SCHOOL LIFE: This last week at school, wrapping things up here for the Evergreen quarter

 The past week at school went by as the ones before. Each day of class generally went in the same manner, and I missed the first period (Civic/Private Law) and second (Chinese Communication) periods of Monday due to the festivities on Sunday from an event in the Folk Song Club. Third period was Technical Japanese, which had a test for all students. My test, separate from the others, was to write a short essay on the problems with Japanese work systems and compare it to the American system. I said that the traditional progressions of education systems was the main source of issues in Japan, aside from the overall economic problems. I attempted to explain the stagnation in Japanese society with the changes between postwar generations and generations of today, and that the college system, which has always been a symbol of discipline put into studying for college entrance exams throughout middle school and high school, and has generally acted as a launching point for graduates to be hired into long-term company positions, no longer suits the changing dynamics of the Japanese economy in this day and age. Not only are there less positions to be hired in, simply graduating from a university does not guarantee entering a career in the way that it used to. I additionally asserted that because Japanese society has largely been transformed into a consumer society, the idea of long-term employment does not appeal to the younger Japanese generations as it did to the older generations who were eager to secure success and fortune after the end of World War II. Because consumerism inevitably inflates the needs of individuals so that they will be willing to buy products to suit their needs, the younger generations of Japanese culture are more concerned with the products of financial success rather than the process of working for it. I could not fully express these ideas in Japanese as I just did here, but I got the general ideas across.

 On Tuesday in "Comparative Cultures", more studies on Japanese culture were presented by the professor. The closing slides began a presentation on an Indian tribe in Nova Scotia, with the research conducted by a Japanese woman. I wasn't able to grasp entirely where the professor was going with the subject, but if I get the bigger picture I will be sure to post about it. In second period, "Intercultural Communication",  students presented excerpts from a hand-out entitled "Values, Thinking In Society", me being among the presenters. The concept of the individual was presented in terms of Japanese society, emphasizing that Japanese people are taught to concern themselves with what others think about them, a well-known aspect of Japanese culture that can be seen in humble and reserved attitudes in order to maintain a good social appearance. This theme was carried on into another part of the hand-out about the role of the state, in which nationalism was indoctrinated into Japanese society starting from the later years in the Meiji period, and how after the end of the war Japanese rejected the nationalist ideas of wartime Japan, which can be seen in the indifference or dismay toward right-wing demonstrators in Japan (see my previous post about right-wing demonstrations in Sannomiya). I presented on the concept of harmony, wa (和), which exists strongly in Japanese culture and society. At the beginning of the class students were asked to name values that they hold important, and one Japanese student said she values the importance of not showing personal, negative feelings around others so that they will not feel bad as well. The professor remarked at how Japanese the value was, and it tied into the concept of Japanese harmony. I explained my difficulty in this aspect of Japanese culture due to my incapability to hide my emotions. As many people share this personality trait regardless of their nationality or race, the cultural importance of harmony can create a somewhat oppressive environment for people who are unwell when bottling emotions in. However, there are some people who function perfectly well in this kind of society and alternatively do not enjoy the outward honesty of more individualistic cultures. Following "Intercultural Communication" was "Interchanging Societies" in which more of the same about living conditions was presented.

 Thursday in "Japanese Language/Culture", the same method of teaching Japanese through children's news programming was used to present stories on the relocation of the American military base in Okinawa, a norovirus outbreak in Japan and what kids can do to stay safe, some awards given to Japanese celebrities and the naming of the most popular buzzword of the year in Japan ("ゲゲゲの...", part of the title of a popular Japanese drama in 2010), the choice of Qatar for the 2022 World Cup over Japan, and an extended feature on the Wikileaks scandal. For "Civic/Private Law" it was a lecture on standards of public decency, at least at the beginning before it veered off into another breakdown of contract agreements between companies A B and C. The room was outrageously overheated, and that concluded anything noteworthy during the class. The next period was similar, "Interchanging Societies", about communication in residential areas in Japan as well as community security services as a first measure before calling the police, as well as gated communities, etc. The professor asked me if there was anything similar in terms of community security service in the United States and I really didn't know how to answer it, because while there surely are similar things, there's not really a standard in how communities are organized in the United States compared to Japan. The professor seemed puzzled that I didn't know. In other news for that class I will be doing a presentation on my life in Japan on the last class before winter break, the 21st, and will post what I've done here. In seminar, aside from the professor going into great detail about how he tried to defy society in his college days by having an untamed beard and long hair that curled toward the bottom (if you could see the guy you'd know how funny the thought is), it was more student presentations on research for graduation theses.

  As you can see, I've settled into the academic semester, and by that I mean I've become largely disinterested in the classes themselves; and Japanese students go through four years of this system. Nonetheless, I will feel worse if I abandon the process altogether, meaning I'll continue to try and create something of academic value out of the remaining classes till the end of my exchange.