Learning new Languages (in more ways than one) (Reid Knight)

When I decided to study abroad, I knew that I would want to join a club at my host institution. It can be difficult for me to branch out in social situations, so having a routine that allows me to get comfortable with a consistent group of people helps me feel more at home in new places. Unfortunately, I found out rather quickly that it can be difficult to access student-run clubs at Rikkyo as an exchange student. Much of the club information is out of date or entirely in Japanese, and although I am competent enough in Japanese to get by in everyday situations, certain clubs that I tried to correspond with over email about joining didn’t seem particularly welcoming to foreigners.

Eventually I decided to get over my anxieties and just show up at the club room of Tebukuro, the sign language club, during one of their meetings to see how I was received. As I consider Disability Studies to be my area of expertise and am always interested in learning more, I wanted to see how much Japanese Sign Language I could pick up while I was in Japan. The name Tebukuro is a play on words- the word by itself means glove in Japanese, but it can also be seen as being named for Te(手), meaning hand, the first character in the Japanese word for sign language(手話 - shuwa), and the bukuro in Ikebukuro, where Rikkyo is located.

I arrived at the classroom where Tebukuro’s meetings are held feeling pretty anxious, and I think that reflected in how I was treated by the club members. As the only non-Japanese person in the room, I don’t think the members of Tebukuro knew exactly what to do with me, especially since I came in with no knowledge of sign language while the rest of the club had already spent considerable time learning. Everybody was cordial with me and tried to inform me about what they were doing (in this case, preparing a sign-language performance of a song for the upcoming St. Paul’s Festival), but I still very much felt like an outsider.

Over the next few meetings, I got a bit more comfortable with the routine of the club. As the meetings occur during lunch hour, the beginning of each meeting is spent eating lunch. Then, we either spend the rest of the time rehearsing for the Festival or studying a set of vocab words given to us, then using these words in sample sentences. A club representative always demonstrates how to perform the movements, then the rest of the club follows; sometimes, the club representative will randomly call on club members to demonstrate a sign.

An example of an everyday sign language demonstration at Tebukuro.

While at first it felt like I was treated as a guest, I am slowly beginning to feel like an actual “member” of the club. I’m now included in the conversations that occur while we eat lunch, even if I have to struggle a bit to keep up. The other day, I was called upon to demonstrate a sign; even though I had no idea how to do so, it still felt good that I was being included in this routine. I’ve had a couple of people ask me if I will be a part of the performance at the Festival, and although I doubt I will be able to master the song in time, I was grateful to feel that these club members cared that I was there. All in all, I see these developments as very good signs for my future with the club (and yes, that pun was intended).

A section of the lyrics for the Festival performance. The song is called "Sign" by Mr. Children. The spoken lyrics are above each line, while the equivalent words for each sign are below.

Even though I had to wade through some awkward moments to get to this point, I’m glad that I took the chance showing up for the club meeting that day. I now have a group of Japanese students who share an interest with me to eat lunch with almost every day, and all I had to do was step out of my comfort zone a little bit. Through this experience, I learned that being immersed in a different culture is guaranteed to be challenging sometimes, and those challenges may make you want to not engage with your surroundings. However, by not engaging, everything will become even more challenging. You have nothing to lose by putting yourself out there, so take advantage of the time you have abroad and try new things!

Media Connection (Sarah)

Over the past month, I have become a regular at a number of places near my university. Almost everyday or a number of times a week, I will go to the 7/11 that is across the street from the front gate of the school. When I have limited time to eat lunch I go and buy almost the same thing every time: an Indian curry meat bun, a fruit cup, and sometimes the occasional added bread (with any number of interesting fillings). However, I never got much of a reaction. Perhaps because it’s right in front of the university and nothing about the interaction is particularly interesting or memorable. I also became a regular at a ramen restaurant further away from the university that can only fit about eight people at once, but over time I’ve found that isn’t entirely unusual. The most reaction I got there was the first time I went. I was talking to the man who ran the restaurant, by himself, and his initial reaction was the usual ‘you speak Japanese so well’ reaction that I was used to getting when starting a conversation in Japanese. But after that, when I returned multiple times with other friends there was never much more of a reaction except perhaps that he assumed using Japanese was okay and didn’t try to use English. So maybe the lack of a reaction was a suggestion of familiarity?

However, overwhelmingly the most interesting thing I participate in as a regular is watching the same news channel at breakfast every morning and comedy shows at night. Every morning. My host mom will watch the news, so everyone (the two kids, me and sometimes my host dad) will watch it as well. As the days went by and I got more used to the routine and flow of the program, I found myself being included by my family in conversations about the news and being able to make comments on it myself. They would include me in comments and conversations. For example after the short cooking segment, Moco’s kitchen, where the cook tries his own food and says that it was delicious and everyone at home should try making it themselves, they would say “he always says that doesn’t he?” and then laugh as they imitated the cook’s favorite closing line. Or my host mom would talk with me more about a news story that just came out, sometimes explaining things I didn’t understand.

At night they would watch TV while eating dinner, but unfortunately for me my family members aren’t the biggest fans of dramas, so what we often watched were comedy/variety shows. And like the news, I found that over time I came to be included in more and more of the talk that went on while watching. And through watching variety shows, where famous singers and groups were often featured, my host family has come to learn my taste more and more. Since I’m often excited to see certain singers come out on shows my host mom or host dad (who likes music) will make an effort to put on the music station. And when there was a special program that was showing one of my favorite band’s (ONE OK ROCK) two most recent concerts, they recorded it on the TV for me so I could watch it when I had time. My host dad also offered to copy it onto a CD for me, so I could watch it on my computer too.

So, though I’ve become a regular at many places (conbini, restaurants, TSUTAYA…), I think regularly watching the same shows with my host family has been the most rewarding. It lets them learn more about me and it is a way that I can connect more with them.

Watching TV (Eliza)

Before I got to Japan I planned on becoming a regular at an okonomiyaki shop for this assignment.  I thought it would be perfect, since okonomiyaki is my favorite Japanese food.  After I arrived, however, I realized that it would be rude to my host family to eat out enough to become a regular.  My next idea was to become a regular at a bakery, and I started to work on that, but between homework, studying for quizzes and traveling to nearby places, I haven’t gone enough to be considered a regular.  The food is really good and I plan on returning many times.  By the time I leave Japan I probably will be a regular at the bakery.

Fruit tart from the bakery.

So, the only thing I have been doing regularly is watching Meitantei Conan every Saturday, or if I am not there when it airs my host parents record it for me and I watch it when I get back.  Not long after I first moved in, my host parents found out that I like Meitantei Conan and offered to let me watch it on their TV each week.  Since I never had the opportunity to watch Conan on TV before, I was quite excited, though a little nervous that I wouldn’t know what was happening sometimes.  Because of the time that Conan airs and the time my host family has dinner, one or both of my host parents are always in the kitchen while I’m watching it.  After the first time, my host mother was quite surprised that I had understood pretty much all of the episode.  I explained that was because it was from the manga, which I had already read.

Conan manga, though this is from earlier in the series.

Sometimes my host parents will watch a little with me while they wait for something to cook.  Every time they are surprised that I don’t get completely confused by what is happening, since Conan is a mystery series and uses a lot of technical terms sometimes.  A couple weeks after I moved in, the episode was an anime original, so it wasn’t one that I already knew.  Still, I understood most of it, which impressed them even more, since I didn’t know the plot beforehand.  There were words that I didn’t know, but I could still understand enough to watch the entire episode.  Watching Conan has become a part of the weekly routine here.  At this point they would be surprised if I didn’t want to watch it.  I’ve learned that I can understand more Japanese than I usually give myself credit for.  There are still many words and phrases that I get stuck on, but I comprehend more than I expected I could.

Scavenger Hunt (Jonah)

For my assignment this week, I was tasked with finding the former home and gardens of the founder of Mitsubishi.  I researched the history of the company and looked into which of the properties of previous owners had the most historical recognition.  Eventually I found my destination: the Kyu-Iwasaki-Tei Garden.

The estate was just off of one end of Ueno park, as as I walked to the entrance I noticed a walled barrier multiple blocks long around the property.  After walking up the long entrance pathway, the house came into view.

I was very surprised to see this type of architecture in Japan.

The house belonged to the Iwasaki family, and the construction of the house was commissioned by Hisaya Iwasaki, son of the original founder of the company.  The western style of the property was representative of the new interest in importing western styles during the Meiji Era.  Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed inside.

As I walked through the house, I looked at all the furniture and though “wow, some of the richest people in Japan lived here”.  But as I quickly found out, the western house was actually used primarily as a guest house!  The section where the Iwasaki family spent most of their time in was the Japanese style home.  While much smaller today, the Japanese section of the house was once massive and had many rooms, all with traditional tatami and sliding doors.  There was also a small tea house within this section.

A view of a small garden from the interior of the Japanese-style section.

After walking quickly through the Japanese house, you emerge onto the backyard and see just how large the property really is.  There is a sprawling lawn and view of both the house and gardens.  I took a quick walk through these gardens, which just for a second made me feel like I was outside Tokyo.

A very sharp contrast to the western-style residence.

The scale of the house and property was truly enormous for a private residence in Tokyo.  At this time the property has been declared a historical landmark.  However, I couldn’t help but feel that the majority of the property seemed to be a shell of its former self.  The garden for the most part was a wide and empty lawn, which many apartment buildings in view.  I would have loved to see the full gardens and Japanese property in its full glory, but was still grateful to see what was left.

Finding the "Red Brick Hall"

The Akarengakan

For the scavenger hunt, I decided to go find the “red brick hall,” also known as the Akarenga Kyodōkan or the Red Brick Folk Museum. It is located in downtown Akita near the Kawabata Entertainment area. The Akarengakan is a historical building dating back to 1912 and contains the Katsuhiro Takushi Memorial and the Sekiya Shiro Memorial with artwork from both craftsmen on display.

Finding the Akarengakan was not too difficult. On Sundays, Tuesdays, and holidays, there is a free shuttle that goes between Aeon Mall and Akita station, so Silver Week provided the perfect opportunity to go scavenger hunting. I will admit that I ran into a slight problem reading the photo of Google Maps I had on my cellphone. I ended up turning right instead of left and started wandering away from the downtown area. Also, one of the city maps I used was located so that it was just blatantly wrong.

“White Star: where the first map claimed I was. Note the red “You are here” sign. In reality, the Akarengakan was behind me, and I had already missed my turn…”

Going into the search, I knew what the building looked like and what general area it was in. I was prepared to get lost and was not really concerned if I did. I had been downtown using the special shuttle before, so I had some previous landmarks, but I did not understand how they were located on a map. Maybe it was just the time I went (during Silver Week around noon), but the streets downtown and the Akarengakan itself were not really crowded. I found it interesting that simply walking off the main street made my surroundings instantly much quieter and the space around me feel wider. Surprisingly, the Akarengakan was located on one of these less busy streets. Again, it could have just been the time I went. It is located near the Kawabata Entertainment area, so there were a lot of restaurants in the area. Inside the museum though, there were photos of what the surrounding area used to look like.

Then

Now

The Akarengakan was designed by the local architect, Yamaguchi Naoki. The construction took three years and was completed in 1912. The Akarengakan served as the headquarters of Akita bank until 1969. The building was then reconstructed and converted into a folk museum in 1981. Two additional building were connected to the back of the original building. Despite the reconstruction, the Akarengakan still retains elements of its bank days. The main hall of the building left the teller booths intact, and some of the rooms I entered had vault doors.

The museum features work from two local artists, emphasis on the “local” part. Sekiya Shiro was a famous metalwork artist who was named the National Human Treasure. He mastered the fusion technique, hagiawase, and his work was recognized as Japan’s important Cultural Asset. There is a memorial room him featuring several pieces of his work, along with some metal working tools. The second featured artist is Katsuhira Tokushi, who is famous for both designing and making woodblock paintings. His work features many scenes of Akita life, such as the Kanto festival, rice harvesting, and snow scenes. His work is distinct and popular both nationally and internationally. The museum has a collection of his woodblock prints, templates, wooden dolls, and tools.  

The Akarengakan and the art featured inside were all made by people from Akita. Sekiya Shiro and Katsukira Tokushi were native to Akita. Both were acknowledged on a large scale and made advancements in their respective areas of expertise that influenced the generations to come. The subjects of the artwork are connected to Akita as well and portray the everyday life of the people who lived there. The Akarengakan is a folk museum. Great care was put into the foundation of the building so that it could withstand the test of time (and natural disasters) and keep on preserving Akita’s culture and crafts.