KOMABA times
45 Articles // April 2014 // Issue 3

http://komabatimes.wordpress.com/

Content

Academic Life…………………… page 1
Student Life……………………… page 4
History… ………………………… page 10
Student Perspectives… ……… page 12Life in Japan… ………………… page 16
The Komaba Festival and gingko avenue. Photo: Yuko Itatsu.

ACADEMIC LIFE

English Newsletter by Komaba Students

For the Name or For the Education?

By Su Ching Lim
Something as simple as a name has the power
to change a person’s impression of you. The
prestige that comes with being associated withname universities has drawn many a student tocome knocking on its gates. However, when attaining access to these name schools becomesthe end in itself problems brew.
It might be a case of exhaustion, but the numberof students who lose interest and direction uponentering the university is a constant concern
for name schools. Some would assume that nomatter how the four years is spent, buoyed by
the name, the job markets would simply accept
these graduates first, and have them trainedlater. In the international arena however, competition is turning up a notch. The name might not
be enough – education, experience, skills, andmore importantly – the right motivation, have to
be lined up if one is to distinguish oneself.
Despite its achievements, Todai’s academicfocused curriculum might only indirectly equip its
undergraduates with the skills for a world outsideacademia or the jobs of the big four professions(Law, Medicine, Economics and Engineering).
Without an active desire to search beyond thebare minimum, there are few requirements inplace to stop students from graduating with justan academic transcript. An issue of motivation
also comes to play. Drawn by the prestige of thename, not all law students are eager to enter the
trade, and medical students might not be as dedicated to saving lives as one would like to think.
Students, who have been solely focused onscoring high marks on examination papers, haveto now decide for themselves how those marks
translate in reality. Better now than later, they will
have to ask themselves, what they want to pursue next. There is little doubt some students will
come up with blanks.
This brings us to the next point. What IS next?
If the quality of the students it attracts is high inthe first place, the success of students exiting aschool is usually a weak indicator of the schools’
performance in educating its students. A bettermeasurement of performance would be the improvement between the day a student enters theschool and when he or she leaves it.
Adding value to one’s education, and making thebest out of it is crucial. In that sense of the word,
PEAK students have the work cut out for us.
Without front-runners to mark the trail, one inevitably has to get creative in exploring the activities
to pursue beyond the classroom – seeking out
internships, attending talks, taking on exchangeor summer programmes, travelling and meetingnew contacts- whatever it takes. The extra effort
is not always easy, but for many of us, it is necessary to make an education worth the weight of
the name.
The small classroom size is an opportunity to beheard and even demand for improvement. The
fact that we are here, rather than in universities ofEnglish-speaking countries, is but the first stepof a wish to carve a new education path that will
suit us. Believing that hard work will solve everything is insufficient. Making the best of one’s
opportunities requires careful planning and quite
a lot of gall to pull through. Between deciding

which topics to pursue or how the school breaks
should be utilised, there is little space for complacency. Even without a clear direction, moving
forward, one step at a time remains preferable.
The ability to pursue opportunities is a skill that
does not come naturally. However, what we cando is to at least try to avoid the path of least resistance, be a little reckless and attempt to makeuniversity life more difficult. With more thought
put into it, one’s time at the university is the best
chance to prepare oneself for the next stage inlife. Passing the screening and getting into aname university is not an end in itself, but simply
a tool among others to move forward in probably
the only examination that matters, life. Things
end when life ends, and in a country known forhaving the longest life expectancy, this is just thestart of one, hopefully crazy, examination.

Titles and certificates don’t tell the whole story. What drives you?
(Image: ©Florinmihai|www.dreamstime.com)

A Sobering Entrance Ceremony
By Austin Zeng
In typical Todai fashion, I went for the Entrance
Ceremony of Todai in April at the Nippon
Budo- kan. Given the prestige of the university
widely considered the best in Japan, there

was an almost self-congratulatory atmospherearound it. The speeches given by Todai University President Hamada amongst others however,were anything but.

In summary, the message was that “Todai is indanger”. More specifically, the dangers of not
being diverse.
CEREMONY, page 2

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CEREMONY continued

The Problems
The stated fear, and subsequently “weakness”,
was that Todai is becoming an increasingly homogenous place, with a lack of diversity in gender, nationality, experiences and backgrounds.
Subsequently, that it would become a cloisteredinstitute with a very narrow range of views. President Hamada and other speakers stated the following:• A wide gender gap: The male to female ratio of
the undergraduate cohort is near 8 to 2
• Low international student numbers: Out of acohort of more than 3200 April-entry students
in 2013, the number of international students
was 40, or less than 2%• Highly limited international experience: The
quoted percentage of Todai students on study
abroad programs at the time of the speech
was near 0.5%
• A clear demographic slant: Disproportionate
slant towards students from the Kanto- (Greater
Tokyo) area and from upper-middle class backgrounds

Current Efforts
President Hamada also added that Todai is currently looking for ways to solve the challenges
ahead of it. The PEAK/GPEAK programs areattempts to internationalize Todai in recognition
that having a degree course only in Japaneselimits the number of foreign students willing andable to study in Todai.
Todai is also looking towards extending outreach- region to attract
to schools beyond the Kanto
students from outside greater Tokyo. Furthermore, it is also looking to revise the Semester
system, reform the transfer of credits from overseas institutions etc. to allow for students to beable to go abroad more easily.

Wider Social Problems
That being said, many of the problems above arereflections of wider Japanese society with manyother universities facing the same challenges.
The gender gap – which President Hamada noted was due to an unequal number of applicantsand not a difference in pass rate – is somewhat
a reflection of Japanese society’s unequal expectations regarding female education. As of
2011, the OECD reported that while a majorityof males in Japan attend a 4 year course in acollege, a majority of females choose to go for
vocational training of a two year college course.
Furthermore, in a college such as Todai where
many students have to take a gap year to retake
their examinations (ro- nin), many female Todai
students spoken to commented that there is a
stigma towards female ro- nin. This is also suggested by nationwide statistics in 2011 in which
the number of females applying to universities
with a gap of a year or
more since their highschool graduation wasa third of the numberof males. These factors discourage female
high school students
from reapplying to Todai if they fail the firsttime, or even aim fora higher-tier university given the unequalstress paid towards
female education. This
may explain the differences in the number
of applicants.

has also made it harder for families outside thegreater Tokyo area to support a child living in Tokyo. Prep schools and tutoring which are largely
available only to the more affluent classes alsomean that it is much harder for someone from alower income group to get the extra help for theentrance examinations. This accounts for the demographic slant in Todai’s student population.

“Tough To- dai Students”?
Ending off his speech, President Hamada alsomentioned his hope for To- dai to foster “Tough
To- dai Students” able to face the present world.
He appealed to students to take gap years to
explore or go overseas.
However, given the scale of the issues faced
within the university such as budgetary constraints, as well as those from wider society,whether To- dai will be able to successfully diversify itself remains to be seen.

S i m i l a r l y, J a p a n ’s
stagnating economy

Outside the Budo- kan before the ceremony. Photo by author.

Trilingualism Trends on the Komaba Campus
By Sherry Zheng
Vietnamese, Thai or any other Asian
languages, they would have to roll up
their sleeves for a fourth language.
With the Hallyu 1 (Korean Wave)
sweeping people head over heels for
K-Pop idols all over the world andChina’s economy booming at an astounding annual rate of 10%2 for the
past decade, demand for these two
Asian languages up must be throughthe roof. Yet on the Komaba campus,
contrary to belief, this only appears
half true.
Picking up a third language. Photo by author.

Whilst in the West, most college students areencouraged to pick up a second language, students in the kyouyou gakubu (College of Liberal
Arts) at Komaba are pushed to pick up a third
language, on top of English. The choice is madefrom a plethora of languages: French, Spanish,
German, Italian, Chinese, Korean and more.
However, despite Japan being an Asian country,
the choice for a third tongue is surprisingly limited in the Asian languages, with only Chineseand Korean. For those adamant about taking on

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KOMABA times

Chinese leaners have been on the riseever since twenty, thirty years ago, particularly
picking up pace in the last decade, for a numberof reasons. Amongst Todai students, reasonsrange from wanting to read the menu in Chinese
restaurants, to having been or lived in China
before, to wanting to explore the roots of Kanji,even. However, the all-time popular motive forstudying the Chinese language appears to becareer driven. Students claim Chinese to be the“top language” chosen to aid the ever imminent
job-hunting after graduation.

Whilst the number of Todai students studying
Chinese has shown a steady rise, Professor
Naoki Ogoshi, Korean language professor at theuniversity, reports that Korean learners have alsosteadily grown, since the 1990’s. Unlike the majority of Chinese language students, these students are drawn in by an interest in the Korean
culture and few link it to their future career.
The trend of Korean leaners has experienced
several peaks in line with major events that havedrawn Korea to the spotlight. For example in 2002
the number of students hit its peak with not only
both Japan and Korea hosting the 2002 FIFA World
Cup, but also the airing of the Korean television
drama, “Winter Sonata” starring the famed actor,
Bae Yong-Joon (otherwise known as “Yon-sama”).
Whether for authentic Chinese food or for Yonsama, there are plenty of good reasons forstudying our neighbouring Asian languages,
however with only two to choose from, is there apush towards the more European tongues?
1

A worldwide rise in the popularity of the Korean
culture beginning at the end of 1990’s

2

Average of 10% in GDP growth per year – WorldBank (2014)

ACADEMIC LIFE
Grades or Personality? Possible Changes to the University Entrance Exam
By Masashi Mark Sato
How do most students in Japan spend their time
during the last year of high school? The answer
is, studying. Students spend countless hours
studying every day in order to get accepted into
their desired university. However, in a few years,
students might have to do more than just study.
The University of Tokyo is designing a systemthat assesses on top of a knowledge assessment similar to that of the current exam, a new
entrance exam that will include a separate test
or interview conducted by the university. The
second part of the exam will enable universities
to look at each students’ qualities such as personality, thinking abilities, and motivation.
The Council for the Implementation of Education Rebuilding formed by Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe has been discussing possible changes tothe current university entrance system, in which
students are tested solely on the knowledge they
have acquired. According to the Prime Minister’s

the interview, does that mean our personalities
are denied by the university?”© Oneo2 | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

website, this new measure will help universities
to seek out “diverse human resources who haveboth independence and creativity to work in various fields of society.”
How do students feel about the proposal? According to comments on social media about the
topic, it seems that the majority of students do
not approve of the new exam. There were various reasons as to why they prefer the current
exam system, however common criticisms werethat ‘it is hard for students to prepare for an
exam with no definite answer’ and that ‘interview
lacks objectivity, therefore it is unfair.’ Students
have also raised the following question, “if we failNo More Display of the Results on a Bulletin Board?
By Yasuka Tateishi

Many students are confused, and no one is surewhether the new exam system will have a positiveor negative effect. However, one thing is for sure
- if the new exam system is put into action, each
student will have to decide on their own what to
do in order to prepare for the exam. Cram school
will no longer be a savior for them.

Smile
By Marina Kondo

Todai’s annual spectacle comes to an end.
For over forty years, the results of the university
entrance exam have been displayed on the bulletin board on campus. The same scene wasseen this year. On March 10, 2013, hundreds ofpeople came to see the results of the examination. Bulletin boards were carried by trucks andset up on the avenue, which we call “the road of
passing examination.” The boards showed 3,009
students who passed the examination. Music
started playing and barriers were removed.
Students rushed to the boards. Some rejoiced
and some sobbed. Members of the American
football club and the rugby club tossed successful students in the air. TV cameras reported
these scenes enthusiastically. However, we will
not be able to see this spectacle from next year
onwards.
On July 24, 2013, The University of Tokyo announced the results for entrance examinations
will no longer be displayed on the bulletin board.
Annually on March 10, the results have beenannounced in three ways;
on the website, by mail,and on a bulletin board ona campus. However, from2014, the ways students
confirm their results will
be limited to just via website and mail.
According to the university, the reason for suspension is the construction of the library. The
road where the boards
are held will be occupied.
Since 1972, the bulletinboard announcements
have been done mostly

I personally think that the change in Japan’s university entrance system is necessary, because
students are only memorizing facts and not making use of the learned knowledge. Even English is
broken down to a matter of vocabulary and grammar, and due to that many students are struggling
to construct a simple conversation in English.
If the new exam requires students to have aninterview in English, for example, it would encourage students to apply their knowledge of English
grammar and vocabulary in basic communication.

on Hongo campus and sometimes on Komaba
campus. However, this time, the university was
unable to find other adequate locations either at
Hongo or at Komaba. Although the construction
will be completed in 2016, whether or not thebulletin board announcements will be resumed
after then has yet to be decided.
The suspension of the display has disappointed
a lot of students because it was one of the most
attractive events of the entrance examination.
Recently, most Japanese universities announce
their entrance examination results only on
websites. Due to this, the scene of results being announced on a bulletin board is a popular
scene at the University of Tokyo. For most of thestudents who take the entrance examination, especially those who live around Tokyo, the eventis memorable. The anticipation and delight whena student finds their number on the board is special in itself. One student in the University of Tokyo said, “It is a pity because the announcementon the bulletin boards is a kind of symbol of theentrance examination of this university.”

Results posted for the entrance exam at the University of Tokyo. Photo by kristi-san | Flickr.

Image by Enokson/Flickr.

As a university student, along with keeping up
with homework and acing exams, one of themost difficult tasks is coping with stress. Especially during midterm exam and final exam weeks,tensions run high as students give up leisure timeto cram in weeks worth of knowledge. Between
these hours and hours of studying, there’s notime to go drinking at izakayas or singing at karaokes to relieve stress. Although you may find noparticular reason to, just slapping a smile on yourface can do the simple trick of distressing yourbody and improving your mood. Here’s why.
According to the research in Psychology Today,
smiling activates the release of dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin, all neurotransmitters inyour brain that make you feel happy. This relaxes
your body and causes lower heart rate and bloodpressure. The endorphins act as a natural pain
reliever, and the serotonin serves as an antidepressant mood lifter – more benefits! Smiling
also increases productivity, boosts the immune
system, and causes longevity.
Not only does smiling create happiness inside
your body, but it also makes you look more attractive. Studies, again in Psychology Today,
have shown that those around you view yoursmiling face more attractive, relaxed, reliable,
and sincere. In addition, smiling is contagious!
Seeing a smile triggers an unconscious automatic response in your brain that causes you tosmile back, which means that you could easily
spread all these benefits to those around you!
The best part of it all is that even in times when
you can’t find yourself a particular reason tosmile, even a fake smile can bring about all these
positive effects! So especially when you’re feeling under the weather, bombarded with schoolwork, lift up the corners of your mouth and let
the magic happen.

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Student LIFE
Impressions of PEAK: Before & After

By Chris Jeon
Any worries that I might
have had quickly dissipatedwhen I finally stepped outof the exit gate at the airport. Greeted by the friendly members of the Todai
Global Interaction Friends(TGIF), I had no trouble inmaking way to the International Lodge, where thestaff members there werekind enough to have helped
me out with any questions
that I might have had. Thes e n p a i s , w i t h t h e i r a dditional year of PEAK and
non-PEAK-related wisdom,
were also extremely helpful
and friendly; they were extremely active in trying help
the first-year students byany means necessary.

On 27 September 2013, I was
simultaneously introduced toboth the difficulties of transitioning to university life in aforeign country and the uniquequalities of the University of Tokyo that made that transition somuch easier.

After graduating high schooland heading into what would
be my final summer vacationof my grade school days, I was
faced with the enviable taskof making the most out of thetime I had before I would beheading off to university. Whilethat didn’t exactly work out theway I had hoped it to – seeing
as the majority of my time wasspent “resting” at home, meeting people, and making spoA few meters separating me and the aircraft that would take me to a brand new chapter in my life. Photo by author.
radic forays into the realm of
Korea actually led me to have second thoughts
Speaking of the first-year students, the journey“studying” – I still found consolation in the fact
about coming to the University of Tokyo.
that is the life at Todai would have been exthat I was becoming increasingly excited for thetremely difficult if not for the love and support
new school year, which would be my chance to
I am well aware that my experience is not afrom the people that are currently undergoing
finally attempt to be productive once again.
unique one. Every year, hundreds of thousands
the same struggles that I am encountering. Theof students from countries all over the world gosmall class sizes helped us to bond, and that in
However, I soon realized that this would be theto foreign countries to study in different educaturn makes life that much more exciting.
first time that I would leave my family for antional systems/institutions, and I am sure that
extended period of time, and as I’m sure is themany of those students had their own doubts
Starting a new life in a new country in a newcase for many students who go abroad to study
and worries about issues that may or may notenvironment surrounded by new people can befor the first time, I felt nervous. I suddenly felt
be similar to my own. However, to the students
tough, but help from those new people can go a
uncomfortable about going to Japan, a land
who are currently thinking about or have alreadylong way in helping one to become acclimatized
that, to me, was as famous for its cultural beauapplied to the PEAK Program at the University
to one’s surroundings, which in turn can influty and high standard of Asian modernizationof Tokyo, rest assured, you will not be in want ofence one to step out of their newfound comfort
as it was for its recent development of a rather
a more helpful environment to make a seamlesszone and explore the country around them.
bizarre culture. This, coupled with the worries
transition into university life.
about the radioactivity that were so hyped up in‘A one-way ticket to anywhere, please.’
By Su Ching Lim
An education away from home
January is the peak period for the university admission process. Schools in the US would havereleased their early admission decisions whilestudents would be adding the final touches totheir remaining applications. Choices are to bemade and one particularly important one would
be whether to study locally or abroad. Beyond
just financial concerns, studying abroad comeswith various challenges, in the form of the newenvironment, culture shock and separation fromfamily. There are people who grow homesick,
while others might find themselves displaced or
isolated from their surroundings. Despite this,a great number of overseas students would
agree that studying abroad was worth the effort.
The destination need not be Japan, but there issomething to be gained through simply the experience of studying in a foreign country. It changes
how you think, challenges how you see others
and how you view the world.

you right into the fire. Myths are incinerated, and‘foreign’ people don’t seem so foreign anymore.
You get to immerse yourself completely in a culture different from your own, people who are different from you in the most unexpected of ways,
yet perhaps not so different after all. In the words

of one of my juniors just a month into school,‘Japan is so different from what I imagined, but
at the end of the day, people are just people.’
There really is nothing more exciting than seeing
a mental bubble burst in such an anticlimacticway.

A lesson on culture
Our imagination tends to go wild when we thinkof foreign people and places. The most obvious
benefit of going overseas is that is that it throws
Image by author.

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KOMABA times

Looking Within
By Dionne Ng Zhe Ting
Everybody needs a break.
A break from the banalities of life, the incessant
onslaught of assignments and assessments, thetendency to lose ourselves in rapidly advancing
technology. A break, well-deserved, away fromthe hustle and bustle of Tokyo’s city life, into the
picturesque and almost edenic mountain range
in Saitama Prefecture.
As the buses ferrying 33 students of the University of Tokyo ascended the meandering path up
the mountain towards Taiyoji Temple, the gradually fading reception on mobile phones brought
us a relieving disconnection from the reality weface in Tokyo. PEAK (Programs in English at
Komaba) students, AIKOM (Abroad in Komaba)
students or other Japanese Todai students alike,30th November 2013 was a day that marked thefirst zazen (meditation) experience for many on
this trip to the famed Taiyoji Temple, organizedby Todai’s International Center Komaba Office.
To find a calming emptiness within the depths ofyour soul, free from the binding commitments ofrelationships, emotions and duties – this is theheart of the Buddhist Zen practice, also often
hailed as the path towards attaining eventual
enlightenment. For approximately 20 minutes,
students took their places on a zabuton (a low,flat mat) with their hips propped up on a zafu
(cushion) and attempted to empty their minds ofthe worldly worries that plague all mortal beings
on a daily basis. Under the guidance of the headmonk of Taiyoji Temple, students were taught
the correct posture of seating in meditation, as
well as breathing tips and visualization exercisesthat proved useful to ease the mind into a stateof tranquillity. Commencing with the shijosho(ringing of a bell for three times) and culminatingwith the hazensho (ringing of a bell either onceor twice), the shortened zazen experience for the
students of Todai was nonetheless authentic.
This valuable, unprecedented experience ofzazen in one of the most acclaimed temples for
Buddhist Zen meditation highlighted the importance of searching for a brief respite from the asphyxiating pace of modern life. Even as our firstattempt at meditation was a far cry from the actual attainment of enlightenment, it was an inspiring and refreshing experience. The rare momentsof complete relaxation in the holy compoundsof a temple located on a mountain shrouded intrees with flaking golden autumn leaves – theseare moments to be cherished and replicated as
and when possible, to restore a sense of equilibrium in our psychological and emotional facilities. When we find a vast emptiness of calm andpeace within, and when we reflect on our identity
and senses, we endow ourselves with a heightened awareness of our raison d’être.
Take a break, and take the time to look withinyourself while away from the external stimuli that
tend to mask our wholehearted embrace of whatmakes us who we are. Look within, and be prepared to be amazed by what you might discover.

Photo from Kawagoe Zazen by Xuan Truong Trinh.

But on a more serious note, it is not just a foreign culture that you learn about, but your own.
You get the chance to be an insider, looking on
from the outside. Culture shock highlights what
is unique about the things you were previously
taught to believe, and you took for granted
among your friends at home. I have never identified myself with the typical Singaporean, yet
my time here in Japan has hammered in to me
that perhaps I was more ‘Singaporean’ than I
thought. There really is nothing more useful thanan external contrast to unite even the most deviant in the community.

The challenge
There are two things people usually do whenabroad. They either congregate among themselves, or integrate with the locals. Very often,the ‘integrated’ would chant to the proverb ‘whenin Rome, do as the Romans do’, while scorningthe ‘congregators’, who prefer to stick to theirown communities. In some ways, the ‘integrators’ could be right. What is the point of goingoverseas if you are going to stay among people
like you? However, it is rarely that clear cut. The
challenge is in finding a position between thetwo extremes that you are comfortable with, tointegrate without losing yourself. While it is wonderful if a person could integrate fully, and fora lucky few, they might find a place where they
finally ‘belonged’, complete conformity to thenorm is not the point of being abroad. Rather, I
prefer to think that global mindset is about accepting and embracing the fact that differences
exist, and negotiating around that. Adopting thelikeness of the other party understates the diversity that exists among individuals.

Finding the Self
Abroad by yourself, with no family to run to,friction between you and your environment isjust waiting to occur. Fortunately, as a student,
mistakes can be made, you can do the unthinkable and have your family none the wiser. What
happens there stays there, your tiny secret tobe kept, and to be chuckled at when you are
grey and wrinkly. Your beliefs are going to bechallenged, your views questioned, you mighteven come to question yourself. However it iswithin this tension that you get the chance toreflect on yourself without the influence of family dogma and the environment you grew up in.

Being abroad helps you see which principles areworth fighting for, and which hold little traction.
You might find yourself accept ideas you would
otherwise not even consider. The ideas you disagree and agree with become clearer than everbefore, and at the end of this confusing tunnel ofthoughts, there is light.

Negotiating perspectives
Of course the experiences and takeaways varyfor each student overseas. Just how much theylearn and benefit comes down to the individual.
Being in Japan did not make me more Japanese,while some of my friends have changed greatly.
I’d like to think that in this time and age, yourown beliefs and decisions form your identity far
more than your birth, race or culture you grew
up in. Stepping beyond your shores forces you
to transition from seeing the world through theframework of ‘us versus them’ to the notion ‘me,and you and you’, as it should be.
For those fortunate enough to have the chance
to be abroad, even if it’s just for one year, are youup for the challenge? It is a wide world out there.
Not all of it is great, but there is space for you.

5All We Need Is Art: Art Scene at Komaba
By Nina Belova
Marvelous works of El Greco, Mucha, Rousseau, Van Gogh, Da Vinchi, Rubens,Michelangelo, and... The collection of ancient Greece and China, Gandhara style
Buddhist art, post-war California style design, 20th century’s naïve art, and so on.
Can you guess what the list above is?
They all are the works I had seen during my firstyear in Tokyo in 2013. You may be surprised thatTokyo has such a rich art environment. Tokyo isjust a city on a small island in a part of Asia, andit has no world famous museums with a mammoth collection. However, as Dr. Atsushi Miura,
professor of art at the University of Tokyo, says,
no other city in the world holds so many anddiverse exhibitions almost every day as Tokyo.
Most of them are well-balanced, well-organized
exciting exhibitions that give the viewer inspiration and great pleasure.

However, the art education Todai offers in thefirst two years at Komaba is far behind the city’s
advanced view towards fine art. To my disappointment, the art scene at Komaba is not richenough when compared to all the academic environment this campus has. Only 5 classes were
offered that were related to fine art this academic
year. In none of them students can pick up apaint brush. Also, it seems that not so many
students have an interest in this field. How manyof them have ever visited the Komaba Museum?
Take a look at circle activities. There are only 3
art-related circles (including manga) in Todai,
which is far less than the 41 musical circles.

riculum of the best university in Japan?
Perhaps the lack of art education is a fundamental problem that Japanese education system
has as a whole, not only Todai. There are many
examples that illustrate this problem, but few
solutions. However, we can only blame Todai formaking little of art after taking full advantage ofwhat it already offers us. Let me give you two
examples. First, advanced tickets for art exhibits
are sold at the university COOP. You can saveyour time and money by purchasing tickets on
campus than at the museum counter. Second,the University of Tokyo is a member of the “National Museums Campus Members” system. This
allows all Todai students to see the permanentcollections at national museums for free, andtheir special exhibitions for a discounted price.

This shows that art
education is considered to be of little
significance at thisuniversity, though
the first two years at
Komaba are aimed
to provide students
with “a comprehensive liberal arts education encompassing
the humanities andsciences” according
to the official homepage of the College ofArts and Sciences.
Can we exclude
fine arts, one of thegreatest ways to look
into human spirit andhistory, from the cur-Some of you may say, “Why don’t you go to anart school instead of Todai, then?” Of course thatis a choice, too, but I believe that art can be atits height when combined with other intellectual
fields like science or psychology, about which
Todai knows very well. Also, many students havehidden talent and passion for artistic expressions. Every month there is a new signboard fora play production at the main entrance, whichmakes me stop for a while. Think of how many
attractive signs and T-shirt designs saw at the
Komaba Festival!

Another important thing is profitability. When
you think of maximizing your profit, you have toselect the food with inexpensive ingredients andhigh selling price. For example, cotton candy,
Wataame in Japanese, matches well in this criterion because its only ingredient is sugar. The
more profit you earn, the more
fun you get at the party with yourfriends!

In setting up food booths in the school festivals,
preparation beforehand is necessary. It’s betterfor you to start thinking now of what kind of foodto sell. It is fun, too, to come up with many ideas
and to simulate them in your own mind! So let’s
try it!

I hope someday the university will be able tosupport us properly by providing more opportunities related with art. In addition, I want more
students at Komaba to make full use of the richenvironment they have in Tokyo.
“Tough and Global”? That’s great, but let me say,“Todai, be Creative!”

Drawing by author.

What to Sell in School Festivals
By Kohei Yagura
Are you interested in selling something in May
Festival and Komaba Festival? It is great fun
and an invaluable experience to set up a foodbooth with your friends in your class or circle
activities. The ties among your friends will surely
get tighter, too! However, you will face difficultywhen deciding what kind of food to sell. I was
responsible for the booth of our class in both the
May Festival and Komaba Festival. From my own
experience, I would like to tell you the criteria ofwhat kind of food to select.
The most important point is whether the foodsells well or not. You have to make as many people as possible buy your food, so it must be attractive. I personally recommend desserts sincepeople eat them at any time, not only at lunch
time. You have to consider the weather, too; cold
food is better at the May Festival and hot one at
the Komaba Festival. Since there are so many
food booths in both festivals, it is likely to haveseveral booths selling the same food. If you wantto avoid competition with others, it is importantto have a unique and wild idea.

6

KOMABA times

Whether it is easy to make thefood or not is important, too. Thisis controversial, though. Whenyou emphasize the efficiency of
the food booth, easier ones suchas tapioca drinks would be better. But when you think more of
togetherness among your friends,
difficult ones such as Taiyaki (afish-shaped pancake with anko init) and waffles, which I had sold in
the two festivals, would be better.
You can make better friends withyour fellow classmates throughhard work.

May Festival at the Hongo campus. Photo by author.

Student LIFE
Sleep Pattern Abnormality: Unproductive, Lazy and Unenergetic a Social Bias
By Yen Hyoung Cho
this is a choice of lifestyle I have continued since
middle school that has never failed me since.
This routine, as what most people would referto as being irregular, is actually a known form of
sleep cycle called the “Biphasic sleep pattern”—
a common sleeping pattern many nocturnal
people adopt to fit into the early waking society
we live in today.

Night owls lack the ability to wake up early in the morning to be
productive. Which sleep pattern fits you the most? Photo by author.

Looking through the morning classrooms of
Universities, there are generally two types of students. Those who seem to arrive ahead of timeand are always ready to start an early day, andthose that are always either late or falling asleep
during the lectures. It is all too easy to label thedifferences between the two types of people asa “morning bird” or a “night owl”, and judge thelatter as an abnormal lifestyle because of social standards. Because of the fact that the day
starts early for many people, late night sleepers always seem sleep deprived and lacking inconcentration when subjected to early morning
routines. Most people would overlook the situation as having a bad sleeping habit but neverconsider that perhaps it is a chosen lifestyle thatallows them to be most efficient during their own
waking hours.
As a “night owl” myself, I have commonly beenreferred to, or rather falsely diagnosed by mypeers as: an insomniac, being lazy, having a badbiological rhythm or lacking an internal clock.
It is true that I sleep at the most ungodly hoursof dawn and need a scheduled nap during theafternoon to make up for my lack of sleep, but

The most widely known form of sleeping patternis the Monophasic sleep, where a person sleeps
an average of 8 hours a day. This pattern allows
a person to stay awake throughout the day andmaintain an early sleeping cycle according to therising and setting of the sun. It is the form that ismore commonly recognized amongst the public,
and it is the time frame our lives rotate around.
A Biphasic sleeper, however, chooses to sleep
twice a day; once a regular sleep (around 5
hours) and the other a power nap (usually 90
minutes). This system has been proven to work
because it gives the body time to complete afull REM cycle, so when it is time to wake up the
person would feel naturally awake and refreshed.
Although it is not considered all that common in
many areas, some countries such as Spain andmany Latin American countries practice this formof life cycle to maximize productivity in a person.
Just like there are benefits for Monophasic sleep,
Biphasic sleep is not without its advantages.
Monophasic people need an average of 8 hours
to stay functional, and even the slightest change
in their sleeping hours can be the cause of fatigue and unproductivity during the course of
the day. But for the Biphasic sleepers, not onlyis sleep time reduced to 6.5 hours a day, but it
also becomes flexible as long as the scheduled
nap is kept at constant intervals. Also, allowing

the brain to relax for even an hour or so helps toorganize thoughts and produce more energy during the day with the small disadvantage of not
being able to fall asleep early.
Some comment that the Biphasic sleep pattern
is a luxury only University students with flexible
schedules can have. But, there exists one more
sleep pattern known as the Polyphasic sleep
pattern. Dymaxion sleep, which is the mostrecommended out of all the existing Polyphasic
sleep patterns requires a 3.5 hour major sleep
and three powernaps throughout the day; a moresuited lifestyle for the busy businessmen who
can afford a few minutes of shut-eyes on theiroffice desk.
Many societies are designed around Monophasic sleep patterns and as a result it is easierfor Monophasic sleepers to adapt to work andsocializing conditions. But, people who havechosen to adopt the Biphasic form of sleep
should not be judged for their lifestyle selection.
After all, the reason for choice remains the samefor both sleep cycles— to optimize performance
during their respective waking hours.

Sources“Alternative Sleep Cycles: 7-10 Hours Are Not
Needed | Collective-Evolution.” CollectiveEvolution
RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. <http://www.
collective-evolution.com/2013/07/13/alternativesleep-cycles-7-10-hours-is-not-needed/>.
“Polyphasic sleep.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 1 May 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. <http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep>.
“These Alternative Sleep Schedules Could Save You
20 Years Normally Spent In Bed.” Business Insider.
N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. <http://www.businessinsider.com/polyphasic-sleep-schedules-andbenefits-2013-10>.

The Todai Jinx
By Marina Kondo
As the leaves begin to turn soft shades of red,orange, and yellow, they welcome a new seasonof joy and festivities for all, but for first year girls
at the University of Tokyo, this season brings aslight feeling of panic. The “Todai Jinx”, as it iscommonly known, states that if a first-year girl at
the University of Tokyo does not have a boyfriendby the time the leaves on the ginkgo trees at the
Komaba campus fall off, she will not be able tohave a boyfriend for all four years at the university…. Ridiculous, no? Yet as a first year girl at the
University of Tokyo, watching the leaves slowly
change color day by day kept bringing this jinx
back to mind.
Where did this even come from? The Universityof Tokyo is known for having a majority of malestudents due to the fact that it used to be an
all-boys school. For females, this means thatwith the 8:2 gender ratio, this situation is ideal
for finding a boyfriend… or so would one think.
But in reality, it seems as if relationship-seeking

male students at the University of Tokyo pursue
girls from different universities, leaving female
students at the University of Tokyo also having toseek outside of their own school. Unfortunately,
it isn’t common in Japanese society for men
to be very fond of smarter women. This meansthat for female students at the most prestigious
university, male students from other schools are
not quite an option. In addition, for April entry
students, opportunities to meet new people areconcentrated in the spring and summer, andtherefore, autumn brings a closure to opportunities to meet a potential partner. So in conclusion,
female students at the University of Tokyo aren’t
so lucky when it comes to romantic relationships.
So then this thought brought me back to the jinx,that completely and utterly ridiculous jinx. Why
should we ruin such beautiful scenery with such
nonsense? So ladies, leaves or no leaves, boyfriend or no boyfriend, let us enjoy the season of
beauty with no worries.

Photo by author.

7

The Guy on Campus We’ve All Been Waiting to Meet
By Hitomi Kayama
It’s to my knowledge that just about every person on campus has spotted, if not goggled at,the student wearing blue robes, matched with aturban-like head covering. If you still can’t recall
exactly who I’m referring to, just think back to the

Kyosuke at the
Shokudou.
Photo by author.

last guy in Komaba you took a second glance at.
Or perhaps several glances.
I remember my initial reaction when seeing
Shionoya Kyosuke for the first time. Woah - cool,Todai has a Nepalese exchange… On second
thought, maybe he’s Mongolian. And then ofcourse, the speculations came buzzing into myhead after I’d seen him multiple times: for a foreigner he seems to be pretty intermingled with
the Japanese students… he can’t be Japanese,
can he? Does he actually wear the same thing
every day, or am I just seeing him on the sameday, every week? I wonder what he’s going to dowhen it gets too humid for robes… I grew morepuzzled and confounded as I continued to makefutile attempts at making sense of him.
Upon questioning a fairly diverse range of people
who had seen him before, though – my friends
within PEAK, a few of my teachers, the odd
Japanese Todai student or two, it became veryclear that barely anyone knew why he wore thisthing rain or shine, let alone the culture to which
his very interesting attire belonged. So as a newwriter for the Komaba Times, I felt it my duty to
uncover once and for all the questions most of
us on campus have been itching to ask him.
A very casual conversation with Kyosuke wasmore than enough to fill in all the blanks. To givea brief introduction, he’s a first year Humanities
III student who was born and raised in Japan,
and was your very typical Japanese University
student until the summer of 2013 (despite hisvery exotic look he still does enjoy singing anime

songs at karaoke from time to time). To my utter
disbelief, this was when he started wearing theclothes we now all recognize him by – merely
less than five months ago. What’s truly intriguingis that Kyosuke’s not so sure why he wears what
he does – ‘I’ve always been drawn to wearing
something like it ever since I was in junior highschool. The robes are Chinese, and I boughtthem from a store in Japan that specializes inthem. About the turban – it’s a gift my friend
brought back as a souvenir from Syria.’ As hesaid this, I was pleased to find out exactly how
he’s managed to negate all those guesses thathave been made as to what culture his clothes
are supposed to represent.
He was very honest as well – with a grin on his
face, he looked pretty pleased with himself; ‘It’s atotal hassle going to the bathroom. But it’s worth
it. The robes are very warm and easy to put on,
lots of people approach me at social events outof pure curiosity, and the turban even serves adouble function as a head cushion.’ I couldn’t
help but laugh at the last thing he told me,
though. ‘My parents, with whom I no longer livein the same house, haven’t seen me since before
I began wearing these robes and this turban. Oh,
and they have no idea I’m wearing them.’ Heused a term to describe how they would react ifthey saw him now, the humour of which would
simply be lost in translation – ‘koshi nuku deshou,’ literally meaning ‘they’ll lose their hips andwill be unable to stand’. This is something Kyosuke will inevitably have to face at some point,
owing to the fact that he’s planning to wear his
robes for the rest of his life.

Ramen Culture in Todai
By Yasuka Tateishi
A lot of students in the University of Tokyo eat
ramen noodles for lunch.
In April, the cafeteria was is so crowded thatpeople have difficulty finding a seat. Little bylittle, students learn to look for alternative eateries: some of them go outside the campus to eat
ramen.
In fact, there are a lot of ramen restaurant near
the Komaba campus. Close to the back gate of
the campus, there is Senrigan. It is famous for
its quantity of ramen. Usually, noodles of ramen
are about 200g or so, but here, the regular size isabout 300g. Ramen Yamate is one which places
backside the campus, too. In front of the Komaba-todaimae station is Komatetsu, where we can
eat tsukemen (a kind of ramen where the noodle
is dipped in the soups that is served separately).
If you walk a little from the station, you will findSamurai. On the way to Shibuya, there are more.
At most of these restaurants it’s free or cheap to
add noodles or toppings and this service is helpful
for hungry students. Some of the restaurants havespecial service for students, too. One student said
he doesn’t get tired of eating ramen everyday.

8

KOMABA times

Of course, in the cafeteria, ramen
is the one of the most popular
items on the menu. There are 4
to 5 kinds of ramen and often
seasonal ones, too. A long line
can be seen in the ramen corner
every lunch time. The popularityof ramen is increases in winterbecause ramen makes our cold
body warm.
What worries us most with thisramen culture is that it is high incalories. It contains a lot of oil inthe soup base. In addition, someslice of cha-shu, thick roast pork,
is added as a topping. Noodles
are high in calories, too. It is saidramen has 700 to 1,000 calories
in regular size and some ramen
has over 1,200 calories. Usual
calories that we take in a day are
2,000 for males and 1,800 for females. More thanhalf calories that we take in a day! The student
interviewed above said he seems to be getting
fat day by day because of ramen.

Ramen at Samurai. Photo by author.

Ramen is delicious indeed. Most of Todai students love it. But this winter, be careful with yourhealth when you eat ramen; or else you will gain
weight.

Student LIFE
Teaching
By Kohei Yagura

French Cuisine: Todai’s Hidden Gem
By Hitomi Kayama
A hidden but significant perk at Todai’s Komaba
Campus is its French cuisine. After having
stepped inside the doors of Lever Son Verre andhad a taste of its food (and prices!) it becomesno wonder that insiders and outsiders alike have
kept the secret to themselves. Discretely situatedbehind the University’s lecture theatre, the restaurant itself is impossible to merely ‘stumble upon’.
It certainly requires some deep digging to findthis gem, (unless you are, like me, just dismal atnavigating yourself around the campus and tend
to find yourself on untrodden territory). This may
serve to explain why the restaurant is usually only
filled with those unaffiliated with the University.

It is January, and the entrance exams are approaching. Last year, I felt like the exams weresilently crawling and chasing me. This year, I’m
having the same feeling as last year. However, it
is not as one of the students taking the exams
but as one of the teachers whose own students
are taking them.
I’m teaching at a cram school where teachers
give individual lessons. I’m teaching a 6th gradestudent in elementary school and three senior
students in high school. They all have their entrance exams this year. I am not alone in thismatter. I know many friends at the University ofTokyo who have taken up tutoring as their parttime jobs. Teachers are just as important as
students in order to pass entrance exams. In thisarticle, I would like to introduce a way of teaching that I personally think is good.
The most important thing about teaching is towork together with the students. It is quite easy
to just give explanations and answers and finish teaching, but it is not a good way. Althoughstudents might feel like they have understood,
they actually do not. It is essential for students tothink on their own. The role of the teacher is notto just give answers, but to help them think bygiving appropriate hints. So, active communication with students is severely needed in teaching.
Through good communication, we can understand their way of thinking and know the areas
where they are facing difficulty with.
Another point is not to forget to look at thingsfrom the viewpoint of students. The solution
to the problem might seem obvious to us.
But it might be hard for them to solve. Teachers shouldn’t be arrogant of their own ability.
We should always think about student’s wayof thought. By doing so, we can give accurate
advice and support their studies. On the other
hand, it is sometimes useful to show them our
superiority or excellence. Being admired is often
the best way to motivate them in their studies.
Teaching is difficult, but it can be very interesting, too. What the teachers do affects their students directly. Their success partly depends on
our ability and action. If the students successfully pass the exams, the successes would be so
grateful for teachers, too. The students seem likemy own children when I teach them. Maybe, thisis the reason why I am still doing this job rightnow in spite of the low wages.

This is a true shame, because Lever Son Verre isa gift from heaven.
The lunch course is so reasonably priced it almost appears unreasonable for the restaurant’s
finances. If you are on a budget or just plain frugal, this is the place for you. At a bewildering 800
yen, my lunching experience at Lever Son Verre
was perhaps the most cost effective time of mylife. I know next to nothing about fine dining, but
one thing I do know is that I enjoyed every dollop of food there. The course I chose was therestaurant’s discounted lunchtime offer, which
consisted of bread rolls and salad, followed bya main dish of either fish, meat, or pasta. My
mother has always said that a salad gives away
the quality of what’s to come, and how right she
was. Having been impressed the second I took
a munch out of their small salad, my gut told
me there was something greater to come next.
The sea bass poiret – they call it – generously
blanketed with a white cream sauce, was to die
for; light with a melt-in-the-mouth texture, andtopped with a skin roasted crispy to the finish.
If you’re a fan of French desserts, you’ll also bepleased to know that Lever Son Verre offer a nicearray of seasonal treats, immaculately arrangedon their signature plates. I declined, having been
fully content from my 800 yen meal, but I have
my companion’s testimony that the chocolate
gateaux was ‘rich for its size’, and satisfying
overall.
So next time you’re willing to spend 300 more
yen than a quick bite at the shokudo for lunch orwant to give yourself a pat on the back for acingthat maths test, head on over to this restaurantand ‘lever son verre’ (raise your glass) to Todai’s
culinary excellence.

The Power of Community
By Chris Jeon
Whether we realize it or not, the grind that people
face on a day to day basis can often cause them
to forget about the good things in their lives. This
past December, a group of students worked to
become a reminder for others.

left the Student Support Section of the College
administration unsure of how to respond to her
request, but that they eventually opened up to
the idea and was cooperative throughout the entire process.

This past November, the Philippines bore thebrunt of the effects of the Super Typhoon Haiyan.
The storm left a wave of destruction in its wake:the destruction of infrastructure, the death of
thousands of people, and leaving countless others without food, shelter, and familial support. It
was a rough time for the Philippine people, but anumber of organizations worked toward easingthat pain.

The day of the caroling, several tens of Todai
students gathered in front of the shokudo andsang a variety of Christmas carols in both English
and Japanese. While the initial group of carolers
was large, the joyful atmosphere that pervaded
the area persuaded many students who did notpractice (myself included) to join in.

Among those charitable groups was one thatwas comprised of our very own University ofTokyo students. Kotoe Kuroda, a first-year PEAK
student, organized a Christmas caroling session
on campus with thehelp of a few of her
friends in order toraise funds for thePhilippines. When
asked about the inspiration behind thisproject, Kotoe said
that she wanted to
do charity work evenb e f o re c o m i n g t o
Todai, but felt evenmore compelled to
do so after coming.
She also explainedthat the relativelack of prior charity
events on campus

The event accomplished its primary goal, raisinga total of ¥39050 for the Philippines. Apart fromthat however, it also provided an opportunity for
Todai students to gather, momentarily free themselves from the stress of daily life, and work (orsing, in this case) together for a unified cause.

Christmas Caroling for the Philippines. Photo: Xuan Truong Trinh.

9History

The First International Student: Sergei Eliseev

By Nina Belova
Todai. It took him more than a month to cometo Japan, using the brand new Trans-Siberian
Railway. He became the first foreign student who
was allowed to enter Todai, and started to study
Japanese literature.
His life as a student in Japan was quite flamboyant. He never had a problem with money andloved parties. He tried any kind of Japanese entertainment including Kabuki, Rakugo and playing with Geisha. He learned a lot of Japanese
expressions from these kind of activities, so hehad a strong Shitamachi dialect (working-classaccent). It is said that he had a nice sense ofhumor and was handsome, he was quite well off
with plenty of girls around him.
However, Eliseev never forgot the reason why hecame to Japan; to study. In fact he was a great
student. He acquired Japanese soon and studied
Japanese literature of different historical periods.
Soseki Natsume gave him his own book with
Haiku written for him, and Eliseev kept it as atreasure for the rest of his life. In the final exams,
he got 82 points out of 100. It was the third highest grades among all students, so he graduatedwith honor.
There is an interesting episode about his graduation ceremony. For his high grades, he wasallowed to sit in the front row, just in front ofEmperor Meiji. It was a great honor even for a
Japanese student. However, Russian biographer
Vasili Molodyakov claims that he was treatedunfairly. He says that Emperor Meiji presented agolden watch to all students with high grades,
except Eliseev, for being a foreigner. Eliseev wasdisappointed, so was the president of Todai, who
decided to present him a silver watch few years
later. This story shows that the university wasvery supportive for him, knowing that the difference in race means nothing in academic fields.
Soon after his returning to Russia, the Russian
Revolution broke out. Because of his noble roots,
Eliseev exiled himself to France, and later to theUnited States. He continued studying about Japan at Harvard University, and became a father
of Japonology. It is a famous story that during
the World War II, he entreated Douglas MacArthur not to attack Jimbo-cho area in Tokyo, because he knew that there are millions of precious
old documents. He saved Japanese history fromburning.
Komaba campus at dusk. Photo by author.

Today, about 8% of all students at Todai are international students (according to the university’s
homepage). It is about 2,500 people in number,and 80% of them are from Asia. It is a quite low
rate compared with other prestigious universities
around the world. This fact drives Todai to enrichprograms for accepting international students.
In this article, I am not going to discuss globalization strategy. I will leave that topic to others.
What I want to do here is to invite you to a historical trip. Let’s fly back to 100 years ago, anddiscover who was the first international student
at Todai.
His name is Sergei Grigorievich Eliseev. He was

10

KOMABA times

born in a rich family in today’s Saint Petersburg,when Russia was still an empire. Like many other
Europeans at that time, he had a strong interestin the East. When he was studying in Berlin, he
met Izuru Shinmura, Japanese linguist known forcompiling Kojien (the most authoritative dictionary in Japan), and decided to go to Japan. It wasin 1908.
At that time in Meiji period, the Japanese tried tolearn as much as possible from western cultures.
Japanese government had sent a number ofstudents to Europe, so they knew how it is difficult to come, live and study in a foreign country.
Eliseev got a lot of help from various people at

Over 100 years had passed since Eliseev, thefirst international student of Todai, passed the
Akamon gates. Japan and the university has undergone many big changes, but is still fascinating
young people around the world. Eliseev was able
to lead a good life as a Todai student not only
for his own open-minded character but thanks
to the help of many people in the university. It
seems that Todai today is struggling to accept
more international students in order to catch up
with other prestigious universities. However, themain reason for proceeding with the globalization strategy is to reach out a helping hand to
students who truly want to come to Japan, notjust a simple increase in number, isn’t it?

Unconventional Forms of Success
By Hitomi Kayama
Skim through any list of famous, influential, andhighly-accomplished Japanese individuals, andyou’ll notice fairly quickly that the majority ofthem have tread upon the same, familiar gingko
leaves that plaster our campus grounds. Takefor example the seven (out of nineteen) Nobel
Prize Laureates, the Crown princess, and the 15
prime ministers which have served throughout
the country’s peaks and troughs. It’s tempting
to boast about one’s own institution, but this isapparently observable even at a bureaucraticlevel – famously, government agencies wereonce ordered to implement a 50 percent quotaof Todai-graduate employees in fear of loss ofdiversity. If you’re like me, your future prospects
might not be so elaborate, let alone comparable
to the folks mentioned above. But fear not –closer inspection of the myriad of names gives
hint to the fact that University life, regardless of
how much time your particular course demands,
won’t prescribe you to any expected role in the-of monosodium glutamate – if this doesn’t ring abell, think ‘umami’. Ikeda was a chemist who justhappened to discover the chemical root of oneof the basic tastes (the others which are sweetness, bitterness, sourness, and saltiness).

Hidesaburo Ueno is famed for being theowner of Hachiko, the most loyal dog that lived.
The innumerable books and films, as well as thebronze statue that stands to this day in Shibuya,
pay tribute to the unconditional care one can
suppose he gave to his faithful hound. On a morepoignant note; the Komaba campus was theexact location Ueno died whilst giving an agricultural studies lecture. It’s almost impossible notto revere him for his dedication to Todai, where
he undertook both undergraduate and graduate
studies, as well as taking up positions as an assistant and professor.

Kano- Jigoro- was the founder of judo, theSeiji Ogawa , currently aged 79, is the

future. It becomes clear that success is indefinable, comes in unexpected forms, and is nothingelusive if we find a more personal way to makea difference. Here are just a handful of names
you might not have come across before, but will
surely recall in the future.

Kikunae Ikeda patented the manufacture

first Japanese martial art to be recognized as
Olympic-worthy. To top this, he was the first
Asian to serve in the International Olympic Committee, and played a pivotal role in bringing theGames to Tokyo in 1940.

founder of the technology behind fMRI – otherwise known as brain imaging. Having invented
what is now an indispensible tool in the worldof both clinical research and medicine, this man
has single-handedly saved and will continue tosave lives.

The Stench of History and Utility
By Mark Sato
This allows sunlight to shineon the street, enabling students to feel a little warmer
during cold winter days. On
the other hand, gingko trees
full of leaves will block sunlight during hot summer days,
providing shade for thosewalking to and from classes.

Former logo of the University.
Courtesy of the University of Tokyo.

Current logo of the University.
Courtesy of the University of Tokyo.

Around October or November, I imagine many
students at Komaba campus begin to wonder,“What kind of plant is releasing this unpleasantsmell, and why would a university want to plantsuch trees on the main street of an university?”
I myself had the same question, so I decided
to take time to look into the unlikable plant andshare it with our reader.
To begin with, here is the basic information; theplant is called gingko (commonly known as ichou
or ginnan in Japan) and is a deciduous tree,
which can grow up to about 40 meters tall. Oneof gingko’s unique characteristics is the shapeof its leaves, and it resembles a fan or foot of aduck. Another known unique characteristic is thesmell of its fruit. Many sources describe the odor
as similar to that of a vomit or ‘rancid butter.’
So why did the university decide to plant somany gingko trees alongside the main street on
Komaba campus? There seems to be two main
reasons. The first reason is to make the campus
a better environment for students. Since gingko
is a deciduous tree, its leaves fall off during autumn, becoming “naked” during the cold winter.

Another reason is rather simple, and that is because gingko is the symbol of the university. The gingko remained as asymbol to represent Universityof Tokyo even when the university redesigned the symbol
after becoming a national
university corporation in 2004.
The new symbol consistsof two gingko leaves that are colored in yellow
and light blue. They kept the gingko design to“show determination that even if the Universityof Tokyo face big changes, they will lead college
education and academic research with their long
history and tradition, according to the university
website (translated by author).”Besides relationship between the university andgingko, I also found out about practical use forthe infamous gingko fruit despite its stench.
According to University of Maryland Medical
Center, although it cannot be eaten raw, thenut within gingko fruit can be used as an herbal
supplement to treat cold, and the leaves containmemory-boosting substance.
Although researchers have discovered what typeof chemical is causing the gingko fruit to release
its stench, they have not found an explanation for “why” it smells so badly. Perhaps it is
the smell of various utilities and long history all
mixed together.

11Perspectives

Does My Presence Make Todai International?

By Austin Zeng
Anyone living in Japan can tell you that the word
“internationalization”, or “kokusai-ka” in Japanese, is a popular catchphrase now. The wholeof Japan is currently swept up in a wave called“Go Global”. But as a foreign student in Japan,
I can’t help but wonder - for a term that has
gained such traction, no one has actually definedwhat “internationalization” means.
Basically, employers are hoping to employ more
foreign employees and are demanding a good
TOEFL score for Japanese job-seekers. Schools
are trying to increase the number of foreign
students with Todai’s PEAK being one of the
programs with such an aim. Rakuten, one of thelargest Japanese shopping portal sites, has evenmade their company operating language English
to both praise and derision.
At first glance these are credible attempts at increasing the international input in Japan but theinside story is more mixed. Does my presence inTodai make it a global institution? Does a good
TOEFL score make someone a global person?
Does making its employees use their non-native(albeit “global”) language make Rakuten a global
enterprise?
Let’s start at the background first. The current
wave of “internationalization” started a few years
ago when many Japanese companies started
facing fierce competition from neighboring South
Korea and China. Former electronics industry
leaders such as Sharp and Panasonic are currently facing heavy losses. In addition, the WallStreet Journal has reported that the best sellingphone in Japan is the iPhone, outclassing theJapanese phones which used to be consideredextremely technology advanced.
Japan as a country has realized (belatedly) thata long reliance on a large domestic market, thehomogeneity in the workforce and poor language
skills have been reasons for stagnation and poor
competitiveness. It is because of this that many
Japanese firms are increasing their attempts at
hiring non-Japanese employees.
Similarly, universities have come under pressure
to develop “global leaders” and “internationallycapable manpower”. The Japanese Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has also unveiled its Global 30
program, where students can do a full degree
course in English at thirteen listed universities inJapan.
The problem is that these efforts in themselves
do not guarantee “internationalization” andwithin Japan a range of successes and failuresat “internationalization” exists. There are companies which eschew the typical suit and tie
and where hierarchy is not so strict – these areenvironments which foreigners are generallyable to thrive in. But at the same time there arecompanies where unspoken social rules dictate
absolute obedience to your superiors.
The same thing applies to schools. There areschools where student life is very integrated between foreign students and Japanese students
but there are also schools where international

students are isolated and tend to clump together.
The situation at the University of Tokyo is slightly
mixed. Individual differences exist but international students studying in Japanese tend to be
integrated into mainstream student life. However, international students studying in English
largely tend to socialize with each other to adegree – though this is perhaps inevitable given
language barriers and how such students tend
to share many common classes. However, as
students studying in Japanese are also able totake English courses, most of these have someJapanese-course students participating in them.
In addition, there are multiple international interaction student circles such as TGIF, Chabashira,KIC etc. Thus, there are links between the main
student body and English language students,and students who wish to socialize beyond theircoursemates have avenues to do so.
It seems to me that Japanese attempts to “internationalize” by bringing in more foreigners,
enforcing standards of English etc. are simply
fulfilling the prerequisites of internationalization– and not necessarily internationalization itself.
Because yes, without foreigners, there can be no
foreign input. And without a degree of English,
global communication is often difficult. But there
are deeper problems such as homogeneity which
need to be addressed too. To me at least, howglobal Japan will become will largely rest on efforts to tackle the deeper problems and not justthose on the surface.

Longing for a Home- A Place where I can Belong
By Yen Hyoung Cho
A simple question of “where are you from?” has
one answer to some of us, but to others, theanswer is a long winded explanation that has
molded who we are today.

For many international students who have lived
in two or more countries, deliberately or not, thequestion holds no meaning, or rather holds a
different meaning. For those who have found an
ideal identity it is a ‘happy ending’, however for
those who have not, we continue to search forthe one place we fit only to run into a brick walltime and time again. Is it where we were born?
The country we lived in the longest? Or, where
we reside now?
Having lived in five different countries in the life
span of twenty years, with Japan being my fifth,
I myself have never been able to find the answer.
Imagine making friends knowing you will haveto part within years to come— accepting thefact that they may not remember who you arebecause time continues to tick even when yourpresence are not there. Repeat that process over
and over again and soon you lose the warmthof what it means to feel safe and secure in one
place.

The road that takes us home-where we belong. Photo by Jenny Lee.

12

KOMABA times

Throughout my life I have received many questions regarding where I really think of as ‘home’,even from my own parents. The usual laugh is allthat is required to brush the comment off alongwith a light-hearted remark: “I haven’t quite

come to the conclusion yet”.
According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary the definition of home means “a place oforigin”. But, I’m sure there are those who would
walk away from this every day definition that caneasily be found in the dictionary.
The sense of belonging no longer exists forpeople who expect departure from the momentof interaction. After many tearful hugs of goodbyes the one thing we really long for is a place toreturn to, a place we can call home. For people
whose ethnicity holds no meaning, the search
for a place to belong is a journey to find one’s
cultural identity, which is why some of us havecome to an easier conclusion; a re-definition of
the word.
Some define home as“Somewhere I can relax,
and go back to regardless of residence”, andothers “Where you can be yourself”. Now it is myturn to depict what home is, a definition to myliking. I define home to be a place where you canfeel safe and secure, a place that will welcome
me back with open arms.
So, what is your definition of home?

When in Tokyo, Do as Tokyoites Do
A Gaijin’s (Foreigner’s) perspective of the Japanese way of university life

By Dionne Ng Zhe Ting

Where some of the foreign students of Todai call home. Photo by author.

Overwhelmingly famous and representative, theMerlion is apparently the most reminiscent symbol of Singapore in the minds of local Japanese
students at the University of Tokyo. To date, asimple self-introduction of “Hello, I’m Dionne
from Singapore,” garners the most common response of “Ah! The Merlion!”
Yet, just as how the irrefutably small city-state ofSingapore encompasses so much more than justthe Merlion, living in Japan requires the recognition of many things beyond the tourist favouritesof the Tokyo Skytree and the Shibuya Scramble.
For now, let us focus on some striking featuresof university life in Japan from the eyes of a foreigner in Komaba.

Firstly, compare the styleof instruction in a standard
Japanese classroom witha PEAK (Programs in English at Komaba) or foreignclassroom. The top-down
approach in a Japanesestyle lecture or seminarallows for the traditionallyfundamental purpose ofc l a s s ro o m e d u c a t i o n –learning via direct instruction – to occur efficaciously.
Any Japanese student who
has attended a PEAK lesson would be able to highlight its stark contrast with
the Japanese-style lecture.
T h e ‘ We s t e r n ’ s t y l e o fteaching fosters an atmosphere of active discourseand self-directed learning
under the close supervisionof the professor. Students’
active participation in lessons allows for a moreclose-knit environment withlittle distance between thestudents and the professor.

The converse that occurs in the Japanese-styleclassroom is an oft-lamented issue by the newgeneration of Japanese students in the University of Tokyo. Even with nation-wide shifts inpedagogical approaches from tsumekomi (rotelearning, prior to 1980) to yutori (‘relaxed’ education, 1980s to 2000s) and back to datsu-yutori(a balance between tsumekomi and yutori, 2011
onwards), the style of instruction has remainedlargely constant throughout primary to tertiary
education. As an ardent supporter of the Western style of collaborative learning, yet having
gone through educational experiences similar to
the Japanese style, I can empathize with foreign
students who experience an institutional culture
shock after attending Japanese-style classes as

they may have spent a large part of their lives
undergoing a Western style of education.
Additionally, communication appears to be abaffling component of Japanese society for mostforeigners. In the mastery of the Japanese language, foreigners have to grasp the concepts ofusing distinctively classified forms of words when
speaking in various contexts. Some of the morecommonly-faced difficulties include the appropriate use of keigo (honorific language) as well as
the use of body language to express intentions
that may not be well-represented verbally. Bowing, for instance, can account for several actions
depending on circumstances – a handshake asa form of salutation, the expression of gratitude,
and simply a show of respect to the other party.
In the University of Tokyo, this would be especially applicable to bukatsu (clubs) and occasionally sa-kuru (circles) as communication between
seniors and juniors requires a dedicated showof respect to one’s superiors at all times; for foreigners who are completely new to this part ofJapanese culture, regardless of their proficiency
in academic Japanese, communication barriers
and faux pas become inevitable.
The crux of the issue is this – in order to assimilate well into a new society as a foreigner,
little details like the abovementioned have to bediligently accounted for. When in Rome, do as
the Romans do; similarly, when in Tokyo, do as
the Tokyoites do. Foreigners will, more often thannot, find themselves acclimatizing to their new
habitat by picking up the habits and practicesof the natives around them while attempting toretain a semblance of their own culture backhome. Likewise, as a foreign student in Todai, themyriad of practices, traditions and stereotypicalaspects of the school that one has to get accustomed to is simply incredible. I look forward
to the day when I can finally call myself a true
Todaisei – the day when I no longer respond with
‘Ehhhh?!’ and an appalled expression to the revelation of yet another amazingly unique aspect of
the way of life in the University of Tokyo.

Upworthy Has the Secret to “Epic Share-ability.” Should We be Worried?
By Chris Jeon
By now, we have all likely seen at least one mysteriously enticing headline from the news aggregation site Upworthy, which has recently seen arapid increase in popularity. As it turns out, theseheadlines play an integral role in how the Upworthy team seeks to increase its “shareability,”
which Upworthy’s editor Adam Mordecai claims
is one of the site’s primary goals.
The basic premise behind this strategy is simple.
Because nobody knows exactly what people find“share-worthy”, the Upworthy team searches forcontent that is meaningful in its eyes and repackages this content to arouse curiosity (throughan ambiguously enticing headline), increase its
visual appeal (through pictures/graphs/videos),and simplify the issue for the viewer. Upworthy

also spends a fair amount of time optimizing its
sharing compatibility with social media websites
like Facebook and Twitter to provide an environment where optimal levels of sharing can occur.
When a person believes in something with astrong enough conviction, he/she will often go
to certain lengths to reinforce that belief throughwhatever means necessary. To relate this problem back to Upworthy, the team tends to simplify
its content for two main purposes: to make iteasier for a wider audience to understand and toalign it with its progressive/leftist ideals. A possible consequence of this simplification could
manifest itself in the form of people using thecontent to “cherry pick” or employ the use of
selective evidence to attempt to substantiate his/her beliefs. Prospective Upworthians must keep
in mind that the website does hold biased opinions on many issues and that the way they are
portrayed are not necessarily as cut and dried as
Upworthy would like you to believe.
That is not to say that all of the content is likethis. The first video that I viewed on this site, aneloquently narrated animation that spoke out
against bullying, was the one that sparked myinterest in Upworthy and ultimately inspired me
to begin writing this article.
A team of people looking to relay their set of ideals to the world in a peaceful manner are wellwithin their rights to do so; just be sure to follow
up their claims with research of your own.

13

Prestigious University: A Path to Money?
By Chae Yeon Kim
When posed the question “Why did you decide
to attend your university?” to a student whogoes to a so-called “prestigious” school, a handful of students will simply answer— “to makegood money.” The assumption that degrees fromselective universities will lead to well-paying jobs
is an influential factor for students in choosing
which university they should attend. However,recent rankings have shown that students who
graduated from certain less-known schools havehigher salaries than students who graduatedfrom the elite and prestigious schools.
PayScale, one of the largest salary profile databases online, recently ranked universities interms of highest average salary*. Surprisingly,
schools that are generally perceived as “dreamschools” such as University of Pennsylvania
and Columbia University ranked #27 and #54

Widener Library, Harvard University. Photo by author.

below schools such as Babson College (#5) andState University of New York Maritime College(#14) that are generally less heard of. Similarly,
Princeton University, which was ranked as themost prestigious National University by US News(2014) was ranked #6. The school that was
ranked first with the highest average salary wasHarvey Mudd College, a liberal arts school on theWest Coast that is ranked #16 under Liberal Arts
Colleges on US News (2014). These rankings
may come across as quite shocking for somestudents who strive to attend good universities
for well-paid jobs.
Why would this be the case? Shouldn’t prestigious universities obviously lead to better salaries? A study by policy researcher Stacy Daleand economist Alan Krueger offers a possible
explanation. Their studies show that students
who attended selective schools do notearn more than students who were accepted to schools of
the same stature but
attended schools of
lower “rank.”
From this research, it
can be assumed thatstudents with enoughdrive have the capacity to reach the samelevel of earnings as
students who actuallyattend the prestigious
university and receive

a “quality” education.
The salary ranking from PayScale as well as theconclusion of the research by Dale and Krueger
puts forward a controversial yet important pointthat students should keep in mind while striving
for a “high-quality” education for well-paid jobs.
Whether the student has attended a prestigious
university does not necessarily have an impact
on the student’s future economical standing.
But rather, having a positive mindset to aspire
for a better future through the means of a distinguished university is what seems to be the main
factor for earning money and so-called “success.”
Elitist schools offer an education based on abstract ideas and liberal arts rather than handson practical education like those offered by most
lower-ranked schools. Students usually attending“prestigious” schools also wish to continue theireducation career and gain practical knowledge
from degrees after undergraduate school. Thismay be a reason why students who graduate
from less-known schools earn more money than“elite” undergraduate students.
So, as the application period for schools aroundthe world approaches, as well as for the University of Tokyo, and the rejection letters comeflying in, we can now tell those disheartened students that going to a less-known school is not a
big deal after all and that they will not be missingout on much—at least not on money.
* calculated by averages of starting salaries andmid-career salaries

American Festivity
By Marina Kondo
With Halloween just behind us, the year is rapidly
coming to an end. Coming from America, I noticed a significant difference in the way some holidays are celebrated in these two cultures. Here isa brief look at the way two holidays are celebrated
in the northeastern part of the United States.

Halloween
The celebration of “All Hallows Eve,” as theAmericans know it, begins the night of October 30. Children around the age of fourteen ~eighteen roam around the streets with all sorts
of “weapons” to vandalize the neighborhood
houses. Toilet paper and “silly string” are used
to demolish the trees and bushes, while raw
eggs are the perfect weapon of choice to throw
at windows and doors. Extremist may go as far
as putting shaving cream in mailboxes, imagining the reaction of the residents who will blindly
reach in to grab the mail the next morning.
The celebration continues throughout the nextday, when students of all ages are allowed to, andalmost obligated to, wear costumes to school.
Months ahead of this day, friends coordinate
costumes together to become superheroes or
zombie kittens or whatever is popular that year.

14

KOMABA times

Classes are attended in costumes as teacher
themselves come dressed in some of the mostcreative apparel. The frenzy continues into lunchwhen the best costumes in the entire schoolgather to impress and dominate the votes as costumes contests are held in cafeterias and gymnasiums. After school is a time for the younger children to take a trip around town “trick-or-treating,”
going door-to-door collecting treats. Meanwhile,older adolescents have the option of going trickor-treating or going to a house party to celebrate
the night. Halloween spirit isn’t contained in one
day, as parties and celebrations are also held on
the weekend before or after the holiday.
Personally, Halloween is one of the most important holidays that requires every adult,
adolescent, and child to celebrate, bringing thewhole neighborhood together. Celebrating myfirst Halloween in Japan, I found it to be a bit ofa disappointment but also interesting. The lackof interest by many elders and by even someof the younger generations makes Halloween asecluded holiday, celebrated by only a minority.
Yet, I was intrigued to see that minority take theHalloween celebration out onto the streets oftowns such as Shibuya at night. In a way, it was

exciting to see that even on the other side of theworld, Halloween still brings people together.

New Year’s Eve & New Year’s Day
Quite the opposite of Halloween, New Year’s
Eve is only celebrated the day of. To be more
specific, the celebration for New Year’s Eve and
New Year’s Day combined only occurs from thenight of the 31st to the morning of the 1st. Many
spend the night at parties decorated with glitter,sparklers, and other shiny party favors. Aroundthe New York area, it is custom to watch Time
Square’s “New Year’s Eve Ball Drop” on television. The massive, illuminated ball is slowly lowered in the last seconds of the year until it finallyreaches the bottom with the arrival of the newyear. Just as the ball hits bottom, it is also tradition for couples to kiss each other to welcome
another blissful year together.
But unlike Japan, the celebration ends the nextday, as everyone begins to dread work andschool on the 2nd. New Year’s Day does not holda historical or cultural significance in America as
it does in Japan, so I’ve always been fascinatedby the traditional Japanese customs during thistime of year.

Perspectives
Aruki-sumaho, A Walking Disaster
By Sherry Zheng
according to MMD Research Laboratory, 1 in 5
people admit to aruki-sumaho and having experienced injury or an accident as a result.

Image: Don LaVange | Flickr.

Of the thousands of people crowding the streetsof Tokyo, many, standing or walking, have theireyes glued to their smartphones. However, thisnationwide epidemic has caused more than justthe daily inconvenience of slow walkers or lossof eye contact during conversations, it has evencaused the loss of lives, in more than one way.
As reported by Japan Today in the middle of lastyear, a 10-year old boy, having been distracted
by his mobile phone screen, fell onto the train
tracks before an incoming train. This fifth-grader
was lucky to escape with minor injuries. However these shocking incidents are not scarce, asNTT Docomo termed this problem “aruki-sumaho” (literally, “smartphone walking”) in their print
campaign in Shinjuku station. Their campaign
warns more than 3.5 million commuters each
day to avoid the habit and to take more notice ofthe danger they could inflict. However, just as theprint ironically admits, culprits of aruki-sumaho
probably wouldn’t even notice the warning.
In reality, aruki-sumaho is part of a much bigger problem; a nationwide screen-addiction.
According to recent findings by a governmentfunded research led by the Ministry of Health,
518,000 teenagers are clinically considered tobe ‘addicted’ to the Internet. With a great deal oftechnology being marketed towards the younger
generation, there is growing concern for young
addicts and the future of our society.
In 2007, The New York Times reported on China’s
drastic measure of running Internet addiction
camps to rehabilitate sufferers of the “disorder”.

A “military-style boot-camp” claiming a 70%
success rate aims to strengthen patients, usuallymale adolescents, both mentally and physically.
Even in a country of 137 million Internet users,
this method seemed outlandish, costing parentsof the patient more than $15,000 for a year’s stay(meanwhile tuition fees for an MBA at top-tierTsinghua University only reach up to US$10,000).
This extreme tactic is no longer something that
happens “only in China”. Japan has latched onto
the method with treatment centers particularly
counseling the internet-addicted, and even the
Ministry of Education seriously proposing “fasting” camps that provide internet-free zones foradolescents to assist in purging them from their
bad habits. Could this plan be Japan’s way out?
The issue that remains however is the diagnosisof the affected. What can be defined as clinicalInternet addiction? How can you treat those who
reject their addiction? In developed countries,
where people of all ages wake up to newsfeeds
in the morning and would admit to Internet dependence, whole nations could be considered
addicted.

To “Like”, or Not to “Like”
By Sherry Zheng
Like. Unlike. Comment. Share. Post. Upload. Tag.
These days, social networking sites such as
Facebook are overflowing with functions, designed to help us share more of our lives with ourfamilies, friends and future bosses.
Colleges are becoming increasing stringent ofstudents’ social media activity, with one particular college in the U.S. dismissing the applicationof a prospective student who was discovered
to be making profane ‘Tweets’ about fellow attendees during an information session. Suchincidents are only the tip of the iceberg.
Not only colleges, but also companies have recently begun to reveal their interest in runningsocial media background checks on prospective employees, in addition to the more familiar
criminal and credit background checks. With
more jobseekers likely to have a Facebook account than a terrible criminal record or debt
history, more jobseekers may be looking to face
greater rejection as employers are able to accessanything from hangover photos to excruciatingly
embarrassing frape posts (“Facebook rape”).
So, what can we do?
Many students appear unconscious when it
comes to considering the consequences despite
such incidents, warnings and the obligatory,
lengthy Terms and Conditions that forewarn
users prior to every move. When interviewed,
Tokyo University students’ responses to these
new social media background checks included, “I
believe it is possible, but I’m not too concerned,”it’s like on another person’s account before.”and “I’ve never really considered it before”.
Anonymity has become increasingly difficult toretain online as more and more functions such as‘tagging’ and ‘sharing’ by friends link individuals
to unwelcome photos, videos or pages that they
themselves may not wish to display on their own
profiles.
Furthermore, particularly in Japan many student
users have moved from more closed sites such as
mixi, where only users with Japanese cell phone
numbers and invitations from existing users could
join, to infamously public networking sites including Facebook. Until only a couple of years ago,
Japanese mixi users who were predominantly
accustomed to adopting aliases online wereintroduced to Facebook after it garnered much
popularity overseas. Nowadays it is becoming
accepted as the norm, even in Japan, to disclose
your real name and personal details including location, education, marital status.
O f c o u r s e F a c e b o o k p ro v i d e s
security settings that allow users
to personalise their privacy level,
however what Facebook does with
our information remains unknown tous, the average user. Though many
students admit to being concerned
about these settings, few have neither the time nor patience to test thestrength of these privacy settings; “Ihave my settings on private, except
I’ve never really gone to check what

In the end, the lesson to be learnt here is thatwhilst society considers it the norm for college students to do regrettable things for wewill eventually grow out of such tendencies, theInternet will not move on so easily. Though ourparents’ generation were easily forgiven, andwere lucky enough to destroy all evidence ofanything that could attract embarrassment, in
this day and age where Facebook, Twitter andeven Instagram (…the list goes on) thrives, thisgeneration is not so fortunate. We unconsciously
track our own idiocies, so that even when we’ve
moved far beyond this all twenty years down theroad, the inevitable remains; our digital footprint
from today will last forever.
Indeed, we should not panic and think of ourcareer crashing and burning when we see a stupid photo of ourselves appear on our newsfeed,
might as well live, laugh and untag.

© Pressureua | Dreamstime.com

15

JapanYour Very Own Starry Comfort Zone: Starbucks

By Chae Yeon Kim
Take a visit to Starbucks in Mark City, Shibuya.
A long line of people waiting to get a seat in thealready excessively crowded store is a common
sight to see. Just a few seconds down the corridor are few other cafés where one too manyseats are available for seating. Why is it that
Starbucks, and only Starbucks is so popular?
How did Starbucks become a worldwide sensation? What is Starbucks doing that others aren’t?
When you think about a café, you would mostimmediately think of a warm and cozy place withplush sofas where you can quietly listen to music
and read books or even chat with a friend andstay for hours. The cozy and relaxing image you
get about cafés today was first wildly spread andestablished by, believe it or not, Starbucks.
When the CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz,
travelled to Italy, he realized that cafés were not
only places where people just drop by to gettheir morning dose of caffeine, but a place where
people held business meetings and talked toeach other -- a sort of mechanism that held the
Italian society together. Inspired by this view,
Schultz persuaded the leaders of the company
to transform Starbucks into such a place where
friends can meet up and stay. Here, he added
luxurious sofas, dimmer lighting, and jazzy music
to the background. The café became somewhere
people can get a premium traditional cup of
espresso drink and relax.
This is the main marketingstrategy Starbucks is based on.
Rationally thinking, a small cupof coffee should not and cannot
cost 500yen (about $5 USD).
Starbucks can get its customers to pay such amounts ofmoney because it not only sells
its “premium” espresso drink,
but the café experience itself.
The customers get the feel thatthey are able to purchase thewarm relaxing and somewhat
sophisticated experience of thecafé atmosphere as well as thesimple cup of coffee.

The Starbucks experience. Photo by author.

The first Starbucks to ever open
outside of North America was
not in some random town in Eu-

rope or neighboring Mexico, but in the high-end
area of Ginza, Tokyo-- right behind the famous
Matsuya Department Store in 1996. The company leaders seem to have speculated that thepeople who visit Ginza, Tokyo, the richest cityin the world, are able to afford and are willing to
pay for the modern coffee experience.
Likewise, when Starbucks expanded to different
continents and cities, the leaders of Starbucks
altered their marketing techniques according to
the cultures of each location. For example, when
Starbucks expanded to China, they found outthat the peak time in China was not 7am to 10am
like most other countries, but at 4pm to 6pm.
Food preferences were also taken into consideration. For example, the holiday Yorkshire pudding was for the customers in UK, not New York.
A friend once said, “Japanese people havesomething for marron.” That was true. The 2013holiday season drink consisted of the Crushed
Marron Pie Latte. And in the Sakura season of2013 came the Sakura specials, consisting of
Sakura flavored espresso drinks, cakes, cookies,
and accessories such as mugs and tumblers-only in Starbucks Japan. Starbucks does asplendid job of tailoring the universally relaxing
and warm coffee experience to the local needsof the people.
So the next time you see a long line of people
trying to get a seat at Starbucks, instead of tuttutting at them, remember that they are not only
getting ‘overpriced’ coffee but the coffee experience, perfectly catered to their location and nationality.

The Power of a Hundred Yen Coin
By Hyeyoon Sung
Do you hate carrying around those clanking,heavy coins in your purse that you somehow
can never get rid of? Would you believe it if
someone tells you there’s a place where you
can bring some of those coins and that would
be all you need to buy necessities for your daily
life? Amazingly enough, it’s true. Unbelievable,
you say? Welcome to Japan, the land where theusefulness of coins are highlighted more thanpeople might think. In Japan, having extra coins
is very handy, since in many situations, coins canactually be of use. There is no such thing as auseless coin, as even 1 yen coins are frequently
needed. Many products are priced with very specific numbers, often down to the units digit. Perhaps this is because in Japan, one coin’s worth
is quite big: the value of a 100 yen coin roughly
equals that of one paper bill in the US dollar.
Therefore, many Japanese people use coin purses. Some even carry only their coin purse, whilesome others carry both wallets and coin purses.
In fact, there even is a place where bringing yourcoin purse seems like a must-do—Hyakuen
shops.

16

KOMABA times‘Hyakuen’ means 100 yen. Its name roughlysums up what you can do there; in Hyakuen
shops, you can buy almost anything with yourtrustworthy 100 yen coins. From stationery andsmall toys, to silverware and even food, for people living in Japan, there is no shortage of items
needed in real life in Hyakuen shops.

Even if you are just a tourist and do not necessarily need anything from the Hyakuen shop, I
would strongly recommend that you at least giveit a try. It is quite something, and you can take acloser look at Japanese people’s daily lives. So
if you have never been to a Hyakuen shop, why
not try stepping into one today?

Why Hyakuen? Actually, including tax the items
sold in Hyakuen shops aren’t exactly 100 yen,but 105 yen. But why are these stores named
100 yen shops? Perhaps it is simply that theidea of buying useful things with a single coin ispretty attractive to many thrifty housewives andstudents living alone. Living in Japan, or rather,in Tokyo is pricey and everyone knows it. Even
though the actual price might not exactly berounded down to 100 yen, the symbolical meaning of being able to buy things with just one coinrings the heart, and hence is the catchphrase.
Also, even with the tax included, the fact that
Hyakuen shop goods are simply much more affordable than pretty much anywhere else in Tokyo is undeniable.
What to do with all of these coins? ©Claudio Jule

Jimbocho Bookworm
By Wang Lu
In Jimbocho, I could not help at ponder what has
maintained Japan’s prevalent second-hand bookand publishing industry in today’s digital information age. A substantial amount of readershipshould be indispensible. The 180 bookstores in
Jimbocho is a cultural phenomenon, but they arealso inevitably profiting businesses. Japanesepeople’s ardour about reading has supported
Jimbocho’s continuous prosperity. When we areamazed by the unique cultural ambience of Jimbocho, we should also think about the national
culture that is represented here. When materialism is engulfing the world, whether we could
keep being ourselves and enrich our spiritual
pursuits is something we have to think about.

For book lovers, Tokyo is no doubt a fascinating place for exploration. It is a rare sight for me
to see so many passengers still holding paper
books on train; small, unique bookstores decorate the busiest commercial street; secondhand bookshops are concealed in inconspicuous
corners. Among these, Jimbocho is by far themost amazing place I have discovered. Surely for
bookworms, this bookstore street always offers afresh experience.
Alighting at Jimbocho Station of the HanzomonLine, taking the no. 1 exit, will be the westernend of the bookstore street. It is estimated that
there are more than 180 bookstores in Jimbocho. Here you can find normal bookstores, suchas Sanseido and Shosen; but the more uniquefeature is the abundance of specialized secondhand bookstores. These bookstores are usually
very small, simply decorated; bookshelves fillalmost the whole space, leaving only a narrow passageway for customers; books pile up
toward the ceiling. Most of these second-handbookstores are very specialized: western literature, visual arts, philosophy, etc. Jimbocho is thebest choice for people looking for specialized
books at a lower price or simply for book lovers
to spend a leisurely afternoon.
Bunkobon must be a unique feature about Japa-

Bunkobon. Image by snogglethorpe | Flickr.

nese books. They are a type of
pocket-sized books that are usually cheaper than the hardcovereditions. Normally, the price isbetween 800-1000 yen. These
Bunkobons are usually easierto categorize, therefore are themost abundant in bookstores.
Readers are able to find books
easily through author and publishers.
Jimbocho, Tokyo. Image by perks | Flickr.

What? Another Earthquake? Again?!
Natural Disasters in Japan: Preparations, Concerns and Aid

By Lim Su Ching
I remember sitting on the fourth floor of ourclassroom in KOMCEE when the pillars of thebuilding began to creak as they compensatedfor the tremors from the magnitude-4 earthquake
beneath us.
Being the first intake of international students in
PEAK, complete with a foreign lecturer who wasequally unfamiliar with the situation, there wasa mad dive for cover under the tables. Fingers
fiddled over phones as people contacted theirparents, siblings or significant others who wereoceans away while the more tech savvy ones
tweeted or broadcasted on Facebook about thisforeign, and slightly alarming first experience.
Meanwhile, in the room next door, with the exception of a few bemused glances in our direction, it
was business as usual for the local students.
Japan is an island situated along three tectonic
plates. Natural disasters that occur in the area include earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis and evenvolcanic eruptions. As such, from earthquake
drills at primary schools to mandatory structural
checks for buildings in Tokyo, a series of disaster
contingent plans and safety measures are always
at hand.
If the lack of table diving antics is anything to goby, the population itself has become accustomed
to such occurrences and there is widespread education to prepare the people for emergencies.
According to Haruka Funabiki, a 2nd year stu-

dent at Komaba, “Many (of the Japanese) people
are quite prepared,” and some people “have a
few bags ready to take with us if some kind ofdisaster hits.” Ever since the disaster of March
11, more people have become more consciousof disasters and have taken extra measures toprotect themselves.
There was a strong agreement among the students that, factoring in frequency, earthquakes
were the greatest cause of concern for the students living in Tokyo. However, volcanic eruptions rank first in severity, due to the difficulty of
preparing against it, as well as the lengthy postdisaster recovery time. Komaba student Yuji Oka
compares this to tsunamis and typhoons, which,‘pass relatively quickly.’ Fortunately for us in Tokyo, volcanic eruptions remain quite rare.
When traveling around Japan, the type of threats
faced from natural disasters differ according to
the area. Landslides are a risk in the hilly terrainthat runs through the countryside. When Typhoon
Wipha struck last October, mudslides buried people and homes on the slopes of Izu Oshima in amatter of minutes. Yet, the strongest snowstorm
in 7 years locked the capital down in January
this year with over a thousand traffic accidents
while trains faced delays. In an area with such ahigh population density relative to disasters experienced, the impact of each event is amplified.
There is concern that should a major disaster hit
the city, a similar paralysis might occur.

The current state of preparation is certainly lessthan perfect according to 6 second-year students interviewed at University of Tokyo. Whilemost agree that preparations have been madefor most major disasters, there remains room
for improvement. As phrased by sophomore
Yurie Yamada, “When a disaster of a magnitude
beyond our expectation strikes, we instantly become as helpless as a beached whale… the government is slow in getting into action and providing help to the disaster area.” Another student
expressed her disappointment over the responseto the March 11 Tsunami in a similar sentiment.
To her, the event illuminated how the country
could never be too prepared for large-scale disasters despite their meticulous planning. Twoyears after the disaster, 300,000 people are estimated to still be homeless or living in residential
camps, and post-disaster recovery remains slow.
Despite this, the ability of those living in Japan torally themselves together against the fury of nature should not be underestimated. Within Todai,
students who want to help can join the school’s
volunteer program to teach the children affectedby the Tsunami on weekends as well as a variety
of other inter-college volunteer programs. According to another second year student, Takuro
Ihori, there is no lack of volunteers or volunteer
programs to help disaster victims. “As long as
there is a strong resolution to take action, students will be able to help.”17

Though Not as Expected
By Wang Lu
15. Hearing the news, imagination started roaming in myhead. Images of trees being
uprooted, streets flooded filled
my mind. My first reaction was,should I store up?

For someone who has never experienced typhoon before, it is hard to describe what toexpect of a real typhoon, especially one thatwill be the largest in a decade. For me, who had
never lived in the typhoon zone before coming
to Japan, it remained a myth in my geography
textbook until Typhoon No. 26 hit Tokyo on Oct.

However, seeing is believing
and imagination often deceives. In Japan, where tropical storms are seen as a norm
every year, with excellent prewarning system, it is nothing to
be scared of. Media provides
the public with detailed typhoon coverage as well as predictions for its paths. It turned
out that my head-on confrontation with Typhoon No. 26 was not a total defeat
except for my sopping wet shoes. Inside thedorm, the storm was hardly noticeable. Indeed,
the most palpable effect of typhoon was actually the transportation paralysis in Tokyo the nextday, though this led to the well-received news offirst class cancellation in the University of Tokyo.

Nevertheless, the implications of typhoons could
extend beyond this. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, in 2013, Japan has experienced 28 typhoons so far, well above the average. What becomes noteworthy is also theabnormally warm weather this fall. Meteorologists link these two events together. Typhoon occurs when the sea surface temperature is above
26.5 degrees and cumulonimbus clouds form.
Moreover, they also tend to ride on polar jet
stream which is a narrow, fast-flowing air current
that meanders between 30-60 o N. The region
south of the polar jet stream is usually warmer
while the region north of polar jet stream is colder. This year, the polar jet stream was further
north than normal, therefore Japan experienced
warmer weather and more typhoons.
After Typhoon 26, two more typhoons, number
27 and 28 landed almost simultaneously on October 26 and 27. I can now say that I am getting
more used to typhoons, after all they are justheavier wind and rain. However, the abnormallywarm weather deprived autumn of its golden
leaves, snug scarves and nostalgic melancholy.

“Ha-fu”: Neither Japanese nor Foreigner
By Nina Belova
1 out of 49 babies born in Japan today are mix-raced.
Does this fact surprise you?
An interesting and original attempt is presented
in a documentary film “Ha-fu”, which wasscreened in Japan in the autumn of 2013. The
film focuses on “ha-fu” people; half-Japanesepeople whose parents are from different countries. It occasionally becomes difficult for “ha-fu”sto integrate into Japanese community
because they constantly think ofthemselves as “outsiders.” This movie illustrates their hardship and how
they managed to overcome the situation. The directors of the film, Megumi
Nishikura and Lara Perez Takagi, areboth “ha-fu” too, which made the film
more realistic and meaningful.
Now, why being “ha-fu” in Japan is
so exceptional? In fact, in most European countries or in United States,
this “ha-fu” status means nothing.
However in Japan, it seems that there
is still a strong tendency to divide
people into “us” and “others”. If you
don’t look Japanese, or if your nameis not Japanese, you are an outsider,
who should be avoided in order toprevent troubles. This makes “ha-fu”
people reconsider their identity; If I’m
not a foreigner, and not a Japanese,then who am I?
A beneficial solution suggested in thefilm is that it is impossible and unnecessary to choose one side. Rather,you should accept both cultures andvalues as yours, and become “dou-18

KOMABA times

ble” in stead of “ha-fu”. To do this, you have toknow both countries well. If it is possible, try tolive in both countries and acquire two languages.
This makes you stronger, and also you can dogood to the society by being a bridge between
two different cultures.

Still, “ha-fu” people remain as a minority in Japan. They face difficulties in many fields. One
example shown in the film is of a boy named
Alex with mixed heritage of Japan and Mexico
who was bullied in Japanese school, and gave
him a speech impediment. Of course the dreamis that the division between “us-Japanese” and“others-foreigners” will cease to exist. However,it seems that it will take a long time for the Japanese mindset to change. Then, what should “hafu” people do?
My friend, whose mother is Japanese and father
is Pakistani, once said, “Being different is good,
isn’t it?”Yes, being different is great! If we start to look at
ourselves not with a hope of being the same asothers, but rather with the sense of being unique,the difference itself becomes an important partof one’s identity. However, our identity should
not be dependent only around the fact that one
is mixed-race. This will not work overseas where
being mix-raced is of little significance, and it
might also cause us to lose ourselves in unnecessary self-pity.
As a foreigner born and raised in Japan, thisgave me a chance to think seriously about important factors when cultivating my personality.
The film does not provide us with a clear answer,
but at least it gives us a key. If you are a “ha-fu,”
why don’t you establish an identity as a multicultural and unique “double,” but at the same time,
try to find out who you are beyond your differences from the community.
Website: http://hafufilm.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hafufilm

JapanSmart Phones –Beneficial or Harmful?
By Yasuka Tateishi

However, smart phones are dangerous if we usethem too much. The term “Aruki Smaho”, whichmeans the act of using smart phone when walking, has become a popular word in Japan. If you
concentrate on looking at the screen when you
are walking, you may bump into people on thestreet. This Aruki Smaho becomes very dangerous if you do it on a platform of a train station.
Accidents have been reported of people falling
into train tracks because of Aruki Smaho.

Tohoku University, announced that people who
use smart phones for long hours received worsescores than those who use it less. He and his
group categorized junior high school students
three categories: studying at home for less than
30 minutes a day, 30 minutes to 2 hours, andmore than 2 hours. They assessed the academic
ability in each group and saw correlations withhow long students use smart phones. Amongstudents who studies more than 2 hours, the average score of those who use smart phones forless than 1 hour was 75 out of 100, while that ofthose who use smart phones more than 4 hours
was 57.7. Also, among students who studies
less than 30 minutes, the scores of those who
use more than 4 hours was 47.8 and 15.3 points
less than those who use less than 1 hour. As awhole, students who used smart phones lesshad better score than those who used it more.
It is perhaps because smart phones have bad
influence on brain, or simply because the longer
you use smart phones, the less time you have to
study. Please be careful with using smart phones
too much. Smart phones do not make us smart;they might make us less smart!

Smart phones are not only dangerous for ouraction but also for our brains. In December
2013, Professor Ryuta Kawashima, who does
research about the mechanism of the brain in

Smart phones have two sides; beneficial andharmful. More and more people will have usedthem in the future, but please be careful to usethem properly.

Today, we often see people using smart phones
in a train, in a classroom, and everywhere in
Japan. Students are anything but an exception. Smart phones have become a part of oureveryday lives. We can send e-mails or makecalls as we could do with ordinary cell phones(in Japan, they are called Galapagos phones; forthe way they have been developed without othercountries’ influence is similar to the evolution ofplants and animals in Galapagos). In addition, we
can browse the Internet and chat with groups ofpeople. If we forget our smart phones at home,
we would be upset for being out of touch withthe world.

A poster about the danger ofAruki Smaho in a train station.
Both photos by author.
People use smartphones
everywhere these days.

More and more people have come to use smart
phones in recent years, but smart phones do notalways benefit us.

Forever Alone: Social Isolation Linked to Early Death
By Yen Hyoung Cho
One of the most prestigious Universities in Japan— Kyoto University—has installed a new cafeteria seating for alone diners who wish to avoid
awkward social interaction with unfamiliar faces.
Known as “Bocchi Seki,” with “Bocchi” meaning “alone (loner)” and “Seki” meaning “seat” inJapanese, has become a popular dining space
for the engineering campus of this public school.
The seats consist of ten normal dining tables
with 50-centimeter barriers in the middle, preventing eye-contact with others. It was designed
for the convenience of busy students who wantto avoid the pressure of having to socialize whileeating; allowing them to have some privacy whensurrounded by strangers and escape the embarrassment of eating alone.
Following Kyoto University’s example, Kobe
University has also recently installed the “Bocchi
Seki,” helping students to avoid awkward interaction. In short, encouraging unsocial behavior.
Recently in Japan, the entertainment and restaurant markets have begun to target consumers
who wish to enjoy facilities alone. Services suchas “Hito-Kara,” a Karaoke booth for one person,
have become a popular time-killer for solos who
are too shy to walk into a karaoke parlor with nocompanions. Other forms of entertainment suchas manga cafes have isolated rooms for single
customers, and Ichi-Ran; a Ramen shop, hasblocked their tables with boarders to protect theprivacy of the diners while they eat.

The question is, however, how has thishappened and what
are the effects on society?
The “Hikikomori”
phenomenon— theJapanese term for“people who are socially withdrawn” (tothe point of locking
themselves up in theirroom) has createdthis new culture in Japan. According to theWithdrawal from society continues to increase. What is the future of Japan? Photo by Misaki Hata.
government figures
According to the publications in the Proceeding
released in 2010, there are 700,000 individualsof the National Academy of Sciences, when menliving as hikikomori with the numbers heading
tal and physical health conditions were factored
towards an increase. Although, Hikikomori may
out, the lack of social contact led to death 10
be the extreme case of enjoying one’s privacy
years earlier than average among 6,500 men andthrough isolation, there certainly are a proportion
women tracked over the past seven-years. Notof individuals who values solitude. To support
only is loneliness a player in early death, but havthe increasing number of individuals who enjoy
ing no social contact also acts as the initiator to
privacy, the market has come to adapt to it.
health issues such as higher blood pressure, intensified reaction to stress— and thus a lowered
Looking at the current state of society, peopleimmune response due to poorer lifestyle choices.
to-people interaction is decreasing, and it has
become a norm to enjoy entertainment andJapan has been known as the country with thegoods in solitary. There is no social problem inlongest life-expectancy. But, with the population
enjoying these facilities alone, however the only
becoming more solitary because of their busy
down side to being antisocial is that social isoladaily lives, the future of Japan does not seem totion is said to be linked to earlier death than the
be too bright.
average mortality age.

19

Better be Careful with the 3Rs
By Wang Lu
Do you know about the 3R principles?
3R stands for Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
These are the basic principles for waste reduction in Japan. Although the garbage sorting system could seem convoluted and even frustrating
to a gaijin (foreigner) at first, considering the remarkable accomplishments
Japan has achieved in solving waste
problems that seem so intractable formany countries, it really merits attention from the world.

reused in one way or another. For instance, theContainer and Packaging Recycling Law, which
was enacted in 1997, stipulates that containerand packages are recycled by designated recycling business entities through public bidding.
Amazingly, even for the combustible waste, after

being burned and treated, the remaining glass
substance could be reused as road base materials.
However, when you have five or six different bagsof garbage, it still gives you a headache whentrying to figure out just which part ofthe cup noodle should go to whichcolor of bag. Therefore, keeping the
3Rs in mind is also important.
Firstly, try to reduce the amountof garbage that you produce byrefusing over-wrapping; buy justenough food to eat and try to bringyour own bag. Moreover, try to buy
refillable articles; make the effort
to repair things before discarding
them. There are also ingenious ways
to recycle waste on your own, why
don’t be creative and make yourown DIY?

In Japan, garbage is not only sorted
carefully into about eight categories,
each category of garbage also could
only be discarded on designateddays. When the waste is sorted improperly or when the wrong categoryof waste is discarded on the designated day, the bag will be left on thecurb, with a warning seal stuck on it.
It could be embarrassing for all yourneighbors to witness your carelessmistake. So better be careful with thegarbage!

The 3R initiative was proposed at
the G8 Summit in June 2004. The
ministers agreed about the Kobe 3R
Action Plan, which aims at improving resource productivity and reducing waste on a global scale. I hope
we will soon see changes in every
country!

When the waste is so meticulously
sorted, with so many categories under the recyclables (5 categories),
most of the waste will be able to be© Almagami | Dreamstime.com

Tokyo Olympic GamesBy Kohei Yagura“Tokyo.” The name of the city was announced by the International
Olympic Committee, the IOC, on September 8th, 2013. The 2020 Olympic Games will be held in the capital of Japan. How will this affect ourdaily lives as people living in Japan?

will make the employment situation better. The
employment will increase by around 150,000
people, 80 billion yen in income. This means ourlife will get better, too!

Another big effect will be on the economy. The
Olympic Games will contribute to the Japanese
economy in various ways, such as constructionof new facilities, increase of consumption, development of the infrastructure and the tourism
industry. These will surely stimulate the economy
itself and lead to the economic growth. By observing the economiesof the previous hostcountries of the Olympic Games, we noticethat they experienced
a significant growthduring the Olympic
period in every country
even if the scale of theeconomy was relatively
small. According tothis data, the Japanese
economy will surely getbetter around 2020.
If we make special
mention of the effects
to Komaba students,
the Olympic Games

Also, many changes will occur in the city of Tokyo. Many new facilities such as new stadiumsthat do not exist now will be built to prepare for
the Olympic Games and highways will be newly
rebuilt to avoid the congestion of cars. These
drastic changes will transform our city from now.

The main impact is that we will be able to watch
the exciting games with our own eyes. People
who are interested in watching the games will
gather in Tokyo. This will be a big chance for us
because we can see the Olympic Games with
our own eyes without paying much time andmoney for transportation.

© Ffang | Dreamstime.com

20

KOMABA times

However, we should not forget the negative impacts, too. It is estimated that the overall spending for the Olympic Games will be up to 240
billion yen. Since Tohoku is still in the processof recovery from the earthquake, some say thisspending is ridiculous. The cost for the recovery
is estimated to be 25 trillion yen. Another negative impact is the heavy traffic. The traffic isheavy enough as it is now, but it will be heavier
when lots of people around the world gather inTokyo.
These are the imaginable effects by the 2020
Tokyo Olympic Games. Whatever the effect is, it
is sure that the Olympic Games will make a huge
impact to our daily lives. Maybe there will be unpredictable effects, too. Japanese society awaits
the coming of the Olympic Games.

JapanAround Komaba Campus: Shibuya Hang Out Spots
By Daiki Sugiyama
Komaba Campus is located in Tokyo, the center of Japan, and surrounded by many famousspots. Since we are students of this campus, weshould learn about the neighborhood in order toenjoy our daily lives.
Let me introduce the nearest entertainment
district, Shibuya. Shibuya is famous as the district of youngsters, and is one of the centers ofJapanese youth culture. There are many ways
to spend your leisure time by enjoying activities
such as Karaoke, darts, bowling, or whateverelse you like. Also, Shibuya Station has many
railway lines, so if you wish to go somewhere far
from the Komaba Campus, you must stop by thisstation.
Firstly, to enjoy Shibuya, you should remember
two important meeting points. The more wellknown one is the Hachiko statue, which is thestatue of a dog in front of the station. This dog isfamous for having waited for its owner in front of
Shibuya Station for about 8 years even after theowner died. The other one is called “Mark Shita,”
which is on the 1st floor of the ticket barrier ofthe Keio-Inokashira line. Most Todai students use
this one to gather.
Shibuya Scramble, the symbol of Shibuya, canbe seen from both of these two meeting points.
This intersection is crowded most of the time everyday, and surrounded by many big advertisingboards and tall buildings. It is always lively andbusy here, but on special days even more so. For
example, on Halloween day, a lot of people dress
up and gather. When Japan wins in world sports
games such as the soccer World Cup or Olympic
games, you can see many excited fans share the

Hikarie (left) and Shibuya Station (right) from the Shibuya Scramble. Photo by author.

joy of winning.

there at night.

If you stand on the scramble with your back tothe station, you can see the outstanding building, Shibuya 109, on the left hand side. 109 isread “Marukyu” and it has many popular clothing
stores in it. Broadly speaking, the area behind
109 is Dogenzaka. You can walk to our campus
in about 10 minutes through the Dogenzaka
area. The right hand side of 109 is the central
district called “Center Gai”. There are a lot of restaurants, karaokes and bars in these two areas.
You can enjoy until mid-night. However, there arealso some shady areas, so be careful if you walkIf you go out the station the other side of thescramble, there is a new big building called Hikarie built last year. It has expensive restaurants,
clothing stores, and business offices. The view
from the top is beautiful especially at night.
I only covered some very general and popular
landmarks of this big and fascinating district.
Why don’t you try exploring by yourself to findmore hidden spots, and share your findings withyour friends!

Around Komaba Campus: Shimokitazawa, Cozy Place to Ramble
By Daiki Sugiyama
Shimokitazawa is anotherpopular spot with Todai students following Shibuya. You
can easily walk along therailroad tracks to get there
on foot from our campus. It
is famous for the drama theaters and fashion. The atmosphere is very casual. There
are not many tall buildings
and looks less urban. Streetsaround Shimokitazawa arevery complex. It is difficult
to find where you want to goeven if with a map. However,rambling around itself is very
interesting there. You will
discover interesting places
tucked away in the cornersof Shimokitazawa everytime.
If you are unfamiliar of Shimokitazawa, you should
start by walking down themain street. It starts from thesouth gate of the station and ends at Sangenjaya
Station. Firstly, in front of the south gate, there
are often some street performers, such as musical instrumentalists, calligraphers, and strange
storytellers. Actually, Todai magic club members
also sometimes perform and surprise pedestrians.
Nearby the station, you can find there are a lot oftheaters which always hold fascinating dramas.
For example, there is a small theatre in front of
the north gate of the station which often holds
free comedy shows. If you are lucky, you may beable to meet famous actors and directors.
Along the main street, there are so many shops
such as clothing shops and accessory shops.
You can search for your favorite clothes, shoes,
and bags and compare prices of each shop
only by walking. If you don’t have much money,
you can try to go to some of the countless usedclothes shops. You can feel like a treasure hunter.
If you start to walk Shimokitazawa, I bet you will
want to go down the narrower streets. By thattime, you are already fascinated with this town.

Shimokitazawa, South-exit shopping street. Photo by author.

21

Halloween in Japan
By Hyeyoon Sung
here. Perhaps the reason Halloween could easily
mix into the Japanese culture is because the cosplaying culture is already a common occurrence
and also because some Japanese people have avery unique sense of fashion.

Image by jomudo | Flickr.

Why are Japanese people so crazy about Halloween? When Halloween is near, you can easily spot people dressed up as witches, maids,
vampires, and perhaps something even more
wild and eye-catching in the streets of Shibuya.
It is quite a sight to see young people, possiblyin their 20s walking around wearing bizarre costumes.
But once again the question arises. Why is Halloween, originally a Western event, so popular inTokyo? In Korea, no one is interested in Halloween enough to go through the trouble of dressing
up. The only traces of Halloween you can findare in parades in several amusement parks, so I
was very surprised to find Halloween so popular

Furthermore, I was even more amazed at thefact that Halloween is celebrated more by college students than by small children. In Westerncultures Halloween not only symbolizes a day
for teens and young adults to party, but it is also
a day for young children to go Trick-or-Treating.
However, in Japan, Trick-or-Treating children are
hard to find, while the relatively older people have
all the fun. People often point out that it may be
because Tokyo is a big city and apartments are
more common than small houses. Unlike many
Western neighborhoods with houses which allow
for a very intimate atmosphere, people living inapartments have more privacy and might feel a
bit more segregated; sometimes to the extremesof not even knowing who lives next door. Undersituations like these, it may not be exactly convenient nor appropriate for children to start going
about asking for candy. Though I do believe thisalso is a factor that contributed to the scarcity
of Trick-or-Treating, I think this phenomenon has

more to do with the circumstances under which
Halloween first started.
Halloween was introduced to Japan much lateraround the start of the 21st century as a Western
festival. For people living in countries like theUSA, Halloween might be considered a naturalpart of their culture in which children go aroundasking for candy. But for the Japanese, perhaps
Halloween is still more of an unfamiliar yet exciting event that originates from a faraway country.
When people from a certain cultural backgroundembrace a cultural element alien to them, theygo through a process of selecting which facet of
the new culture to accept, and how to fit it into
their existing lifestyle. It was not until recently
that Halloween became known to the people, so
it is not yet entirely part of their daily, no, yearlylife. Maybe that could explain why people in their
twenties enjoy it as a special, one-time occasion
more often than any other age group.
Regardless of why Halloween is so loved by theyoung Japanese population, I believe this is agood way of having fun and enjoying oneself.
So next year, when Halloween comes, don’t beafraid to dress up and have fun!

Farewell, 2013: A Gaijin’s Recount of New Year’s Countdown at Tokyo Tower
By Hyeyoon Sung
Every New Year’s Eve, where do you go? I normally stay at home watching people shout out
the last ten seconds of the year on TV and idly
imagining myself going to one of those countdown places. In those fantasies, I would always
be enjoying the company of a robust, cheery
crowd. It would be quite something to say farewell to the ending year and celebrate the adventof a new one in the midst of a bunch of bustlingstrangers. Normally, these plans would just be at
the back of my mind as I have always been too
lazy to leave the comfort of my room. However,this year was no normal year, at least not for me.
This was my first turn of the year after arriving
at Tokyo, and I wanted to try something new. To
celebrate the successful first passing of a year
in Japan, I finally decided to put my usual daydreaming to reality and went to Tokyo Tower, aplace I had chosen among many candidates, forthis year’s countdown.
At 12 o’clock, even though there was no one inparticular counting down the seconds, the Tokyo Tower changed its colors, and the numberson the neon sign changed to 2014. The wholeprocess was proceeded in a swift, quiet way as
if it were the most natural thing in the world, andthere was no shouting till right before the adventof the New Year. I do not know if this is a natural occurrence in Japan, or if there was somemistake and everybody in the crowd just missed
it. Many people, mostly foreigners, looked confounded, but soon recovered and started enjoying themselves. My guess is that coming to thetower and gathering for the countdown on thelast night of the year is, in itself, very memorable.
Besides, there are so many other things to enjoy
during the countdown event.

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At the turn of the clock, the colors of the towerchange, so if you want to find a nice place towatch, I suggest that you go to Zojoji, a shrine
located near the tower. It is a nice tourist spoton other days as well, but on New Year’s Eve, itturns into the best place for observing the tower.
If you walk a bit down along the road, you will beable to find it soon enough.
During the countdown event, in Zojoji, there aremany vendors selling food such as takoyaki,
amazake, or okonomiyaki—which form theunique ‘Matsuri’, or Japanese festival, atmosphere. If anyone asked me to recommend asnack to eat while doing the countdown in Japan, I would say that the Toshikoshi soba is amust for a gaijin(Japanese word for ‘foreigner’).
For the Japanese, Toshikoshi soba is the food
you would share with your family at the night
before New Year’s Day. It can actually be madeout of any type of soba, and it also tastes justlike any normal soba. But why would Japanesepeople have soba on such a special night? Why
not ramen or udon?
Unlike ramen or udon, soba noodles are longand thin, which Japanese people associated withthe yearning to lead a ‘thin and long’ life (which
relates to the Eastern ideal of living a peaceful,long-living life). Plus, the easy-to-chew-off quality of soba noodles came to symbolize cutting
oneself off from old troubles and getting over thehardship of the past year. In short, the Toshikoshi
soba symbolizes a healthy, lucky new year.
In the midst of the vendors, on one side of the
Zojoji grounds there is a fire event in which people burnt last year’s items. It is quite interesting

Zojoji and Tokyo Tower, 2013.12.31. Photo by author.

to watch the temple people throw things into thefire as tourists gather around for the countdown.
Other than that, there used to be an annual balloon releasing ceremony at Zojoji in which people
could write their new year’s resolutions or wishes
on balloons and let go of them as the clock
struck 12. They did not hold the event this year,
but some people brought their own balloons anyway and as the number on Tokyo Tower changed
to 2014, freed it in the air. Even though it was not
on a big scale as the real event would have been,
it felt as if a part of myself for the past one year
had also flown away with the balloons.
On December 31st, Tokyo Tower opens till 2 am
and the trains operate throughout the night, so
for foreign tourists this is a perfect place to celebrate New Year’s Eve. So, in short, if you haveplans to visit Tokyo around the end of the year,
and if you wish to do the countdown in Japan,
Tokyo Tower is a good option!

JapanSurvive Winter in Tokyo with Little Goods
By Masashi Mark Sato
Winter is cold, and Tokyo is no exception. It
might not be as cold as other countries like
Norway or Russia, but it can still make students
shiver and want to stay in bed. Therefore, I
would like to introduce to you some items thatJapanese students use to help them survive thewinter.

1. Kairo (disposable heating pad)This little pack of sand is magical. After opening the package, it will start getting warm as you
shake and squeeze the pack. Once it gets warm,
keep it in your pocket and it will stay warm fora good eight to twelve hours depending on thebrand. When your hands are cold, you can justput your hands in the pocket and feel the warmtheven if you are outside. There are also different
types of kairo. For example, the popular type ofkairo has a sticky side, so that it can be stuck
on your inner cloth to keep specific parts of yourbody warm. Kairo is sold at any supermarket orconvenience store for a reasonable price. It will
surely keep your hands warm during finals.

2. FREE Pocket Tissues
Winter is the season of sickness. Many people
catch cold or flu due to the drop in temperature.

Even if it is not severe, you might findyourself sneezing or having a runnynose. At such times pocket tissues
will come in handy, and amazingly, inTokyo you can get pocket tissues forfree! In Japan, pocket tissues are often used as a tool for advertisement,
and in places like Shibuya and Shinjuku in Tokyo, there is always someone handing out pocket tissues withan advertisement for free. However,be aware that some pocket tissues
might contain inappropriate advertisement. And most importantly, it might not be agood idea to go ask for one. Take one only when
they hand it out.

3. Canned Hot Drinks
While kairo can warm up one’s body from theoutside, hot drinks helps people warm up fromthe inside. In Tokyo, there are many businessmen who spend every morning at a café, holding
a cup of coffee in one hand and newspaper inother. For students, though, café is considered
too expensive to go often, and many would prefer to either have it on the go, or bring it to theirmorning classes. Because of this, hot canned

Winter survival techniques. Photo by author.

drinks are quite popular among students. It iswallet-friendly, and you can find it anywhere inTokyo; during winter, almost all vending machines sell hot drinks. Additionally, cans are really warm (almost too hot to hold), so you canuse it like a kairo to warm your hands up before
drinking.
These items might be small and cheap, however
it will be a good idea to just have them in yourpocket. There will be a time when that little packof sand or can of coffee will help you get througha cold day. Or who knows, a handsome guy or
pretty girl might ask you for tissue!

Why so late, Hollywood?
By Chae Yeon Kim
The Japanese people could not join the worldwide sensation of Lionsgate’s “The Hunger
Games: Catching Fire” this past Thanksgiving
season, due to its release at the end of the year
on December 27th.
Table 1: Hollywood Blockbuster movie release dates in USA and Japan

Movie

ReleaseDate in US:

ReleaseDate in Japan:

Red II

19 July
2013

30 November
2013

The Hunger Games: 22 November
2013
Catching Fire

27 December
2013

Thor II

3 November
2013

1 February
2014

The Hobbit II

13 December
2013

28 February
2014

International students who are used to strolling
down to the movie theaters to watch a Hollywood Blockbuster movie during opening weekend are giving out cries of frustration on the laterelease dates of Hollywood movies in Japan.
To those international students who are shouting “Doushite?” (‘Why?’ In Japanese), here is a
short and sweet article to relieve the stress of notknowing why.
Japan has the third largest movie market for Hollywood movies. This in other words, means thatwhen a movie is not successful in the box office, the losses are quite devastating. Therefore,
before Hollywood releases its movies in Japan,
they often make a full analysis of how the movie
does in the US market and decides from there
whether it will be successful in Japan. Only after
a significant time analyzing and thinking comes
the decision of, first, whether or not to release
the film, and second, how to market it in Japan.

Also, because of the size of the Japanese film
market, the film industry tries to increase its
gains by releasing films during the holiday season. This is true in almost all countries, however
more so in Japan. Taking “The Hunger Games”
as an example again: “The Hunger Games” wasreleased right before the Thanksgiving holiday
season in the United States. This was most
likely intentionally timed. Even if other countries
around the world do not share the American
Thanksgiving, the film was released worldwide
almost simultaneously. However, Japan’s releaseof the film is on December 27th, right before thebeginning of the Japanese New Years Holiday.
The need for dubbed versions of Hollywood
movies is another reason for late releases in Japan. Japan is the third country in which dubbed
movies are becoming the norm (after Italy andFrance). It was found that Japanese people of all
demographic groups prefer dubbed versions of
Hollywood movies to subtitled versions due tovarious reasons.
First of all, subtitles
tend to direct theaudience’s attention more towards
the writing than
the actual action
on screen, which
disturbs audiencesfrom concentrating on the movie.
Also, as 3D movies become morep o p u l a r, t h e 3 D
glasses become ahindrance to reading the subtitles properly.
Cultural differences also come into the picture.
Since the subtitles are translations of the direct
screenwriting, there tends to be a difference inlevels of humor in the subtitles. For example,
there are some jokes that are hard to directlytranslate from one language to another. When amovie is dubbed, and the dubbed screenplay is
written, the translators have time to consider thecultural differences and therefore, deliver a movie
that easily appeals and connects to the Japanese people.
So if you are a new international student living
in Japan, who is expecting to watch a movie
during its worldwide premiere, you have cometo the wrong country. However if you have patience, and can wait for the movies to be finallyreleased, you will know that it was detained for agood set of reasons that include economical andcultural aspects.

Photo by author.

23

Editor’s NoteKomaba Times is an English-language newsletter written by students at the Universityof Tokyo. Our goal is to create a place for students to voice their opinions to the university community as well as to the wider world. We grew significantly in size this semester with 16 writers all pouring their hearts into their stories. We hope to hear fromreaders and students who’d like to join our endeavor.

Contributors ( As of April 2014 )Kohei Yagura, HSS*I, 2nd year student

Chae Yeon Christy Kim, HSSIII (PEAK), 1st year student

Masashi Mark Sato, HSSII, 2nd year student

Marina Kondo, HSSIII (PEAK), 1st year student

Yasuka Tateishi, HSSII, 2nd year student

Zhe Ting Dionne Ng, HSSIII (PEAK), 1st year student

Nina Belova, HSSIII, 2nd year student

Hyeyoon (Elaine) Sung, HSSIII (PEAK), 1st year student

Austin Xujie Zeng, HSSIII, 2nd year student

Lu Wang, HSSIII (PEAK), 1st year student

Su Ching Lim, HSSIII (PEAK), 2nd year student

Sherry Zheng, HSSIII (PEAK), 1st year student

Chris Jeon, HSSIII (PEAK), 1st year student

Yen Hyoung Cho, NS*II (PEAK), 2nd year student

Hitomi Kayama, HSSIII (PEAK), 1st year student

Daiki Sugiyama, Economics Department, 3rd year student* HSS: Humanities and Social Sciences, NS: Natural Sciences

KOMABA times
Editor/Supervisor
Yuko Itatsu

Contact : Komaba Times

PEAK Program
College of Arts and Sciences
The University of Tokyo
3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku,Tokyo 153-8902, Japan

Supported by
PEAK Junior Division,
College of Arts and Sciences,
University of Tokyo

Issue 3 Publication date : April 2014

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