「Volunteering」カテゴリーアーカイブ

Maya Nakamura: Volunteering at Bazaar Cafe

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Every Thursday afternoon I volunteer at Bazaar Cafe, a small local restaurant that’s barely a 5 minute walk away from Doshisha. From reading past students’ blog posts and the restaurant’s website, I figured this would be a good choice for a CIP since I have a lot of interest in community work and the restaurant’s goal is something that really speaks to me. The restaurant’s mission is essentially to provide a place for anyone and everyone to enjoy, regardless of age, nationality, sexuality etc. Not only that, but they also provide work opportunities for people who may otherwise have difficulty finding jobs due to a number of societal restrictions.

As a volunteer, I help wash dishes, prepare meals, and other kitchen related tasks that need to be taken care of. I would say that most weeks I go in knowing what’s expected of me and am able to carry out most tasks with ease. But every once in a while, people use the cafe as a spot to hold various kinds of meetings. What I think is really amazing about this is that the owners are incredibly open and encouraging of us learning more about their community, so often times they’ll invite me to sit in on some of the meetings that are happening. The first time this happened, there was a small group of former drug addicts who were working to help clean up and rework the garden in front of the cafe and I was able to listen to a little bit of their planning.

Going into this CIP, I thought I knew what to expect—I figured most of my coworkers would be kind and interesting, but at the end of the day, it’s a job and there’s an aspect of diligence involved. To some degree, I even expected to experience what I would have thought was typical Japanese “work culture.” But from the day that I inquired about volunteering until now, I’ve found that everyone is treated like family—the kindness and geniality that was shown to me from the beginning took me aback, but I am grateful to spend time with a community like this. I definitely wasn’t expecting to get to be a part of such an open-minded group of people during my time here in Japan, and that is in part due to my own misconceptions of Japanese society. Of course there are kind and accepting individuals in Japan, but I didn’t think I would discover a whole community this quickly.

For anyone who looking for something casual, but incredibly worthwhile, I would suggest volunteering here! You get to interact with such a wide range of individuals, there’s a lot of opportunity for conversation practice, and you get to eat good food.

Cynthia Vu: Assistant English Teacher at Ohara Gakuen

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Every week, I go to a Ohara’s elementary/middle school to help with their English classes. Every week, the teacher puts me with a different grade level, so I get the opportunity to work with all the students. The school is very tiny with about 7 or 8 students per year, but it makes it much easier to remember the name of the students. During the class, the usual routine starts off my own self-introduction followed by questions from the students. The English teachers are in the room translating what I am saying just in case the students do not understand. Afterwards, the students themselves give their own introduction in English, and then we end the class with some activity the teacher decides to do. The students, contrary to my thought, are always lively and joke around quite a bit. They even play around with their teacher–which is extremely fun to watch and listen. I do not spend much time speaking Japanese, but I do think it is good listening practice since everyone around me speaks Japanese. It is especially fun listening to the different students speak and their style.
I also try to get involved with the students outside of class as well. Before the students start fifth period, which is when the English class starts, they divide into small groups comprised of students of different age to clean the classrooms. The teacher encouraged me to clean with them, so sometimes I find myself wiping the desks or sweeping the floors. I never cleaned my classrooms in school in America, so to see 5th graders vacuum the floor is really impressive. The teachers said the goal is let them become independent and learn how to be responsible–which I think they have definitely achieved.
Because I go to Ohara on Fridays, I end up spectating some special events as well. I got the opportunity to watch Ohara’s 文化祭, in English it translates into cultural festival. It was extremely to watch all their plays and performances; even the 1st and 2nd graders did great in their animal musical. It was just a really fun event where the entire school worked together to create a show for everyone to enjoy. Even the teachers performed in some of the dances and singing. I even watched the 生徒会選挙, which is their student council election. I really enjoyed my time at Ohara. I ended up learning a lot more about Japanese culture than I thought, so it was a really great experience.

Xue Bai: Volunteer at Keiai Hoikuen

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I was very excited to volunteer at 保育園(Japanese nursery centers)once a week as I have dreamed a long time of having such opportunity to observe early childhood education in Japan. There are actually two types of care and education for infants and little children and 保育園(could also be called daycare centers)is the one for kids younger than age of 3 before attending 幼稚園(kindergarten). The latter one is considered more educational whereas 保育園mainly functions more to “foster” children as daytime care center for the sake of busy working mothers.

The volunteering went surprisingly smooth from day 1 because sensei tachi are super warm and nice and kids are cheerful and cute as angels. They welcomed me as a “Yuki nene” (sister Yuki) guest and spending several hours every Monday afternoon is an emotional therapy for me especially when stressed out during the day. I usually arrive after the children just finish their afternoon nap and helping them changing clothes is the first major task. I messed up time to time such as forgetting to take off the diapers before putting on pants or getting their clothes inside-out. Though instead of being angry with me or even noticing my mistake, kids always thank me energetically with big smile. Sometimes I feel like my role slightly changed when singing Japanese songs, dancing as rabbits, piling toy blocks or listening to teacher’s storytelling together with the kids — I am not a volunteer, I become one of them. I was happy to pick up many interesting 幼児語 too such as　“ブーブ”means cars, “ねんねしよ”means time for bed and “オッチン” means to sit.

According to be observation at 保育園,  I realized that Japan indeed has finely tuned educational approach to life and actions of each individual child. The thing that shocked me most is called 連絡帳 (parent-teacher notebook?) I’ve never heard of it before actually saw my host mom and teachers writing it – it is a kind of a note for both parents and teachers to keep track of very detailed activities of the children each day such as sleeping time, body temperature, food content, little stories if happened, what mood the child is in and even when they poop, sometimes including pictures. Children are really provided with considerate care and respected for their very existence. Creating and reading these kind of notes and memories as seeing the process of children growing up into themselves must be a great enjoyment for parents.

Moreover, children get to learn the rules for living in society by adopting basic daily routines of life and proper habits at 保育園. From saying  “いただきます” “ごちそうさまでした” “ごめんなさい”and “〜ください” to taking care of own dishes after finishing eating, they are learning to be more independent and well-mannered. In this case the early childhood education is sometimes disappointing as most kids are often treated like the center of the universe. Parents tend to say “leave it there I’ll clean it for you” after meal or “give me your backpack” when picking up their kids after school.

During play times, children are given enough freedom and encouraged to relate with one another through various options of activities. They can decide on their own about what to play and what to use. While there are group activities as well, there is minimal direct instruction from the teacher. This is good for children learning to be independent at decision making. Also have to make sure clean up everything by themselves before leaving, otherwise sensei would have a private talk and watch him/her put things in order.

Overall I learned a lot from the experience and I feel so lucky to be able to get involved in the community as Yuki nene. I hope I can be a better one in the future.

 

 

Anna Kelly: Volunteering at a Museum (2)

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I stuck with my CIP from last semester, and continued to volunteer at the Kyoto Institute of Technology’s museum and archive this semester as well. Although I was at the same place with the same people, I did learn a lot of new things about the museum itself, and the Japanese work environment in general.

Although my job often consists of working with old art books, I am sometimes asked to help translate things from English to Japanese and vice versa, correct English presentations and essays, and help set up the new art exhibits. I do learn quite a lot from the old books and have fun figuring out the old kanji, but it is probably in the interactions with the employees at the museum that I learn the most about Japan.

Through working with people in the museum’s office I have noticed that a lot of importance is put on the daily kyuukei, which seems to almost always be around three o’clock (the same as the daily ‘snack time’ at my host family’s house). During this time the people in the office separate out small snacks for everyone and sometimes even offer tea. I already knew that omiyage-giving is an important thing in Japanese culture, but I didn’t so much know how important it is to also bring something for your co-workers! Whenever someone goes on a trip they bring back an easily-sharable snack for everyone in the office. I wish this sort of custom was expected in American offices!

Being the only native English speaker at the museum, I had quite a few requests to work with people to translate writings from Japanese to English (and sometimes the other way around). When speaking Japanese in class or doing homework in Japanese I try to think in Japanese to help my learning. However translating forces you to think in two separate languages, and this experience has taught me how difficult that really is! In some areas where Japanese is very detailed and poetic, English does not have the same kind of flow or beauty. In other places were English is straight and to the point, Japanese can be frustratingly indirect. I also ran into some problems with words that cannot really be translated such as dorya (used often when exerting self, moving heavy objects, etc.).

Having the opportunity to volunteer at the museum for the last two semesters has been a really great experience. I learned a lot about Japan, and a lot about the work world as well. I had an internship at an American museum a few years ago, so it was very interesting to compare those two experiences. I feel more confident in my Japanese language ability, and feel more comfortable with communication after this experience. I am very excited to use what I have learned, and to continue learning more.

Zachary Chapman : 室町児童館 Child Care Center

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For my community involvement activity I volunteered at the muromachi jidoukan, an after-school center, where I played with children and taught English. The kids quickly took a liking to me, and everyday I would be tackled by a gaggle of them the moment I walked in.

    I noticed a lot of things while working at the jidoukan. First and foremost, was the independance displayed by the students. The kids were between the ages of 6 and 9 but displayed a far greater ability to solve problems for themselves compared to American children. For example, during snack time, Japanese students are expected to set up their own tables, get their own food, and pour drinks for each other. Teachers are essentially not involved. Also, when students had a conflict with each other, they were generally expected to be able to solve it on their own. Once, a student was fighting with another student over a toy, and the student went and asked the teacher for help. Instead of resolving the fight, the teacher asked the students about how they could resolve amongst themselves.

    Another time, a student destroyed a toilet. Us teachers had no clue who did it, so we had a student assembly, and one of the teachers talked about how the destruction of the toilet was a burden on everybody else. Here speech went along well with Japanese ideas of communal collectivism. In the end she asked the student to give him/herself up because they owed it to the jidoukan community as a whole. I thought this was quite interesting and different to how American teachers would have handled the situation.

In closing, I had a very interesting time working at the jidoukan. Working with Japanese kids enlightened me concerning a lot of facets of Japanese society.

Amanda Grice: Klexon and Kyoto Cooking Circle

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I am doing two activities for my CIP: taking cooking lessons with the Kyoto Cooking Circle, and volunteering my time at Klexon to help people practice English.

The Kyoto Cooking Circle was made to teach foreigners how to make Japanese food. It only meets once a month so I have only been to two meetings. The first one we made a Japanese stew dish called Nikujyaga. The second was a special meeting to teach a group of high schoolers studying abroad from Boston and took place in a very old style Japanese house. We cooked ramen over a very old wood-burning stove, and washed the vegetables from a hand-pump in the backyard. It was really interesting to be in a very old style Japanese home.

At Klexon we sit in rows at tables and talk to the person across from us. Every ten minutes we all shift one seat down so we get to practice with new people. After that, we split into groups and have a discussion.

Klexon is for anyone wanting to practice English, so it has been helpful for meeting a wider variety of people. I’ve seen college students, English teachers, pharmacy technicians, shopkeepers, Disney World workers, and chemical engineers, to name a few. I have also met other English speakers from all over the world — France, Holland, Syria, India, and Canada. I have been very thankful for this opportunity to meet and talk with such a variety of people and have made many friends at the meetings.

We’re always given a sheet of paper with a conversation topic on it but there have been many times where we have gotten sidetracked and never discussed it. Some topics have been favorite childhood foods, favorite childhood games, favorite thing to do in winter, dream vacations, or clubs you joined in high school.

I like the assigned topics sometimes because it gets you talking about things that usually don’t come up in regular conversation. For example, the night we talked about childhood games, I was seated at a table with three Japanese people, a Dutch man, and a French man. We discovered that we had played all the same childhood games, though we had different names for them. We bonded over these shared childhood experiences that I would not have guessed were so universal.

Some things I have to talk about again and again. I always have to talk about where I’m from and what is famous there and why I came to Japan and what is difficult about Japanese.

Many people I spoke to at Klexon did not understand why I wanted to learn Japanese because they felt like most people in the more visited areas of Japan spoke at least some English. In addition, most of them seemed to have felt forced to learn English for their careers. This was not true of everyone, though, and I met others who were learning English as a hobby along with other languages. 

I think Klexon has helped me be a better communicator. I was able to practice my Japanese during and after most meetings. But I also learned how to communicate better in English. Speaking to non-native English speakers forced me to speak clearly and learn how to word things so that they would be more universally understood.

Many people were shy with practicing their English. I can understand, since I’m very shy with using my Japanese. Over time I got better with keeping a conversation going, so that there would be no awkward silences.

I am really thankful I had this opportunity to meet so many different people and talk about culture.

Christine Lee: Bazaar Cafe Volunteer

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When I first arrived at KCJS, I really had no idea what I wanted to do for a CIP activity. After scouring for hours on this very CIP blog and reading students’ various experiences, I decided that I wanted to do something a little bit out of my comfort zone: working in customer service at Bazaar Cafe. While the experience differed a little bit from my expectations (I did not interact with customers all that much), being a part of the Bazaar Cafe family was one of the most valuable experiences I had while studying abroad in Kyoto.

Bazaar Cafe was first founded in 1998 as essentially a safe space for people of all ages, nationalities, socioeconomic backgrounds, sexualities, and faiths to come gather and relax. The cafe is located just down the block in a small side street. The atmosphere is cozy with a wooden interior filled with the voices of people enjoying their (extremely delicious) dishes and the happy chatter of the staff in the kitchen.

Something that I really enjoyed about my time working as a volunteer was the casual atmosphere of Bazaar Cafe. By ‘casual,’ I mean that there’s not a lot of 敬語 (けいご – honorific language) that needs to be said. When I first arrived, I had practiced the written 敬語 phrases that KCJS suggested I use the first time I meet the cafe staff. However, on arriving, my supervisor, はっちゃん and レイカさん, were extremely kind and welcoming. From there, I started to build small, but strong relationships with the various volunteers and staff members that would make their way to the cafe.

Essentially, I would spend a lot of the time doing menial tasks such as washing the dishes, putting leftover rice in tupperware, fixing business cards, etc. But I felt that doing something that required little thinking ultimately allowed me to try and fully engage in conversation with the cafe staff. We talked about various things from first loves, Nicolas Cage movies to Filipinx dance. What I enjoyed most of all was the diversity amongst the staff members. There weren’t only just Japanese people, but Filipina and Thai staff that have lived in Japan for most of their lives. There were also people like me, who had just arrived in Japan or were studying abroad.

If anyone is looking for a chance to really engage in conversation, I would recommend this volunteering opportunity at Bazaar Cafe! In addition to sometimes being fed amazing food, I thought that the laidback and kind cafe environment was the ideal place for me to share my experiences as an exchange student and for the staff to tell me more about themselves. Overall, I hope that more students continue to volunteer their time at the cafe!

Nicholas Han: Assistant English Teacher at Ohara Academy

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At my home school in America, my university offers a language partner program with study abroad students. I had really enjoyed teaching others English, which is why when I came to KCJS and had to pick a CIP, I was very interested in becoming an assistant English teacher. Once I started it at Ohara Academy, however, it did differ a little from what I expected.

My experiences back home with teaching Japanese tended to involve the meaning of phrases, often for American slang. As a result, I came in with expectations similar to that. However, because the students at Ohara were elementary and middle school students, their Japanese was not that advanced yet. Instead, it surprised me that what they really focused on was pronunciation and forming basic conversations. However, it was still enjoyable, as I was able to meet and talk with many young Japanese students.

During my time at Ohara, I also encountered a couple unexpected cultural customs. The first that comes to mind is how at Japanese schools, everyone is required to completely finish their food with no leftovers at all. One day, after eating lunch, I left a few tiny bits of rice in the bowl. However, when the teacher saw, he told me that in Japan you couldn’t do that. After that time, I made sure to finish everything every day. Furthermore, another surprising aspect of Japanese schools is how cleanup is done by the students. It contrasts significantly with American schools, where students tend to care very little for the school’s cleanliness. One final unexpected thing was that every day each class had a student assigned to begin class. They would call for all the students to stand up, and then everyone would say “good morning” to the teacher, before sitting down and beginning class.

I think my experiences as a English teaching assistant wasn’t quite what I expected when coming into it. Despite that, it was a great opportunity to see a completely different perspective of how school is run. Because of that, I think that it was a very worthwhile and rewarding experience that I would definitely consider doing again.

Trevor Menders: Kyoto National Museum

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I had the opportunity this semester work Kyoto National Museum to fulfill my CIP requirement. As my focus within my East Asian Languages and Cultures program is art history, this was  a dream come true. I would get to work not only with the objects I had spent countless hours looking at in books and behind plexiglass cases, but at the same time I would get to use my Japanese in a professional environment. This kind of opportunity, though, naturally came with a lot of pressure: as I hope to enter museum work eventually as a professional, my coworkers and bosses weren’t just people I would be working with for the semester, but people I’d be in contact with for the rest of my career.

The CIP isn’t just an opportunity to apply Japanese in real life, but also to engage in real-time cultural learning. For me, this started right away. My entry into the museum in the capacity of volunteer research assistant and translator was a bit unprecedented—all kinds of people volunteer at the Museum, and many art history graduate students help with research and curatorial initiatives, but as an undergraduate in a non-Japanese degree program, I was not the most obvious candidate to help out the curatorial board. A lot of negotiating had to be done to get me in, and so on my arrival, my acquaintance at the Museum then helped me do the jikoshoukai and thank to the appropriate people—except that the appropriate people meant everyone who worked in the curatorial office. This surprised me; the idea of the jikoshoukai certainly doesn’t have an exact counterpart in English-language cultures, but the formality of the self-introduction aside, you would certainly never introduce yourself to so many people at the same time in an American office. I nervously moushimasu’d and yoroshiku onegaiitashimasu’d so many times on the first day that by the end I could hardly say the words correctly any more. This was my first indication that in the Japanese office environment, no matter how compartmentalized individual tasks may be, the whole office has significant input and participation in pretty much every aspect of operations, and because of that everyone is expected to be able to interact with everyone else from the get-go.

I hit the ground running: there was much to be translated. I was allowed to work on a variety of projects, starting with object labels from the Museum’s permanent collection which were out on frequent rotation, progressing through the special Hinamatsuri exhibition, instructional and didactic sheets for upcoming family workshops, and ultimately editing the audioguide script and translating articles for the monthly KNM newsletter and labels for the special Kaiho Yusho exhibition. I also learned the layout of the museum, and got to assist in a special showing of the Yamai no Soushi for visiting scholars. Such diverse projects exposed me to so many different aspects of the office culture. Of course, as a museum is a bit of a unique shokuba, I can’t imagine that this sort of office culture is applicable everywhere, but it felt great to begin to get a handle on what it feels like to be a member of Japanese working society.

The most interesting thing about the experience, in terms of cultural learning, was the snacks. At various jobs and internships I’ve held in the US, there’s usually a kitchen somewhere, with a pot of stale coffee on the counter and someone’s leftovers in the refrigerator. However, this was not the case here whatsoever. My desk, part of the education department’s section, sat right across from the designated snack table. Edible meibutsu are a big part of Japanese omiyage and otherwise gift-giving culture; whenever somebody would come from outside the museum for any sort of business meeting or special viewing, some sort of fancily wrapped okashi would undoubtedly accompany them, regardless of their relation to the museum. After being humbly accepted, the snacks would then be passed around to the people who had the most direct relation to the meeting or showing, then be set out on the snack table for anyone to enjoy. Museum staff who went on vacation or business trips would similarly bring back snacks for the office, distributed in a similar fashion.

I had a discussion with one of the curators about this snacking culture. I expressed the genuine surprise I had felt when I received my first wagashi, a manju from Tokyo given by a visiting scholar, after helping with an object showing. She laughed and asked if this sort of gift giving was not standard in America—my response couldn’t have been a vehement enough “no.” If this happened to anyone in a professional environment in the US (myself included) I would be immediately be suspicious that the person giving the gifts wanted some sort of favor for me. As “yoroshiku onegaishimasu” implies, this sort of gift giving in Japan does presume to elicit a favor in a vague sense—that of continued good relations—but not in the way I’d infer in an English-speaking environment.

The learning experiences, both academic and cultural, afforded to me at the Museum have been invaluable, and they are memories of satisfying work and enjoyable conversation that I will cherish for a long time. To anyone considering this sort of formal work environment for their own CIP, I can only advise to not hesitate and to jump in straightaway. Initially, because of the perceived culture and language barrier, it can be a bit difficult to prove your own merit, but once you situate yourself, the dedication to work is inspiring, and it’s a great feeling to be included in such dedicated pursuits.

Kimberly Madrid: Volunteering at Kyoto International Manga Museum

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For my CIP, I am volunteering at the Kyoto International Manga Museum once a week. The museum has over 300,000 items in its collection of manga volumes and magazines and guests spend hours pouring over their favorite series or finding new ones. Despite the museum feeling more like a library than like an actual museum, it does have permanent exhibitions on display and has special exhibitions and events every few months.

KCJS’s contact at the museum, Watanabe-san, is one of the sweetest people I’ve met while in Japan. She helped me feel much more comfortable about my role at the museum from my first shift. On my first day, she gave me the official tour and introduced me to most of the museum staff. Although I had mentally prepared myself to do self-introduction after self-introduction, Watanabe-san actually ended up doing my self-introduction for me, telling staff members, my name, home institution, what I was currently studying at Doshisha, and in one case, even my favorite food (our initial conversation had been very extensive). At the time, I was both kind of relieved and kind of put out. My Japanese may be shaky, but I can do at least a self-introduction, I thought. But when I mentioned this in Japanese class recently, it was pointed out that maybe that was Watanabe-san’s way of both helping calm my first-day jitters and taking responsibility for me as someone who would be working under her.

As for what I actually do at the museum, it varies from menial tasks like making plastic covers for manga volumes to writing a script for an English tour to going through the special galleries and writing my thoughts on them. Some days are more exciting than others, like when I was told to go look at all the exhibits of the Kyoto Seika University Manga Faculty Graduation Showcase and talk to the Seika students. Others are slow, spent cutting plastic and outfitting volumes in it. But I am really glad I chose to volunteer here. While it is a bit difficult to get to know the staff members as my break is at a different time than theirs, becoming a part of the Manga Museum community is definitely doable if you put in the effort. There’s usually one person on their lunch break at the same time I have my break and I’ve chatted with a couple of staff members after running into them in the hallway. Recently I started helping out at the front desk and between greeting customers, I had a fun conversation about my time in Japan and favorite manga with Tsuchida-san, one of the front desk staff.

Overall, I’ve had fun while volunteering at the Manga Museum. While I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re looking for something more social, the museum is definitely a great place to have as a CIP.