Belonging
Classes
Japanese university students are famous for not taking classes
seriously. There are many reasons for this, but one is the
predominance of formal lectures, often very dry ones. Sometimes this
even feels like religious teaching, with the wise man imparting pearls of
wisdom mixed with inscrutable pronouncements, and the students
gratefully receiving enlightenment. In this model there is little role
for questions, homework, or significant feedback from the teacher to
the student. Nor is there much feedback the other way: course
evaluation is still rare.
The curriculum is usually fragmented into courses that meet for 90
minutes, once a week, for 15 weeks, and students take 12 to 20 courses
per semester.
Students thus are forced to take a passive role in
their education. In some cases their participation consists only of
showing up for class, signing the attendance sheet, and listening
until they doze off.
Social Life
If you do get to Japan you will doubtless feel out of place, because
you are: Japanese universities were not designed with foreign students
in mind.
On the other hand, with a tight relationship with your advisor and
therefore with the other members of his lab, you will belong. For
many Japanese, work-related activities cover for social life, and this is true
for students also. For example you can look forward to do-it-yourself
in-lab parties, unencumbered by silly rules about alcohol on
university property. Since everyone commutes by public transport,
there is no worry about getting home safely, and if you do miss the last
train, you can always sleep under your desk.
Thus you have an automatic social life. All the important events of
the academic year are celebrated by the lab. Friendships among
students are also easy; rather than requiring creative personal
attention, they tend to fall into semi-institutionalized
patterns.
Getting Ahead
Japanese universities are typically weak in cross-disciplinary
fertilization; or even a rudimentary awareness of activities on the
other side of campus. If you want to learn things outside your
department, or even outside the lab, the initiative will probably have
to come from you. But if you are active outside, word will probably
get back, and you'll get a reputation for being active, even
"visible", which is a very good thing. Japan being a small country,
where everyone in a field knows everyone else, evaluation of people is
as much by reputation as by objective poring over c.v.s or papers, so
a strong reputation can carry you far.
Another good adjective to seek
is "hard-working". To some extent hard work and long hours are seen
as a virtue in themselves, regardless of the importance of what is
actually accomplished.
A Final Note
Although I've dwelled on the distinctive aspects of Japanese
universities, most things you experience will be quite familiar. But
you will have the incomparable experience of living in Japan, enhanced
by the fact that in Japan graduate students and university
researchers have high social status. Enjoy!
                 
                 
       
Nigel Ward, August 2003
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