「Volunteering」カテゴリーアーカイブ

Yupei Guo: Volunteering at the Kyoto Museum for World Peace, Ritsumeikan University

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ritsumeikan

Discussing the video project proposal with student staff members.

This semester, for my CIP activities, I have continued working at the Kyoto Museum of World Peace affiliated to Ritsumeikan University. Although last semester my responsibilities were more mechanical (such as helping with translation between Chinese, English and Japanese), this semester I have gained more insight into Japanese society through a video campaign project I proposed; specifically, since my project involves interviewing other student staff members of the museum, I was able to observe their interactions with superiors, senpai, and kohai. I was also able to put some of my new knowledge into practice through socializing with them outside of my work hours.

Through my interviews and meetings, I was able to pick up and practice the many complex forms of keigo (honorific speech) depending on the relation between me and the person I was addressing. For example, I noticed that student staff members, even if the same age as me or “senpai”, would use the passive form keigo (sareru) with me – before, I had always assumed that simple -desu/masu would suffice. It took me some time to get it right, but I was finally able to reciprocate. Other forms, such as the complex “sasete-itadaku” and “shite-itadaku”, I learned in my regular language class, yet was given ample opportunities to put into use at my CIP. I also heard “-haru” used quite frequently, as friendly respectful language between colleagues or towards a junior member.

Aside from language, I also gained a more nuanced understanding of Japanese culture. Last week, I was told by Shiotari-san, a student staff member, that initially my superiors were surprised or even shocked at my proposal to make a promotional video, because Japanese people are not used to promoting themselves and instead prefer remaining “behind the scene”. Having lived for quite some time in the United States, where self-promotion is considered a virtue rather than vice, I was astonished. In another instance, I was invited to lunch by Li-san, an international student from China. I happily accepted, yet Li-san insisted that she “really” wanted to have lunch with me. I then learned that for many Japanese people, an invitation to lunch only serve as a perfunctory polite phrase to indicate that a conversation is finished; in China, any invitation to lunch would have to be genuine, otherwise it would be incredibly rude. Without my CIP, I would not have noticed these nuanced differences so quickly.

I started my CIP being extremely nervous and did not even dream that one day I would proudly call myself a member of the Museum community. Heading to a Japanese workplace setting when you are still learning the language can be a stressful experience, yet as long as you remain open-minded, are open to taking risks, take on initiatives and challenges, and are not afraid of making mistakes in daily speech or in your responsibilities, you will get there. My CIP has taught me keigo and nuances of Japanese culture, yet it has also challenged me to work harder and always strive for more, and for that I am grateful.

Andrew Wellen: Volunteering for NicoNico Tomato

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For my Community Involvement Project, I volunteered with an organization called NicoNico Tomato at Kyoto University Hospital. NicoNico Tomato plans crafts and fun activities for children with serious illnesses staying at the hospital. Because I am a pre-med student, I was interested in getting more patient experience while abroad, and while I admittedly did not have as much interaction as I would have liked, I have really enjoyed my time volunteering. Although NicoNico Tomato has many volunteers who come in with varying frequency, most are older ladies who have had their own children benefit from the organization. Each week they would offer me tea before setting me up with some small activities to do, like coloring, cutting paper, or blowing up balloons. It was nice to be able to take a break from classwork and do something relaxing, even more so when considering the good cause.

Although at first I was fairly quiet and only talked with everyone when they asked me questions, I gradually became more and more comfortable. I have shared a lot of cultural experiences and learned a lot about Japanese culture from talking with them, everything from the differences between how Easter is celebrated in America and Japan to how Japanese people pick up on different regional dialects. Everyone was very patient in putting up with my Japanese, and it was fun trying to find ways to work around the language barrier and describe ideas that the other culture did not have. Through everything I got to know the ladies of NicoNico Tomato, and I will miss them when this semester is over. The amount of time they dedicate to volunteering is amazing, as is the effect they are having on these sick kids’ lives. Spending time with them has helped me step back and realize that there is a world outside of KCJS in Japan. The couple of times I did get to do activities with the children, although it was fun, it was also sad when thinking some of them might not have that much longer to live. But seeing everyone come together to make things more bearable for these children was inspiring. Becoming a part of this outside community has been one of the highlights of my study abroad experience.

https://www.kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~pediatrics/institution/nikoniko.html

Laurie Wang: Cell Biology Research at Kyoto University

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For my CIP this semester, I decided to participate in two activities. The first was to volunteer once a week at the iCeMS Science Communications Group, where I worked as a translator and helped with bi-weekly event preparations. The second was working at the Hosokawa Lab of Kyoto University for the  Molecular and Cellular Biology Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences. From these two, I got to experience two sides of Japanese work culture: that of the office environment as well as the freer laboratory setting. However, since I spent the majority of my time working in the lab, I will spend this report describing my experiences there and save iCeMS for next semester’s blog post.

Upon coming to Japan, I researched some labs on my own and eventually settled on the Hosokawa Lab, which mainly focuses on the mechanisms of Endoplasmic Reticulum Associated Degradation (ERAD) and the roles of chaperones and lectin function. After sending the first nerve-wracking email to Hosokawa-sensei,  I was very ecstatic to hear back from her that I could participate and continue cell biology research in Kyoto despite my one year’s worth of Japanese abilities. We exchanged emails entirely written in extremely formal keigo, which was a challenge to me at the time. Soon enough, I was invited to visit the lab!

My first meeting almost failed to happen – I somehow ended up in the East building (the lab is in the West – thank my poor navigational skills for that), and ended up having to ask two researchers where to go. I was quickly ushered into their office as they dialed the main reception to ask which building I was to head to. From there, a reception worker picked me up from the opposite building and took me directly to Hosokawa’s office. Throughout this process, everyone used keigo and thanked each other politely, and I followed suit, though inside I was already panicking inside. If I can barely use keigo to find my way around the Kyodai campus, how was I going to do that officially – on a daily basis – in a lab?

To my surprise, this worry never came into fruition. First, I was taken aback by just how welcome and cheerful  Hosokawa-sensei was from the first time I stepped into her office – she was a character far cry from the more reserved and serious personality I’ve come to expect from older Japanese women. She wore jeans, had unruly hair, and throughout the semester joked about the news, especially regarding the 2016 U.S. election together, with me. She was also the only woman in the lab other than me out of the eight members total, which both 1) stood out to me because I’m used to more women researchers in biology in America, and 2) impressed me because she held the greatest seniority and leadership in what seems to be a male-dominated field in Japan.

As far as other discoveries are concerned, I was mostly amazed at everyone’s utter disregard for keigo whilst in the lab (even the undergrads!). It seemed to me that the norm was apparently to use keigo with others outside of the lab: the deliveryman, and the man who takes orders for lab supplies twice a week, and people you make phone calls to. However, the atmosphere within is much more casual, though still polite (です・ます forms abounded), which made sense to me because the group as a whole seemed very close knit. However, as past students have noticed, this also translated to little socialization with other people of other lab groups, despite it being the opposite case in America.

Throughout the semester, I ended up staying in the lab quite a bit, around twenty hours per week; still, I learned that no matter how hard I work, Japanese PI’s work harder- and for very long periods of time. Usually Hosokawa-sensei leaves long after midnight (“It’s okay because I just live five minutes away!” she proudly exclaims), and comes early the next morning, seven days a week, even on holidays. This of course isn’t to say that all Japanese researchers are workaholics – Tanaka-san, a fellow lab member, apparently likes to take breaks in his day to return to his dormitory, conveniently located two minutes away by bike, to take naps. Furthermore, Hosokawa-sensei herself even took a break one day to take me to see the beautiful autumn leaves in Arashiyama, which goes to show that she isn’t against spending time enjoying herself, but that she truly enjoys doing the work she does.

In addition, there were a couple of other interesting Japanese quirks to the lab that I noticed – taking off your shoes every time you entered a different laboratory, using automatic lights to save energy, and reusing anything and everything that has the potential to be used again. Seeing the dark hallways and crowds of shoes gave me the impression that the facilities in Kyodai were run down at first, but I soon came to appreciate just how much the U.S. can learn from such environmentally-aware habits in the laboratory. Nevertheless, other than these, I felt that doing research in American and Japan didn’t differ as much as one might expect. To this end, I am forever grateful to Hosokawa-sensei, Kyoto University, my labmates, KCJS, and finally, Yale’s Light Fellowship for making this opportunity possible for me. I loved working in the lab, and I hope to continue doing it next semester.  

Mayra Monreal: Nico Nico Tomato

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Volunteering at Kyoto University Hospital has been an enriching experience. Going into it, I believed I would interact a lot with the child patients much like how I have done while volunteering in hospitals in America. However, it appears to be different in Japan as the children usually have an escort nurse with them at all times to keep them company. We volunteers would take part in the playroom activity of the day more as a model rather than a playmate. That does not mean, though, that I was not able to interact with others. Most of my time has been spent in the Volunteer room where all the volunteers create arts and crafts projects to hand out to the patients and visitors. All in all there would be about seven or so people in the volunteer room, which is a somewhat small space, and time would be spent conversing. Being able to understand the others, I would find it easy to follow along in a conversation. The volunteers are very kind as they speak with me, helping correct me if I were to make a mistake.

The volunteers consist of mostly older women, and they are always up for conversation. They want to know as much about your own culture as you want to know about theirs, so there is always something to talk about. Considering that I volunteer in the fall, there are events and crafts that follow the themes of Halloween and Christmas. I asked about what is done to celebrate these holidays in Japan, and the volunteer women provided that they were not really sure how Halloween became popular in Japan. Apparently, its popularity started rising in Japan about 10 years ago. The same goes for Christmas. Those holidays are more of a casual occurrence than they are taken to be in America. There are even events held at the hospital for these holidays, though sadly I am not available to partake in either. Hopefully, others interested in volunteering are able to partake in more activities and learn even more from their experience.

Timi Chang: NicoNico Tomato Volunteer

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For my CIP I volunteered at NicoNico Tomato, a Kyoto University Hospital volunteering organization dedicated to children who are unable to leave the hospital due to their illnesses. As someone who had the experience of volunteering in several schools, mental facilities and senior homes, I was expecting a somewhat similar experience at NicoNico Tomato. However, the volunteers at NicoNico Tomato had shown me a whole new level of commitment and care that made my experience at Kyoto University Hospital unique and unforgettable. From making small Christmas gift baskets for children to decorating the entire playroom into a Halloween themed photoshoot, the volunteers showed incredible attention to details and ensured that the children in the hospitals are getting the experience they would get if they were able to attend schools.

Although I did not get to interact with the hospitalized children as much as I would like to, I spent a lot of time making crafts and decorations with the other volunteers of the organization. We would often sit around the table and chat while we handmade gifts and cards for the children. At first it was hard to have conversations with the other volunteers because most of the volunteers at Niconico Tomato are slightly older and already know each other quite well. However, they were all extremely friendly and loved to listen to my stories as a 留学生 in Japan. Therefore, as I spent more time with them, having conversations became easier and more natural. They shared videos of their grandchildren and pets with me, taught me how to act appropriately when talking to elders in Japan, and even gave me advice on how to be a independent and happy young adult. These are the things that I never expected to get from a volunteering service in a hospital. As a KCJS student in Doshisha, you find yourself surrounded by people who are more or less similar to you. By joining NicoNico Tomato, I was able to step out of my comfort zone and meet some Japanese people who shared my passion and are more experienced in life. Their loving and compassionate personality not only made my experience in the hospital memorable, enriched my entire study abroad experience, but also inspired me to continue to devote myself to volunteering.

Jaime Craven: Ohara Gakuin

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For my CIP, I volunteered as an assistant English teacher at a school in scenic Ohara. On Mondays I took the subway to Kokusaikaikan Station, the northernmost stop on the Karasuma Line, and then rode a bus into the mountains where the school was located. The full trip was about one hour there and one hour back, relative to Doshisha.

My teacher recommended Ohara Gakuin as my CIP because of my previous teaching experience in both America and Japan. However, this was my first time in a school so small. From first through eighth grade, the total head count was just seventy students!

Every week I joined a different group of students – usually two per visit – and helped out with whatever exercises the teacher had planned for the day. My role, which I initially thought would be mostly demonstrating pronunciation, was more participatory than expected. We played games to strengthen vocabulary, and conducted mini interviews to practice grammar. Because of the small class sizes, it was easy to make sure that everyone got a chance to participate. Occasionally, instead of a lesson, the students would rehearse plays, or prepare for the various school festivals sprinkled through the fall semester. Even when returning to a familiar class, no two visits to Ohara Gakuin were the same.

It was fascinating to watch as the students intuited their own language skills over time. Even their mistakes showed instinctive pattern recognition: swapping out “took a bath” for “have a bath,” for example. They worked hard to make themselves understood in class, even if the exact rules or vocabulary for the situation escaped them. In every lesson, the teachers encouraged them to think creatively about the topic at hand, going beyond what was laid out in the textbook.

As an English teacher, I tried to use as little Japanese as possible, as was expected of me. Of course, in doing so, there is always a danger that the students will be too daunted to even respond, let alone retain new information. I also worried about playing into the stereotype of a foreigner who doesn’t speak a word of Japanese. In the end, I compromised by speaking only in English, but also making sure that they knew I was listening when they spoke Japanese. Nodding along and laughing at their jokes went a long way in showing that I understood. This, in turn, made them feel more comfortable when constructing their own English sentences, knowing they could switch back to their mother tongue at any time if they needed a quick break.

In every class, the students proved themselves to be unflappably confident and attentive, and I was fortunate enough to meet as many as possible during my time there. This CIP activity comes highly recommended for any KCJS student interested in education!

 

Lahna "Fury" Sheron: L’s Cat Rescue

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After a few attempts to join more KCJS-typical CIPs, like an aikido circle and a choir, I sat down and considered how I actually wanted to participate in Kyoto’s community. The answer to this question, like many others in my life, was cats. I had volunteered for a few years with cats back in America, so I knew the gist of what I was signing up for. My language class sensei located a shelter about a minute’s walk from the Kamikatsura train station. （「＝L’s=猫の家族探し」。）
It clicked early on to me that the patient people who worked at L’s were willing to guess at my dubious vocabulary until they understood what I was saying, to my relief.
The first day I got there, there were three kittens who had been born only the previous week and abandoned in the street by their mother, pictured here: http://catls.blog5.fc2.com/blog-entry-477.html
I got to see them saved by the people working there, and sometimes even care for them myself, which was tremendously satisfying since I’d only ever volunteered with cats over the age of 15 back in the states. I remember one week I became very startled to see a very large bump on one of their bellies. I was extremely worried because I’d only ever seen that size of bump on cats who had cancer. I quickly looked up the word for tumor and told the owner of the shelter. She kind of laughed and told me to my relief that it was just a hernia. I don’t know how that little guy got a hernia at three weeks old, but he’s still fine scampering around and I know the word for tumor now.
This is just one of the many stories I have of the good people at L’s saving lives and legitimately caring about their animals. The interesting thing people don’t tell you about many shelters in Japan is that they, like L’s, take place in private homes and living spaces, and are filled with animals to which volunteers donate their time, money, and love. I was shocked to learn this, and am elated there are such good people in Japan fighting under the radar to save animals’ lives, both inside and outside NPO’s.

Anna Kelly: Volunteering at a Museum

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For my community involvement project I have been volunteering at the museum and archives at the Kyoto Institute of Technology. The museum specializes in different fields of design, and has a wide collection of antique posters, radios, art books, and more. The most recent exhibitions on display were about foreign advertisements related to food, and the Dadaist artist, May Ray, respectively.

The role that I play at the museum changes every week depending on what kind of tasks there are that need to be done. In my time there I have helped take photos to document antiques, set up and take down exhibitions, frame posters to go into new exhibitions, and enter data from old art books. Although it is probably the most tedious of my tasks, I find looking through the art books the most interesting. Some of the books were published as far back as the Meiji Period, so I have had the opportunity to learn something about old kanji that is generally not used anymore. For example, I never would have guessed that 学 used to be 學, 芸 used to be 藝, 十 can be 拾 in official documents, or that the number twenty (廿) has its own kanji!

Because I worked at a museum instead of joining a club or circle at Doshisha or Kyoto University, I didn’t have many opportunities to meet others my age through my CIP. However, I do feel that I am lucky to have had the opportunity to have a somewhat job-like experience in Japan, and although they may have not been college students, the people I met were great and taught me a lot.

 

Here is the museum’s website, if you are interested:

https://www.kit.ac.jp/en/research/museum-and-archives/

Jorge Gómez Fernández: Volunteering for Children at Hospital/ Cooking Circle

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I couldn’t be more thankful with everyone who has helped to enrich my experience here in Kyōto. From giving me their recommendations for good 京都の観光客スポット (Tourist spots in Kyōto) to teaching me how to make だし巻き卵 (Egg roll with Dashi) with a special Kyōto twist, everything has been a new and unique experience.

This semester I got to volunteer at the Kyōdai Hospital with ニコニコトマト(NikoNiko Tomato), where my responsibilities and duties ranged from being able to play with the children to helping other volunteers prepare for lesson plans or activities. Playing with the children was a bittersweet experience, as there is an inevitable sad aura that you feel by being there. However, once you start to see the children play, those feeling start to diminish. As a Japanese language learner, it was very interesting to see how moms and native Japanese volunteers interacted with the children. I say that in terms of diction and level of formality; they chose to use certain words and grammar patterns that I supposed were appropriate to use with children (e.g. 遊ぼう vs. 遊びましょう, 寝んね vs. 寝って, 噛み噛み [to chew]). The volunteers in charge of NikoNiko Tomato are a great group of people who are highly dedicated to what they do and deserve the upmost respect. I’m glad I met everyone.

In addition to NikoNiko Tomato, I attended a cooking circle that meets once a month. There, native Japanese cooking instructors taught us how to make traditional Japanese dishes. My first time, we made お好み焼き(Okonomiyaki), which was a delight because after you make the meal you get to enjoy it (I love to eat so this was one of my favorite parts). Additionally, I met some of the most interesting and 元気 (Genki) cooking instructors. They were extremely helpful and you could tell they loved what they were doing. The second time I went, I was welcomed back very warmly. We made an array of Japanese dishes such as キノコご飯 (Mushroom rice) and 柿なます (Persimmon salad). I’m so grateful to the women who keep this wonderful cooking circle going. You could tell that they fully prepare as they are very knowledgeable about traditional Japanese cooking. I’m really looking forward to cooking more Japanese dishes my last time in December, where I will also have to, dismally, say my final goodbye to my cooking instructors and Kyōto.

Dera Luce: Bazaar Cafe

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Bazaar Cafe was created in 1998 by the United Church of Christ Japan as a way to employ socially marginalized people and foster a community. Their business cards state: “We welcome people from any country, language or cultural background, sexuality, age, ability…Come to Bazaar Cafe, enjoy yourself and feel at home.”

I volunteer at Bazaar Cafe on Saturdays. My typical day consists of washing dishes, eating free lunch with the rest of the workers, making a trip to the grocery store, helping with food preparation, eating more free food, and playing the piano for private events. I start work at 1 pm, and by around 5 or 6 pm I start thinking maybe I should go back to my homestay for dinner. Then I end up staying another 3 or 4 hours because there’s something interesting going on, and I’m enjoying my time with my friends at Bazaar Cafe.

My favorite memory of Bazaar Cafe is from my first day as a volunteer, when I ended up staying for Bible study. Although I’m not religious, I was curious to see how Christianity translates into the Japanese culture, what the Bible sounds like in Japanese, and so on. There were about 10 people in attendance. The leader of the session started by sharing a spiritual message she heard at a church retreat that had left an impression on her. She shared how she planned to apply the message to her life. Then, she opened it up for other people to share personal stories related to the theme if they felt inclined.

One by one, people began to open up and reveal pieces of themselves to the group. I had never met any of these people before, yet everyone felt comfortable sharing in that safe space. A theology student whom I had met earlier in the day sat next to me and graciously translated the parts that I couldn’t understand as people shared their stories. I shared something too, which was hard to do (partly because I was saying it in Japanese and partly because it was sensitive subject matter). There wasn’t a dry eye in the room by the end of the session, and we all hugged each other.

I’ve been to church before, and none of this is uncommon in a church setting in the U.S., but to experience it in Japan was something else. Japan does not have a hugging culture, nor is it the norm to express your true feelings. Sometimes I think I’m making too much of a generalization by thinking this, but I’ve had many Japanese people say to me, “No, that really is the way it is here, for the most part.” There are even terms for the distinction between your true feelings, honne, and what you actually express to others, tatamae.

Despite all that, I was able to experience a moment where people were honest about things that would be stigmatized even in the U.S., and everyone accepted each other. This showed me that Bazaar Cafe really is a place where one can feel at home.