The weekend before the class orientation week began Hitotsubashi had its bukatsudou shoukai, which roughly translates to club activities introduction. Its basically a chance for incoming freshmen to get to meet members of different clubs and begin to think about which to join. From a club`s point of view this event is very important so they all put in a lot of effort to try and entice the froshies. For example they make huuuuuuuge placards advertising their club and pass out fliers at the gates of both campuses. They also exhibit some of their club`s activities: so the karate club held a few demonstration spars, the dance club had a dance off, the cheerleading club did their thing etc. Its a really busy time for most students but a lot of fun I would imagine.
For those of you who don`t know in Japan there are two types of clubs: bukatsudou and circles. Bukatsudou are really intense and usually have manadatory practice four times a week. Circles on the other hand are more relaxed with two or three practices and you don`t have to go to each and every one. For exchange students joining a club is a great opportunity to meet people and make Japanese friends. If you`re not a sports person never fear, there all sorts of other clubs like ikebana, cooking, MUN etc.
I went to the shoukai with three of my exchange student guy friends, all of whom are extremely tall and buff. As a result the moment we walked into the centre of campus we were literally attacked by all sorts of clubs. The fact that you are a foreigner makes you interesting to most Japanese students, so you are in high demand. Be forewarned however, some of the more traditional clubs may not be too enthusiastic about letting exchange students join for various reasons, one of them being that exchange students are sometimes perceived as slackers when it comes to serious training. In general, if you decide to join a serious bukatsudou just be sure that you are one hundred percent committed (as in you will go to every practice, even the ones during the holidays) or you might annoy your fellow club members.
After the shoukai, the clubs e-mail all the freshmen who signed up and get them to come to nomikai s (drinking gathering, usually at an izakaya) /hanamis (sakura viewing)/preliminary practices etc as a chance to meet all the club members on their turf and get a feel for things. This goes on until May by which time freshman should have made up their minds as to what club to join.
Categories: education · japan · japanese · japanese university · tokyo
The internet in the kaikan has been down since January according to some people, and won`t be up again until the end of April. So much for my glowing report – I knew there had to be a catch somewhere. If you compare this to the technological infrastructures most U.S. schools are equipped with….well. Since most of us living in the kaikan come from places where net usage is like breathing, we`ve all been going to the local internet cafe.
If you have never been to a Japanese internet cafe, every user has their own spacious (private) cubicle. This obviously enables customers to do certain things they wouldn`t normally do in public. I was presented this theory by one of the guys from the kaikan, and me being the naive bunny I am couldn`t believe it. A few days later, another guy friend told me that since he`s pretty tall (6ft+) he can see over the tops of the doors of the cubicles and more often than not, there`s something dubious playing on the screen. Now that I think about it, its no wonder that the guy in charge of the place really scrubs the cubicles down after certain customers leave. One word: eww. While I am not criticising the viewing of such materials…go do that stuff at home fer godsake!!
Categories: japan · japanese · japanese university · people · tokyo
Hitotsubashi has a really neat student organization called ASSIST; as the name suggests they help incoming exchange students with everything from moving in to government paperwork to registering for courses and so on. If I am not mistaken Penn doesn`t have anything like this, or if they do its not as prominent as ASSIST. These guys are really helpful and friendly and more importantly, patient to a fault – I myself can`t stand waiting around at the municipal office for my own paperwork; it must really suck for them. After meeting students on the the day they move in, the ASSIST person assigned provides students with his or her cell phone number, in case they have any questions later on about the university/japan/whatever. For exchange students this is a great opportunity to make Japanese friends, which can be really difficult if you are living with other international students/you`re Japanese isn`t that great. The group is also throwing a welcome party for exchange students in a couple of weeks, which is something to look forward to.
There are lots of organizations/programs like ASSIST that support exchange students and help them get used to Japanese life. One of the bigger ones is Magic Lamp run by a nice old lady called Arai san. This lady is superwoman without the tights. Just yesterday, she came buy with two of her friends with a car load of futons/covers/blankets for the newcomers to the international dorm or kaikan. These things are generally very expensive in the area so Arai san gets the community to donate them to students. You can basically just go to her place and ask for stuff and she will help arrange for it which is ridiculous.
I felt ridiculous when I went over with a group of Thai girls and met with her. When I told her that I`m originally Egyptian she kind of went bonkers on me (in her defence, I`m probably the only Egyptian in Kunitachi at the moment) and asked me to cook for her International Cuisine club sometime. I told her I`d make her some molokheya, a plant that the Japanese, I was surprised to find, also eat. But whereas Arabs eat molokheya as a soup/sauce with rice or bread, the Japanese eat モロヘイヤ as part of a vegetable dish. When her dog sauntered into the room, Arai san was thrilled to point out that her dog is called Cleopatra, because `she is so beautiful`. She expected me to swoon – I did but for a different reason altogether. No offense to her, but by no stretch of the imagination can her dog be considered beautiful. Amazingly, the others didn`t seem to think anything was wrong, so I refrained from making any comment and had a private giggle instead.
After an hour or so of conversation, I arranged for my futons to be delivered and also applied for a Kunitachi host family (I won`t be living with them) to support me during my stay at the suggestion of ex-Hitotsubashi exchange students. Anymore support and they`ll be taking my classes for me. Its great.
Categories: education · japan · japanese · japanese university · people · tokyo
