The Church of Paragraph Writing

It is about time I actually wrote a bit about the very reason I came to Japan in the first place: to be educated at Doshisha University of course. I've just finished my third week of lessons, so I have a pretty fair idea of how the term is going to pan out from hereonin.

We have 3 hours of Japanese language classes, divided into 2 90 minute sessions, Monday to Friday from 9am. And with the journey from Mukaijima taking around 50 minutes total (with good connections), that means it's an early start every weekday and a lot of commuting time to kill. Luckily, Baptiste is my regular travel buddy, so our strange conversations and earphones of music get us feeling as genki as we can possibly be, given the circumstances. These language lessons are split between those that cover a general set text filled with kanji, grammar and vocabulary for the week ahead and classes that deal with particular aspects of Nihongo (listening, speaking, reading, etc.). Then, after lunch, we have additional courses we can pick and choose.

On Mondays, there's Japanese Life and Culture 1, which consists of visits, trips and hands-on experiences - so it's my 'fun-time' class; so far, we've been to a traditional sweets museum and shop, a textiles centre, on which I will write more about later, and a kimono-trying on session. I'm particularly looking forward to the 'Incense Listening' class in a month or so...whatever it entails. Wednesdays include my additional Japanese language seminar, which is fast-paced and tricky, but just the kind of thing I should be studying, and Ancient Japanese history, while Thursday features Japanese Law and Politics - which was billed as being taught in English, but has ended up with us flitting between Japanese and English throughout each sentence. Tuesday and Friday afternoons are my free afternoons, but I've yet to really cash in on these opportunities with the amount of homework and various bits and bobs I have to get done.

Ah, the homework. It all seems quick and simple, but there's so much to keep in my mind, I rarely manage to do everything that was needed for the day ahead, but have probably finished another exercise not due for a week. But I'm getting there...one day at a time.

The teaching style is mostly very much like SOAS, though there are certain differences. For a start, while in one week last year in London, we would have only 4 different tutors in the Japanese classes, here we have double that, as there's a mix of full-time and part-time staff. It makes you realise just how hard Tanaka-sensei, Kashiwagi-sensei, et al work, with the same hours and amount of teaching, across different classes and year groups. Another change is we have male Japanese teachers, who turn out to be my favourites.

Matsumoto-sensei would be a legend in the making, if it wasn't for the fact that he seemed to already achieve legendary status based on word-of-mouth via my predecessors at Doshisha. Every class he teaches is just filled with such energy with a healthy dash of self-deprecating humour that you can't help but join in. Now that our class has gotten chummy with each other, it makes for some very entertaining off-tangent discussions, all in an atmosphere where you don't feel like a fool if you make a mistake. Plus, he never fails to give thorough explanations for trickier language aspects, peppered with pitch-perfect textbook-quality examples. I consider myself very lucky to have 3 lessons with him a week. The only other regular male teaching staff member in the Japanese language department is Manita-sensei, who has a rather bizarre sense of humour which others find a little disconcerting, but he always cracks me up, so I can't complain.

Perhaps the most unsual class so far has been a writing comprehension class which has introduced me to The Church of Paragraph Writing, which, via the aid of post-it notes, is designed to optimise one's essay/notice construction to make clear and precise sentences in the best structure possible. The three tenents of Paragraph Writing remind me of the Hardeep Singh Kohli documentary on Scientology (and the opening verse to Queen's It's A Kind of Magic):

1. One word, one meaning
2. One sentence, one point,
3. One paragraph, one topic

I've yet to fully understand what it all really means, but I am intruiged to see how it all plays out. Similarly, the speaking class is built on repetition, repetition, repetition. In particular, the 'Shadowing' exercise, in which we all recite scripted conversation together, turns into a babbling mess, albeit an entertaining one. Perhaps we can all do it to music over the coming weeks; every school and kindergarten I pass on the way to Mukaijima station - and there are a fair few - seems to have singing, music and learning off by heart pouring out every day, so this seems like a university extension of such a teaching method.

As for the actual classrooms, if you've seen Battle Royale, you have a pretty good idea already - chunky sliding doors, raised platform at the front with stand and microphone, big green chalkboard. A green little National/Panasonic is plugged into the wall beside the chalkboard and turns out to be a hoover box for chalkboard wipers, which reveals why the board's are always so immaculate after a day's scribbling. However, my biggest bugbear are the desks. The majority of them have the ability to fold out in front, but that means there is zero legroom and I frequently bash my shins against the folded desk half - leading to frequent cussing and my football shinjury taking even longer to heal (scab gone, still pink and tender). I don't know how anyone can cope with such stunted seating space. And furthermore, the little cubby holes under the desktop cause further knee bashing and make forgetting your work folder even easier (as I did today...very annoying).

So, at the mo, its a bit of a mixed bag, and the schedule is really taking its toll on my waking life, but, in the words of Mr. Bedingfield, I gotta get thru this...

And on a completely unrelated note, in case you hadn't take note, I note that two teaser trailers for Hot Fuzz are now available to view in all their hilarious glory here and here. The self-references! Wells locations! Souljacker Part I by Eels! How's that for a slice of fried gold?