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Watching the Japanese archery club at Kansai University

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Day of activity: July 2nd, 2015

First came the morning meeting, like any other morning meetings we were lightly briefed as of what today might bring, like we got basic information of where, what and when, but we were also told that there was a change in the schedule. We got the honor of watching the Japanese archery club at Kansai University in action. As we grabbed our “best friends” – our schedule and pen – we wrote the changes of the schedule, as instructed.

After arriving we met up with a couple of guides of the Kansai University. The entrance was a huge gate that also looked like it also functioned as a bridge. There were also huge buildings everywhere, like the library which is supposed to be the oldest building of the university. The guide explained to me that there are about 35000 students attending, whereof 700 of them are foreign exchange students. The majority of the exchange students were from around Asia, most of them China and South Korea.

We took an elevator and walked around a bit, but in the end we were lead to a classroom. The Kansai University representative was standing there ready to have a presentation, which would have me view Japanese university students in a new light. But first of all, she spoke English like a Native American, supposedly because her husband is one. I think one of the things that surprised me the most was the fact that in Japan, over 70% of the students have a part time job. It is often not to pay for living expenses or tuition fee, but in order to get the hang of how society works in japan. In order to accustomate, apart from the part time jobs, there are club activities as well, and with these activities they learn about the hierarchical system of japan, starting by forming senpai – kouhai bonds.

The saddening part was finding out that in Japan, the interest in living outside the country is dwindling. Most of the Japanese people don’t take as much interest as they could have, and therefore there aren’t many that travel outside the country. At the same time the fertility rate in Japan isn’t a sustainable one, so there are fewer members of the newer generations, and thus more seats at the university that might be empty in the near future if nothing is done.

One of the solutions of filling up the seats of the universities, are the contracts Kansai University has formed with other universities across the world, including Sweden, Denmark, Holland- and if I play my cards right, soon Norway as well. The Japanese students do have interests in short time stays and exchanges with other countries, which compared to the long term programs is getting increasingly popular.

The presentation went by pretty fast, and during and before it we were introducing ourselves to the Japanese students who had cared to join us for the program we had for today at the university. We were split into 6 groups, where each of the groups were accompanied by a couple of Japanese students that tried their best to explain, and answer our questions. After the presentation, the students and us were lead to the Kyubu, the Japanese archery club. We were lucky enough to see a real Japanese traditional archery ceremony, performed by a girl all by herself, after which the team captain had held a speech welcoming us there. It was an amazing experience. The archery club practices on targets that are roughly 28 meters away, and watching her perform such a beautiful ceremony, made our blood rush and made us want to try for ourselves. The archery club gave us the chance to try out Japanese archery, but on the condition of us playing it safe, as it is possible for people to die if one isn’t careful. Just so you know I did hit the target! That was 5 meters away… 2/5 times… barely.

Well that’s about it, it was very fun, and Im thankful to Kansai University for having us! Arigatou gozaimasu!

Azzam Ahmad – 19 – Proud participant of WCJ
(Norway & Pakistan)

Coal mining and Katanas in Omuta and Arao!

Isak with the smith

Day of activity: June 25th, 2015

Today we had two very different experiences. First, we went to the mining museum in Omuta to learn about the important role the city played in Japan’s industrialization. We learned that Omuta is blessed with an abundance of high quality coal, and as such it was perfectly suited for providing the fuel Japan needed for its industrialization efforts. The transfer of technology from the West to the East is something that the Japanese are proud to have been a part of, and since we don’t learn much about it in the west, it was quite interesting. The mining sites are a candidate for becoming a UNESCO world heritage site because of the unique role they played in the history of the world.

Our guide in the museum was himself a former coal miner who could tell us more about modern mining techniques in Japan as well, and he was very enthusiastic about teaching us what he knew.

After spending some time at the local mall eating lunch and shopping, we went to meet with a katana swordsmith. With his 37 years of experience (he is currently 62) he was able to teach us much about the difficult art of making a katana sword. The metal folding process is especially important, since Japanese iron is normally made from iron sand which produces a material that is not necessarily well suited to weapon making.

After talking with the swordsmith, we were instructed on how to cut a wet, rolled up, tatami mat in half using a katana. Most of us failed on our first attempt, but I and several others were able to make a clean cut by our second attempt.

Simon Presley (Denmark)

Interaction with the local university students

Interaction with the local university students

Day of activity: june 19th, 2015

Today we mixed ourselves with the students of Kumamoto Prefectural University. As most of them were English majors there were fewer struggles communicating than most World Campus Japan participants had on the average day in Japan.

When we arrived in the morning the students first welcomed us warmheartedly and then introduced themselves shortly. Hereafter also we foreigners introduced ourselves in short. The Japanese students then invited us to the front for a round of speed dating. All of us got about 30 seconds to a minute each to get to know the person opposing ourselves, after which we switched to another person.

The morning activities they had planned for us consisted of discussions about various topics. All of us being from different countries made the discussions a lot more interesting and everyone’s opinions varied greatly, making it into a wonderful learning environment about each other and each other’s culture.

In the afternoon we first ate lunch with all of us and then we had a surprise visit to the University of the one and only Kumamon, who performed some dances in the main cafeteria. Some of us had never seen Kumamon before and were either staring at his dances with admiration or with dullness. After one of us managed to sneakily hug Kumamon and take a picture, we all headed for the gym to fight out a dodgeball match! Because we were all pretty big fellows who played this game very seriously it was more like a dodgeball war. Especially when the teacher decided we should play with 3 balls at the same time… it became true ‘dodge’ ball! As a final match and as last event of the day we played World Campus vs. Kumamoto prefectural university and just guess who won!

Jurrien Theunisz (The Netherlands)

Hospital day

Jikei-hospital-grp-photo

Day of the activity: June 18th, 2015

Today we went to the Jikei hospital where they have a so-called ‘baby hatch’, or more formally ‘the stork’s cradle’. It is a place where parents who are unable to care for their children can drop off the baby anonymously.

Before we went to the hospital itself, we had s meeting with a nurse whom had worked with the cradle for several years. She told us many emotional stories about women who couldn’t even tell their parents that they were pregnant, and had come to the stork’s cradle. I was quite surprised that the social stigma around pregnancy under the ‘wrong’ circumstances was still so powerful, and even more shocked and surprised when we were told that before the cradle was started, there had even been a problem with babies being abandoned and found dead.

When we came to the hospital, we were overwhelmed by all the cameras and journalists who were there for reporting on our visit. Apparently all the local TV stations, and at least one national newspaper, were there to cover our visit. We went to have a quick look at the hatch itself, and then we went inside to talk with one of the founders of the cradle.

It was very interesting to hear what he had to say about the effect that the cradle has had, but all the cameras made it somewhat uncomfortable. Afterwards, some of us went to take a closer look at the hatch, and even got to look inside. Inside was a letter with information for the child’s parents, and I was relieved to see that it is impossible to leave a baby without taking the letter.

Johannes Meyer (Norway)

Aileen Shorinji Kempo

Aileen Shorinji Kempo

On the 13th of June we went to visit a Shorinji Kenpo Dojo. Since I have some experience with martial arts this was something I had been looking forward to doing and it didn’t disappoint. At first we learned about the history and philosophy behind Shorinji Kenpo. We learned how it had been created in Japan after the Second World War and how it really was a way of life. The teachers clearly had a passion for what they were doing.

When we had lunch we got to interact with some of the young students at the dojo. As always they had tons of energy and lots of smiles for us. After lunch we got our second chance to interact with the kids when the teachers taught us several different techniques and the kids helped us along.

I quickly found out that my experience with other martial arts didn’t help me much, but it was still really fun and quite the experience. It was really amazing to look at the children work and teach. Unlike us, even though they were only second and fourth graders, they clearly knew what they were doing.

After the dojo we had a short visit to a shrine where most of us got our fortunes and luckily mine wasn’t too bad. I ended my day with a BBQ party that my host family held with another host family and some friends. It was really nice and even though I was really tired from all the activities all day I really enjoyed the company and, of course, the food.

Aileen Hay (Norway)