KOMABA times

14 Articles // April 2012 / Issue 1
http://komabatimes.wordpress.com

English Newsletter by Komaba Students

Welcome to our inaugural issue
Komaba Times is an English-language newsletter
written by students at the University of Tokyo,
Komaba Campus. Its goal is to create a place forstudents to voice their opinions and thoughts in
English. While there may be some errors and slips
in the English, we hope you enjoy reading it, andfind it useful. Our hope is that this will be the first of
many issues written collaboratively by international
students and Japanese students. We look forward tohearing from our readers as well as future writers!

DISCOVER KOMABA
10 Things You Should Do While You’re at Komaba
By Tairei Natsuki

April is the season when new students
arrive, and a cohort of students leave
Komaba to move on to the Hongo
campus for the rest of their university
studies. Looking back these two years,
many UT students say they wish they
have used the time wiser. For freshman,
there still is one year left at Komaba.
What are the things you should do while
you are still at Komaba? Here is some
wisdom from your seniors:
1. Build relationships“College is all about building relationships,
I think”says Tomoyo, an economics major.
“During your Komaba years, you should
participate in events and meet people.
Use the resources the college provides.
Once you go to Hongo, this will bedifficult. Build relationships while you
still have time.”
Almost all of the 12 UT students
interviewed said that building relationship is vital for Komaba students.
“Make friends, get to know a professor
and meet alumni. They will help you
decide what you want to do in the future”
comments Manae, a senior law major.

“Especially for law student, it is importantthat you make friends. Since most of your
Hongo classes will be in huge classes, it isdifficult to build relationships with new
people. I suggest you find good friends
while you are still at Komaba.”
2. Travel
Traveling received just as many votes
as building relationships. Charmine,a foreign student from Singapore commented, “Students should do moretraveling during their university life andget different experiences simply because
it’s the last chance to do it. I have theimpression that Japanese students are
not very adventurous and many are
hesitant to venture out of Japan forvarious reasons, but to live in this globalized world means that we should know
more about the world. After university,
most of us will probably settle into a job
for the rest of our lives, so I would sayuniversity is the last chance at freedom
to do whatever we like! Don’t waste it!”
3. Learn a foreign language
About 60% of the UT students said thatthey wish they had spent more time

studying foreign languages. “One thing
you definitely should do in Komaba islearn a language” says an International
Relations major. “Foreign language
classes are only available in Komaba. Of
course, you have your second-foreign
language class, but I suggest you try
more. Take an intermediate English class,Table of Contents
Discover Komaba

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People8

Reports

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Contributors

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or try a third-foreign language. It might
be a lot of work, but you won’t regret it.”
4. Join a club activity
It seems that there is a rumor that more
and more UT students are becoming“Circle-NEET”, not joining any kind ofclub activities. But joining in a club gives
you the opportunity to make friends
and gain a skill. Yuki, a biology majorsays, “Club activity is indispensable for acollege student. Whether it is an athleticor an academic circle, joining one will
make your Komaba life more enjoyable.
You can meet friends otherwise you
would not have met. I recommend all
the UT students join at least one club.”
5. StudyThis may seem like a surprising answer
for many Komaba students since Komaba
life is regarded as the time to “have fun”
while Hongo life is the time to “study,” butmany sophomores, juniors, seniors andeven alumni have agreed that “At least
once in your Komaba life, you shouldmake an effort to study.” Charmine, aJapanese major says, “Komaba students
have the privilege of having 2 years of
the liberal arts system where they don’t
have to be concerned about choosing
a major until a certain period, so theyshould try to expand their knowledge
in all fields and find out where their true
interest lies. It’d be a waste to get a job
unrelated to what they have studied inuniversity in the future.”
6. Work
Part-time job is also part of many Komaba
students’ life. About 90% of the UT
students interviewed say they haveworked at least once in their Komaba
life. Most students prefer working at
an afterschool academy, or tutoringsince the pay is relatively high comparedto other part-time jobs. Shutaro, aphilosophy major says, “Working gives
you a good experience to get to knowsociety. You get to work with people
who have completely different background, and I think this is something
you can only do while you are a student.”
7. Don’t waste the summer vacation
UT students have two-month longsummer vacations. Many students
use the holiday to see family, do club
activities, work part-time, hang out
with friends and simply have a fun time.
But on the other hand, looking backat their summers, many students also
say that they had wasted their summer
vacation. “It is so easy to end yoursummer doing nothing,” says Shujiro,
an education major. “I wish I had
traveled or worked during the summer.
If you plan nothing, though the holiday
seems long in the beginning, it willpass away before you even know it.”concern for UT students. About one
out of three UT students interviewed
answered that they have a boyfriend
or a girlfriend. One economics majorcommented this: “College life should
not always be about studying. Have fun.
Make friends. Ask a girl or boy out on adate. Boys, if you are not too confident
about your looks, don’t worry. After all,you are TODAI student!”
9. Get qualifications
Many UT students also suggest Komaba
students to get qualifications. Minami, ajunior major says, “It is not late to study
for qualifications once you are at Hongo,
but in reality, most students start studying in their freshman or sophomore
year. For example, many law students
start studying afterschool from theirfirst-year. It is never too early to start.”
Another sophomore, Shujiro, comments,“You should definitely get a driver
license while you are at Komaba. Or takethe TOEIC. It’s never too early to take.”
10. Have fun
Despite all the things students raised
above, all of them concluded that
Komaba students should simply “havefun” during their first two years ofcollege. “It does not matter what you
do” says Ryo, a senior. “Just enjoy yourcollege life and make sure that when
you look back, you have no regrets.”

8. Go on a date
Like any other university, getting aboyfriend or girlfriend seems to be a

Inside Komaba– Reform of the College of Arts and Sciences

By Takuma Yoshizawa

Tokyo – When you are asked tothink about Komaba, most ofyou might associate it withthe place for freshmen andsophomores. Yet, you should notforget the fact that quite a few
junior and senior students study
in the College of Arts and Sciences
as well. It is exciting times for theCollege as it is changing at the
moment. Here is a look at what isgoing on inside it.
Hatsumi Kurahashi is a freshman in
Science Course II of the College ofArts and Sciences at the University of2

DISCOVER KOMABATokyo. She is eager to learn new Japaneseculture like Kyudo, Judo and Kendo. “Iwant to become a tough girl,” she says.
She is quite clear in her goal. Her interest
is in biology, especially neurology. She isparticularly interested in learning about
neurological disorders and those who
are unable to communicate with otherssmoothly and have difficulty in learningknowledge in the school. In fact, she
has a friend who has such a disorder.
She feels strongly that it is not his or his
parents’ fault. That’s one of the reasons
which drive her to become interested
in it. She wonders if she could help suchpatients who have disorders by studying how they feel, see and hear. Making
progress in such fields, she believes,Hatsumi Kurahashi.

leads to reducing pain and helping
them live in a more comfortable man-Lectures and Spare Periods: How Do You Shape Your Campus Life?
By Kazumori Mise

Busy students at Todai use their free time efficiently. Not only do wehave free time before morning classes, after evening classes andduring lunch breaks, but also most students have some spare periods.
For example, if you have lectures in third and fifth period but not infourth, your campus life is characterized by the fourth period. Somemay spend this time studying at the library. Others may chat withfriends. Still others may go out to Shibuya and do some shopping.
Here are a couple of examples of Todai students’ class timetables
and their daily schedules (including free time), which will help you
establish your own lifestyle on campus.

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Table 1: Timetable of H.S. (freshman, Arts III), summer semester 2011ner. These things are “steps forward forhuman beings”, Hatsumi says.
From the junior year, she wants tostudy in the Department of Integrated
Natural Science at the College of Arts
and Sciences, focusing on researching
the brain.
In fact, the very department which
she mentioned is currently being
developed. According to the Newspaperof the College of Arts and Sciences, thecurriculum of the College of Arts andSciences is going to be changed from
April 2013. The change is to rearrange
the whole academic units of the college
into three departments; namely the
Department of Arts and Sciences, theDepartment of Interdisciplinarity, andthe Department of Integrated Natural
Science. This means that students whowill experience Shin-furi (declaring
majors in their third semester) from 2012.
Yasuki Endo, a professor in the Department of Basic Science and the head of
the College’s organizing committee,
states that the College has aimed at
nurturing students who have generalknowledge over several disciplines
and aspires to pave the way for new
areas. At the same time, he emphasizes
the traditional characteristics of theCollege. Since its establishment in
1951, this College in Komaba has carriedout reforms quite a lot of times. For

Table 1 shows the timetable of H.S.,a freshman in Literature III, for hissummer semester 2011. “I spent most of
my free time in the library. I used to bea diligent student,” he explains. He used
to go to the library after fifth period andoften studied there until 19:00 or 20:00.
“But sometimes I studied in the dining
cafe with my classmates,” he continued.
According to him, the library is a place
to work long hours, so he chose thecasual dining cafe for short study sessions. When the cafeteria was crowded,
he strolled to the bookstore on campus
to kill time. Interestingly, he has classes
in the first period every day. He said thiswas because of ‘‘nothing more than achance, as a result of faithfully obeying
my academic interest.’’ Some students
tend to avoid taking first period classes
for fear of oversleeping in the morningand being late, so this timetable may
look slightly strange for them. But he
did not have to worry about such things
since he lived with his parents.
Then he moved on to what each class hetook was like. What especially impressed
him was the history class, which guided
him to many historical books, someof which he continued reading evenafter the course finished. “In addition,
the seminar was very meaningful forme,” he said. This seminar on Friday 5th
period was held at the Historiographical Institute on Hongo Campus, so
his Friday 4th period was the time forcontinued...

instance, it is known for the creation of theInternational Relations major shortly
after World War II. These changes
have been made to respond to social
demands and intellectual trends. In
that sense, the curriculum change thistime is not something special.
He says, “We are looking for students
who are eager to blaze their ways
through this new era with the latest curriculum.” Whether this reform
succeeds or not depends on students
who will choose to do their junior andsenior years at the College. For those
who are interested in it, this is unquestionably a great opportunity to see
Komaba in a new perspective.

DISCOVER KOMABA

3

moving from Komaba to Hongo.
There he experienced the process ofdeciphering historical documents,
which promoted his thirst for historicalknowledge and research.
He finally gave some advice to the
freshman students: “You should nothave five classes in a day. On Mondays, I found it really hard to keep myconcentration in the fifth period. I
attended 17 lectures a week, and thatwas the proper amount for me.”Table 2 shows the timetable of T.S., afreshman in Science I, for his summer
semester last year. Unlike the first student, T.S. does not go to the library very
often. On the contrary, he has been there
only a few times since April! Then, what
was he doing in his free time? Actually,
he does not like staying on the Komaba
Campus. After the last class for the day,he would go straight back home, go to
the cram school where he teaches mathand chemistry or go to Shibuya with his
friends. But how does he spend the freetime between classes? “I sometimes do
not eat lunch at lunchtime and instead
eat off campus with my friends during
my spare time.” It is certainly difficult
to eat off campus within the 50-minutelunch break, so it is an effective way ofenjoying various kinds of food in otherplaces than the cafeterias on campus. “Ialso used to work on my assignments in
the Information Education Building,” hecontinued. In the Information Education Building, PCs are available anytime

for free. Also, being the class leader forthe school festival, he remembered thatsometimes he prepared for the festivalwith his classmates.
One of his classmates, H.K. kindly joined
the interview. He belonged to two futsal
clubs and had a part time job tutoringat a cram school as well, so he intentionally did not take afternoon classes.

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That is one possible style of campus
life, too. Again T.S. reflects his summer
semester; “At first it was hard for me toget by with this schedule. The classes arealmost twice as long as in high school,
but gradually I got used to. You do nothave to keep a perfect concentration for
all 90 minutes; just try not to miss theimportant part. You will soon get used
to it, so do not worry.”

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Table 2: Timetable of T.S. (freshman, Science I), summer semester 2011

Be Confident in English Writing - From The Komaba Writers’ Studio
By Yukiko Nagano

Tokyo -- In the University of Tokyo (UT), there is a required course
for science students called ALESS: Active Learning of English for
Science Students. The Komaba Writer’s Studio (KWS) helps
students with ALESS assignments, improving their written paper orpresentation. There are kind teaching assistants (TA) that work at
KWS for students through one-on-one discussion in Japanese. Whenthe year’s final ALESS presentations are drawing near, I got theopportunity to interview two TAs at the KWS to ask the meaning ofEnglish writing from the TAs’ point of view.
Ms. BuYong Lee, who came to Japanas a Korean-native foreign exchange
student to UT six years ago, started
working as a Writing TA in 2010. While
doing research on comparative literature in graduate school for a PhD, shealso finds her job well worth doing. On
the reasons how come she became aTA, she says, “I am interested in second
language education and communicating

4

DISCOVER KOMABA

with students.” Adding to this, she told
me about one characteristic of KWS. “WeTAs do not aim at making correction on
their papers. Rather, we are glad to help
them revise and develop papers forthemselves by asking many questions.”
She said some students misunderstandthe meaning of KWS, thinking that they
only have to submit a paper and leaving
it all to the TAs. This kind of perception

is what she finds tough about her job.
What delights her, on the other hand, isthat through tutorials, students find out
their potential writing abilities they did
not notice they had.
Ms. Kozue Uehara, another TA in KWS,
also explained her job. She is a Ph.D.
student doing research on the residents’
movement in Okinawa. According toher, a TA’s job is to help students organize and cultivate their own ideas and ofcourse, practice presentations in public.
“I find it difficult to read through papers and give them a proper help in thelimited time (40mins each), but weenjoy seeing how they come to findanswers by themselves.” That way,
students will gradually learn to see theirresearch objectively. In addition, sheemphasized that proper and objective

Eigo de Shabe Lunch

by Remi Hamanaka
Have you ever felt that you can’t
speak English although you
have studied it very hard? It’s
one thing to read English andit’s quite another to speak it.
You have to practice speaking
English to actively use it.
“Eigo de shabe lunch” provides you anideal chance to brush up your English.
It’s held at lunchtime once a week in“the first-year activity center” next tothe administration center. You can talkwith students, professors and staff in
English over lunch.
“Staff launched the project three years
ago and it’s now managed by students
who are interested in it,” said Kunimitsu Akai, a staff member of the Student
Support Section. “The aim is to encourage students to interact with otherstudents, staff and professors regardless of year, class, and club activities
through English. You can talk about
anything. When you speak English here,
you don’t feel shy about talking withpeople who you meet for the first time.
So this program allows you not only to
improve your English, but also to makeconnections.”
Asuto Ito, current organizer of the lunch
and a first-year student of the Literature

writing skills are essential in any language, not only in English or Japanese,in order to express our opinion. In second languages, we are surely supposed
to look at that language and everytranslation process more carefully,
which she thinks is one of the greatest
parts about ALESS and KWS.
Lastly, they gave us, not only science
students but also literature students,
some tips and messages. Ms. Lee said,“Through English writing, we can learncreative thinking, how to interpret data,and communication skill. There will bea lot of errors in the process of developing your ideas, but just be confident!
You can find out skills you have not yet
found out.” And from Ms. Uehara, “I hope
English writing programs like ALESS
will urge students to understand the

1 course, hoped that students will
seize the opportunity to speak English
outside the class after they take partin the project. Haruka Asakuma,
co-organizer and a first-year Ph.D.
student in the Faculty of Language
and Information Sciences, hopes thatstudents widened their community
through English. Haruka is a peer
adviser, who gives suggestions tostudents in the junior division.
If you’re interested in the activity, all
you have to do is to go to the “thefirst-year activity center” at lunchtimeon Thursdays (subject to change eachsemester). Don’t hesitate to join!

Photo by R. Hamanaka.

necessity of peer review in any
language. I want you to be interested
in others in many ways, for that is one
effective way to start communicating in
any language.”
ALESS is for science students, but there
will be a similar program all in English

Kozue (left) and another TA at the KWS

for literature students too in the near
future. We should actively try to use
English practically by making the mostof those opportunities with the big help
from kind TAs. KWS is always there foryou to help you cultivate your ideas andopen a new perspective.

Komaba Writers’ Studio. Photo by Y. Nagano.

DISCOVER KOMABA

5

On Website Everyone Can Enjoy UT Courses: UT Open Course Ware
By Nanami Nakamura

Many universities such as Harvard
and MIT have begun to broadcast
their courses on YouTube. The
University of Tokyo launched its
project to open its courses to the
public on the Internet, called “UTOpen Course Ware.”On the UT Open Course Ware (OCW)
webpage, people can enjoy somecourses from the University ofTokyo for free. OCW started in 2005 asa part of a university strategy for“Knowledge Structuring.” These days,
research is progressing fast and theamount of knowledge is increasing dramatically and it is more difficult to grasp
the whole body of knowledge. However,in order to make use of knowledge foradvancement, understanding the bodyof knowledge is needed. “Knowledge
Structuring” is a project connecting
knowledge and making a knowledge
system that contributes to the society.
On OCW, people can watch various video recordings of courses fromfaculties such as liberal arts, law, andmedicine. The courses are usually 90
minutes, but the videos are divided into 15 minutes. The courses aredelivered in Japanese and English. The
videos can be played on RealPlayer,
but some courses are also released
as podcasts. They are free of charge,
so people can download them andenjoy them on their iPods or iPhones.
In addition to the videos, every course
has a “notebook”, a summary of thecourse, written by the professors orteaching assistants. It can be very
helpful to understand the course. Of
course, these notebooks are also free.
There are many courses, but people cansearch for the courses they want to see
by faculty or professors.
The most popular series
was “The Global Focus on
Knowledge,” which was heldin 2005. In this course, thelecturers were Nobel laureate Mr. Masatoshi Koshiba,
then president of the University of Tokyo Mr. Hiroshi
Komiyama, Mr. KatsuhikoSato, a Professor of Faculty of
Science & Graduate School of
Science and Mr. Yasuhiro Ie, a
Professor at the Institute for
Solid State Physics.
The theme was “Quantum
Mechanics
II,” searching
new scientific substances oranalyzing them. The lectures wereabout substances from their various
professional points of view so thatthe students could grasp the whole of“Quantum Mechanics II,” reconfirm theimportance of the first two years ofliberal arts and get an outlook of theiracademic career.
This service is mainly for people outsideof the University of Tokyo, but it can be
useful for UT students as well.
Students can access courses offered

before they enter the University
on OCW. They can take not only old
courses, but they can also accesscourses which are held at the same classperiod as their courses.
Secondly, the “notebook” is edited sowell that it helps students review theircourses they “really” take. Some teachers
speak too fast to take notes so it can beof great help.
Thirdly, the videos of the interview withthe graduates are available now, and the
topic is not about the courses but ”whatit means to study at the University ofTokyo.” Actually, this video is for highschool students but it also gives hints to
the University of Tokyo students.
The project team says they plan to add
10 courses every year. Stay tuned.

Komaba Model United Nations
By Takuma Yoshizawa

Tokyo – When you see international conferences, you might thinkthat it is too distant from us. Actually it is. But quite a few people
get interested in what has been discussed and how they discuss.
There is an activity where you can experience both. That is the
Model United Nations (UN).
The Model United Nations is an activity
which simulates international conferences by assigning countries to eachparticipant. Participants play the roleof each country’s delegate throughout
the conference. This activity started at
Harvard University in 1923, though there
was no United Nations but the League

6

DISCOVER KOMABAof Nations then. Now it has spread allover the world and has been known
as one of the most common intellectual activities. Countries like the UnitedState have introduced Model UN in theclassrooms and many governments(mainly the ministries of foreign affairs)
have supported it officially.

Here in Komaba, there is one organization which you can join with ease;
Komaba Model United Nations. You canenjoy taking part in it and experience
activities spread all over the world. Then
what can you gain from taking part in
the Model UN?
1. Knowledge
In order to fully enjoy the Model United Nations, you are encouraged tolearn the situations of a country you
represent and the problems which havebeen discussed in the conference sofar. This very research leads to acquireknowledge not only on the situation ofeach country and the power balances ofinternational politics but also the way
countries show their attitudes and try to
conduct their diplomacy effectively.
2. Experience
It also gives you rare opportunities ofparticipating in “model” international
conferences. In the conference, youhave to behave like a “real” diplomat
or delegate. That means that careful
speech and discussion should be madein accordance with the policies of eachcountry. It is often the case that thepolicy of the country you represent
contradicts with what you think is right.
Since the procedure of the debate ismade similar to the actual conference,
seeing the discussion as a viewer, it
probably looks like a “real” conference.
There are placards with countries’ names
written and they have to be raised if
delegates want to raise motion. Youmight regard it as an impertinent game
which makes no sense. It can be theimpression for those who encounterit for the first time and have neverengaged in it themselves. Yet, once you

try it, you would be surprised at thefact that your perspective of global
problems has become wider and you
can feel a sense of accomplishment.
3. Opportunities
This activity can give participants great
opportunities. One of the lures of MUN
is that the activity itself is global. Many
events are held on an international
level. For example, if you belong to the
Komaba Model United Nations, youhave the opportunity to take part in
the Cambridge Model United Nations,which 10 members from the Universityof Tokyo attended last year. At this Cambridge MUN, participants gathered from
more than 20 countries and 60 universities. This is definitely a rare opportunity
which you can hardly attain.
4. Friends
By committing yourself to Model United
Nations, you can also make friends
beyond the university. This is because
students from many major universities have participated in this activity
in Japan and the world. Considering the fact that the circle of friends
tend to become something within theuniversity, the MUN activities provide
you with a new perspective to look at thecharacteristics of the university.
5. Know Yourself
Interestingly, by negotiating withother people and reflecting what you
have done for the conference, you cansee clearly the things you are good at.
Some people discover they are good atdelivering speeches in front of theaudience. Others feel that their ability topersuade others is poor and need to bestrengthened. These things are difficult
to discover by merely reading books orjust making conversation. In this sense,
MUN is a good tool to know one’s traits.
These are just a list of aspects about
MUN and you can find other interesting points. It’s completely up to you tointerpret the activities and take in what
you think is fascinating. Understanding
the façade is one thing, entering inside
the building is another. Whether you
have found the appearance nice or not,why not come and experience Model
United Nations once?

Delicious Gingko Avenue
By Nanami Nakamura

The gingko tree avenue in Komaba is not only beautiful but its nuts are delicious.
If you treat gingko nuts adequately, you can enjoy its rich “autumn” flavor.
The way to cook it is following.
1. Collect the gingko nuts and wash them in water(Don’t forget to use gloves. They smell and may make a rashfrom their skins’ poisoning.)
2. Put them on a sheet and dry for a night
3. Break them with cooking scissors
4. Boil water and put them into it
5. Boil them rubbing them with a ladle
6. When the films are removed and they become transparent,
pick them up and move into cold water
Then, they can be eaten with salt or used in steamed rice and salads and so on.
They might smell a bit but their little bitter taste is quite like autumn.
Since gingko nuts smell terribly, many people may not even imagine them can be eaten.
However, the cause of the smell is the skin. They contain hydrocyanic acid and it cansmell but it become better. One reason why they smell is that animals such as monkeys
and badgers don’t eat them.
When it comes to delicious autumn foods, there are pears, apples, chestnuts, persimmon
and grapes. It takes from 4-7 years to harvest fruits from them. But gingko trees take 12
years and more to have fruits. In Japan, people say, “Gingko trees will be fruit in children
or grandchildren generation.”
All gingko photos by Y. Itatsu.

When you eat them, be careful not to eat too many. They contain hydrocyanic acid and if
you eat too many you might be addicted. Children can eat up to 10 nuts a day.

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7

PEOPLE

Seeing Todai from the Eyes of Foreign Students
by Remi Hamanaka / Rin Ichino

Todai is now trying to increase
the number of foreign students
and already many students fromabroad are studying on our
campus. But why do they wantto come to Todai? What do they
think about Todai? What are thedifferences between Todai andtheir universities overseas?
We asked some AIKOM students theirimpressions and opinions about Todai
and Japan, compared with their homecolleges and countries.
We conducted an interview and foundout how Todai looks like from the viewof foreign students.

The Reason of Coming to Japan
Q: First, what made you decide tocome to Japan?
H: At my university, I studied Japanese.
It was an optional course of two hours aweek, and I really enjoyed it. And there
was an opportunity to study in Japanfor a year, so I applied for this program.
D: My major is Japanese, so I thought
I should probably go to Japan to getbetter at it. Um, results so far, I’m notsure about, but I’m enjoying it.
Ss: I don’t major in Japanese, but one
day an international officer came to
my department, and they offered me ascholarship from JASSO to study at the
University of Tokyo and I applied for it.
Sd: My major is Japanese, so I took theopportunity to come to Tokyo. I hope I’ll
improve my Japanese.

8

The Interviewees
Diana (D): from University of Michigan in USA, major in Asian Studies
Holly (H): from University of Warwick in UK, major in Sociology
Sandra (Sd): from University of Grenoble in France, major in English and Japanese Studies
Sasya (Ss): from Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia, major in International Relation

The Interviewers
Remi Hamanaka (Q): 3rd year of the International Relation faculty
Rin Ichino (Q): 3rd year of the Law faculty
was like falling in love with a language
so beautiful, so I wanted to learn it.
Q: I see. How about you?
D: I actually started taking Japaneseclasses when I was in 7th grade. My
school offered Spanish, French,
German, and Japanese, and I was like“I’ll go against the grain! I’ll take Japanese!” And actually because I know some
Chinese, I thought it would be easy! I
was sure Japanese couldn’t be harderthan Chinese. I like Japanese so much.

About Tohoku Region Pacific
Coast Earthquake

Q: So you two major in Japanese, but
why did you want to major in Japanese?
Sd: I don’t know exactly, but maybe it’sa, um, big mistake!! (laugh) In my highschool, we must study Chinese, so I
wanted to continue Chinese in myuniversity. My university, however,didn’t have Chinese classes. So I took
Japanese. After that, I watched
Japanese drama and began to thinkthat Japanese was cool. So I tried it,
and now I like it very much.

Q: The earthquake and nuclear power
plant accidents occurred this year.
Did it make you worried about being
here?
H: I read in the newspaper about awave of “Gaijin” who ran away to theircountries. If something bad happen,
then you abandon the country. I thinkit’s a big shame. I had a lot of faith inJapan. I think Japan will come backfrom the earthquake strongly, so I wasdetermined.
D: For me, if I could still come, I thought
it was an opportunity. I just couldn’tturn it down especially since I major inJapanese. My mum said that tragedies
could happen everywhere, so it’s not
something that should keep you fromliving your life.
Ss: Well, at first I was worried about
going to Japan, but after I heard opinions from my acquaintance, I began tobelieve that.

Q: Oh, it started with just a mistake!
Sd: At the beginning, it was a mistake.
When I had my first Japanese class, itJapanese would recover from theearthquakes and everything would be
OK. Moreover, Tokyo is not really close

PEOPLEto the nuclear reactor. So I think that Tokyo is safe, and it’s OK to come to Japan.
Sd: For me, too, it was a big question.
Like Diana’s mum, my mum said tragic
things could happen everywhere. She

also said, “You’ve got Todai, the best
university. Take the opportunity.”

Impressions about Todai
Q: What are your impressions about
Todai, and its students?
H: To go to Todai, we have to be very
clever. Outside of academic work, they
have so many talents such as playing
the piano, juggling, dancing, boxing…
D: Everyone is already good at speaking
EnglishSd: I’m really impressed and ashamedof myself, because “Oh, god, everyone
has some talent of dancing, playing
instruments… but I haven’t done
anything!! Why am I...at Todai!!”Ss: All of the students have a criticalopinion about everything.

even if it’s not true. Everyone pretends
that they didn’t do any work.
Ss: Everybody here enjoys studying verymuch.
H: They’re proud of studying.

Q: Are students of Todai different
from your college?
H: Yeah, really different from the UK in
two ways. First, if you’re a very cleverstudent in England, then you remain
quiet and you stay in your room tostudy. But at Todai, even if they’reclever, they’re sociable, friendly. And
second, a lot of students in UK like todrink a lot, to have a party. But at Todai,
they’re like adult.
D: At my university, the University ofMichigan, clever people are just like “I
don’t need to study. Let’s go party!” I
mean, for the most part, everyone is aserious student and studies and tries toget good grades, but an important part

Q: So I see that you have fun partying
or drinking, but how about circles, orclub activities?
Ss: There’re a lot of circles in my universities like sports circles, dancing, theater,
magazines or journalistic something.
We can choose to join it or not. I was amember of student organizations at
my school.
H: We have a lot of circles, I think there
are 300 or so, and it’s for anything, any
topic. So we have a circle for dancing,eating cheese, reading books, knitting...
I think that’s one of the best things
about our students.
D: At my university, we also have allsorts of activities. Maybe this isof student culture is having fun withyour friends. I feel that dormitory life
is the most different. It’s very quiet in
Japan! When a few of us were chatting
in a hallway, a girl knocked at her door
from the inside, which was quite odd. It
was like she was complaining about thenoise. But I expected that she would
come out to say something like “Hey,shut up!” not just stay inside.
H: In the UK, if you’re clever, you don’ttalk about it because you’re modest.
You don’t talk “Oh, I studied so much”

something just at my university, but wehave a lot of ethnic groups. So we havegroups that are very focused on culture
specific things, such as Indian dance. We
also have 400 “official” extracurriculargroups, including non-sports activities.
H: We have quite an active Japan society.
It’s really fun. Also at Todai we’ve been
to the international students’ group.
Sd: At my school, there’s no club activity.
It’s not good. Everyone, after classes,
goes for their home activity.
Q: Home activity?

About Club Activities

Sd: Like studying, going to the theateror dancing, but there’s no activity on
the campus, so they have to pay forthat. The fee is really expensive.

About Homework
Q: Do you have a lot of homework at
your home college?
D: Oh yeah.
H: That’s why Todai is so different forme. At Todai we have homework every
day but in the UK it’s completely
different. In Todai your grades comefrom attendance and assignments you
hand in every week. Whereas for mycourse in the UK, attendance doesn’t
count toward the grade and you don’t
get any assignments. You just have
one essay. You hand in the essay oncea term. That’s all. And then we have an
exam at the end of the year. That’s
everything your grade comes from.
Ss: Oh really! In my country we must
usually hand in the review for the week.
There are also classes with no assignment
just like Holly’s class in UK. You justneed to come to the class, listen to thelecture and take the final exams. And
we usually have a group presentation
and write essays.
H: I think in the UK, if you take science,
you’ll have assignments.
Sd: In France we have much more
homework than at Todai. In my English
and Japanese class we have homework
almost every week, plus presentations
and it’s just in my lecture of economics
and law that I don’t have homework.
D: I think America is similar to theUK. But it depends on your class andprofessor. I take a large lecture class
where I have to send the assignment
every week online. We’ve been making
the movement to online assignments
recently. I have classes where the only
thing to do is to read. I think here youread but you are also expected tounderstand it all before you get to theclass, but in America you read it, you
try to understand as much as possible
and you go and you ask questions, andthe teacher answer. It’s less you need tounderstand about the text.

About the Lectures
Q: I heard that you take the samelecture with Remi and other Japanese
students. Have you felt any difference
between Japanese students and
AIKOM students in the class?
H: I think there’s no difference
D: The only thing I think is in some of

PEOPLE9

my classes the Japanese students area little more reluctant to speak up.
Sd: Just because in every class we haveto talk about our countries comparedto Japan. The professor always wants
to know the point of view of foreigners
and their countries. So I think in someclasses, we talk more than Japanese.
H: But I think it’s because it’s an English
class. If we were in a Japanese class wewould be very quiet!
Ss: I think the Japanese students are
critical.

Living in Japan
Q: Do you have other problems inyour college life, other than lectures orhomework?
D: Well I think we all have Japanese
problems.
H: I think the most difficult class isJapanese.
Ss: It’s difficult, yup.
Sd: I’m ashamed of myself.
Ss: Yeah, I’m not confident enough to
speak Japanese with Japanese people.
D: So I end up speaking in English.
Sd: For example, last Saturday I went
to a post office to post my pictures tomy country and the first question I had
was “Do you speak English?” And thewoman was so embarrassed so shesaid, “eeto, eeto” She couldn’t say “No”,
because she wanted to help me. So I
said, “OK, I’ll try in Japanese”, but in fact
I can’t speak Japanese. Then one of
the staff said, “I can speak English.” So I
spoke English.
H: For me, when I speak English, I feelit’s inadequate.
Ss: It’s like “Sandra, you’re in Japan, youmust speak Japanese!”
D: I feel silly speaking English to
Japanese people when I came here tolearn Japanese, but when I speak
Japanese I still feel silly.
Q: How about the support system of UT
for exchange students?
H: It’s been fantastic, amazing. We havea tutor and a mental supporter as well.
Ss: Todai is organizing everything for usvery well.

PEAK Program
Q: Have you heard about the PEAK
program?
Everyone: Yeah.
Q: Next fall a new department willbe established where every lecture istaught in English. What do you think
about it?
H: It sounds very interesting.
Q: Do you think the program will attract

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foreigner students?
Ss: I think so. As long as it’s Todai.
D: It’s a 4-year program. It’s not like a“study abroad program”. They must
apply directly in PEAK, and can say “I
was a formal student of Todai!!” You
have AIKOM students, PEAK students
and international students. I think it
might create a very interesting international community at Todai because you’ll
have obvious different levels. It’ll beinteresting to see how it works out.

Q: In your home college, do you havea lot of international students?
D: Yes. We have a lot of Chinese students.
We have 3 Chinese students associations.
H: At my university we have thousandsof international students as well. It’s
really nice. For discussions in the classroom, you can have students from 20
different countries.Q: So they take therandom Japanese housewives and wejust had a chat for an hour.
Sd: There are a lot of Japanese students
in my university. At lunchtime, we allgathered at the big table. There wereJapanese and French students who
studied Japanese. When we talked withJapanese students, they talked about
their culture and country. For us it was
the only time we spoke Japanese. The
Japanese students didn’t understandlectures because they took the sameclass as we took. So it was also the time
when Japanese students came andasked questions about lectures and weanswered because we know it’s very
difficult to learn French, to understandFrench.
Q: In your college, French is generally
spoken in class.
Sd: Yeah. My Japanese class is taught inJapanese and my English class in English, but economics and law are taught
in French and international students
take these courses.Q: So your college

same classes with you.
Ss: We have a special class for international programs for foreign students,
but some foreign students also take theregular courses.
D: I took an intensive language course.
We have a conversational table twicea week. I talked with both Japanese
students and non-Japanese students
who had reached the fourth year Japanese level. That were actually university
students, but sometimes there camedoesn’t have a program like PEAK?
Sd: Yes. We have other programs likethat. I don’t know why, but most students
prefer to take ordinary classes.
In my university we take two languages.
Most of the Japanese students takeEnglish and Japanese, because theysay, “At least I can understand myJapanese class.”
Ss: Foreign students who come to ouruniversity can’t usually speak Indonesian, so they spend one year or several

International Students at Home
Universities

months studying Indonesian first.
Then they join the regular class because
the regular course is taught in English
and Indonesian. If you take a pureinternational program, the lectures are
conducted in English, but when you
take a regular class, lecture is conducted
in Indonesian.
D: We don’t have anything like that.
Ss: Of course!
D: Everything is taught in English.
I think it’s very impressive for international
students to take courses, whichsometimes I can’t understand.

Messages to Freshmen
Q: Do you have any messages fornext year’s freshmen?
Ss: Oh! Todai is awesome!
D: Good luck! Have a nice life!
H: I think when you come to university
it’s one of the good opportunities tobe in an international community. So
enjoy it and take advantage of youropportunity. You can make friends withpeople from all over the world.
Sd: Yeah. It’s a good opportunity toknow more people and more culture.
D: I think it’s a good time to find yourself
and figure out where you’re comfortable.
I like you guys! AIKOM!
Sd: University is a big step in your life!
You feel like an adult! The first time I
came to my university, I felt like “Hey I’man adult!”

Ss: When you’re in the university, learn
as much as possible! Murishinaide!
Q: Thank you for coming here today.

What is AIKOM?
The program, called AIKOM (“Abroad in Komaba”), is offeredby the University’s College of Arts and Sciences to the upperdivision undergraduates. AIKOM students are selected fromuniversities and colleges with which the University of Tokyo hasa formal exchange agreement. The program currently accepts
18 students from all over the world. We also send approximately
the same number of Komaba students to our partner schools
each year. The courses are offered in English, and credit can berecognized by the students’ home universities. Students whose
Japanese is of a sufficiently high standard can take the courses
offered to the regular students of the upper division at theCollege of Arts and Sciences, with the exception of science
courses. AIKOM lectures have included topics such as: Aspectsof Japanese Society, Dynamics of Japanese Cultural History,
Reading Japanese Novels, Learning from Museum, The
Government and Politics of Japan, Japan’s External Relations.

What is PEAK?
Starting in October 2012, the University of Tokyo will offer two
new undergraduate degrees focusing on ‘International Programon Japan in East Asia’ and ‘International Program on Environmental
Sciences‘ with English as the medium of instruction as part of
the PEAK program. These courses are initially directed towards
international students.

PEOPLE

11

Global Outlook: Brush Up Your English
By Yukiko Nagano

Tokyo— Now that sophomores have decided which faculty to majorin, it is a good time to think about what kind of future we UT students
hope for ourselves. It is often said that we are now facing a toughperiod for getting jobs due to the global economic crisis. I interviewed
a UT sophomore to find out his global outlook, his ideal future career
and what he thinks is necessary to achieve his goals.
IPPEI KAWASE has decided to major in
Faculty of Law. He belongs to a soccer
circle and Model United Nations activity.
One of the most difficult parts about
Model UN activity is communicating
fluently in English. At the Model UN,
he explained, students simulate aninternational conference. Each member
is assigned one country as a delegate.
They negotiate with other participantsin English. Through this activity, he says
he learned not only about the global
society but also how to persuade others.
It was quite hard for Japanese students
to join those English-native students
because their English skills were notgood enough. He points out that weshould be given more chances to talkin English, comparing UT’s English
classes with other universities. He
emphasized the necessity of being able
to use English as a method of communication with various people aroundthe world in order to actively participate
in the global society. “I attended aninternational conference in Singapore
last March,” he continues, “and people
from Europe, USA and Australia were at
the center of the conference.”
Ippei Kawase“I hope to go study abroad after
graduation and work for the Ministryof Foreign Affairs in the future.” He adds,“My experience of participating in an
exchange program and studying in
the United States as a high school
student was the start for me to become
interested in international society.”
His interest in international society has
had an impact on his future career, hesays, and now he wants to work both forinternational and Japanese societies as abureaucrat. “Some complain liberal arts
is only too superficial, but I think they arehelpful directly to our major.”
On the reason why he entered UT, hesays the liberal arts curriculum anda high level environment. “I found it
attractive that we do not have to choose
what to specialize from the beginning.”

Then, he tells us how to spend the 3rd
and 4th year in university. “In addition
to so-called ‘shukatsu’ (job-hunting), I
want to focus on law after these 2 yearsof learning a lot of areas. Also, I want totravel and read more.”
Lastly, he gives us a message on UT lifeand future.
“I want you all to do what you like themost. I do not want you to limit youractivity. You do not need to be too
serious about ‘shukatsu’ or grades. Do
not narrow your future!”
UT life is full of discoveries. Encounterswith diverse people, many fields to learn.
As a freshman, hopefully 4 years as a UT
student will bring us great opportunities
to grab our own future!!

How to Enjoy Gingko Leaves
By Nanami Nakamura

Bookmark Ancient Wisdom

they make a path like maze withleaves and play a tag inside it. Its
name was “cat chase.

The gingko leaves prevent pests
from eating papers, so putting
them between pages works
and it’s elegant. Because of theireffect to guard things fromharmful insects, some people
put harvests in boxes with theleaves, too.
Autumn Leaves andHappy Memories
Mr. Ralph Rose, who was born andbrought up in the US and now teachingat the University of Tokyo, says heenjoyed playing with leaves when
he was a child.
First way is that collecting the fallen
leaves and makes a pile. Then run and

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PEOPLE

jump into it. Clearing fallen leaves is tiring
work but this was so fun for him that hedoesn’t have negative image about it.

In Japan, going to thecountryside or mountains andtaking a walk through forests
is a popular way to enjoy colored
leaves, but few Americans dothat, he says. However in his hometown—northern
Michigan—elementary schools sometimes
exhibited the colored leaves the children collected. It is sometimes one of theclass activities. They compare leaves andstudy about them, for example why
leaves turn into red or golden.

Second, many American have houses
with lawn garden, and usually it’s impossible to draw lines on it. However, inautumn, there are a lot of leaves, so

There are various ways to enjoy gingko
leaves and they depend on the circumstances in which people grow up. The
image of leaves reflects their culture.

Mr. Ralph Rose

Three Episodes about Gingko Trees in Komaba
By Kazumori Mise

Episode 1 “Smells”

Episode 2 “Symbol”

Autumn is the season when it smells
worst here on Komaba Campus.

Todai’s symbol is the leaf of gingko tree.
But why? It is so common and ordinary athing that it does not seem to agree withthe peculiarity of Todai. Actually, however,the symbol has an academic origin.

As usual, the gingko trees in TodaiKomaba Campus remind the studentsof the swift passage of seasons. Theirleaves are gradually yellowing and willsoon fall off. Also, some gingko nuts
have fallen on the ground, which smells
very bad. Some students say, “Why onearth are there so many gingko trees on
campus? The nuts’ terrible smell spoils
the campus environment.” Come tothink of it, in the campuses of otheruniversities, cherry trees are mainly
planted, instead of gingko trees. What
do students actually think of suchproblems? I asked 26 freshman students
two questions: first, to what extent theyfelt bad about this smell, and second,which they think is appropriate to planton campus, cherry trees or gingko trees.
The following pie chart represents theresult of the first question:
This shows that nearly three quartersof the students are bothered to someextent by the smell. Then, is it reallynecessary to replant the gingko trees?
As for the second question, over 60
percent of the students said gingko
trees were better. Some of them said
that gingko trees seems more suitable
to university than cherry trees. Furthermore, none of the other 40 percent
students said they prefer cherry trees
because gingko trees are bad; they just
liked the beauty of cherry blossoms.
Even though gingko trees have aproblem of smells, they will still becherished as a part of the scenery ofdaily life on Komaba Campus.

In 1896, Sakugoro Hirose, a professorof former Faculty of Science at Todai,
found “sperms” from a gingko tree. Whilemost plants do not produce any sperm,
Gingko trees are exceptional in thatthey reproduce with sperms. He was thefirst person to discover this fact in theworld, and thereby contributed a lot toJapanese and international botany.
The tree from which he first foundsperms was transplanted to Koishikawa

Botanical Garden and is still alive. In
honor of Hirose’s discovery, in 1948, thegingko-leaf-shaped button was devised
by Shouichi Hoshino, a former emeritus
of Todai. Though this design had been
applied in various ways for quite a longtime, Todai didn’t have any official unified logo. It wasn’t until 2004 that thecurrent logo of Todai came into use.

Episode 3 “Rumors”
Now that the gingko leaves are turning
yellow and falling off, female freshmen
at Todai are intent to finding boyfriends.
This trend is a product of the troublesome gossip, which starts like this: “if afemale Todai freshman does not cometo have a boyfriend by the time gingko
leaves fall off completely, she cannot......” While this gossip is famous in Todai,
there are several ways to complete thisgossip. Some say, “she will not have a boyfriend until she leaves Komaba.” Otherssay, “until they graduate.” Still others say,“she won’t get married all her life.”
These all may or may not be true, butwhere does this gossip come from? I
asked 27 freshman students whether
they knew of the rumor, where theyfirst heard that gossip, and which of thethree they believe.
Surprisingly, only 8 students of 27
answered they knew the rumor, and as
for the rest two questions, there was noclear trend. The source of the rumor isstill in the veil of mystery.
Only one thing can be safely said;
the best way for female students to
get a boyfriend is to be sensible enoughto neglect such rumors, because thesensibility, calmness and intelligencecan attract male students, who are noless intent on having a girlfriend.

PEOPLE

13

REPORTS

Indian high school students visit Todai
By Rin Ichino

On November 28, 2011, about
150 high school students from
India visited Komaba campus as
the last event in their 9-day trip
to Japan. They looked around thecampus in small groups guided
by Todai student volunteers, andhad a workshop presentation in
the 21 KOMCEE Lecture Hall inthe evening.

Indian delegation at KOMCEE 21. Photo by R. Ichino.

This is a report on what they did andhow they felt during their stay in Japanand Komaba, and what they look likefrom Todai students. I found out someinteresting differences between us.
How and Why They Came to Japan
This project is conducted as a part of
JENESYS program (Japan-East Asia
Network of Exchange for Students andYouths) by JICE (Japan International Cooperation Center). The JENESYS programruns from 2007 to 2012, toward the aimof promoting mutual understanding
and friendship between youths fromoverseas and Japanese counterpartsand citizens. This time, about 150 students
from various high schools in India wereselected to visit Japan.

goal exchanging first-hand experienceswith Japanese students and local residents. And on the last day of their visit,
they visited Todai and held a reporting
session on the Komaba campus.
Impressions of JapanI participated in the Final Presentation
Ceremony by the Indian students, andinterviewed two Indian students. Each
subgroup had 5 minutes to give a reporton their findings from visiting different
prefectures. Most of the groups mentioned
Japanese qualities they observed andfound, such as punctuality, politeness,
hospitality, preservation of traditional
culture, and concern about environmental, political, and social well-being allover the world.
Some of them were interested in theJapanese education system, others inJapanese green technology. But it seemed that all of them tried to compare
Japanese qualities with Indian counterparts, for instance in their reference totraffic accidents in Japan or Japanese
attitudes towards nonnative languages.
That is, Japan has well-organized roadsystems, whereas India suffers fromheavy traffic jams. And Japanese try tolearn English as a tool to take active part
globally, while Indians need it as an
official language to communicate across
22 local languages.
One student presented that people topeople communications and relationships are the best way to bridge the gaps
among different cultures, countries,
and languages. What he meant must
be meeting with others in person
are helpful to understand them. He

Student presentations.

also argued that vital and multiple
relationships between nations can beachieved more efficiently through such
communications than technological or
economical connections and investment.
Goswami, a 17-year-old male student,
picked his homestay experience as themost memorable. He enjoyed his stayin Gifu Prefecture, experiencing tea
ceremony and playing soccer with hishost family. It was very interesting for
him to sleep on a Japanese style bed
on Tatami, or to eat Japanese style dinner. His host family was not so goodat speaking in English, but he had no
problem communicating with thembecause they used body language.
Through his first-hand experience, herealized what is important is not what
language one speaks but how much one
cares about the person in front of them.
Diksa, a 16-year-old female student,
also listed the homestay program as
the most important experience for her.
While shopping and rounds of snowfights, she exchanged with her hostfamily ideas and views of each country. Before coming to Japan she had
images about Japan, but through herstay, she actually experienced what

Japan in 9 days
The Indian students stayed in Japan for
9 days. It was the first visit to Japan for
all of them. After participating in somecommon activities in Tokyo, students
were divided into subgroups of about
20 youths, and each subgroup spread
across Japan to visit different regions.
The subgroups visited Hokkaido, Nagano, Gifu, Ishikawa, Hyogo, and Fukuoka.
Group programs were mainly composedof school visits and home stays with the

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REPORTS

GoswamiJapan was like, such as Japanesepoliteness, punctuality, and sincerity.
Some might have strengthened thesame impressions as they had before
coming, and others might have changed
to some degree their perception about
Japan. But even if their impressions did
not change during their stay, it was an
essential experience for Indian students
to think again their perception towards
Japan. It is not until they experience
Japan personally that they can truly
begin to think about Japan in comparison to their country, India. Through thisinterview, you can realize the need toexperience places directly you haven’t
visited, but have preconceived notions of.
Todai Student Volunteers
Over 15 Todai students guided theIndian students as a volunteer. For
about 40 minutes, they went aroundKomaba Campus and introduced theIndian students to highlighted placesof our campus. Todai students also
attended the Final Presentation Ceremony. Wondering what they found during
their campus tour, I interviewed some of
the Todai student volunteers.
Yuki, a sophomore of the Faculty ofLaw, described her experience aschanging her conception of what an“English Speaker” is. She somehow
regarded English speakers to always be
confident and outgoing, but in reality,
some of the Indian students were
hesitate to ask questions to their Todai

tour guides. It was not until they asked totake photos with her at the end of their
tour that she realized they actually had a
lot of questions. Although she felt sorry
for not having talked enough with theIndian students, she was happy to see
the students’ curiosity and motivation toabsorb much about Japan and Todai.
Nanami, a sophomore of the Facultyof Law, was mostly impressed by theirpresentation. She could not believe they
were all just high school student, theyoungest student being only 13. She
was astonished to see their confident
presentations about their analysis ofJapan. The presentations were wellarranged and their English was rather
fluent. She was inspired by theirspeeches and determined to make more
efforts to catch up with them.

Diksa

Judging from impressions of someTodai students, this program was reallya precious chance for Japanese students
to be aware of themselves as well as
Indian students. If you have such achance, I recommend you to take theopportunity and see for yourself!

Campus tour.

Student Committee Addresses Seat Shortage at Cafeteria
Tairei Natsuki

This summer, UT Coop Komaba
Students Committee members andUT Coop staffs discussed the issueof overcrowded Komaba cafeteria.
If you are a Komaba student andhave ever been to the Cafeteria
Wakaba and Dining Ginnan, thetwo cafeterias in Komaba campus,
you probably for at least once
have experienced having trouble
getting your seat for lunch.
“The cafeteria is always crowded atlunch time,” says a sophomore law
major. “If my teacher decides to extend
the class time for 5 minutes, I know I
can’t get lunch at the cafeteria today.” In

Photo by T. Natsuki.

order to secure the seat, some students
say they ask their friends to come earlier
and get a seat for them. Some clubs evenhave their own unofficial seats reserved
for their members.

It seems not only the cafeteria, but thecampus itself does not have sufficientplaces to eat. Aside from the cafeteria,
Komaba has only two restaurants, theItalian Tomato and the Lever son Verre.

REPORTS15

Regrettably, these two restaurants are
not often used by the students. One
reason is the restaurants are often
crowded with the local people. Second
reason is its price. The lunch menu isaround 1000 yen, about three times thelunch you could get at the university
cafeteria. According to the survey done
to 10 Komaba students in different
majors, the average cost UT students
spend for lunch is around 400 yen to 500
yen. For poor university students, such
luxury is a bit too costly to try.

members who attended the meeting,“although we were not able to comeup with a solution, it brought up someother problems about the cafeteria.” As
Remi says, the Komaba cafeteria’s third
floor was built for students to interact
with teachers. However, the rooms areused only for events that take place
few times a year. “Many of our members were surprised to hear that thethird floor is not used at all, whereas thefirst and the second floors are always
crowded with students.”

So, what could be done to this problem?
UT Coop Komaba Students Committee took the initiative and arranged ameeting with the Komaba Coop staffs.
UT Coop Komaba Students Committee
is a student committee that publish theinformation of Komaba campus life ina booklet called Co-op Komaba Information Express (CKiEx). This booklet
is published monthly, often covering
the information about cafeteria menus
and school buildings for students’
daily use. As the representative of
Komaba student body, the Committee
decided to discuss with the Coop staffs
regarding the cafeteria problem.

The Committee also raised the problemof certain “reserved” seats by particular club members. “In order to create abetter cafeteria environment, not only
the university should find a new place
for lunch, but also the students should
cooperate. Taking more than enoughseats, lingering at the table for hours
after finishing lunch would prevent
other students from getting their lunch.
We should be more aware of otherstudents’ needs.”“The meeting was a good opportunity
for students to voice their opinions”
says, Remi Hamanaka, one of the UT
Coop Komaba Students Committee

the place for them.” It seems that the
problem can be approached frommultiple directions.
Now at lunchtime, Komaba cafeteria
is still crowded with many students.
However, with the UT Coop Komaba
Students Committee taking the lead, if
more students follow and take actions
to solve the cafeteria problem, maybe
it is not a far future that students could
hear their lunch bell and not worry
about getting their seats.

There were some interesting ideas
from other students too. One female
freshman says, “Instead of building
another cafeteria, I think the university
should get a student lounge. Since many
students go to cafeteria not just forfood but for time to chat with theirschool-mates, a lounge would serve

Remi Hamanaka, 3rd year student, College of Arts and Sciences (International Relations)
Rin Ichino, 3rd year student, Law Faculty
Kazumori Mise, 2nd year student, College of Arts and Sciences (Science I)
Yukiko Nagano, 2nd year student, College of Arts and Sciences (Literature III)
Nanami Nakamura, 3rd year student, Law Faculty

Issue 1
Publication date: April 2012

Tairei Natsuki, 3rd year student, Law Faculty
Takuma Yoshizawa, 3rd year student, Law Faculty

KOMABA times
Editor/Supervisor
Yuko Itatsu

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PEAK Junior Division, The College of Arts and Sciences

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The University of Tokyo
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