Testing, testing....

Some things frustrate me enough to make me reconsider whether living in Japan and raising a family here is a the best idea. One of such things would be Japan's test taking system and rote-memorization education system.

In Japan, it seems like your life is a test; in order to move on in life, you must past a test. A test to get you from elementary school to a good junior high, which is supposed to prepare you for the test to get into a good high school, to prepare you for the test to get into a good college, which is supposed to guide you into a good company, which takes fresh grads with no experience, trains them, and gives them lifetime employment (though this is changing); but this is if you can pass the company test that is part of the entrance interview.

In order to do well on the test, after regular classes are over for the day, almost all students attend extra "cram-school" which specialize in certian subjects like English, mathimatics, and natural sciences, studying 4 or more hours.

According to Wikipedia, "the aim of a cram school is to impart as much information to its students as possible in the shortest period of time. The goal is to enable the students to "parrot," that is, to unthinkingly repeat, information that is deemed necessary for particular examinations. Cram schools are sometimes criticized, as indeed are the education systems in the countries in which they are prevalent, for the lack of training their students receive in critical thinking and analysis." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cram_school)

If you don't pass the University entrance exams the first time around, you either give up and go straight into the working world, or you become a ronin, spending another year studying for the next entrance exams, sometimes 18 hrs a day. And what is college life? Friends, Nomikai, part-time job, Nomikai, maybe study a little, Nomikai, Nomikai, Nomikai~~!

Was there a point in going to school in the first place??? Ryosuke, I salute your courage to buck the system when you were young. All my international student friends, please make good your opportunity for more choices in life.

You may learn good test taking skills, but this method sure doesn't breed broad, free-thinking minds.

Students in Japan never learn writing skills in English; they focus on grammer points (even then, I see so many funny mistakes, I wonder if they really ever learned anything...). I am very interested to know what people learn in other subjects in school... But as far as I can tell, Speech classes or a Critical Thinking class would never be a undergraduate general eduction requirement. (I will look into what those are at Waseda too...) If the companies take care of new employee training, how does your University and school education train you for your future?

I'm trying to think back to my high school days to remember what I learned... I remembered challenging my math teacher that learning sine and cosine was NOT essential to my dream future job of being an art teacher (that dream is a little different now...). But I know I learned a whole lot of how to write; thesis development, organization, quotation, ect. I may not be to easily sit down with a list of new words and just memorize meanings like a human dictionary (**Rraah! Polly wants a cracker! Rraah!**), but I can argue my point (thank you Debate: Politics and Govn't class).

Every student I've talked to about the test taking system agrees they dislike it, but don't know how to change it. Social change is slow in Japan, and when you've had one political party in control for 50 years, that doesn't speed things up either. Then again, Japanese culture stresses not upseting the status quo or open expression of opinion and the educational system doesn't strive to inspire free thought.

When ever I'd imagined "Japanese-ness" I'd thought of fierce samurai spirit or graceful beauty or cutting edge technology. Until maybe this year, wanted to feel like I wanted to"belong" to Japan, that it was better than America; it carried an exotic allure.

It's still alluring, but not quite as exotic.

So, a question to answer in the future: What does it mean to be Japanese? What are the positive and negitive aspects? What have those of 2nd, 3rd, or 4th generation missed out on?

These are some of the issues that I reflect upon, as I consider my long-term possiblities of life here in Japan.

Souviener gifts from dreamed of Okayama

Earlier today, my host father Hitoshi-san returned from a business trip to Okayama prefecture. My host father knew I was interested in Okayama since my boyfriend is from there, so he brought back souvenier gifts, tourist maps, and pamphlets!

Okayama is famous for the Japanese folk tale of Momotaro, the Peach Boy. In the story, super strong Momotaro gives Kibi-dango (buckwheat mochi) to a dog and monkey so they will join his journey to kill a mean Oni (orge-demon). Thus, Kibi-dango is a common souvenier from Okayama. It was pretty tasty, but I think I like the freshly made ones that you can buy in the touristy, old style town Asakusa.

One of the pamphlets that Hitoshi-san brought back was on the traditional style garden in Okayama City, 後楽園　Koraku-en (Later Pleasure Garden）. It looks so beautiful, I can't wait to go! That is... if I can go...

Kochan! Be brave! The depths of my heart tell me that everything will work out, but it depends on you now! I believe in you and trust you completely that you will find the words to say what needs to be said, so please believe in yourself and know that love will carry you past your fears.

A Tale of Old Houses

Well, it certianly has been a while since I posted... I have been writing for my Japanese blog for language practice, but I should use this too to share my viewpoint of my experiences, right? ^_^

After being frustrated with Japan's drinking culture, I was ready to see something different... last Monday 10/9 was a holiday here in Japan (Taikukan, or Sports Day) and a day off of class. Though there was a festival at Takadanobaba near school, I didn't feel like spending the hour and half to get there. (I don't think I've mentioned that before... I live in Kawasaki-shi, kinda far from school... it takes 50 min-1hr 20mins to get to school, depending on if I time the train transfers right.)

So... with my host mother, we went to what is probably my town's only famous feature: Nihon Minkan-en, the Japan Open-Air Folk House Musuem. (Click for the website)

Traditionally styled Japanese homes are know through the world for thier unique architure. (Though I'm not an architure buff, so I don't know really WHAT is so noted...) But nowadays, there are not many craftspeople with the knowledge and skills to recreate such historic style. But thier are still some remaining homes and buildings that have withstood the test of weather, usage, and time. Those that are remaining are considered national treasures, just as the people who still practice the traditional arts of old are considered living national treasures. However, not every owner of these historically valuable homes recognized thier worth, sometimes being negligent in the care of the home. To preserve these irreplacable buildings, in 1965 my city Kawasaki-shi begain to relocate them from all over Japan to the Minka-en (民家園). They currently have 25 buildings, including a family-owned soba-ya (buckwheat noodle restaurant), shrine, and a Kabuki stage, as well as displays of tools and untensils inside the homes and buildings to illustrate the lifestyle of the people who lived in them.

Some houses you can walk almost all the way through, and some you can only look in from the outside. However, because of Japan's hot, humid summers, most of the homes have sliding doors that open to catch an occational breeze.

There was also some cultural demonstrations by voleenters, such as basket and straw shoe weaving (not easy!), traditional cooking methods (pot over a fire), and plays at the Kabuki stage. Of course, since no Japanese museum would be complete without a place to buy snacks and a drink, you can have lunch at the soba-ya (restaurant) and get a drink from the vending machine. (They're everywhere! I think the only place I have NOT seen a vending machine was at a shrine...)

These homes really have an aura of being well-used and well lived in... and died in. I think that I would NOT be able to spend a night in on of these drafty houses... many have a large space between the foundation and the floor and lots of attic space, space where more than just dust bunnies and moths haunt (＞ロ＜；）...... (hehe)

Overall, I think this open air museum is definately worth a visit.

Drinking, Money for Friends

There have been a lot of drinking "Welcome Parties" in the month that I have lived in Japan, and as fun as they can be and as stupid as they are, one thing is for sure; at 2500 yen or $25 each they really lighten the wallet.

It seems that drinking parties are intergral to the social life of the Japanese (university students, business men, housewives and friends), especially the cornocopia of Waseda's clubs and cirles. Although people do meet each other by sharing the same classes, it's more common to try to make friends by joining a club with people who you share a common interest with. But no matter what club or cirlce you're in, eventually they will have a Nomikai (drinking party) to build community spirit.

I see my host parents have a beer or a glass of wine almost every night with dinner. My Ojiisan certianly loves his strong, cold sake. Every night, coming home on the train, I see salarymen (suit and tie company employees) with red cheeks and noses, sometimes even smell it.

Japan is a drinking culture and since my mother doesn't drink much (except for Bob's martini's, right mom? ^_^) I have not been been raised in a social drinking enviroment.

Sure, sharing a drink with your buddies is cool once in a while. But these all-you-can-drink parties, especially in large clubs like Waseda International Club (WIC), border on almost frenzetic, as people try to drink as much as they can to prove thier strength, out drink each other, and make thier entrance fee worth it. But I've seen too many students so drunk they can barely stand....

What pains me is that I feel like unless I go to the nomikai's it's hard to make friends with the people I've been meeting. I call them for lunch or to go out for the weekend, but often they are busy. I joined the Waseda Illumination project which will decorate some of the campus with lights for December, since I love design and would love even more to meet different people not in WIC. I went to an introduction meeting last Thursday and afterwards they were going to have a drinking party to meet the new members. I thought "No, it's a Thursday and I have school tomorrow, I should go home." But I was halfway home when my ambigous feelings flared up, and when I got home I was angry at myself for walking away from a chance to meet people and make friends, later angry at myself for being such an impatient idiot.

They had another info meeting and party on Friday, so I made that my evening. Yes, it was fun and interesting (though I'm getting tired of giving my self-intoduction...), but the food was very average and I didn't drink much, so even though I meet some people, I ended up regretting that I hadn't been pinching my Soseki's tighter...

I think when it comes down to it, you gotta pay to make and have friends. I once hear from a friend that she didn't want to join a soriety to have to pay to have friends and in Japan, I feel the same way. I don't like going to nomikai's to pay for the opportunity to make friends.

I will keep looking for my own way of making friends without paying an arm and a leg. I've been hanging out in the WIC clubroom at lunchtime, I want to join an Aikido club, and I'll be starting a small, part-time job at Waseda's Biligual Writing Lab (the first in Japan! I didn't know they don't have these... but that's another blog).

I'm still looking for my own way... but I know I'll find it. In the meantime, Thank you for the invitation but I think I'll pass on the Nomikai, thank you.

Professors profess, not teach

I have heard two very different viewpoints about Japanese universities and classes. Some people say "Oh, wow, Waseda is a really prostegious university! Attendance is really important and the teachers give a lot of reading, so make sure you plan your study time!" The other view says "Your going to Waseda? Lucky you, Japanese university is a four year vacation, a treat after passing the hellish entrance exam and before entering the mundane work world. Students never study and have huge drinking parties every night!"

I have yet to see which is really true, but I guess that the first is an outsider's view and the second is an insider's view.

But no one has mentioned much about Waseda's level of education or the professor's teaching skill, though I've heard from friends many can barely speak English.

After today's Tranlation Studies class, I'm beginning to question the "prestigiousness" of Waseda.

The professor is Toko-san and from his looks, he can't be older than 30. He usually teachers small 10 people translation classes at the larger, Japanese-speaking literature department of Waseda and does freelance translation work. I also asked him how one becomes a university professor in Japan, and he told me that you just pass an examination to get a license. No formal training.

This is his first time teaching at the SILS branch of Waseda and first time teaching in English. Even if the room hadn't been so hot from the number of people, Toko-san still would have been sweating I'm sure.

So now this young, inexperienced teacher had been assigned to teach a class of 150 students. According to the schedule, we are supposed to turn in 6 translation assignments for our total grade. With no TA to grade translation assignments and no group work, there is no way he has time to read all those papers. Also, he has so important office responsibilites to fufill (I gather that the professors and faculty here often act as staff too), he cannot be in class at the time slot (Tuesdays, 1-2:30). So he has cancelled 2 classes a month, and moved others to Wednesdays at 6:00 pm.

There is no way I want to show up at 6. I want to be home at 7 to have dinner with my host family.

No one seemed to be asking any questions directly about this HUGE issue of schedule change (how Japanese....) so I raised my hand and complained.

And the teacher asks ME how to solve the problem. I'm not the teacher here! This is an issue of responsibility that should be solved between the professor and the university, not the students. Sure, I could think of a good way to teach this class, make it a partially online class, do more group work, more projects. But that's not my job, it's his. Why is he doing office work when he has a class of teach?

Because I don't think he's very good at teaching. He strikes me as a bookwormy guy who is more interested in using students and thier assignments as research for his PhD disertation rather than teaching students how to translate.

I wonder, if this guy is a teacher now, why can't I be a teacher now too?

At least he has lessen the translation load to compensate for class size. And he won't take roll on the 6 pm Wednesday classes. That means the requirements of the class are show up the 6 times we have class on a Tuesday at 1 and hand in 2 translations, your choice.

I feel a little bad for the guy. Obviously he has been handed a situation that he couldn't say no too (very Japanese too... They don't want to say "no" to a troublesome situation for fear of making a bad situation for someone else). But the fact that there is no grading critera and no clear syllabus or any sense of preparation for this class makes me wonder if my home campus San Francisco will count it.

My biggest wonder is the educational standards of Japanese schools... I already know that the methods for teaching English here in schools is horrible; they don't teach any conversation skills, just vocabulary and grammer concepts for taking tests.

If possible, I want to become a teacher who can raise the standards of education and the standards of teacher training.

Remember Beginnings

Recently, I realized I have been writing like an adventure novel; every time is an exciting event, a new place explored, meeting interesting people. But really, in between the exciting bits are times of sad, quiet loneliness.

When I left for Japan, I thought I realized what it meant to leave all my friends behind; to leave the life I had built for 2 years.

Now I do.

It means not having a friend to call up at the last minute to get out of your house and go somewhere. It means when school is done, and you can’t find someone you know to hang out with or a new friend to meet, you are on your own. The friends are there, but you have to find them, like searching for seashells among the sea of life’s rough waves.

The days I have plans with someone were good; something to do, somewhere to be. Even if it was an official school thing, it is ok because I know that I will meet a face I recognize and can socialize. Those days give me purpose, meaning. But the days without a plan or a friend, in an empty house because I woke up late and my host family is at school or work, those are the hard days. On those days, If I let my attitude grow dark, let gloomy thoughts like “This sucks, I have no friends,” or “Every day here is a day without my boyfriend”, if I let myself think that, I can become easily depressed.

On the days without plans and I can’t contact someone to join me, I decide to go out by myself. It’s not something I’m used to, but it’s necessary because I feel lonelier if I stay home. I go to a famous part of Tokyo I don’t know well enough yet, discover what shops and restaurants exist, go people watching, or try to have a conversation with someone. (I met a guy that I played DDR with at a game center in Shibuya on Saturday ^_^)

On the days without plans, I think “Well, maybe I’ll give myself a break today and rest, watch some anime or write my blog.” But I feel I am missing out on my study abroad life by staying home too much. I didn’t come here to Japan to sit in front of a computer and watch anime! I’m here to experience the culture and it’s people that inspired the anime! To fulfill my goal of fluency!

That is another problem I’ve discovered, my purpose in being here. For almost 2 years, I have prepared, no LIVED for this time of my life. All my thoughts about earning and spending money, every time I met a new friend, everything was about studying abroad in Japan, about getting here. I have to get to Japan, come to Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan!

So I’m here.

…Now what?

I never could have anticipated that I would feel purposeless here, with no class until today and too much free time. Japan is a love of my life, land of my dreams (and now, reality)…why have I not been enjoying everyday like a new adventure? Last years visit was like a storybook (albeit the language barrier between me and the friends I stayed with); why am I not enjoying living here as much as I did visiting??? How did I so quickly loose my wonder?

I have to remember, back to 2 years ago, when I was just leaving high school and just starting DVC. I didn’t have any close friends I could meet daily. I talked a lot on the phone to Nick, a high school friend. I came home right after school, studied Japanese like a maniac, and went to my part-time job in the evenings. I worked Friday nights and Saturdays. I watched a lot of anime, alone. I went to anime club, but even now I don’t remember who was there that first semester. I didn’t eat many meals out with friends.

I have to remember how to start a new life. I met some today who said that this is like being a freshman all over again, and she’s right. Starting anew is not easy, but I’m trying my best, and I don’t want to give up. I know I’m good at meeting new people, so I use my confidence to my advantage to make many friends. I have been SO looking forward to my Japan life that my expectations have been high; I am learning not to expect too much too fast, from myself and from others.

So, my new mottos for myself: Enjoy each new day as a new experience. Life is happening in the here and now, so mentally live in that time and place. Life is what you make of it, influenced by life’s circumstances but not governed by them. 難しいけど、ムリじゃない！”It may be difficult, but it’s not impossible!”

Today was the first day of classes and already things have begun to turn for the better. I realize I love the school atmosphere ^_^ I look forward to what I will discover in the continuous flow of the river of life.