School
My first week at ICU was spent in various orientation activities. For those of you who didn't know, the "normal" school year in Japan begins in April, so here at ICU there's a whole other category called "September students." Actually, there's a whole lot of categorization going on here: April students, regular students, September students, one-year regulars, kenkyusei (that's me), transfers, exchange, etc. Well as you can imagine, most of the September students are international, so all of my time the first few days was spent interacting with other people like me.
Actually, the only way they were like me is that they were foreigners (gaikokujin, gaijin), which doesn't mean I was instantly comfortable with them or eager to make friends. Most of them are still in college and therefore younger than me, plus we're here for, I think, fairly different reasons. Whereas I want to visit various places in Tokyo to witness how Japanese youth behave and interact and perceive their world, the other students want to go to Harajuku and Shibuya to shop and take pictures of Ganguro and Gothic Lolita. So while we all approach our surroundings as outsiders, I'm just not terribly interested in gallavanting around town with them as tourists. Plus, I think I perceive my time here as just beginning, settling in, *living* here, whereas I think they feel much more transient.
Unfortunately, because we're grouped together as September students, as Japanese language students, as international students, most of my interaction is only with fellow foreigners. I've emailed a student singing group and the university glee club, in the hopes of joining an organization for pleasure and in order to meet Japanese students, but I haven't heard back from anyone. Clearly, witnessing all the dorm initiation activities happening on campus right now, living off campus also somewhat impedes my integration. I'm actually not too upset about this, as I'm not really interested in another undergraduate college experience. Mostly I want to read and work, but "friends" would be helpful, if only to improve my Japanese.
There's more to it, I think, than how we approach Japan though. I know I was spoiled by Princeton. (And this applies to the Japanese students I've encountered too.) Though it's very unreal and feels untrue when the ITO foundation officers tell me I "must be clever" because I'm from Princeton, though it was shocking when even the ladies at the Real Estate Agency office went berserk on hearing that, not only did I attend Princeton, but my sister also attends Stanford, the truth is that students from schools of different characters develop into different "breeds" of people. I don't mean to imply that no one at Princeton was flaky or shallow or stupid, but somehow the institution, its people (students, faculty, administration), its legacy and its reputation all subtley mold the (sub)conscious. This is why Deepa is a loner at Stephens; this is why I'll likely be a loner here at ICU. From only two days in class, I have already noticed that my powers of analysis, inspection, investigation (or willingness to exercise the above) are not what the others are used to (and I am hardly an intellectual, compared to my friends). In Japanese, though I probably know fewer kanji than the others and have certainly been out of practice much longer, I can follow Sensei just a little better, I can answer questions faster and just a little more thoroughly. In Shoji class, when planning out the survey for our Nomikai (social binge-drinking party) research, I somehow ended up being a directing force, developing questions and pointing out perspectives that the others were (at times visibly) surprised to hear. In fact, I could already see myself becoming frustrated if this (admittedly stupid) little project isn't as thorough or interesting as I know it could be. (Which I guess is related to popular culture studies in the first place - how people tend to assume there are no real, substantial, and interesting questions.) All the more reason to jumpstart my own research, so I can become absorbed in my own project and not get personally involved or frustrated by stupid things in class.
But alas, I still don't have my allowance for September, and yesterday I spent nearly 10000JPY (~$100) buying kanji renshuu (practice) notebooks, composition notebooks, a new bag, tupperware, bathroom cleaner, etc. Living alone is fabulous (perk 6: leaving toilet door open), but it requires such attention to detail.
Actually, the only way they were like me is that they were foreigners (gaikokujin, gaijin), which doesn't mean I was instantly comfortable with them or eager to make friends. Most of them are still in college and therefore younger than me, plus we're here for, I think, fairly different reasons. Whereas I want to visit various places in Tokyo to witness how Japanese youth behave and interact and perceive their world, the other students want to go to Harajuku and Shibuya to shop and take pictures of Ganguro and Gothic Lolita. So while we all approach our surroundings as outsiders, I'm just not terribly interested in gallavanting around town with them as tourists. Plus, I think I perceive my time here as just beginning, settling in, *living* here, whereas I think they feel much more transient.
Unfortunately, because we're grouped together as September students, as Japanese language students, as international students, most of my interaction is only with fellow foreigners. I've emailed a student singing group and the university glee club, in the hopes of joining an organization for pleasure and in order to meet Japanese students, but I haven't heard back from anyone. Clearly, witnessing all the dorm initiation activities happening on campus right now, living off campus also somewhat impedes my integration. I'm actually not too upset about this, as I'm not really interested in another undergraduate college experience. Mostly I want to read and work, but "friends" would be helpful, if only to improve my Japanese.
There's more to it, I think, than how we approach Japan though. I know I was spoiled by Princeton. (And this applies to the Japanese students I've encountered too.) Though it's very unreal and feels untrue when the ITO foundation officers tell me I "must be clever" because I'm from Princeton, though it was shocking when even the ladies at the Real Estate Agency office went berserk on hearing that, not only did I attend Princeton, but my sister also attends Stanford, the truth is that students from schools of different characters develop into different "breeds" of people. I don't mean to imply that no one at Princeton was flaky or shallow or stupid, but somehow the institution, its people (students, faculty, administration), its legacy and its reputation all subtley mold the (sub)conscious. This is why Deepa is a loner at Stephens; this is why I'll likely be a loner here at ICU. From only two days in class, I have already noticed that my powers of analysis, inspection, investigation (or willingness to exercise the above) are not what the others are used to (and I am hardly an intellectual, compared to my friends). In Japanese, though I probably know fewer kanji than the others and have certainly been out of practice much longer, I can follow Sensei just a little better, I can answer questions faster and just a little more thoroughly. In Shoji class, when planning out the survey for our Nomikai (social binge-drinking party) research, I somehow ended up being a directing force, developing questions and pointing out perspectives that the others were (at times visibly) surprised to hear. In fact, I could already see myself becoming frustrated if this (admittedly stupid) little project isn't as thorough or interesting as I know it could be. (Which I guess is related to popular culture studies in the first place - how people tend to assume there are no real, substantial, and interesting questions.) All the more reason to jumpstart my own research, so I can become absorbed in my own project and not get personally involved or frustrated by stupid things in class.
But alas, I still don't have my allowance for September, and yesterday I spent nearly 10000JPY (~$100) buying kanji renshuu (practice) notebooks, composition notebooks, a new bag, tupperware, bathroom cleaner, etc. Living alone is fabulous (perk 6: leaving toilet door open), but it requires such attention to detail.
posted by Bibhatsu at 21:38
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