「Circle (Sports)」カテゴリーアーカイブ

Anthony Shimamoto: Club Soccer and Klexon

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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.

島本アンソニー：サッカー

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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。

Nathaniel Slottow : Parkour and Taiko

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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.

Keeley Nakamoto: Sunny Bits Volleyball Club

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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

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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。

（http://onedishaday.jugem.jp/）

ジェームス・チャン：山岳部

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日本に来る前、趣味でロッククライミングやトレッキングをしていて、もしできれば日本でそう言うことを続けたいなと思っていました。京都では時間が全然なくなってしまうぐらい文化的なことがあって、日本語の勉強も忙しくてアメリカでできる趣味を日本で続けるのは必要ないように見えるかもしれませんが、日本語に迷っていますので自分の能力を生かせる活動が大切ではないでしょうか。そう思って、同志社の山岳部に入りました。

同志社の山岳部は僕の大学のとはそんなに違いません。部員は登山に興味がある明るい学生で、初心者も何年間も経験のある人もいます。登山の紋切り型のイメージの通り、男性の方が多いですが、女性も一人、二人います。　同志社の四回生は研究などで忙しすぎて、たとえ登山したくても参加できないそうですから、四年生の僕は一番年上です。しかし、僕が先輩か後輩かという質問の答え定かではなくて、大切ではありません。

山岳部は京田辺のキャンパスで活動しています。今出川からの通勤時間が長いので、僕は一週間に一回しか参加しませんが、かなり楽なサークルで大丈夫です。

普通はロッククライミングを練習します。クライミングで疲れてしまうから休憩をとりますが、部員と話すのは絶対に休みませんので、いい日本語の勉強になります。登山についての専門的な言葉はほとんど全部英単語で助かります。

 

山岳部の練習です。

KCJSに来る前に北アルプスの槍ヶ岳の近くの笠ヶ岳の頂上で撮った写真です。

槍ヶ岳の夜開け