「Volunteering」カテゴリーアーカイブ

Will Fitzell：KLEXON

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This semester for my CIP (Community Involvement Project), I chose a different route than I did last semester by deciding to join an English conversation circle.  While it did take me awhile to find out about this circle, I have been able to attend this circle’s events three times thus far (and I intend to go to the group’s next two meetings as well before I leave Japan).  The group is open to anybody who wishes to attend, and of course by nature of it being a circle which focuses on English, foreigners are especially more than welcome to attend.  While the group does feel somewhat artificially structured in the sense that it has its activities scheduled rather precisely, it is definitely a worthwhile experience.  The structure of every meeting starts out with a sort of “speed dating” like part where one row of people stay seated and every three minutes or so the person who one is talking to moves one seat over to talk to the next person.  This is a good way to meet people quickly, but always reintroducing oneself can be a bit cumbersome.  In addition, if you have started a great conversation with somebody that you would like to continue, you’re out of luck once people have to rotate.  If you run out things to talk about during this portion of the meeting, you can always fall back onto the default topic which they provide you (in my experience it was usually something like “your favorite childhood food” or something else often pertaining to one’s childhood).  Usually during this part, people often elected to talk about, since I am obviously a foreigner, where I am from, what I am doing in Japan, where I have traveled in Japan, how long I will stay, and any other number of things that come up naturally in the conversation.  After the “speed dating” part of the meeting, for the rest of the time, people are given a random number and all split into these randomly assigned groups.  There are different prompts and topics to talk about, but this is a fun part to talk to people in a group setting about different things.  First everybody introduces themselves one-by-one while the others make comments back about things (I would always mention how I am an Asian studies major and how I really love Lady Gaga, for example).  One of the assigned topics I can recall offhand was about a dream we have had while sleeping (which was a great chance for me to show people how weird my dreams are).  Another was about games we loved to play as children, for example.  At some point, the conversation strays from these assigned topics into a more natural one where you get the chance to better connect with the people you’ve just met.  For me, I have a MUCH easier time expressing my real personality when I use English, so I felt like I could really truly be me, and if somebody didn’t understand something, I could always of course explain it to them in Japanese.  All in all, through Klexon, I did meet a LOT of very cool people, and I even had one or two people ask for my LINE contact information.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have a lot of chances to go to these meetings despite the fact that they were held every Tuesday evening, and as a result, I was disappointed in that I feel like I didn’t make any real friends from this circle.  My advice for anybody wishing to join this circle would to be more proactive with that by attending meetings more and also the group’s additional non-meeting events (which I unfortunately was never able to attend).  The meetings themselves were certain enjoyable even though the Tuesday evening meeting time forced me to cancel my host family dinner time every Tuesday.  One unfortunate thing I thought about the meetings was right when the official meeting time ended, nobody stuck around to talk more outside of meetings which I feel would have been valuable for really making connections with other people.  But, at the end of the day, Klexon was a very nice and very convenient circle to join that I would recommend for casual fun and getting to talk to people.

I can’t in all good conscience make any sweeping claims about Japanese culture as a whole from my time at these meetings, but perhaps a few cultural characteristics can be inferred.  Particularly, the most noticeable, to me at least, is how structured and regularized this group is.  It feels much less like a place to make new friends and much more of a place to get in something of an hour of English practice at the same tightly scheduled time every single week.  Meetings start promptly at 7pm every Tuesday evening and end promptly at 8pm.  At that time, everybody leaves the room (a different circle has its event immediately after in the same room), and everybody returns on their merry way, nobody stays after to further pursue conversations.  It ultimately feels like a less natural and more artificially scheduled and carried out sort of affair.  Perhaps this could be a reflection of Japanese people to treat such opportunities as just another time slot to fill versus a time to just relax and talk to new people.

Shauna Moore: Volunteering at the Nursery

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I understood from the start that my new CIP experience would be largely different from my past one, as I would be engaging an entirely different slew of people. At the nursery, rather than being surrounded mostly by male senpai close to me in age, I am surrounded wholly by women whose ages I am too nervous to determine, who give off an air of adulthood, maternity, and warm indifference. This is different than the tight nervousness I’m accustomed to, in working with or being friends with people who are close to me in age, who seem to be more acutely aware of senpai-kouhai precariousness (when to speak politely, when to expect a foreigner to speak politely, when to be offended if not spoken to politely, how to determine how close a relationship is through the wall of keigo, etc.). In working at the nursery, all of the women treat me with kindness, speaking to me in varying levels of keigo, but all regarding me with mostly the polite dispositions of women who are secure in their seniority, and therefore lacking nervousness to which I had become accustomed.

When I first arrived at the nursery, I had set up a meeting with a teacher days previously, and I was waiting in the small play area outside of the classrooms. I was greeted for several minutes by a host of different teachers or assistants, who all seemed to be of various rank, encouraging me to wait a bit longer until the designated teacher could approach me. This was the first sense I had of a hierarchy within the nursery, as many of these other teachers and assistants seemed to defer to this more mature, casual teacher. When I met her, she spoke to me in keigo, and kindly, but it was predictably without the ‘deferent’ body language that I have come to expect in nervous first acquaintances or greetings exchanged between people whose ranks are unknown to each other, or, of course, in business situations (i.e. lots of bobbing head bows and wide smiles, accompanied with, usually in women, soft and placid voices).

Of course, this was a huge relief to me, in the sense that I immediately understood how to behave and also my basic irrelevance (a sense of irrelevance allows, for me, more freedom in observation, conversation, and general solicitation). This sense of hierarchy didn’t change over time, but did become more complex. For example, the teachers whom I mainly saw during my volunteer hours were some of the younger teachers. They were very casual with each other and spoke to me only rarely (though, not at all out of unkindness—there was more a sense of separate worlds in which we operated. Whenever I attempted to speak with one of them, I was mostly ushered towards the kids, as time together was limited). I seemed to be more in the way of a couple of these teachers at first, and I quickly realized that I should ask as few questions as possible in order to make their jobs as simple as possible.

At first, mostly teachers of a very young age, or women who looked and behaved somewhat like interns, only spoke to me, and usually in English, nervously about my schedule and what types of activities I wanted to do, trying to make me as comfortable as possible. They behaved similarly to me: quietly, relatively unobtrusively, standing in the back of student ranks while smiling in a vaguely dazed manner. But after the first couple of afternoons, I rarely saw those ladies again, I had no idea where they had gone.

This was in contrast to the more mature teachers, who frequently spoke to me and addressed me in the middle of class (much to my surprise), using much more high keigo than some of their younger staff members. This made me wonder how tenacious the use of keigo really was in hierarchical relationships. What did it mean that some teachers spoke to me in keigo, used the humble body language of keigo, and some did not speak to me in keigo at all, let alone with the physical aspect of highly polite speech? In some cases it seemed a case of age, but over time, I gradually began to feel as if the level of politeness actually indicated who thought that I was doing them a favor, and who thought that they were doing me a favor. With some teachers, I seemed to be treated more brusquely (althought not unkindly); I was understood to be a volunteer, but also justifiably someone who was kind of clumsy and likely to interrupt the working pace of the nursery. They seemed to understand that I was basically purposeless, and so left it up to me to make my experience valuable. With other teachers, I was much more gently regarded, as someone who was, perhaps, bestowing English powers upon the tiny ones, or otherwise regarded as someone who could sufficiently occupy them for a short period of time. Like a vaguely unintelligent playmate, which I was, for which one fosters great affection. In these times, keigo was used much more signficantly.

This, though perhaps simplistic in retrospect, seemed a big revelation after weeks of determining what exactly my role was at the nursery. But a “role” is something that mostly one determines for oneself, within certain boundaries. You have to consider the trouble you cause people in almost any position (except for, perhaps, English conversation circles, or others where you remain an esteemed guest). For me, passive observation was more crucial to my growth this semester, but last semester I had a completely different, more relationship-based CIP, and I felt completely different about each of those experiences. When starting a CIP, I think it is best to set vague goals about what you are expecting to “happen” or “receive.” There are a lot of factors, not just “Japanese culture,” positive attitudes, keigo, or one’s inability to assimilate, so nothing is wrong as long as one is actively learning, I think. I think it’s best not to feel the need to revolutionize your entire concept of Japanese culture through the CIP experience, or you will get skewed results, anthropologically and emotionally speaking.

Hopefully this experience at the nursery also allowed me to volunteer there with appropriate humbleness. I was, after all, encroaching upon the kindness of many women during the work day. I felt that I was able to learn significantly through my experience at the nursery, and I encountered various other questions and answers that I would like to explore more experientially throughout my remaining daily life in Japan. Even as I feel sure now that some of my spoken and unspoken assertions are correct within certain limited groups, or in groups composed of individuals with predictable temperaments, I cannot speak with any degree of confidence about the definite social nature of Japanese people. And that is for the best, I think. Still, the process has allowed me to, at the very least, become socially malleable, and that is an important first step in becoming a productive member of society no matter where I might go.

Elizabeth Murillo: Aoi Church and Panda Heart

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Aoi Church was not formally my CIP last semester but I was an active member since the time I arrived in Japan last September. I had first thought that being a regular member of the church community was not enough to warrant me labeling it as my CIP but I soon realized that the commitment was far greater than just attending church service. Of course that’s the image people have when they think of church communities. You get together for an hour or two each Sunday, talk a bit about Christ, eat some bread and then go home. It was very much like that for me when I went to church back in the States. However, in Japan, there is a notable emphasis on the community aspect of going to church. Certainly it retains a similar reverent vibe that churches in America have, but I have never been as involved in a church as I have been at Aoi. I do three main activities; I am a regular member of the church and attend all services and related events, I am a member of the church choir and I volunteer at the churches preschool, Panda Heart.

My activities usually started on Friday and ended Sunday evening. I would volunteer with the children on Friday afternoons.  They were really cute and I learned a lot about patience and love and of course more about what Japanese non profits look like.  I became really good friends with a particular child and I always looked forward to the time we spent together at the day care. Saturdays were usually free but sometimes I would have Panda Heart related activities or church outings. Not everyone went to these, but because I was always invited, I always tagged along. On Sundays I would go to church service, sing in the choir, and then stay afterwards for lunch and choir practice. I was usually done by early afternoon but I stayed around in the evening for dinner and evening service. I would speak with the members of the church and go out to places with them and at some point became close friends with many of them. They are bonds I’m not likely to forget anytime soon.

Of course being so closely involved in a Japanese community has its fair share of hardships. After I had crossed the line between new exotic gaijin member into actual regularly attending member, there were some things I had to change about myself. I felt like I had to mold myself better into their community and when I failed to do it brought about resentment and misunderstandings. Perhaps that is a point of caution I would like to address about CIP; entering a Japanese community is difficult but once you’re finally in it doesn’t get any easier. I am glad to say that being with everyone at Aoi has changed me for the better and has helped me understand Japanese culture in a new light but it was only after I spent a good amount of time thinking about it.

Being so involved was also a huge time commitment, one that does not mesh well with KCJS’s rigorous schedule. I always had to prioritize and ask myself whether getting my homework done was worth over staying a few extra hours at church. It was a bit difficult to decide, but I always did end up staying and I always did end up not doing my homework or turning it in late. It was something I had decided to do though because I felt like belonging to a community here was more important to me while I studied abroad. It’s different for everyone but I felt deeply that learning Japanese in a classroom was something good but learning Japanese in a real context was more helpful. Although I didn’t  improve all that much I did find something vastly more important. I found motivation to keep on studying Japanese because now I have people I love that I want to speak about anything and everything about.

Japanese communities are tight and can be loving and nurturing once you are in them, but they can also be obligatory and sometimes destructive. But I learned to navigate the waters of a scary territory and came out feeling like I had really gained something. I consider my friends at church to be somewhat of a family to me now and saying goodbye has been straining on both ends.

I realize that many others didn’t come out with this type of experience but I account that to the very nature of CIP and the program. You really have to decide what the most important thing is for you. Neither answer is wrong, although your teachers will probably want you to do your homework, but I felt like I wanted to seize CIP as an opportunity to become a small part of Japan. To be remembered here rather than me doing all the remembering.

I really enjoyed my year at Panda Heart and Aoi Church and will have those memories for years to come

Daniel Hughes: English Teaching at Ohara Gakuin Elementary School

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Recently in B class, we have been discussing the recent changes to English education in Japan made by the Ministry of Education that dictate basic conversation and pronunciation will be taught starting from third grade instead of from fifth or sixth grade. Over the course of eight weeks I spent volunteering at Ohara Gakuin Elementary School, I was able to experience firsthand the effects this change has had on Japanese schoolchildren. Once a week, I worked alongside the teachers of Ohara Gakuin to teach basic English to students ranging from first to eight grade, and what I noticed was that when it comes to pronunciation and very basic grammar structures, the younger students who have grown up in the new system of teaching have a far better understanding than the older students.
The first week I visited Ohara Gakuin, I worked with first and second grade students whose pronunciation was astoundingly good. After spending a good deal of time with these students both in the classroom and during lunchtime, I enjoyed their enthusiasm for learning English and got to know them all very well. They were able to introduce themselves with basic English phrases such as “My name is…” and “My favorite color is…” and if I spoke slowly and carefully enough without using English grammar that was too complex, they were able to understand me without much help from the other teachers. We played games, sang songs, and from time to time I would read children’s picture books to them, which I was very surprised to learn they could nearly read themselves. Needless to say, the first and second graders of Ohara Gakuin are well on their way to becoming fluent in English if they continue learning the way they are currently. The older students, however, were a far different story.
After having spent the first week teaching the advanced first and second graders, I had expected the other grades to be of similarly advanced ability. However, before teaching the sixth and seventh graders in my second week, the Ohara teachers silently warned me that these students were not as quick to understand English as the younger students were. Having heard this, I expected the upperclassmen to have little to no proficiency in English, and so I was pleasantly surprised when I found them to be on par with what I would consider a normal level of ability for a middle school student. Like the first and second graders, they were able to introduce themselves fairly well and would even ask me questions like, “Can you swim?” and “Why did you come to Japan?” For the most part, they were able to understand my responses and were even able to ask well thought out follow-up questions. Having experienced this in the first few minutes of class, I wondered why the other teachers had told me these students were not necessarily as far along in their English learning as the younger students. However, once class started and I began using slightly more advanced English, the problems became very apparent to me.
Unlike the first and second graders, the upperclassmen had very little confidence when it came to pronunciation and sentence structure. At first I chalked it up to general middle-schooler malaise, and while that was certainly a part of it, it eventually became clear that the older students suffered in their English learning because of the drastically different teaching methods with which they had been taught. For example, whereas the first and second graders had the privilege of learning from a native English speaker three days out of the week as well as listening watching English movies and listening to English songs everyday, when the older students were in first and second grade they had only one day of hearing native English pronunciation, and rarely, if ever, watched movies or listened to songs. In my opinion, not being able to hear a native voice contributed to their lack of confidence when it comes to pronunciation, and their lack of interest in the continued study of English.
I fully accept the possibility that the younger students are more interested in learning the language simply because they are younger and full of much more energy than the middle-school age students, but I do think that the change in teaching methods greatly contributed to the change in English ability. The first and second graders have grown up learning English every day in school, and are greatly encouraged by the Ohara Gakuin teachers to use it as often as they can in their every day life. The older students had a different, less intense experience learning the language, and so are less inclined to put forth their best effort when it comes to being able to English. Whether or not any of this is actually true is something I can’t really prove, but if nothing else my experience at Ohara Gakuin has made me think that immersing students in English from a young age is the best way to teach it.
Observations aside, I had a great time teaching English at Ohara Gakuin Elementary School, and was sad to leave on my last day. I was, however, very happy to receive a lovely “thank you” poster from the younger students, whose well wishes and grateful goodbyes made it clear to me that I definitely want to become an English teacher in Japan. For any future KCJS students who are interested in English teaching, I cannot recommend Ohara Gakuin enough, and encourage you to spend your semester getting to know the lovely teachers and students of Ohara. As I left the school on my last day, “thank you” poster in hand, I had no doubt that I had become part of their community if only for a short while.

Gloria Kantungire: Klexon

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I am currently volunteering in the Klexon English Language Conversation group. Through Klexon, I’ve been met so many new people. In fact last weekend,I went to Fushimi Inari and Lake Biwako with a woman named Kahori, who I met at a Klexon Party. Klexon Parties are held at the director of the program’s home every other weekend. The Klexon programs that operate in Shiga and in Kyoto come together for one night for a language exchange over dinner and drinks. That night, there were only a few foreigners, so foreigners were dispersed among separate tables. Kahori is actually quite a bit older than I am, however she is rather outgoing and (surprisingly) loud, so it was easy for me to become friends with her at the party. She invited me to go see Lake Biwako with her that next weekend.

Through meeting new people every week, I’ve noticed a lot of subtle cultural differences between America and Japan. For example, at the Klexon party, I made the mistake of pouring myself another drink. In Japan, it is customary for others to pour your drink for you. Since I was foreign, I was considered a “guest” of the country, which perhaps made it more imperative for Japanese people to pour my drink. Kahori explained to me that pouring a drink for yourself appears quite lonely, and the culture of pouring a drink for others is just another way for people to connect with one another.

Another difference I noticed was the gestures. Gestures in America can be are completely different from gestures in Japan. Most Americans when signaling someone to “come over here” will usually wave a person over with their palms facing upwards. When I was in Osaka with a friend from DESA (Doshisha Exchange Student Association), who offered to show me around Shinsaibashi, we were standing in front of a crepe store waiting for our crepe to be prepared. Unfortunately, I had been standing in the way of other people who also wanted crepes. He gestured for me to come closer, and away from the front of the store. However, he did so with palms facing down. In Japan, people signal “come here” with their palms facing downward.  Also that the American gesture for “kind of” or “a little” is gestured with palms facing downward and rotating your wrist up and down. When I asked Kahori later on whether or not she’s seen or used the American gestures for “come here” and ” a little”, she answered that Japanese people might see the American “come here” as a signal for a dog, rather than a person. Also Japanese people will signify “a little” with their thumb and index finger pinching together, while the American version of the gesture be seen as a rejecting hand motion in Japan.

Through Klexon, I’ve been able to practice my Japanese, and at the same time learn more about Japanese culture through observing the people I meet every week.

Kim Coombes: Teaching English at Kozmoz Cafe

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I recently had to change my CIP due to scheduling conflicts, so now I am teaching English at Kozmoz Café in Momoyama. I have been doing it for a few weeks now and am greatly enjoying it. I am able to engage with Japanese people of all ages. I have the pleasure of teaching classes to adults as well as children. It is amazing to see how dedicated Japanese students are to their studies. As part of the adult’s lesson plan, they must keep a weekly diary and write about one event that occurred. Many of the adult students write pages of information so the teachers can correct them! Watching how hard Japanese students study has given me motivation to work harder at my Japanese studies.
Aside from having the pleasure of meeting Japanese people, as a teacher, my Japanese is constantly being reinforced by the lessons. Both children and adult will commonly repeat a question I asked them in English, in Japanese to me to confirm they understand. By doing this I get to hear their Japanese as well as check their understanding. After lessons I am able to speak with Japanese people and practice my Japanese a bit.
Teaching English has helped me feel more comfortable within Japanese society because I am constantly engaging with Japanese people. As a shy person, I have been able to use my classes as a way to engage Japanese people. By finding out what is popular and interesting to them, I am able to talk to more students at Doshisha and can hold more interesting and relatable conversations in Japanese.
Kozmoz Cafe is a non-profit organization and I really enjoying volunteering there. They run food banks as well as teach English classes. They also hold parties and events for their students. If there is ever any interest in volunteering there feel free to email me!

Saminya Bangura: KLEXON

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For my CIP, I’ve been attending the Kyoto Language Exchange Salon (or KLEXON) in Shijo once a week. While I didn’t get to practice a lot of Japanese language, it has still been an incredible experience that has allowed me to learn a lot about the Japanese culture and even make a few friends!

Of all the things I experienced during my time at KLEXON, what’s stuck with me the most was an experience I had at one of the parties. Once a month, there is a dinner party that brings two or three language circles in the area together and on my first time there, I was surprised to have so many members (from both my circle and the others) insist on serving me drinks and food. From the moment I began studying Japanese, the importance of the senpai-kouhai relationship was often emphasized and I had always assumed that, regardless of the context, it would stand firm. However, despite my being the youngest and newest member of the circle at my table, I was served throughout the night and when I attempted to do it in exchange, I was refused, which confused me more than it hurt my feelings.

I had to wonder if my being a foreigner somehow made me exempt from the usual rules that steer Japanese club dynamics. Perhaps because the members know that my time in the club is temporary, they were choosing to treat me more like a guest than a member; so the rules of senpai and kouhai (which I do see employed when other members interact) didn’t apply. I attempted to face this by becoming involved with the group on a more personal level so that even if they knew of my transience, I could still be accepted as a permanent member based on my social presence. This involved attending more events outside of meetings (like the parties) and following through on friendships when I received LINE IDs or Facebooks. But, in the end, there was no real change over the course the semester; I was still being treated like a guest even two and a half months in.

Eventually, I came to realize that this phenomenon wasn’t of any fault of my own. I was struggling to enter the uchi of KLEXON when there was no real uchi in the first place. Though there are a group of regular members that attend meetings every single week, KLEXON’s relatively lax structure, lack of set policies regarding attendance and older membership meant that some people might go weeks without coming to a meeting. And as a result, there was no concrete group mentality; individual members might forge friendships but there was no real sense of a bond between the group as a whole. Therefore, what I thought was a senpai and kouhai interaction forged by club members might have just been a manifestation of the general idea of respecting senior members in your field or elders.

I think that my experience would’ve been much different had I been involved in a CIP with more people my age, especially on a college campus. College clubs tend to be more structured (and, as a result, more stressful) but that often results in getting closer to your peers and creating a sense of uchi. Nonetheless, I enjoyed every minute of being in KLEXON; it was fascinating to get a glimpse into interactions between shakai-jin (especially the businessmen) and experience a club that was driven and shaped by them more than anyone else.

Hayley Valk: Kyoto YWCA

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This semester I volunteered once a week for the after-school children’s program at the Kyoto YWCA. For most of the semester the same two kids came every Monday, an 11-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy. It felt more like babysitting than an organized program, as usually I was alone with the two and we spent the time freely chatting, playing with toys, eating snack, and doing homework. The last week there was a more structured, all-day camp during spring vacation, with 15 elementary school kids and 5 other college-aged volunteers, which offered a chance to interact with more children and other volunteers in a more organized environment.

Through weekly volunteering I really got to know the usual girl and boy, and see how my relationships with each compared to each other and evolved over the course of the semester. Though a bit hesitant at first, they both became fairly comfortable with me as a foreigner, but the girl much more so than the boy. The first day we met she was doubtful, and asked the program director if I even understood Japanese. The program director told her to talk to me and find out, and from there her impressions quickly improved. After a few minutes of conversation she decided I understand quite a lot of Japanese, and after asking me if I can read and write hiragana and some basic kanji she decided that I’m not so different from a Japanese person. That was a flattering overstatement. From then on we spent the majority of the time each day talking about school, what we like to eat, etc. She asked some funny questions about life in America, like whether people learn multiplication, if English is the only language used in the subway, and whether the four cardinal directions exist (I taught her the words in English, which she remembered from then on and would practice every week). She was very open to talking with me, and I think she had fun sharing stories and helping me understand her Japanese. She spoke very clearly, and after saying a word she thought I might not understand, she asked and tried to explain if I didn’t. Sometimes she would give up and tell me to use my dictionary, but some words like “alarm clock” or “snore” she could explain by making sounds and doing impressions. She also purposely avoided Kansai-ben, until asking me one day if I understood it. When I said I did understand some, she decided she’d try to use it with me from then on. I think her consideration for my Japanese abilities made conversation more productive and also more fun for both of us. The boy, though about the same age, had a fast, mumbling manner of speaking that was much harder for me to understand, and he made no concessions for my benefit. Because it was hard to engage in conversation he didn’t talk to me as much, but we became closer once I proved a decent dodgeball partner. He was more comfortable doing physical activities with me than just chatting. Though he warmed up to me, one of the last days when his mom came to pick him up she complimented my Japanese, and he quickly corrected her by saying that actually there’s a lot of Japanese I don’t understand. Though both were relatively open to me despite my being American, when communication challenges arose, the girl was much more able and interested to identify and solve them, while the boy just moved on without any effort to improve our mutual understanding. Though talking to them both was good practice, it was interesting to compare how my relationships with the two differed as a result.

During the spring vacation camp I was able to interact with many more kids, but I didn’t get to know any as well. Most of the camp children were a bit younger than the usual girl and boy; the average age was around 8. As a result, they seemed less aware of my being different or not understanding Japanese perfectly. Even at times when their speech was too fast or slurred for me to fully understand, they generally seemed content for me just to listen and respond as best as I could. Being younger, they were also more interested in being active and playing games, so if I jumped around, helped with puzzles, and made funny faces and an occasional joke, that was more entertaining than sitting around talking anyway. Since most weeks I was alone with the two kids, the camp was also a chance for me to see how other college-aged volunteers interacted with the children. Despite being a fairly structured program with a set schedule, the program director largely left the volunteers in charge alone, and I was a bit surprised by how little authority they showed. Organized activities quickly devolved into running, screaming, and games of questionable safety, but for whatever reason the other volunteers just smiled and let themselves get pulled around without making an effort to control the situation. Though I at times felt inferior because of my own lack of ability to communicate effectively to the children in Japanese, I appreciated that both the kids and other staff treated me the same as everyone else. In particular I appreciated the program director’s attitude towards me; both in a group meeting following camp and after I volunteered each week, she asked and valued my thoughts about the day. She also asked me to contribute ideas for camp activities ahead of time, and from the very beginning of the semester trusted me to take charge of the day’s activities and manage the program room.  Other staff members and volunteers were similarly friendly and trusting, as were the children’s parents, who always made a point to thank me. I really came to feel like a valued member of the YWCA community, equal to any other volunteer.

Overall I found volunteering at the YWCA to be a very successful and gratifying CIP experience. Perhaps due to the organization’s missions to support both Japanese and foreign women, everyone I encountered was accepting and understanding, and despite never meeting another American, I never felt out of place. The nature of the work didn’t require a very high level of Japanese, but it did offer ample opportunities to practice with people of all ages.  I also love spending time with kids, so volunteering was a chance not only to learn, but also to just have fun for a few hours every week. I am grateful to all at the YWCA!

Reid Tomihara: Kamigyo Middle School English Assistant

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For my CIP this semester, I chose to volunteer at Kamigyo middle school as an English teaching assistant.  Kamigyo Middle School is about five minutes away from Doshisha University.

Before I started going to Kamigyo middle school, I had no experience teaching or working with middle school students so I was quite nervous my first day there. When I first entered the classroom, I could tell that the students were very confused at who I was because I wasn’t a teacher and I looked Japanese.  I worked in the 7th grade English classes exclusively. The English teacher asked me to read questions to the kids, to dictate conversations from their textbook and to create an English game for the kids to play.  At first, the kids were very shy but as I went there more and more they became comfortable with me.  I made an effort to try and talk to the kids, which made my time there enjoyable.  Despite the fact that many of the students were too shy to speak up in English, they tried their best to when I talked to them.  At times I felt that my purpose at the school was to get the students excited about learning English instead of actually teaching them anything because whenever I was there the class would do some kind of game or activity.

This opportunity allowed me to get a glimpse of the Japanese middle school culture that I would have never been able to see.  One thing that stuck out to me was the time in between classes.  There was always a five to 10 minute break between classes where the students were allowed to do whatever they wanted. Unlike in America the students did not change classrooms for different subjects, instead during the break teachers rotated between classes or returned to the teacher’s room. During the break many students would go to the teachers room and ask for a certain teacher.  When they did they always made sure to use keigo or honorific Japanese.  However, during class the students spoke primarily in casual Japanese to the teacher.

In the classroom there was a huge contrast between students.  In each class there were always one or two kids who were very vocal and on the other hand there were some who never spoke at all or raised their hand.  At first I thought the kids didn’t know the answer but in fact many of the quiet ones often had the correct answer written down.  This is not limited to Japanese middle school students, many Japanese refuse to speak English because they do not have the confidence in their English ability but in fact, they can understand and speak quite well.

In conclusion, learning another language especially one that is so different from your own is not easy.  But getting kids excited to learn a different language and to see the benefits that it holds can go a long way.  I highly recommend volunteering at a Japanese school as an English assistant because the kids are so lively and it allows you to see a part of Japan that few tourists get to see.

Dean Nguyen: Niko Niko Tomato

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This semester, I’ve had the pleasure of volunteering at a children’s ward located in Kyoto University’s Hospital. The group I volunteered with, ニコニコトマト, is dedicated to giving children admitted into the hospital an enjoyable experience during their stay, through means of various activities including games, story-telling, and making arts and crafts. By participating in this volunteer group, I had the chance to experience what it was like to be a member of a “community” here, and it was a nice change of pace from learning in a classroom. Along with volunteering, I was able to observe and gain a better understanding of the Japanese community as well.

One of the first things I noticed and found interesting when I started was how easy it was to volunteer. The first day I arrived, I was immediately greeted by other volunteers and was asked to help out right away. It wasn’t until after the fact that they realized that I was the student from Doshisha University coming that day to volunteer. My first thought after that experience was that this would probably never happen in the United States, where there would be a sign in system of some sort at least. Still, ニコニコトマト is a special case even in Japan, as a fellow volunteer stated, to her, it was the only known volunteer group to have such a relaxed system. Nonetheless, I can’t help but wonder if it’s because of the predisposed notion that Japanese society is so safe that volunteering seems to be much easier to do than back home.

Another interesting thing I noticed was how close the community seemed to be in a hospital setting. All of the children, volunteer staff, doctors, nurses, and parents all seemed to have close relationships with one another, and I feel I wouldn’t typically see this in a hospital back in the United States. Parents gossiped with each other and with volunteer staff members, the children played with each other, and from time to time the doctors and nurses would join in for activities as well. Sometimes, if a parent had to discuss things over with their child’s doctor, another parent, volunteer, or nurse would watch over their child in their place for the time being. Everyone has an understanding on what everyone else is going through, so it’s a really nice support system that they have. To me, this trust and reliance on others in this “community” seems to possible because of the Japanese society’s emphasis on group harmony.

And finally, I was able to get a sense on how Japanese society views foreigners. My first thought, before even volunteering, was that the children would be scared of foreigners, and it would be an issue with my CIP. However, I was gladly mistaken. At first glance, children don’t even recognize that I am a foreigner because of my Asian descent, but even after they do, their opinion of me only gets better! Some of the children there are currently learning English, and as soon as they find out I’m from America, they get really interested and try practicing what they’ve learned on me. There was a time when one of the girls started playing Frozen’s “Let It Go” (one of my favorites!) on the piano, so I decided to sing along in English, and she, along with the other children there, couldn’t help but smile, laugh, and enjoy my performance. Parents also seem to be happily surprised when they find out I’m from America. To them, it seems so fascinating that I came to Japan, and they always ask tons of questions about my home and my opinions on Japan.

Now that my time volunteering is coming to an end, I can’t help but feel grateful and glad that I was able to donate my time with such a wonderful organization. Not only was I able to immerse myself in their community, they made me feel welcome every visit, and were always happy to have me around. Through my experiences, some views I had of Japan prior to coming have changed, and some have been reinforced, but one thing I know for sure is that I’m glad I had the opportunity to experience Japan’s community firsthand, and I’ll look forward to any future opportunities to join another one!