SCHOOL LIFE: Tuesday, October 5th- Comparative Culture, Intercultural Communication II

 I am faced with a dilemma in choosing classes this quarter; the class from last Friday, European history, is a twice-a-week class that earns more credit at the University of Hyogo. Classes that are once a week are two-credit, classes that are twice a week are four-credit. Since I receive no credit from this school, I would rather limit the classes I take, especially if they are classes that really hold no value in learning more about Japan. Therefore, I am inclined to drop European History from my schedule, as the other class is held on Tuesdays during the first time slot. Instead of taking European History I found a more exhilarating and perhaps culturally relevant course entitled Comparative Culture (比較文化論). While I am not entirely sure what the course will entail, today's class involved comparing pictures and seeing how students would respond to the comparisons. The class seems to focus on human behavior and how it correlates between different people and different situations, and where they may originate. Breast-feeding was a major source of today's studies; the professor presented situations where humans will make gestures with their mouths that relate back to suckling from the breast. The professor had students move a pen in various ways and then insert the pen into the mouth and hold it there, and then the same with a book. The students who actually put the books in their mouth were far fewer than the students who inserted the pen; he explained that the pen is easier to insert because the mouth responds in the same natural way as it did with breast-feeding. These observations and theories were not pondered on too much, but rather to show how behaviors are connected to different things. Watching the Japanese students respond to the lessons was interesting, as the conduction of the course vastly differs from what you might experience in a class like European History. The students seemed more engaged as a result. The professor also actively engaged the students individually, which is rare in Japanese teaching, but certainly effective for these kinds of subjects. There was some kind of assignment given at the end of class for students to go and photograph in public and present it in class the next week. As far as I know right now, the premise is to observe how people in pairs- couples or what-have-you, share similar body language when together. Surely this course will be useful for learning about social behavior in Japan, and I will be sure to keep it updated as times goes on.

 While the class on Comparative Culture was a welcome surprise, the next period brought on a slight disappointment; the class I took last semester, Intercultural Communication, is now being taught entirely in English. This devalues it as a language-learning experience, but still gives cultural insights into how Japanese students go about the lessons. There were about 70% less students compared to the last semester, in no doubt due to the all-English aspect of the class. Today was just introductions and explanations. There was an exercise where students pair up and list five things they like, one of those things being something they actually dislike, and the other student guesses which one is false, thereby exposing cultural preconceptions (some students were Japanese, some Chinese, me American). Any profound or somewhat relevant observations will be duly noted.

 And that sums up the first Tuesday.