私のCIPは京大アマチュアダンスクラブという社交ダンスクラブです。クラブの部員は、ほとんど京都大学の学生で、二十人ぐらいいます。先生も京大の学生で、各練習で二つのダンスを教えます。例えば、ワルツ、タンゴ、クイックステップ、ルンバ、チャチャチャ、サンバなどです。練習は、毎週土曜日十時から十一時までです。みんな大学生からダンスを始めた人ばかりだと聞いたけど、本当にプロみたいです。みんなは、とてもやさしくて、色々なことを教えてもらって、お世話になっています。そして、みんな仲が良くて、一緒に練習の後にご飯を食べに行き、話し合います。
二つ目のCIPは、京都大学書道部です。書道部は百人以上いて、毎週水曜日に活動があって、毎月に一回で講師の先生が教えます。書道部の部室は、紙や墨、書道関係の本、冷蔵庫まであります。みんな自分で自由に書きます。春休みと夏休みには２泊３日程度で合宿に行きます。そして、毎年初夏と秋季の2回の学外展を行っています。みんなは、書道が上手だし、とてもやさしいし、アットホームな雰囲気のサークルです。
にこにこトマトは京都大学病院のボランティアグループとして、入院した子供達が喜ぶようにお祝い日のギフトを作ったり、パーティーを計画したり、募金イベントを行ったり、子供達と遊んだり、ニュースレターを作ったり、切り抜き帖を作ったりする。
にこにこトマトは毎週火、水、木曜日に朝十一時から五時半まで病院の四階で活動をする。今学期のボランティアは大体四十代以上のおばちゃん達と大学生で、一日に十人ぐらい病院にボランティアをしに来る。
ボランティアは毎日十二時ごろ一緒に昼御飯を食べて、四時ごろおやつを食べながらお茶を飲む。ボランティアや活動の準備をする部屋は十人にとって小さいから、あたたかくて時々息がしにくいけれども、おばちゃん達はクラフトがすごく上手でとっても親しみやすくて元気な人だ。それに彼らは様々な個人的な話を聞くのが好きで、知識を広げたいと思っているので、近づきやすい人だ。
The Zainichi Korean Study Group has been working towards showcasing exhibitions regarding Korean Schools in Japan at three different major school festivals in Kyoto. Students met outside of club time to prepare for the actual exhibitions. Work was separated between students. Some made the handouts, some made the posters, etc. I helped out near the end of the preparation by coloring some of the posters and tracing.
The first exhibition was held at Ritsumeikan University. I helped set up the room and the exhibition by hanging up posters and arranging the photos exhibition. Afterwards, I was made to wear the traditional hanbok/chagoli dress and stand on the street to pass out flyers to festival attending students. However, I was able to bond with some of the members there who were passing flyers along with me. The next exhibition is at Kyodai and Doshisha afterwards. Similar to Ritsumeikan, I also dressed up in the traditional Korean dress and passed out flyers to passerbyers. The people I bonded the most with are those who were with me passing out flyers. Because I showed up on the last day, I also helped clean up the exhibition. After the cleanup on the last day at Kyodai, we had nabe party. I think it is really important to be able to attend all of the food functions because that is where you can talk with members. At the Doshisha exhibition, I was more able to talk with the staffers because I was able to stay inside the exhibition room more of the time than standing outside passing flyers.
The school festivals have definitely helped me bond with my group much more than attending the bi weekly meetings could have. At the meetings, I did not really recognize anybody and there was little opportunity to talk. Through the festivals I was able recognize more faces and am surprised that people actually know my name. Hence, showing up at all of the meetings do help you become recognized by the community. Although I did not show up to help out at all of the festival days, I showed up at least once at every location: once at Ritsumeikan, twice at Kyodai, and twice at Doshisha. The more I showed up, the less awkward it had been when I tried to start conversations with people, whether it was commenting or offering food. Spending a lot of time together with the same people helped people become more easy around me. Also, because the festivals are multiple days in a row, being able to see someone in a consecutive amount of time really helped people recognize me. A lot of photos were taken of us during the events and in the preparation. Being able to be in the Facebook albums online I think is a success. Communication wise, the head of the group has really taken a great care of me because she kept sending me updates, called me to invite me to a field trip, and I have also responded to all of them. Sometimes I email her questions and received responses. I think this however depends on how big the club is and how interested they are in opening their group to foreigners. Exchanging contact information with the regular members was also a great step forward for me. One of them even gave me his business card because we talked for a couple of days.
My failure so far is not being able to remember people’s names. I always ask people’s names during the introduction but I can never remember them. Having Facebook helped a little bit, but it is still quite difficult. Most of the time I do not refer to people by their names and it has worked well, except in the cases in which I need to use the “you” pronoun. Everyone knows my name and I feel bad that it turned out this way. But, because I am staying here for a year, I think I will come to know everyone’s names. I definitely look forward to the next gathering or function. Participating in the festivals helped me break the ice, but I think it is your own will to show up, participate, and to reach out that makes the differences.
I love children and I enjoy volunteering at kindergartens. Before coming to Japan, I volunteered at American preschools and Hong Kong kindergartens. This CIP at Zenryuji Nursery School certainly widened my horizon.
Routine
I volunteered every Monday from noon till around 1pm. Within this short period of time, children had lunch, brushed their teeth, changed into pajamas, and got ready for naptime; I was amazed by how these events took place smoothly. I was given a free meal and allowed to eat with the children every week. At the beginning, I mostly spent time with the children after lunch and I was treated more as a guest than a volunteer. As I continued taking initiatives in offering help, I was able to get closer to the teachers. After about a month, teachers started assigning me more chores such as distributing the dishes before meals and cleaning the chairs after lunch. I am glad that I took the initiative in starting conversations with the teachers during lunch. Since teachers were very busy at other times, lunch was the perfect time to have short conversations about their teaching experience. I think that getting to know the teachers was one of the learning aspects of this CIP. In addition, it would have been better if I prepared some easy English songs to sing with the children after lunch. As teachers in this nursery school welcomed creative ideas, I could have offered more learning opportunities for the children.
Interacting with children
Since the self-introduction on the first day, children were very accepting of me (perhaps because of my Asian face). Every time I arrived the nursery school, children would start shouting “AH! Angela-san!” and surrounding me. The older children tried “showing off” their English skills by reciting the number sequence or naming all the animals they knew—it was adorable.
While I thought Japanese people tend to maintain personal distance with strangers, I was surprised that some of the children showed their friendliness by holding my hands or attempting to tickle me. These interactions did not happen in my American nor Hong Kong observations. We became friends after my weekly visits. In the first few times, most of them called me “Angela sensei (teacher),” but eventually, everybody called me “Angela-san,” an indication as a friend instead of an authoritative figure.
Combining elective courses with CIP experience
Nursery school was a perfect location to observe and apply what I learned in KCJS elective classes: Families and Work in Post-war Japan (with Professor North) and Exploring Language and Food in Kyoto (with Professor Yotsukura).
Comparing with my experiences in the United States and Hong Kong, I was surprised by how much these Japanese mothers had to prepare for their children. Children in this nursery school had their own labeled handkerchiefs, cups, eating utensils, bed sheets, blankets, etc. Professor North mentioned that, these preparations were viewed as indicators of a mother’s love toward her children and her performance as a “good wife, wise mother.”
Nursery school was also a location to educate children about the Japanese cuisine and dining etiquette. Before and after meals, children had to say thank you (For example, “お父様、お母様、先生いただきます！”); teachers also introduced the dishes served. I learned from Professor Yotsukura that, the “one-soup, three-side dishes, and rice” module was the foundation of Japanese cuisine. Japanese children started learning about this module and the varieties of Japanese food at a young age.
今学期、私は同志社大学の古美術研究会とKOREA研究会に参加しています。
古美術研究会は奈良市と京都市の様々な神社とお寺を訪ねるためのサークルで
す。研究会は毎週土曜日に十四時から訪ねる場所の駅の外に集まります。学生
会員は大抵同志社大学の京田辺キャンパスの学生で、今出川キャンパスの学生
が少ないです。入会費は四千円だけど、お寺の入場料は全部研究会が払いま
す。お寺や神社に行く時、研究会の秘書は皆さんに準備した場所の説明をしま
す。会員は場所の周りを自由に移動して、設定された時間に大抵お寺や神社の
門口で集まって、解散します。
KOREA研究会は特に在日朝鮮人のことを学びます。研究会員は2週間に１度
同志社大学の新町キャンパスの学生会館の４２８部屋に集まります。会員は大
体同志社大学の学生ではなく、立命館大学を始め、京大など同志社大学の新町
キャンパスに近い大学の大学生です。研究会は水曜日に十九時から二十時半ま
で在日朝鮮人のことを勉強して、討論します。トピックは在日朝鮮人の教育を
始め、朝鮮語を勉強することなどコリアンにとって大切なトピックです。その
後、二十一時から、一緒に晩ご飯を食べに行きます。時々、地域の在日朝鮮人
の学校の活動を参加します。
私は毎週月曜日に授業が終わるとすぐ保育園に行く。ボランティイアと言えば、先生たちを手伝うことと思われがちだけど、子供たちと遊ぶことも多い。十二時から一時までは昼ごはんの時間だから、料理やコップを分配すると一緒にご飯を食べる。その後、先生たちと子供たちの昼寝の準備をする。
保育園には二歳から六歳までの子供が４０人くらいいる。年齢によって、ばらばらのクラスに入っている。九月にこのボランティアを始めて以来、私は三歳の教室に行ったし、四歳から六歳までの教室にも行った。最初の時、子供たちが話した言葉からして、いろいろなことが分からなかった。子供たちは早く話し、時々関西弁を使った。でも、時間がたつとともに、私は少し理解できるようになってきて、よかったと思う。
それから、私は子供たちとご飯の後で時々英語や数学のゲームをする。子供たちはよく私に英語を喋ってみたがる。「上手」と褒められたら、皆すぐ「one two three four five…」とずっと大きい声で言った。時々、面白い話もあった。この間、「アンジェラさんは学校に行くの」と聞かれた。「うん、大学に行きますよ」と言って、子供は「へえ！そんな所があるの？」とびっくりした。子供たちはかわいいなあ。
ボランティアする期間が長くなるに伴って、先生たちと子供たちと友達になったり、話せることも多くなる。園長先生をはじめとして、保育園の先生たちにお世話になっている。これからもがんばるぞ！
After spending a couple of semesters researching Butoh, I have finally translated my research into a physical praxis. Because this workshop is more or less open to anyone, our focus is on body awareness via various breathing and visualization exercises. Some people see dance as a universal language-and falling head first into this workshop with little knowledge of “dance” terminology in Japanese confirmed this notion. The first two workshops were simply watch and copy, but by the third workshop I could focus less on the physical and more on the mental part of the exercises. In Butoh, one’s thought process is equally, if not more, important than the physical aesthetics, and that it itself is difficult to grasp for most people.
Movement, whether we are conscious of it or not, initiates with a breath. The aim for many of the warm up exercises involves becoming aware of our breath and channeling such energy to various parts of the body. Each movement initiates from an inhale, is held, and returns with an exhale. Finding your body’s center after each breath is essential for gaining complete awareness and control.
The metaphors and imagery we translate into our bodies creates a sensation for us as movers, and alters the space we occupy. Through this mutual change in time and space, we become attune to our individual bodies in space. For example, in one exercise, we had an image for various body parts, and being aware of all at once, we walked through space:
1. A waterfall is flowing from the crown of your head down your back to the floor. 2. Your favorite flower is at your chest, and your nose takes notice and smells. 3. A 1000 year old forest is on both shoulders. 4. There is a lake in front of your stomach and a man lives at the shore. 5. There are rock formations and mountains in front of your knees. 6. A young family with a new born baby lives behind your knees.
I continuously question the meaning of conceptual body practices, and in performance, how much of the movement is still strictly personal and therefore goes unnoticed by the audience? After seeing my Butoh teacher perform, and considering society’s expectation of “performance”, how much does she, as a performer, sacrifice to satisfy those expectations? I have found it wonderful that the Japanese movement artists/visual artists who I’ve met or researched don’t give two cents about what society expects from them as artists. They have their own reasons for doing what they do, and they don’t owe an explanation to anyone.
私はアジア研究とモダンダンスの専攻なので、舞踏に興味を持ち始めた。毎週土曜日に二時間半の舞踏ワークショップに行く。今貂子という先生が1985年にIma Tenko + Kirazaという舞踏カンパニーを作った。暗黒舞踏はアングラの芸術なので、その存在を知らない人もたくさんいる。1966年に土方巽と大野一雄が第二次世界大戦への抗議を表すために、暗黒舞踏を確立した。土方は「イマジネーションと身体を結びつける回路の開発」という思想を教えた。舞踏は前衛的な形式から、色々なイメージを考えて、それを身体で表現する。そんな方法を今先生のワークショップで練習している。
最初に、筋肉を緩めて自分の身体の意識を見つけるために、様々な呼吸の練習をする。次は、立ち禅をする。手で空気を集めながら、身体が建物になる。身体の建物の窓を開けて、風が入ったり出たりするのを感じる。五分間、そのまま立っていると、身体の意識が強くなる。その後で、もう一つの意識の活動をする。空気をたくさん吸いたいから、身体が凹む形を作りながら、吸って、そしていきなり凸の形を作る。この身体の形から、ゆっくり下がって生卵の形を作る。生卵なので、壊れないように、丁寧に床に倒れなければならない。その後、一分ぐらいでまた立つ。立つ時に気をつけることは、足から頭までだんだん立つことだ。この二つの活動はすごく難しいが、自分のコントロール力が上がると思う。