私のCIPは京都大学ソフトテニスのサークルです。子供の頃、テニスをしまし
たから、サークルに入りたいと思いました。軟式テニスは硬式テニスと同様ス
ポーツだと思います。硬式テニスは硬くて、黄色くて、小さいボールを使う一
方、軟式テニスは柔らかくて、白くて、大きいボールを使います。
サークルは毎週三回練習があります。サークルはたくさんのメンバーがいます
けど、練習に二十人ぐらい来ます。他の大学の大学生や、男性も女性もサーク
ルに入れます。
私はソフトテニスが上手になって、そして、日本のサークル文化も学びます。
アメリカで、クラブはとても気安い一方、日本のサークルはちょっと真面目だ
と思います。練習で他のメンバーはいつも静かなままです。各ドリルの後でメ
ンバーは先輩の周りに集まって、次のドリルの説明をして、メンバーは先輩に
お辞儀をします。とても面白いと思います。
ソフトテニスが好きになりました！毎日頑張りますから、上手になるはずで
す。次のコンパに参加するのをとても楽しみにしています！
はじめまして、ハーバード大学の三年生のジャンジュリーです。九月中旬から、私ははCIPの活動のために、週に２回京都大学の剣道部と一緒に練習しています。そして、最近、週に１回か２回京大の「ホワイトライン」という硬式テニスサークルにも参加しています。
剣道は日本の伝統的な武道の一種です。先生によると、日本の武道は柔道と剣道と弓道の三類があるそうです。柔道のほうは戦いを強調して、弓道は肩を強調するけど、剣道は中間だそうです。剣道家は体を守るため面と小手と胴という防具をつけて、相手の面と小手と胴を竹刀で打つようにします。打つばかりではなく、点を受けた上で、気合と踏込と打つのを同時にしなくてはいけないです。そして、剣道はいい運動だというばかりではなく、心の練習も出来ます！
また、硬式テニスもしています。アメリカでテニスもとても人気があるから、みなさんはもう知っているでしょう。しかし、日本で、硬式テニスと軟式（ソフト）テニスがあります。硬式テニスはアメリカのような黄色いボールを使うテニスだけど、軟式（ソフト）テニスはゴムボールを使います。打ち方は全然違うから、間違えないで！
毎週二つの活動に参加しつつあり、部員との仲がだんだん良くなります。今週の練習も楽しみにしています！
私のＣＩＰプロジェクトは剣道です。アメリカで、子供の時、毎週の水曜日と金曜日の晩、父が道場に行っていました。九歳誕生日の後、父が連れて行ってくれました。九歳から、剣道をしています。今三段です。父とパロアルトの先生達が「日本に行くなら、剣道をたくさん練習して」と言いました。だから、剣道が上手になるために、京大で剣道をすることにしました。
京大剣道部には剣道をする学生が多いです。皆強いです。毎週、火曜日と木曜日に、試合があります。一度、私は京大で試合をしました。負けたから、いい経験だったと思います。まだあまりおしゃべりする機会がありません。でも、毎週練習に行き続ければ、たぶんその状況がどんどん変わっていくはずです。
私のCIPは京大の柔道部です。アメリカで、ブラジリアンじゅうじゅつを練習しました。じゃ、ブラジリアンじゅうじゅつと柔道が同じだから、日本で柔道が練習したいです。柔道京都大学の学生と一緒に練習します。京大の学生は全員とても上手です。みなさんは黒帯です。練習は三時間です。難しいけど、とても楽しいです。京大の柔道部でたくさんねわざを練習しています。ねわざが好きだから、京大の柔道部が好きです。京大の柔道家はとてもやさしいです。私は柔道のしゅほうを教えています。学期の終わり時、上手になりたいです。
I think the theme for me this semester has been finding my place and reason for being here in Japan. We all come here with a willingness to learn language and culture, see new things, visit new places and meet great people. And of course, everyone has their own share of personal reasons for being here. An amalgam of forces drew me toward the Japanese language and finally over the Pacific Ocean: my neighbor, Totoro, various media (anime, manga, film, video games), my major of computer engineering, an interest in East-Asian martial arts, Japan’s mysterious appeal from an American point of view, my outsider view of the Asian-American community as I was growing up, and my vague uncertainty of my identity as a half Filipino-American. Well, I came, I saw, experienced, and eventually sort of lost sight of why I was here at all.
I think that most of us realize at some point that the encounters and sights that make it into photos don’t necessarily capture the meaning of our time here; the thousand words that a photo gets you are probably not enough to describe the experience of daily life over the course of eight months. Maybe it was thinking about those photo moments, or maybe it was that I noticed that half of us had given up on speaking Japanese to each other, but I realized about six months in that my daily life was lacking societal interaction (not that the thought hadn’t crossed my mind before, but it hit me hard then). While I would participate in an event with Japanese students or groups every week or so, I began to feel that waiting the week out for those events was proof that even though I’d been here for what seems like a solid amount of time, I was still just an ordinary sightseer.
At about the same time, I think that I gave up on trying to blend in. If I’m quiet and I don’t do anything strange, to the unknowing eye, I actually fit right in as a nikkeijin, half-Japanese, or sometimes even according to Wada-san a normal Japanese student. But the problem with fitting in at large on the subway and on the street and at school is that fitting in does not equal societal interaction (I might even venture to say it means the opposite), and fitting in here is not exactly true to my character. The mix of emotions made me very aware of my identity as an American. I wandered around Kyoto, chased cats and buses…
Preparing to see off some KCJSers on their way to Tokyo with Yoshi-kun (courtesy of Andrea Mendoza)
…and planked a little bit.
Vending Machines on the Road to Kameoka (courtesy of Yoshitaro Akiyama)
I started practicing parkour in the Gosho, on the street (not in anyone’s way of course), in my head, basically the same way as I would in the US, but with a renewed energy.
Imadegawa Parkour (courtesy of Lindsay Kosasa)
Kamogawa Parkour (courtesy of Lindsay Kosasa)
Don’t worry, I’m getting to the CIP part. Really.
I reminisced about drumline, brainstormed ideas for new pieces for the taiko group, and tried my best to learn as many of the songs as I could for the performance we had last month.
I think those first few days after I gave up on trying to become normal member of Japanese society also made clear how much I love movement, music and the amazingly welcoming groups that make me feel at home doing both here in Japan. Originally, I treated parkour jams and taiko practices as breaks from everyday life in Japan. Though this semester, through instead making those activities part of my daily life even when alone, and also through forcing Fukai-sensei to deal with my existential notebook assignments, I think I was able to find my place in this society. As far as parkour on my own and with the phenomenal Nagare Parkour, that means I became a member of a part of society that is healthy, strong, looking to improve itself, fun-loving, and for some reason doesn’t seem to blend in with the rest of Japan. In the case of the Kitanotenmangu Kamiwakakai Taiko Club (北野天満宮の神若会), I became a member of a family of families and hard working men and women who love people, music and being and playing together. While I don’t know at this point whether I have good reason to return to Japan for an extended period of time, I think I can say that I found a place to be in the groups that I sought out from the start. The goal of the Community Involvement Project (CIP) is to move beyond simply observing society and participate in it. I became a member of society not as a student, and not as someone who can pass as nikkei, but in the sense that I found two groups to belong to that I really love.
Last semester I wrote that I didn’t feel like a true member of the Kitanotenmangu taiko group. Well, that changed. It seems like almost all at once that a couple of the other KCJS students and I started going to dinner along with some members of the group after events sometimes, that it became easier to talk and even joke around a little bit, and that I started to feel like I was not only an exchange student (that was still obvious because we’re not allowed to pay for anything), but a real member of the group. On top of that, we learned new pieces for the performance we had last month, and one of the members who is a carpenter made bachi (taiko drum sticks) and handed them out to everyone. In other words, my first pair of bachi were hand made! The performance turned out to be a lot of fun, even though I was nervous because we sounded really messy at the last practice. The group is more focused on enjoying being and playing together than on playing perfectly, and I’d take that over a super strict group with a perfect sound any day.
Me! (courtesy of Trisha Martin)
Fukai-sensei, Nishimata-sensei, Shore-san, and a bunch of other KCJS students came out to cheer us on at the performance (thanks guys!). The wonderful Nishimata-sensei was kind enough to take some video:
KCJS Group Photo After the Performance (courtesy of Trisha Martin)
Last semester, I wrote that I felt at home training with Nagare Parkour. Even so, I managed to learn some more names, meet more people from all over the place, and get more comfortable speaking with everyone. I also started going out to dinner with a group of members after jams. I might be seeing a pattern here… I do feel like I may focus a little more on the activity than on my relationship with the people overall and that could use some work. But I think that in both parkour and in taiko, I have made real friends that have influenced my life in positive ways. I think that I have been able to at least share common experience with them if not share some knowledge and I plan to keep in touch.
Anyway, one particular day after a post-parkour-jam dinner, everyone decided that they still wanted to train some more. So we began to goof around, took some pictures on a red carpet we found, headed to Shinsaibashi and trained until around 10pm, an unprecedented 9 hours of parkour related activity on a school night. I still had to take the train back to Kyoto so of course I didn’t get any of my schoolwork done (I tend to favor sleep/health over school), but it was worth it. It also just so happens that that day was a special day on which a YouTube project called “Japan in a Day” was taking place, so naturally we took a video to contribute. There’s not much actual parkour in the video, but it gives a sense of the flow and atmosphere of the day from the point of view of my friend, Tak:
3.11 Japan in a Day – “Parkour” (courtesy of Takafumi Kojima)
Post-dinner Group Picture (courtesy of Takafumi Kojima)
Enroute to Shinsaibashi with Nagare Parkour (courtesy of Bernardo Mayer)
Jyan Ken Pon (courtesy of Bernardo Mayer)
On a more pragmatic note, I think this semester I was able to get more involved in both of my CIP activities not only for the reasons that I mentioned above, but simply because I was more in contact with the members of both groups. I ended up exchanging Facebook information with a couple of members in the taiko group, and a lot of people in the parkour group. I guess I was lucky that Facebook is gaining popularity here in Japan. For someone who was not originally a believer in social networks, I was surprised at how quickly and how much my relationship with some of the taiko members changed (in a good way). This is probably in part because we started to passively see into each other’s lives without actually speaking directly, and that’s really weird, but I guess it’s the world we live in. It’s also a topic for a whole different discussion. Anyway, I also Skype occasionally with a friend from parkour.
If there’s any advice I would give new exchange students (and myself if I were to go back in time), it would be to exchange contact information as soon as possible and to follow up with the people you want to get to know. If you’re in a group activity with peers or really friendly people that you’d like to get to know, there’s no reason not to be in contact a little bit more informally. Learning names and participating is one thing, but building a relationship requires contact, especially when everyone is so busy and lives so far apart (ばらばら).
That sounds obvious, right? Well, I guess the reason I mention it is because there have been plenty of times when I’ve exchanged contact information with Japanese students, acquaintances, etc., and those exchanges turned out to be almost meaningless. But the Community Involvement Project is one of the few opportunities we are presented with that force us to interact with people who are interested in things that we are, at more than surface-level. Because KCJS students are part of a program that is socially isolated from the rest of the university, and there are very few Japanese students in the afternoon classes, we have very little genuine interaction with other Japanese students. Hindsight is 20/20: Now I see that it’s important to take the opportunities that you are given to build real relationships, because no matter how many people you meet, friendships like others you have in the U.S. will not just magically happen if you don’t reach out.
Looking back, I feel that life in Japan would be awfully lonely without a group to belong to. Life here in between group interactions is a little bit lonely as it is, and I can’t quite put my finger on why. In any case, although I wish I was able to spend more time with them, I’m glad that I was able to find the two groups that I did. They gave me a place to be, and eventually became a big part of what it means for me to be in Japan.
I’ll close with another video: Kansai Parkour Family (courtesy of Takafumi Kojima)
(As a disclaimer to this, I would like to state that I am realizing a lot of this right now. And while I think I have found a place for myself in Japan, I could have done a lot better job actually experiencing being in that place. Meeting once every two weeks is simply put, not enough. If that kind of meeting schedule could provoke me to write all this, imagine what would happen if I had reached out and spent more time with everyone.)
What can be said about my CIP for this semester? First, perhaps I should’ve more prudent in my selection. In doing so I joined a soccer club called Afini at Kyoto University. Perhaps two misconceptions led this to be a less than enjoyable experience. First, while the members were extremely nice, I had not played soccer at all regularly since elementary school, thus my skills were severely lacking in comparison to most of the members, almost all of whom had been playing soccer since a young age. It also seemed that the level of competition in which they were engage in was of a more competative nature, not at all like the intramural club sports that I’ve participated in back in the US. I had also anticipated that at least some part of the three hour practices would be devoted to working out. instead the entirety of the practices was devoted solely to soccer drills and a scrimmage. Also having an afternoon class right after practice impaired my ability to social more with the other soccer members as they would often go out to eat together when practice ended. The result of these two factors left me with a feeling that I accomplished little in attempting to mesh into the folds of Japanese society.
However, this past Tuesday I recently participated in an English speaking circle called Klexon at the Kyoto Wings center. The premise of the groups allows for a setting in which Japanese who want to practice speaking English can have the ability to do so. They are helped by volunteers who come to the event that takes places every tuesday evening. I found the Klexon meeting to be quite enjoyable as it was nice to speak with and learn about people’s reasons for wanting to become proficient in English in an informal setting.
わたしのCIPはサッカーです。二週間前に私はサッカーサークルに入りました。アンフィニというサッカーサークルです。アンフィニの前に私はボンバーズと言うサッカーサークルと練習しました。でも皆は上手すぎたから、他のサークルを探したというわけです。アンフィニのサッカー部員もとても上手です。でも皆とても親切です。練習は楽しかったです。一時間くらい皆とパスやドリブルを練習します。そして二時間ぐらいサッカーゲームをします。たぶん、私は一番下手な部員です。でも私はサッカーが上手になりたいです。これからの練習が楽しみです。
When I first attended one of Nagare Parkour’s training sessions, from the moment I stepped out of the station and saw everyone gathering in the park, I immediately felt like part of the group. Since the atmosphere was so much like that of my club back in Ann Arbor, I was able to feel at home. I think that friendly and open atmosphere kind of inherent in the attitude of traceurs (practitioners of parkour), as well as my attitude toward parkour. I attented a few jams, or large parkour gatherings. There were so many people that it was hard to memorize anyone’s name. At the second jam, one of the guys shared that sentiment and said something along the lines of, “isn’t it enough [for now] that we remembered each other’s faces?” That made all my nervousness about names vanish. The parkour world is full of some of the strangest and friendliest people in the world. I realized that’s no different here in Japan than anywhere else. Everyone attends to learn, to grow and to enjoy the atmosphere and each other’s company. I’m really glad that I was able to find a group, to continue practicing parkour with while I’m here in Japan.
Recently, I’ve mostly been training apart from the group with a friend that I made at the first jam. That relationship is probably the most equal of the friendships that I’ve made through the community involvement project (CIP). Even though I taught/ran the last couple training sessions we had, I’m learning just as much as I’m teaching. Being able to speak both English and Japanese, or the fact that each of us is learning the other’s language is a huge asset. It makes it a lot easier to share experiences, terminology, and ideas. We’ve even had the chance to chat via Skype a few times with another fellow traceur from Hokkaido.
As for the Kitanotenmangu Taiko Group, I feel like an honorary member. While that’s a good feeling, I think I could describe it as a very “for the time being” kind of feeling. They’ve been so kind to the three of us (I attend Taiko practices with two other KCJS students), so much to the point where I feel that sometimes they are over-accommodating. There are times where the leader will go out of his way to explain things in English without even trying to speak Japanese. There are some points that make it hard to feel like a true member though. The most difficult of those points is the fact that the group meetings are so infrequent that it’s hard to feel like we are really contributing or learning very much. I still have yet to learn everyone’s name. In addition, I actually haven’t learned very much about how to play Taiko, since the practices are for the most part run follow-the-leader style. All that being said, I’m looking forward to next semester. With every practice, we become a little bit more a part of the group. It’s not much, but every practice we help set and put away the drums, and I might go as far as to say that until this week, in that alone did I feel like an active member of the group.
This past weekend, Miao and I went to Kitanotenmangu to cheer on the group at one of their performances for the Fall Festival. We half-jokingly asked (in Japanese of course), “We’re not going to perform, right?” Well, to our surprise, they said, “Of course, we’re going to have you play the songs you memorized.” I think we were both half in despair and half laughing at the hilarity of the situation. Up until that point, we hadn’t even put the proper names together with the pieces which we had haphazardly memorized. I thought it was going to be a disaster. It turned out to be a great time and an experience that I will probably not find anywhere else (except in the next two performances in the coming weeks). They lent us all the performance gear, from happi to hachimaki and even took us up into the main part of the temple for the preperformance prayer. To have us perform the little that we knew somehow demonstrated just how much confidence in us and/or willingness to include us that the group had. And it felt good.
Overall, the CIP aspect of KCJS has been a very good experience so far. Ideally, the groups would meet more frequently, but as it is, I’m still gaining a lot and I think there is potential for me to give back much more in the coming semester.
When asked to write a blog post to reflect on my experience with the CIP and the idiosyncrasies I observed while interacting with my native Japanese peers, I was at a loss as to what I would discuss. Being restricted from regular participation in my activity due to infrequent meetings and inconvenient holiday schedules, I was not sure I could convey any perceptions with complete confidence that what I had noted was more than a one-time occurrence. Upon further consideration, however, I realize that I have gained deeper insight into the way in which Japanese people interact–insight that renders my assumptions prior to joining Sunny Bits completely false.
The task of joining a circle activity seemed incredibly daunting at first given the teinei speech patterns presented in our CIP booklet and the senpai–cohai relationships which, we were warned, must be strictly observed. After numerous emails back and forth, the club president and I finally met up and biked to the gymnasium where practice is held. While the rest of the females wore long sweat pants, I donned my embarrassingly short spandex, the common attire for female volleyball players in the United States. Immediately, people could tell that I was not from here. After being called to order, all the members made a circle and waited silently while I gave my self-introduction in Japanese. Despite the nearly tangible tension I felt while standing in that circle, this feeling quickly melted away as soon as the scrimmaging started. Neither a hierarchy in players emerged nor did any sort of gender stratification occur. While most every member of the club is highly competent in the sport, even new additions who barely knew the rules of the game were encouraged and given equal playing time. Nicknames were commonly used, and merciless, yet good-hearted, teasing plagued all members. At the practice’s end, every member who had had an uncelebrated birthday during the summer was given a scrapbook adorned with pictures and messages from all the players. A genuine warmth radiated from this group of individuals for whom volleyball placed second to friendship. My preconceptions of what Japanese circle activity dynamic was like were shattered.
I am grateful that I had the opportunity to see this side of Japanese culture that is not oft spoken of. After being with Sunny Bits, I realize that not all clubs subscribe to the old-fashioned formality of pecking order or complete seriousness in one’s craft. One of my only regrets is that my short stay in Kyoto did not allow me to form as deep a bond with the team as I would have liked to. It shows that in Japan and America kids our age really aren’t that different; everyone just wants to have a bit of fun.
キーリー ナカモト：バレーボールと料理教室
CIPの活動として私はバレーボールと料理をしています。料理のレッスンには行っていませんが、バレーボールの練習はもう一回ありました。このCIPはとても楽しいし、いい運動になるし、おもしろい日本語の練習にもなります。この同志社大学のサークルのバレーボールチームの名前はSunny Bitsで、五十人ぐらい参加しています。初めの練習の時、自己紹介の後で三時間バレーボールのゲームをしました。その後で Sunny Bitsのメンバーと夕食を食べました。バレーボールは共通語のようなものですから、このけいけんは楽しかったです。
私のもう一つのCIPの活動は料理のレッスンです。毎月一回One Dish, One Meal A Dayというクラブは三時間集まって、一緒においしい食べ物を作ります。たいてい、でんとう的な日本の物を作りますが、時々アメリカ料理とイタリアも作ります。十月のメニューはてり焼き、ごはんときのこ、ほうれんそう、なすとれんこんフライでした。おいしそうでしょ？メニューはきせつによって違います。料理サークレでの活動を本当に楽しみにしています。
