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2017年7月5日更新
Ms. W.X. (Chinese)
Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences, Doctoral Program of Human Developmental Sciences, Sociology, Area of Social Policy
I wanted to take another look at my academic career after graduating from a university in Tianjin (China). The desire to start over in academics started to get stronger and I decided to study abroad after talking to my parents.
The question was where to study? I was not set on studying in Japan from the start. After giving much thought, I started to reminisce about the time I spent listening to the radio show broadcasted in Japanese with my grandfather. He was able to speak some Japanese. The proximity to China gave me a sense of closeness to Japan, and its solid law and order situation was reassuring. In addition, our long-standing and deep historical relationship from the ancient days pushed me towards studying in Japan.
From the beginning, my intention was to complete a master’s program, but at the time, I was only able to make simple greetings in Japanese. Therefore, I decided to study at a Japanese language school for the first two years of my life in Japan.
11 years has gone by since I came to Japan, but I clearly remember feeling like I was walking on clouds during the first month.
I was trying to get admitted to a national university in order to lessen the financial burden of my parents. I gathered information on my own and talked to relatives who studied in Japan, and came to know about the traditional Ochanomizu University.
After gaining some mastery over Japanese by going to a Japanese language school, watching the daily news on TV became a lot of fun. At that time, Japan’s declining birthrate got a lot of coverage in the media, which made me think about such social issues, and after making up my mind to study sociology, I sat for the sociology exam at Ochanomizu University.
Throughout my nine years since my undergraduate days, I have only been with Ochanomizu University. Even when I was advancing to the master’s program, I had no other school in mind. I felt that much at home at the University.
Ochanomizu University abounds in extremely competent alumni. One of my seniors is teaching at a prestigious university back in China and there is another who stayed on to work as an instructor at the University. Most of all, there are many people who will readily offer advice on academic concerns so that one should not worry about deciding on studying at Ochanomizu University.
I took a lot of classes during my freshman year. Starting with my major subjects and common subjects, in addition to the Japanese language program and English lectures geared for international students, I remained at school studying from nine in the morning to the evening five days a week.
During my sophomore year, I remember being really confused with the seminar-based class format with a focus on future careers. In China, it is common to receive lectures in one big classroom, so I did not know what to do. My fellow Japanese students kindly helped me to understand what was going on by showing me their resumes.
Also, an international exchange organization called TEA gave me a lot of support too. My senior who served as the chairman edited my sentences in detail, and told me what kind of viewpoints were necessary to be included as well as books to read. I can’t thank her enough for giving me kind advice.
One of the characteristics of Ochanomizu University compared to other universities is the small student size per class room. This means that a professor can give more attention per student which is very helpful. In addition, the tutor system allows a senior student who has a similar concentration to help us. I hear that it is pretty common at other universities that Chinese students only interact with other Chinese students, but at Ochanomizu University, Japanese students and international students from other countries all mingle together. Because of its small student population, I think we are able to have this type of interaction.
You may be concerned with the setting as a women’s university, but for me it was very refreshing. At Ochanomizu University, gender studies on the equality of men and women are very advanced. And I believe this is exactly so because it is a women’s university. Through the gender studies, I started to have a strong belief of, “capable because of being a woman” from “not capable because of being a woman.”
As I mentioned before, people who are thinking of coming from China to study in Japan need to be aware of the subtle differences in the educational style of Ochanomizu University compared to the universities in China. In China, the classroom size is large and professors are in control of the class, but directions are not given by professors at Ochanomizu University. Since research is the study of your interest, you need to first understand that research topic is something that you need to take initiative to plan on.
For some reason, I experienced almost no culture shock. I can probably attribute this to the fact that because Japan is a land of kanji, and my memory of listening to the radio broadcasting in Japanese with my grandfather. When I think of it, the fact that I used to watch Japanese TV dramas is connected to my understanding of Japanese culture.
When I first arrived, I was able to rent an apartment through the introduction of an acquaintance and live by myself. I like the old, wooden Japanese residences. The rent was cheap too. At the moment, I share a condominium with a friend. On holidays, I watch movies and visit museums and take walks. For the past two years, I have been climbing Mt. Fuji every year.
I experienced a lot of part-time jobs. In early mornings, I would work packing bento boxes and after school, I would work as a kitchen hand at an izakaya in the evening. I think it is very convenient for a student because there are many time-limited part-time jobs. In recent years, I have been working as a Chinese language instructor. Because Japan is so convenient, I do not think you are going to run into many problems if you act proactively.
The globalization of Japan has led to an increase in foreign workers. We are also witnessing more cases where an international student would join a Japanese corporation after graduating. I am studying the social insurance system such as pension and medical care for those foreigners living in Japan. With on-going globalization in China, we are in the midst of reforming the domestic social insurance system. I hope that I can utilize my knowledge of Japan’s social insurance system for China in the future.
In the future, I will steadily continue with my studies and complete my doctorate. Afterwards, I would like to continue the study of social insurance systems from a global perspective and eventually return to China to teach.
四One of my favorite activities is to walk the campus with seasonal flowers blooming. I have a long-standing relationship with the stray cat living in front of the library and the turtles in the pond. I have been watching the turtles grow since I joined Ochanomizu University. It is therapeutic for me to watch them basking in the sun.
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