Day 17: 17 April 2009

LOCATION: KYOTO (KYOTO UNIVERSITY)
MOOD: AMUSED
LISTENING TO: KYOTO UNIVERSITY LECTURERS

COLLEGE LIFE:

I missed out on the opportunity to do an exchange at a Japanese university. I did manage to do a ten week in-country language program in 2005, but by the time I knew enough Japanese to feel comfortable at a Japanese university I had run out of credits in my Arts degree (my law degree was similarly inflexible). So when Clement suggested that I tag along with him for the day I thought it might not be such a bad thing. I doubted that another such opportunity would present itself, and after the previous day's disappointments I was ready for something new.

I didn't think I'd be back at uni this quick. At least it was only for a day.

We got up at the leisurely hour of 11AM (I think we were both pretty worn out from the long walk the previous night) and set off for Kyoto University on foot. It took us around 40 minutes, and I have to say it was pretty nice to walk down the banks of the Kamogawa in the light of day. A lot of young families were out, as well as the odd person walking their dog and of course an incessant wave of cyclists.

The bicycle situation didn't really improve much once you got onto campus. The sign says 'no parking of cars or bicycles'.

After having brunch at a local Japanese fast food outlet (Matsuya's, for anyone in the know) Clement showed me around the campus. It was then that the realisation hit me – Kyoto has a feel very much like Melbourne's, and the similarities extend to the two cities' namesake universities. For example, where else can you be greeted by friendly, inviting posters like these?

I found it sort of ironic that the sign uses the colours of Israel's flag.

The Kyodai (Kyoto University in Japanese is Kyoto Daigaku, shortened to Kyodai) campus itself is actually quite nice; the buildings are well arranged and the architecture is old enough to have history but not so old as to be decrepit. Clement took me to the famous Kyodai clocktower, which also doubles as a museum for university history. It also sold official university merchandise, and given that the prices were much more reasonable than either Melbourne Uni or Monash's I picked up a red Kyodai t-shirt as a keepsake.

The Kyodai clocktower building.

The scale model of Kyoto University as it originally looked. For some reason I thought of the House introduction when I saw it.

ONE OF THE GANG:

Clement was also kind enough to introduce me to the group he hangs out with. They're all international students staying in the same apartment complex, although they're enrolled in different courses and are staying for varying lengths of time. Between us we had two Australians (Clement and I), two Koreans (In-Yeong and Song-Yi) and one Singaporean Cambodian (Rex), and given that none of us were fully fluent in any language besides our own conversations were normally a haphazard mix of English, Korean and Japanese.

I then followed Clement to his Japanese language classes in the afternoon. I could have come another day and sat in on his computer science classes (also in Japanese), but given that I don't have any clue about computer science even in English I figured that Japanese classes would be a safer bet. In-Yeong and Song Yi also tagged along, although we couldn't quite understand why – their Japanese is streets ahead of ours (well, streets ahead of mine at least).

I attended two classes: a general reading comprehension class and a grammar tutorial. The classes were generally well run, and the whole experience reminded me very much of my time studying Japanese in Australia. The teachers both seemed to fit the same profile: early 30s, female, recently married, pleasant personalities. This tends to be the same in Australia, and makes me wonder whether there's something about the job that attracts such people or whether it's a hiring decision made by management.

During the break between classes I took a walk around. The bicycles seemed to follow me.

Doesn't this place give you a bit of a Melbourne Uni vibe?

In terms of the students, there was a mix of kids from all across the globe. We had a fair few Aussies (including a swathe from Melbourne), a number of Americans, some Brits and of course the Asian contingent (Koreans and Chinese). There was even a Japanese girl from South America (there was large scale emigration from Japan to South America in the early 20^th century).

The lessons were well put together and the teachers professional, but for some reason I actually felt myself getting stupider as the classes went on. I think it had more to do with the stifling nature of classroom learning rather than any deficiency in the teaching methodology. I found myself second guessing and nitpicking a lot more than I usually do, and the whole experience made me sort of glad that I never did an exchange. After five years of studying Japanese, three in uni and two on my own, my conclusion is that textbook-based learning is really only useful for building a foundation in a language. After that you really do need to get out and just live it.

Now I can say that I've studied at a Japanese university. Another thing to cross off my to-do list.