Now that fall is here and all the new students have arrived, the new semester is very much underway. I thought I would throw up a quick post on what classes I’m taking and what I’ve been up to around here in good old Hirosaki. Hit up the link below to read all about it!

Summer has definitely transitioned into fall now. Although the days are occasionally warm, the nights are definitely getting cold and being out at night on my bike makes for a frigid experience. I heard that Japanese living quarters are legendarily cold/hot depending on the season, but so far I’ve not found that to be the case. My room has been quite warm without any kind of heat on so far, but I see that changing. I’m prepared, though, since when my parents came they brought with them a box of goodies, among it an electric blanket which makes sleeping comfortable no matter the temperature. Also, I recently bought a small space heater that I keep next to my next to my desk. I picked up a TV at the same time, too, which is really great practice and although I don’t totally understand all the time, I think that I can usually get the gist of what’s going on.

Speaking of all that, I though I would go into what my study regimen has become. Studying on my own during the summer, I had to find different ways to keep on learning without relying on daily classes. It was somewhat a test in self-discipline but I’ve found that I enjoy studying Japanese enough that it really wasn’t that difficult. Usually, I’ll start out the day with some kanji courtesy of Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji. I’m up to almost 800 kanji that I can recognize with little to no trouble. During this whole time I’ve been leaving the TV on to keep the language immersion thing going. In the afternoon, I’ll read manga and/or do sentences. By sentences, I mean the studying method prescribed by the wonderful Japanese learning blog “All Japanese All the Time”. Basically, you harvest full sentences from the material you naturally encounter day-to-day and in what you find interesting and then study those sentences with a flashcard program. For me, this has turned out to be manga, which I find I can now read (easy manga with lots of furigana, but manga nonetheless). My two favorites right now in this department are Yotsuba to! and Dragonball. Both of these manga have easy-to-follow language, but also plenty of material unknown to me which makes them great sources of sentences for my studying.

Finally, the last and probably most important part of my study regimen is to get together with Japanese friends and chat it up in Japanese. To me, this is the most important skill in language and the most fun. Reading and writing is great and all, but ultimately words are representations of the spoken language and the only way you can really get by day-to-day is to speak and understand what is spoken to you. I’ve been telling the new foreign students when I can to try and find ways to meet Japanese people and talk with them, because you need to make a break from English or whatever your native language is if you truly want to learn Japanese. The biggest suggestion I make is to join a club, because they are populated with everyday students who more than likely do not speak anything but Japanese. My club (the adventure club, 探検部) certainly fits that mold and going out for a weekend trip with them is basically a 72-hour immersion in Japanese. Plus, clubs are just plain fun and there is certain to be one that fits your interests.

So, what’s been up with the new students these first weeks up school? Last weekend, we had a party out at Konnamura and Hapachi that Alex organized. It ended up being a little messed up because more people came than signed up to attend and people had to go to other bars because they didn’t have enough space at Konnamura. It was a great night, I hung out with two of the new students from California, Justin and Chong, as well as several of the tutors. I had a great time chatting with them and trying to get Justin and Chong to speak some Japanese, even if it is a little limited right now. Afterward, we hit up karaoke over at Melody Queen. For me, it was the first time I had been I had been out to karaoke since I came back from Korea. Being somewhat of a karaoke junkie, I was iching for a fix and I got it. Takako came along too, who is turning out to be one of my better Japanese friends here. Even Alex was singing, which was unusual considering his dislike for karaoke.

This past weekend I went out to Game Soko to check out some manga and even pick up a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the DS in Japanese, which is known as Zeruda no densetsu: Mugen no sunadokei. On the way back, I ran into Luis (another new student from San Diego) and Dia, from Hungary. They were getting together with some of the Thai students to have a Thai food cooking party of sorts. Of course I wanted to come along, so I spent that afternoon and evening chilling with some of the students and tutors, all the while enjoying some great home-cooked cuisine. Usually you hear that Thai food is spicy, but this wasn’t (unfortunately). It had some great earthy flavor though, and was the best meal I’d had here in a long time.

Overall, I think that the new students are really great people, I’m really relieved there isn’t any weird or anti-social people in the bunch. I’m looking forward to a fun semester!

Now I’ll list off what classes I’m taking and give a brief description of each:

• Upper Elementary Japanese: known as sho-kyu, this class is the next level up from the one I took last semester. It continues with the same textbook series as last semester, albeit part two. An interesting addition this semester is the Tuesday morning reading class, where each week we have to read a passage and then take a short quiz on it the following week, in addition to writing a few short essays in Japanese.
• Modern Japanese Literature: This class reminds me exactly of a literature class back home: a list of books to read and weekly class discussions on what we read. Sawada-sensei said we will be focusing on famous authors who wrote from outside the “center” of Japanese society and see how they affected Japan in general. Our sole evaluation in the class will be a take home test at the end of the semester.
• “Cool Japan” and Consumer Culture: We will be breaking down Spirited Away by Hao Miyazaki, having a professional manga artist come to class for a Q&A and investigate the fashion of modern, trendy Japan. It seems really interesting so far and I’m not the only one who thinks so – the classroom was packed during our first meeting.
• Internship (tentative): Sawada-sensei told me of this internship that was being offered by a ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel) up at a ski resort on Mount Iwaki. Only two students will be selected based on the merit of a short introductory essay we had to write. Basically, the internship consists of some translation work on the ryokan’s brochures, culminating with a 13-day on site work experience including marking trails on the mountain and working inside the ryokan proper. This sounded like a really great experience when it was first described to me by Sawada-sensei, so I really hope that I’m accepted!

Well, that sums up things for the past few weeks. Time to get down to the business of the fall semester! I’m looking forward to it. :)

2 Responses to “The Start of the Fall Semester”

1. Joe Rojas says:

   November 30, 2008 at 10:51 pm

   I am a high school student i don’t know any Japanese i wanted to know if i could enter a school in japan even if i don’t know Japanese

   Reply
2. jason edwards says:

   April 1, 2009 at 10:13 am

   i was wondering what programs you know of that award grants for study in japan

   Reply