Hi! My name is Antony. I am a graduate student at Vienna University of Economics doing a CEMS program exchange semester in Keio University in Tokyo, Japan.
Here I write about things related to Japan and Tokyo in particular: stories from exchange semester at Keio, about learning Japanese language and integrating with the culture and locals.
This morning I have read an interesting article saying that Japanese school children view individualism as the biggest threat to their society. For me it seems to be a very interesting thought.
In Europe most people try to stand out from the crowd, in behaviour or style. Here the social norms are opposite. However being a foreigner you will always stand out. On top of that, foreigners often behave in a way they are used to behave in their country, but which makes them stand out even more (talking loudly in public places etc.). So it is a two way paradox: to stand out and became D-level celebrity any person of non-Asian origin can simply come to Japan. I heard, there are approximately 1% of foreigners living in the country, extremely low number.
As I have already mentioned, I have joined Keio university boxing team. Trainings are fun, team and people are great. Training lasts for almost 3 hours and is every day, except for Monday. Quite a strange schedule, especially for a person coming from Austria (in Vienna almost nothing is open on Sunday).
Before joining the team, I was always wondering, why sports team do those strange sounds. To be honest, I am still wondering. For example, in the middle of warm up someone shouts out loud something that sounds like "aida" and all others say "hey", this can be repeated multiple times. Seems like it is a way to cheer up others and to share positive energy.
At one of the sparings today I was quite slow on defence and received a nice jab right in the left eye. My first bruise in Japan. =) Looks pretty decent.
Now I not only draw attention of other people everywhere because I am a foreigner, but also because of a blue eye.
As I have already mentioned, many Japanese people are small. But they are very ambitious and hard-working. In our training room some Japanese guys know how to workout, but most of them seem to be newbies in this thing. But they are ambitious as I said. They sometimes start out with weights they barely lift, and after a few repeats and trapped under a heavy bar. But none of the other gym participants is hurrying to help... In gyms in Europe when someone takes a big weight, he asks others to set him up and help. Not always, of course, but it happens. Yet haven't seen it in Japan...
Entrance to the gym
KANJI CLASS
Today I have attended kanji writing class. It is a class for Kanji beginners (other classes clash with my main courses, so I have to take this one). If I were a new by and had never studied kanji before, I wouldn't be able to catch up. The teacher just writes a kanji with stroke order on a blackboard, pronounces its readings and goes on. Sometimes she says the meaning of the word in English, sometimes not... For me such a speed was perfect, but I was really wondering how real beginners felt...
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MEDIA DESIGN
Finally (after the school is already going on) an orientation for the use of campus facilities was planned for today. We were given a small tour around campus (which we already knew pretty well) and then were greeted by the dean of the KMD.
The KMD building itself is very modern and new, I have already mentioned that before. There are millions of yen invested in the equipment and the building itself. The dean explained, that it was a state of the art building, with air conditioning triggered by ice cubes (not really familiar with that technology). It was also earthquake free.
The presentation had a welcome format, but some things were new and important knowledge. This semester we were involved in a business project, working closely with real companies in real projects. In Japan the company culture is very different from Europe.
Here are few tips we received today:
- in summer Japan gets really hot and humid, this it is almost impossible to work in wearing a suit all the time. That is why some Japanese companies (but no all) allow employees to switch to "cool biz" dress code, something similar to business casual, without suits and ties, with light colors and short sleeves.
- There are certain siting priorities. In a taxi cab the most important guy sits behind the driver, least important is next to the driver. In a room the most important person will sit farthest away from the door, the least important will be the closest to the door. Elevator: most important person stands behind the guy who presses buttons, the least important is in front of the door with buttons.
After the presentation, a lecture on storytelling was given to us. I like the formats of the lectures at KMD, as they have more of a workshop-style approach, which I find more effective and more fun.
Design ethnography as an elective for a business master? This sounds strange, but in the end it isn't. It is and will be a great class expanding the scope of thinking and seeing the world.
The first class was full of exercises and was a workshop-style. We have done an exercise with a sound ball, with music and sounds. Then we were split up in small group and had to do an exploration exercise (one of us had to be a human and had to explain, what banana or shoe lace was. The others were aliens, they had to listen and ask question, as they were not familiar with those objects). The discoveries were quite impressive and takeaways were also important.
TRUCK FOR TRASH
At a certain time on a certain date people take out their separated trash (usually in white transparent plastic bags) and put it in a special place for a recycling truck to collect. The great thing about this track: it is so tiny (as many streets in our area are tiny) and it plays music (apparently this is a function of all trash trucks). The music is not intended for the driver, but for those who are outside. This is a very Japanese music that reminds me of some ring tones on old phones.
Second real day of school. In the morning as usually gym, the class starts at 14:45. Today it was at the campus near our dorm, in the Keio School of Media Design building.
The building itself is pretty modern with many loft areas. On the ground level there is a fitness center, drug store, cafe, supermarket and a bar.
In order to get in to the section of Keio School of Media Design, you have to scan your student card and the doors will open.
The class room was huge and very modern. In the middle of the ceiling there was a huge sony projector, and 3 smaller projectors to the sides (so 4 screens). Every table has lan connection as well as a plug for a computer. In the back of the room stands a video camera which tapes the class and sends in to the web so that student can virtually participate in the class session or watch the video of the class later.
There were not too many participants. One of the girls was giving traditional Japanese cakes to everyone (Japanese tradition). The class itself started with scanning of student IDs (there is a bar code on the ID, so it was scanned by a scanning device). By the way, the same procedure is to be done after the class (checking out).
The main professor has very strong Japanese-English accent and often repeats"soda" which means something I don't know in Japanese. However the whole class will be a set of guest lectures on innovation.
The rules of the class are as follows: classes are graded only by attendance. Absence = -1 point, late to class =-0,5 points. A student with -2 or more fails the class. However it is possible to watch the class online, you simply need to submit your IP after. Additionally, we will need to write a half-page report after every class describing our thoughts on covered topics.
Today's speaker was a very famous professor at Keio, professor Tachi, founder of Tachi labs. He was talking about human augmentation in different aspects. The lecture was really interesting and informative. Finally I felt I was in Japan!
Professor Tachi explaining virtual reality
He was creating robot-dogs even long before I was born. Now he has lots of inventions like lots of robots and other augmentation devices.
After the class we were invited to visit hi slab where product prototypes were available to try. This is amazing place!!! This is real Japan!!!
One of the things was a robot that you can control. You put on a mask and gloves (this time without gloves) and you can see through the eyes of the robot, turn your head around, even see yourself sitting in a chair.
Another thing was a special coat that you can see through: you simply put it on, then others look through a special device and they see through the coat.
One other cool game: you get to play with a small virtual fairy that responds to your movements. You look through a special glass and see a fairy there. Then you put your hands in that box too and can move her around, play with it.
Very cool one was a simple set of plastic glasses linked together. On the bottom of there is a transmitter. When you put something in one glass (like small plastic balls), the other class makes vibrations and sounds as if you were putting those into this glass too.
The biggest thing we got to see was twister: it is a huge machine. You sit inside, it rotates and shows you 3D images of surroundings. It also adds sounds and smells to make your senses stronger. Here is how it looks
CONCERT
In the evening we went to a concert, Japanese bands that we met at Keio campus were playing in club Asia.
Entrance was 4 euro and it was worth it. Inside we were the only non-Japanese people. Some of the musicians and guys recognized us and were happy to see us.
8 bands were playing tonight, each 20-25 minutes. All of them are from Keio university. KBR modern Shacks have rocked the dancefloor the most. We were dancing, jumping and enjoying the great atmosphere. When some Japanese people saw how we were having fun, they also joined us.
It was great. After the performance the musicians cam to us and thanked for coming out, we thanked them for great music.
BURGER KING
We stopped to grab a burger quickly. 2 things that I should mention here: there was green fanta in menu and on one of the tables two Japanese girls were sleeping. Seemed like they have been sleeping there for quite a while... At it was like 9 in the evening.
FASHION
On the streets on Tokyo you can meet so many different characters. You have to come here ones to see and experience: anime girls, punks, girly looking boys, people in black suits, school girls - literally everyone. Styles differ so much like probably in non other city in the world. Will try to get some good pictures later.
Finally the first day of classes. To be honest, I have been looking forward to it! Today in our schedule we had compulsory for all CEMS students cross cultural management and Japanese conversation class.
Today's classes are at Mita campus in Tokyo so we traveled by metro this time. The professor teaching the class is French by origin, but has spent almost 15 years in Japan as he is married to a Japanese woman. His English is impressively good, as he worked in US for 5 years.
The content of the class, however, leaves much to be desired... Again same things, same concepts, same companies and same cases. Really hope we will shift the focus from Europe to Asian countries so that we could learn something new.
CEMS ACADEMIC DIRECTOR
In order to have Japanese language classes accredited, we needed to have a paper signed by CEMS Academic Director. He has little office in the research building on campus. The office is full of books and folders, half of them in English, half in Japanese.
He was really nice to give us a crash course in CEMS new curriculum which no one fully understood and a culture of exchanging business cards in Japan.
BUSINESS CARDS or MEISHI
Business cards are really important in Japan. Everyone has it, and everyone exchanges those at the first meeting. There are special rules on how to do it: you have to give your card facing another person, hold it with two hands. After the person receives it, you both bow to each other, and then bow a few times more. =)
It is important for international people to have a business card, because this way Japanese people can pronounce your name more or less correctly (they probably won't be able to pronounce it if it is written in English).
It is highly prohibited to bend or write on a business card.T his is a sign of disrespect.
Many students at universities have their business cards which they always exchange with people they meet for the first time. This is a great Japanese tradition, but I wonder when they will switch to e-business cards.
Despite of the weather forecast, morning was really sunny and warm, however quite windy.
A special event was happening today in our prefecture (Kswasaki-shi): Kanamara Matsuri - festival of steel phallus.
We agreed to meet up with CEMS people and head there around 11. The place wasn't that far away, but by metro we had to go a long way.
When we got to the place, the area was crowded. So far I haven't seen such a large concentration of non-Japanese people in Japan. Many people had large cameras hunting for good photos.
The main celebrations was in a small square near a temple. It was really crowded. The most popular attractions there were 2 large wooden phalluses with which everyone was taking pictures, some strange looking man, another man dressed up as a phallus. People were eating, or to be more precise licking or sucking lollipops shaped as phalluses and virginas (mostly phalluses), of different colors and sizes. Some people had branded mask ( nose shaped as a phallus), t-shirts etc.
Little children were walking with their parents sucking on those lollies. Something you can probably see only in Japan. It was really crowded, but really clean at the same time. In Europe or Russia so much trash is left on the ground during the celebrations. Here when someone saw a can or something else, they would pick it up and bring to a trash can.
The main event of the day was a parade. Japanese people in traditional costumes carrying Phalluses of different sizes and colors, yelling loudly "big phallus". Here are the videos, you can see for yourself.
Videos
Another fun participant of the event was a policeman dressed as a character of some famous Anime (I don't watch those, so can't tell which one). He or she, don't know, was wearing that girly outfit running around regulating traffic and the crowd (and sometimes stopping to take a picture with someone). I am not sure, if it was a real policeman or just an entertainer, but he seemed to have his duties and was accomplishing them well.
Police
JAPANESE METRO
I have already written, that Japanese metro in expensive. But not only that. We got in a station today intending to go back to our dorm. But then we figured it was only two stations away, we should walk. Tryed to go out - but the system wouldn't let us. So if you comein metro getting out at the same stop will be a complex process. So we travelled 1 station and paid a euro for that. Good one.
.JPG)
