supportive of my interest in travel.”
Hyde followed his letter-writing campaign by reading and studying different countries. This interest and preparation led him to Spain, Israel, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong on travel-study trips – some which lasted a full year. Each time, fate, or what Hyde dubs “eerily nice” coincidences, occurred.
Hyde began Spanish – the only foreign language option – as a Greenfield High School freshman. During that year, he met Edmundo Robaina, a Cuban immigrant and UT Martin professor of Spanish. Robaina frequented the Martin grocery store Hyde’s father managed, and Hyde, who helped out in the store, got to know Robaina and his family. Robaina arranged and accompanied students on travel-study trips to Spain, and at the end of Hyde’s freshman year, he was off on a summer trip to study in Spain with the professor.
Having a local university with its culturally diverse faculty and programs continued to intrigue Hyde, who thinks that during the late 1970s and early 1980s, UTMartin was “a pioneer in the whole U.S./Japan relationship development.” UTMartin’s relationship with Japan’s largest private institution, Nihon University, spurred Nihon to bring one of its engineering schools—faculty and students—to campus. “That’s just amazing. It was so far-sighted at that point and so innovative.”
By chance, Hyde helped the UT Martin director of the Nihon engineering program, Eiji Tamai, and his wife, one day while they were shopping in the grocery store. That meeting led Hyde to become the Tamais’ conversation partner. “We literally began a lifelong friendship because of that. I was just 16 years old. Last month, we had dinner in Tokyo.”
As Hyde prepared to leave Greenfield to attend UT Martin, the next part of his international connection began. Hyde’s father, Charles, and the late Dr. John Eisterhold, UT Martin dean of international admissions, were friends. When Eisterhold needed a host family for a Japanese student, Junya Kudo, so he could attend Greenfield High School, the Hydes offered their home. “We had five kids anyway. We were used to having people at the house constantly,” said Hyde.
“They (the Tamais) really got me excited about Asia. Then Junya followed. It looked like Japan was in my future,” he added. Apparently it was.
UTMartin was a sister university to Hirosaki University in Japan, a relationship that continues today. Hyde applied, was selected as an exchange student along with Vicky Peterson, and the two of them spent a year studying in Japan under the wing of Dr. Kiyomi Nishimura. “Neither one of us had had any Japanese. I learned how to use chopsticks on the trip over. I knew a few phrases, but basically, I knew how to say ‘I’m hungry’ and ‘where’s the bathroom?’ I figured everything else would take care of itself.”
While living with the Otsuki family, Hyde took advantage of every possible opportunity to learn the language and culture outside the Hirosaki classrooms. “I didn’t want to sleep without knowing that I had done everything that was available for me to do that day. It took me about six months to get comfortable (speaking Japanese).” His skills were put to the test when then-UT Martin Chancellor Dr. Charles Smith visited Hirosaki. “I think I did a reasonable job interpreting for him,” he said.
“I credit that experience in Hirosaki with basically providing a direction for the rest of my professional career. Had it not been an enjoyable period of time, I don’t think I would have been focused on Japan like I am now.”
Hyde returned to UTMartin the next fall as a sophomore and “. . . I got back and, within a couple of months, I’d already decided to leave again.” As his luck would have it, the Republic of China was offering scholarships via the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. “I applied and received a scholarship to study Mandarin in Taipei . . . the following August.”
Sandwiched between the end of his sophomore year and his junior year planned in Taiwan, Dr. Milton Simmons, UTMartin professor of psychology, invited Hyde to travel to Israel during the summer to study archaeology. “We spent the summer in Israel digging. And the same thing that I had done in Japan, I did in Israel – started learning the language, exploring – trying again to do everything that I could while the sun was up.
“I came home from Israel, washed my clothes and left for Taipei,” he said. “By that time, I was comfortable learning foreign languages. I started Mandarin in September and, by December, I was speaking.”He also immediately fell into the same routine of learning everything he could about his host country. “Again, it was an amazing experience.”
Hyde returned home for two years to finish his degree at UT Martin, but still traveled periodically as an interpreter. “It was kind of an interesting time for a 22-year-old,”he said, remembering asking his marketing professor for an excused absence for a week while he flew to Taipei “for a consulting gig to work as an interpreter.” He added, “I was so completely hooked on the whole international thing at that time. I knew I was headed back to Asia.”
Hyde chose a two-year graduate program at International Christian University in Tokyo. “I actually had planned to take it easy for two years (in graduate school), slow down the pace, do some reading, writing and researching.
“I arrived in Tokyo, the most expensive city in the world, in 1986 with tuition paid, but only $600 in my pocket. I applied for work everywhere I could.” He found employment teaching English conversation through a UT Martin contact, Toshiharu Ninokata. Again, by chance, his future wife, Yukari, a currency dealer, was a student in the class.
About two months into his first year of graduate school, Hyde was notified that he had received a Rotary Foundation Fellowship in Hong Kong. He had applied for the fellowship via videotape while in Tokyo, but had selected a couple of locations in Japan for study. Even though Hong Kong was a surprise, Hyde embraced the idea, but had to figure out a way to get there. He packed the two-year ICU program into one year.
“I’d come home from work and start studying. When the birds would start chirping, I would get ready for class and then sleep on the train from my apartment to school. I had some very generous professors who passed me,” he said, adding that they knew what he was trying to accomplish.
Hyde received a leave of absence from ICU and went to Hong Kong. He fell into his routine, refreshing his Mandarin, learning Cantonese and researching his thesis. “I studied, studied some more and got married along the way.” He then returned to ICU, graduated and decided he didn’t want to study for a long time.
Apparently, being driven to take full advantage of opportunities carried into his professional career. All in all, he studied 10 languages and regularly uses Spanish, Japanese, Chinese and English in his work. For several years, as a small-business owner, he made monthly roundtrips to Asia. Those trips and other business ventures kept him away from home about 25 days of each month.
At the time, the couple had a daughter, Erika, and a son, Alan. When Jim was born, Hyde decided to purchase the MRI franchise and reduce business travel. All three children were born in Japan and spoke Japanese, exclusively, as youngsters. “We knew regardless of what we did or didn’t do, they would learn English on their own. But if we didn’t put an extra amount of effort into teaching them Japanese, they wouldn’t pick it up as easily,” he said. All three also have attended Japanese Saturday School to stay connected to that heritage.
Erika is a Vanderbilt University political science major. She also is studying Chinese politics and has a Chinese roommate. Alan and Jim are high school students, studying Spanish.
“We’re living in a world now that your competition, from a business perspective, is not down the street; it’s on another continent. I’ve tried to raise my kids to learn multiple languages, see the world, make their own decisions.”
That’s what the gift to UT Martin for travel-study is all about. “There are so many people who helped me along the way. This is just a really small gesture to help students. I can’t step away from any part of the life that I have now without acknowledging the huge part UT Martin has played in what I’ve done.”
The Tom and Yukari Hyde Global Scholars Program sets aside up to 10 annual scholarships for students participating in an international Travel-Study Program through the Center for Global Studies and International Education. The scholarships focus mainly on Asia, with a preference given to those students who want to study in Japan.
To the students who take advantage of the Hyde gift, he issues this challenge, “If you’re blessed, give back.” For alumni who have not yet considered a similar gift, he points to the frequent thank-you letters he and Yukari receive. “That’s an amazing letter to receive … to inspire and be able to help the next generation of UT Martin students see the world.”
|
