0EPOK
Research Project2021-Fall

Okayama University

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About EPOK Research Project

EPOK リサーチプロジェクトは、岡山大学の交換留学 EPOK 生の個別研究です。日本の社会や文化を探求する視野から自由に個々の課題を設定し、実践的なフィールドワークを念頭にリサーチを行い、その成果を小論文にまとめます。2021 年度秋期の文集には、４つのリサーチプロジェクトを掲載しています。今学期の EPOK リサーチは、コロナ禍で来日が適わず本来のフィールドワークができないなかで、リモートで岡山大学の学生にアンケー
トやインタビューを行うなど苦心して調査をしました。学期末には、毎学期と同様にオンラインで研究発表会を行いました。
In the course of EPOK Research Project EPOK the four students worked on the individual
research theme in relation to their interest in Japanese culture and society in the fall of 2021. The
compilation of the research essay shows the final product of their exploration and discovery. The
EPOK research essay collection displays a variety of their interest, including Japan’s social issues,
culture and life of the Japanese people, as well as the second language acquisition.
In the fall of 2021, the students were forced to pursue the research on Japan virtually under
the unusual circumstance of the covid-19. Despite the difficulty of searching the theme on a placeand its people without fieldwork, the students endeavored to get connected with Japan and Okadai
students through questionnaires and interviews. This collection demonstrates their vigorous interestand sincere contribution in pursuing the topics remotely. At the end of the semester the students
presented the paper as a usual semester but this time via online.
2022 年 2 月

Obayashi Junko 大林純子
EPOK advisor
Institute of Global Human Resource Development
Okayama University

2Japanese custom?
Japanese with International issues?
Teaching Language?
Local cultures?

Table of Contents

1．HU, Heloise (University of Strasbourg)
Bowing in Japan, a culture gap?

pp.3-82．JUWATTANASAMRAN, Pitikorn (Chulalongkorn University） pp.9-16
Japanese people's perception about comfort women
3.

DAU, Jan Alexander (Leibniz Universitat Hannover)
pp.17-22
Method of English Teaching for Japanese Students - a Comparison

4.

LEE, Che-Hsi (National Taiwan University)
Okayama Seagulls’ influence on Okayama city

pp.23-28

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Bowing in Japan, a culture gap?
日本でのお辞儀、文化のギャップ？
HU Heloise ウ・エロイーズ
University of Strasbourg (France)

研究のテーマはお辞儀についてです。西洋諸国で、挨拶をする時、人々はお辞儀をしな
くて、代わりに握手をします。外国人は初めに日本へ来る時、日本人にとして、ステレ
オタイプがあります。その感じるは文化のギャップと呼ばれています。その文化のギャ
ップは、外国人がどのように乗り越えられましたか。私は一年以上で日本に住んでいる
岡山の大学生たちにインタビューをしました。お辞儀について、感想がありますか。感
想を集めて、質問が答えられました。

INTRODUCTION
Asians’ countries are surely different than Western’s countries mostly in the cultural field. For
example, Japan is known for its politeness and the bowing can immediately come in mind.
Japanese citizens bow when they greet or thank someone. It is something that in France, we
don’t have. When we greet someone, we kiss each other’s cheek or shake hands. Western’scountries often do gestures with physical touch, which is not the case in Japan where they
avoid this kind of contact.
People who have not ever visited Japan, have stereotypes about Japanese people andsometimes mock them. In the movie Gung Ho, Japanese people visited United States ofAmerica, they were eating with chopsticks and American people were laughing at them. They
thought that Japanese people were weird. Obviously, this movie is old, and people change,
there are fewer people like that nowadays but there are still stereotypes in every country. Thiskind of situation is called “culture gap”.
We will focus on the action of bowing in Japan. I think this could be interesting to know about
foreigners who decided to live some time in Japan, do they experience something like aculture gap? and how did they accommodate themselves to this uncommon culture?
LITTERATURE REVIEWAs I said before, to understand better how foreigners feel about a culture gap, (I chose to) I
will focus my research on the action of bowing. It is an action which is very common among
Japanese people but not really in the rest of the world. Actually, China and Korea, they also

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bow but in China, it became rare to do it and in Korea, they bow as much as Japan, but Japanis more known for their bowing than Korea.
Bowing in Japan is something highly rooted in daily life of each Japanese person. It is anaction that is natural for them. For example, when they are on a call with someone and thenthey did a mistake, they apologize to the person on the phone while bowing even though theperson on the phone can not see them.
For my preliminary research on the topic, I researched on why it is so important for Japanesepeople. First, I searched about the origin of bowing, how it was created. Bowing in Japanese iscalled “Ojigi”, the origins of bowing are believed to come from the importation of Buddhism
in Japan by Chinese kingdoms. In the Kamakura period where the warrior class rose and took
a big part in Japanese history, created a warrior etiquette which explained how to bow for thesamurai, along with others and was used widely by warriors. It is only during the Edo period
where the popularity of this warrior etiquette, especially “Ojigi” increased and was spread tothe common populace. It was used to differentiate between classes of people.
As I said, bowing in japan is something natural, it is engrained in everyday interactions.
People bow when they greet, thank or apologize. It is a sign of respect, appreciation or
remorse. There are two types of bowing, the standing bow and the sitting bow. The standing
bow is the one which is currently used by most of the Japanese people and the most common.
It has three variations of the bowing depending on the situation. The first one, the eshaku bow
which is 15 degrees of bowing. This bow is for greeting someone who is equal socially or inbusiness, for example a co-worker or an acquittance. There is no need to hold the bow. The
second one, the keirei bow which is a 30-to-45-degrees polite bow. It is largely used during
more formal events like in business interactions with persons who are in a higher position orsocially. It is a bow of respect, and the timing is important where the bow should last foraround 2-and-a-half seconds. The third one, the saikeirei bow which is a 45-to-70-degrees
bow. This is used to convey a profound respect or regret when meeting very important
personnel, apologizing or asking big favors.
The sitting bow, which was originally the first, called in Japanese “seiza”, is the formal andtraditional way of sitting in Japan. It is in the Edo period that the “seiza” became a convention
for samurai to sit that way when meeting with the Shogun for example as a symbol of loyalty
and obedience.
As explained before, in Western’s countries, bowing is uncommon nowadays. In fact,in European countries, in medieval age, bowing to the royal family every time was required tothe population. Also, there is only one time where westerns people bow in actual days, it is at
the end of a play, the comedians bow to the audience to thank them. At the end, bowing inwestern countries has disappeared since long ago. We could think of one reason of why it is5less common in the west side of the Earth. Bowing is driven by a respect for social rank, andthis is frowned upon the egalitarian societies of western countries. In addition, in the businessarea, bowing properly is really important and the key to success for potential social or businessscenario. There are some Japanese companies where they perfect their employees’ bowing bygiving them formal classes. There is a right way to bow, if the bow is not done correctly, it
could be considered rude. Bowing is really important for Japanese people in their daily life, it
is used for example for showing respect, expressing deep gratitude, asking a favor and manyothers. We saw through this preliminary research that for Japanese people, bowing isimportant but for foreigners who came to live in Japan, how do they felt when theyencountered for the first time this action?
METHODOLOGYMy objective was to gather opinion from foreigners who are currently living in Japanand have spent at least one year to have consistent opinions because for foreigners who only
went to Japan as a visitor, the opinion will be different than those who live for few years now.
Foreigners who visit Japan, Japanese people do not except them to know about their culture
and do not mind when tourists do not bow at them. At first, I wanted to do a questionnaire on
Google Forms, so that I could send to Okayama University, but it was too complicated because
the university is too large to succeed to reach everyone. Also, I was new to the university, I did
not know many people. Even my advisor, Prof. Obayashi helped me and sent my questionnaireon the Moodle of EPOK buddies. My questions were:
1. Do you know why people bow in Japan?
2. At first, when you just arrived in Japan, how did you feel when you had to bow?
3. And now? Do you do it naturally without giving any second thought?
4. When meeting someone, which is better? Shaking hands or Bowing
5. If you have the opportunity to not bow and instead you can shake hands to Japanesepeople. Do you prefer bowing or shake hands and why?

I received just one response. It was anonymous so I do not know if it was a Japanese person ora foreigner, but they answered for the first question that they know the reason why people
bow, for the second question, they said that they feel it as one of Japanese culture. For thequestion three, they said that they do not do it naturally, for the question four, they said that it6

is better to bow when meeting someone and for the last question, they said that they preferbowing, because bowing is more familiar to them, and they get nervous when they touch otherpeople's body.
Receiving only one response was a little discouraging but Mrs. Obayashi said that if thequestionnaire didn’t work, I could do an interview instead. So, I thought about it, and I
remembered that in some of my classes, I met some GDP students and those are foreigners
who are currently living in Japan. I decided to interview some of them. I changed a little bit
my previous questions:
1. At first, when you just arrived in Japan, how did you feel when you had to bow?
2. And now? Can you do it naturally?
3. Was it easy to adapt yourself in this new country, with this new culture?
4. Did you feel a culture gap between your country and Japan?
5. Do you have an example where you didn’t understand something because of thisculture gap?
6. For people who want to go to Japan, those people will surely face a culture gap, do
you have some advice to how to adapt?
I interviewed 3 Okayama university students; they all came from different countries.
Questions

The first student(Peru)The second student(Laos)The third student(Philippines)

1. At first, when you
just arrived inJapan, how did
you feel when you
had to bow?

Bowing was ageneral tendency, so
he just followed it.

She felt normal
because in Laos,they have somethingsimilar which is
Laos people “nop”,
it is a Buddhist styleof greeting.

She also followed as
everyone did it.

2. And now? Can
you do it
naturally?

He can bow
naturally, and he feel
comfortable with it.

She can bow
naturally.

When people do it all
the time, people getto do it naturally, but
she said at first, it
was not easy.

3. Was it easy toadapt yourself inthis new country,with this newculture?

It was not difficult toadapt but he said
that Japanese people
ramble a lot
sometimes so that is
kind of difficult tofollow.

She had no problem
to adapt but she did
not like the fact thatJapanese people
seem to not open toforeigners,
especially in the

It was not that hardto adapt, she madefriends with Japanesepeople who are not
shy or those whohave been raisedabroad. For the first7

countryside like
Okayama.

year, she felt inferior
for not knowing
Japanese at all. After,
she learned it and felt
okay with being
different.

4. Did you feel a
He totally felt aculture gap
culture gap
between yourcountry and Japan?

She did not feelbecause her country
and Japan is quite
similar.

Yes, there is a gap,
her interests andJapanese peopleinterested are
different,

5. Do you have an
example where
you didn’t
understandsomething becauseof this culture gap?

In his country,
people are morestraight forward inalmost everything,
they can be direct
and respectful at thesame time but inJapan, they avoid of
being direct.

She said thatJapanese people are
hard to get along. In
the outside, theyshow nice side ofthem. The opposite
way, it is not true
and the theory of“soto and uchi”
proved to be real.
Foreigners will
never be part ofthem.

She didn’t findsomeone who readthe same books thanher. She thinks thatJapanese can fully
accommodate withforeigners

6. For people whowant to go to
Japan, thosepeople will surely
face a culture gap,
do you have someadvice to how toadapt?

Research about theculture and its social
ways and come open
minded, notawaiting everyone toadapt to you or
thinking the western
way is “thestandard”.

Try to be more
proficient inJapanese, people inbig cities are more
helpful and open toforeigners, not inrurals like Okayama.

Language is the key
for Japan. Culturalgaps are about
understanding. As aforeigner, there is anextent that you haveto understand andalso to take part in.

ANALYSIS
Due to some issues, I was obligated to reduce my number of participants. These three students
do not represent all the foreigners living in Japan because everyone is different, therefore they
do not have experience the same thing and have the same opinion but for this study, I willconsider that these three opinions will represent the voice of foreigners in Japan. What I was
expecting from the answers was that foreigners faced some difficulties with the bowing,encountered a culture gap, how do they overcome it and found a solution.
At the end, the answers were a little bit different to what I expected. I thought that they would
feel uncomfortable about bowing but they did not feel that way at all, rather they did it
because everyone did it. They imitate everyone to adapt themselves and now they fully
accommodate to this culture where it seems for them that bowing Is something natural. I asked
them how they adapt themselves in this country. I expected to them to encounter a culture gap

8so that they are not able to adapt themselves at first and how do they overcome it. However,they did have encounter a culture gap and there are things that are different compared to theircountry that they still do not understand but it was not something that slowed down theiradaptation and they did not find it hard to adapt. At the end, in every country that we visited,
we surely encountered a culture gap, and it is something that we cannot change because thosedifferences are making the country, its uniqueness.
CONCLUSION
My goal of this research project was to find how did foreigners feel about the actionof bowing and that this manner could be thought as a culture gap for them and do they adapt
themselves in this country, different than their home country. I wanted to find this to inform
those who want one day to live in Japan, how they should behave. We learned that the culture
gap is something normal in each country, that there are still things about the country that wecannot understand even though we live there for years. For this study, I lack data because theresearch opportunity was limited. The fact that all of this research project was done online dueto the sanitary situation, we could not do any fieldwork in Japan, but I was satisfied with myresearch, and I learned many things while interviewing those students. It was very enriching.
Reference:
The culture trip (2017) (To Bow or Not to Bow in Japan, Lucy Dayman) [Internet] at:https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/to-bow-or-not-to-bow-in-japan/ [Last accessed:
18 January 2022]
Tripsavvy (2020) (How and When to Bow in Japan, Greg Rodgers) [Internet] at:https://www.tripsavvy.com/when-to-bow-in-japan-1458314 [Last accessed: 15 January 2022]
Wikipedia, (Bowing in Japan) [Internet] at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowing_in_Japan[Last accessed: 20 January 2022]
Japanyugen (The Reason Why Japanese Bow, Eli Civil) [Internet] at:https://japanyugen.com/the-reason-why-the-japanese-bow/ [Last accessed: 14 January 2022]
Japanology (2018) (Bowing in Japan – A Basic Formality, David Watts Barton) [Internet] at:https://japanology.org/2018/05/bowing-in-japan/ [Last accessed: 16 January 2022]
Guidable (2021) (The History of Bowing and Others Japanese Customs, Brie Schmidt)[Internet] at: https://guidable.co/culture/the-history-of-bowing-and-other-japanese-customs/[Last accessed: 20 January 2022]
Kokoro Media (2020) (The Japanese Bow: How to do it the Right Way, Amélie Geeraert)[Internet] at: https://kokoro-jp.com/culture/1106/[Last accessed: 19 January 2022]

9Japanese university student’s perception about comfort women
Pitikorn juwattanasamran

Abstract
2021 年度により、EPOK research project 科目の一環として「慰安婦問題に対する日本大学生の認識」の調査話題にした。日本大学生に聞き取り、 Google
form で調査を行ってきた。日本の社会で長く議論されている慰安婦問題をもう一度社会の人々に考えさせる。本調査では慰安婦問題に対する日本大学生はどのように考えてるのかを聞き取る。その調査の結果として、慰安婦問題に対して、多くの回答者は日本が加害国だと思っている。しかし、日本政府は韓国
政府に 10 億円を拠出した金額について、多くの回答者が拠出すべきではないと思っている。戦争責任の認識がある。しかし、拠出した金額は結構反対側になる結果である。
Background
In Thailand, for the last 2-3 years, the gender equality issue was raised up so manytimes. The feminism activist was so recognized thoroughly. Also, I had heard about
the comfort women issue for about 1 years ago in the twitter. In Youtube channel’ sname “Asian boss”. They interviewed the Korean comfort women “Story of kim Bokdong”. This video was on air on Youtube on 28th October 2018. It inspired me to do thisresearch topic about comfort women. It has been three years from 2018 to this day, So
I am curious that How nowadays Japanese people feel or think about this issue? I had
read about the political dispute between Japan and Korea from 1945 period. Found outthat Neither Japan’s argument nor Korea’s reaction is justifiable. There are manydifferent opinion arguing about this dispute for so long.
Comfort women history
Comfort women or comfort girls were women and girls forced into sexual slavery
by the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II.The name "comfort
women" is a translation of the Japanese ianfu (慰安婦),a euphemism for "prostitutes".
Originally, the brothels were established to provide soldiers with voluntary
prostitutes in order to reduce the incidence of wartime rape, a cause of rising antiJapanese sentiment across occupied territories. However, many women ended up being
forced to work in the brothels against their own will. According to testimonies, someyoung women were abducted from their homes in countries under Imperial Japanese10rule. Japanese women were the first victims to be enslaved in military brothels andtrafficked across Japan, Okinawa, Japan's colonies and occupied territories, andoverseas battlegrounds. In many cases, local middlemen tasked with procuring
prostitutes for the military lured women with promises of work in factories orrestaurants. In some cases propaganda advocated equity and the sponsorship of womenin higher education. Other enticements were false advertising for nursing jobs at
outposts or Japanese army bases; once recruited, they were incarcerated in comfort
stations both inside their nations and abroad.
comfort women and Korean
Japan and Korean– japan dispute

have a dispute over comfort women for a long time. In 1951,

At the start of negotiations, the South Korean government initially demanded $364
million in compensation for Koreans forced into labor and military service during theJapanese occupation: $200 per survivor, $1,650 per death and $2,000 per injured person.
In the final agreement reached in the 1965 treaty, Japan provided an $800 million aid
and low-interest loan package over 10 years. Japan intended to directly compensate
individuals, but the Korean government insisted on receiving the sum itself and "spent
most of the money on economic development, focusing on infrastructure and thepromotion of heavy industry”Until 1992, the Japanese government didn't accept any
responsibility for the sexual slavery systemIn 2007, the surviving sex slaves wanted anapology from the Japanese government. Shinzō Abe, the prime minister at the time,stated on March 1, 2007, that there was no evidence that the Japanese government had
kept sex slaves, even though the Japanese government had already admitted the useof coercion in 1993. On March 27 the Japanese parliament issued an official apology.
Finally in 2015 agreement. On December 28, 2015Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
and South Korean President Park Geun-hye reached a formal agreement to settle thedispute. Finally, Abe expressed his most sincere apologies and remorse to all the womenand acknowledged that they had undergone immeasurable and painful experiences andsuffered incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women. The issue ofcomfort women is resolved "finally and irreversibly" with this agreement. Japan agreed
to pay ¥1 billion (₩9.7 billion; $8.3 million) to a fund supporting surviving victims
while South Korea agreed to refrain from criticizing Japan regarding the issue andpromise to remove a statue memorializing the victims from in front of the Japanese
embassy in Seoul. But, Several comfort women protested this agreement as they claim
they did not want money, but to see a sincere acknowledgement of the legal
responsibility by the Japanese government. The co-representative of a support groupof the surviving women expressed that the settlement with Japan does not reflect the11will of the comfort women, and they vowed to seek its invalidation by reviewing legal
options
Literature review
From Minamoto Junko’s professor’s research, There are some questions inthis research that is very similar to my research. The research topic is “Studies on
Stories of War and Modern Youth's Views of War : the Issue of the Japanese Military"Comfort Women" and Nanjing Massacre” she asked and interviewed many student
mainly about comfort women and Nanjing Massacre. Her research consist of fourquestion. “ What do you think about comfort women?” ,” What do you think about
Nanjing Massacre?”, “ What do you think about masochistic view of history?” and“ What do you think about nationalism?” The result from this research inspired me
and give me idea for my own research. Because my research title is comfort women, So
I will focus mainly on it. When Minamoto junko asked for question number 1, There
are many student who haven’t been taught until high school. Most of the student feel
sympathetic toward comfort women. “ They were so shocked when they knew about
comfort women incident. Most of student had knew about comfort women via Internet.
“ This problem is related to educational system. Just memorize this issue throughtextbook in school can not make student realize that your own country is an aggressor
country. My research’s objective is to renew this research by asking Japanese university
student about comfort women. My expectation for the result from my research might
not be different to Minamoto junko’s research.
“The International Review of Law and Economics” journal, J.Mark Ramseyer
wrote some article related to comfort women issue in March 2021. I find it so interestingthat He claimed that Comfort women didn’t get raped inhumanly. On the other hand,
The comfort women was paid systematically. “To staff their brothels, the cooperating
entrepreneurs hired women primarily from Japan and Korea. All else equal, thesoldiers preferred Japanese women. Among the non-Japanese staff, they preferred the
Koreans. Korea was part of the Japanese nation, after all (Japan had annexed thepeninsula in 1910), and most Korean women spoke at least some Japanese. The army
called the cooperating brothels “comfort stations” (ianjo). It called the prostitutes“comfort women” (ianfu).” Most ot the people in that war time faced many problems
and predicament in their life. Most particularly, all the dangers of war -- fighting,bombing, and rampant disease. This predicament seduced women into making contract
with entrepreneurs ( sexual service contract ) in the comfort stations(ianjo).This article
gave me another point of view about comfort women issue. I started thinking that theymight not get raped, They may choose to be prostitute in the brothels by themselves .

12For me, personally, can not consider this these women’s decision to be prostitute “ Freewill”. They were forced to be prostituted indirectly by suffering circumstance.
Methodology
For this research, I mad the google form to collect all the answer from Japanese
university student . There are 9 questions in total, consisting of multiple choices
question and writing in the short essay.

Actually, I aim this research to be aquantitative research. The research that depends largely on numerical data.
Unfortunately, I am not able to collect the volunteer to fill in my google form sufficiently.
The amount in total of the volunteer who answered the google form is 8 people. My
google form was open for receiving the answer from 16th December 2021, conducting inJapanese language for the convenience of the volunteer to answer.
Here are my question list.
1. How much do you know about comfort women?
1. I know it thoroughly.
2. I have heard about comfort women many times, But don’t know about it indetail.
3. I absolutely know nothing about comfort women.
2. What type of the source of information when you first hear about comfort
women?
1. From school textbook
2. Media online
3. News on television
4. The research or the article

3. In the Japanese compulsory educational system, Do you think the amount ofcontents related to comfort women in school textbook is enough?
1. Yes, It’s enough.
2. No, It’s not enough.
4.

Do you know about the statue of peace installed in front of Japan embassyin Seoul?
1. Yes, I know.
2. No, I don’t.

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5.

For the person who know, Do you think The statue of peace should be

demolished?
1. Yes, It should be demolished.
2. No, It should not be demolished.
6. Could you explain your reason for number 5.
Answer……………………………………..
7. Do you know about 2015 Japan-Korea comfort women agreement ?
1. Yes, I know.
2. No, I don’t.
8. Do you think Japanese government should donate the 1 billion yen
consolation money to

Korea government?

1. Yes, They should donate the consolation money.
2. No, They should not.
9. Could you explain your reason for number 8
Answer…………………………………………………..

Analysis
For question number 1. How much do you know about comfort women? 50%
of Japanese university student answered that they have heard about comfort
women many times, But they don’t know about it in detail. 37.5% of volunteer
answered that they absolutely know nothing about comfort women. The result isunder my expectation. There is no way that most of Japanese people don’t know
about comfort women. Actually, I thought many Japanese university student may
know about comfort women in detail but they don’t have self-esteem to tell thatthey are well informed in comfort women issue.
For question number2, What type of the source of information when you
first hear about comfort women? 57.1% of volunteer selected that they first hear
about comfort women from News on television. The comfort women issue was on
air on television News frequently. This is not beyond my expectation.
For question number 3, In the Japanese compulsory educational system,
Do you think the amount of contents related to comfort women in school textbook
is enough? Half of the volunteer (50%) selected that It’s enough. This is beyond my
expectation because the result is 50%, So I cannot conclude what the conclusion is.

14

For question number 4, Do you know about the statue of peace installed in
front of Japan embassy in Seoul? This question’s objective is to make preparation
for the next question. I want to explore how much Japanese university student
know about statue of peace issue for answering the next question. The result is
50% of volunteer know about statue of peace. The rest of volunteer don’t know
about this statue.
For question number 5, For the person who know, Do you think The statueof peace should be demolished? 60% of the volunteer want this statue not to be
demolished. 40% of the volunteer want this statue to be demolished. For the nextquestion you will know the reason why they should be demolished or not.
For question number 6, Could you explain the reason for question number
5. There are two people who thought that the statue of peace should be
demolished. One said that “ I can not understand why Korean people installed thestatue of peace in front of Japan embassy in Seoul, Japan even didn’t install theJapanese peace bell in front of America embassy in Japan. I understand if they
will build some memorial to remind your own past. But, I thought Korean
government bring up these issue again and again for consolation money ”
Another said “ Maybe the consolation money might be used in the wrong way.”
For the person who don’t want the statue to be demolished. Most of the volunteer
said that “There are two different point of view in this dispute, I understand bothside. From Japan side, They thought they have finished this issue already. They
donated the money and have a lamenting speech for comfort women. Moreover, It
is still not clear that comfort women is abducted for real truly or they get paid
systematically. So, I thought the statue should not be demolished.”
For question number 7, Do you know about 2015 Japan-Korea comfort
women agreement ? 50% of the volunteer answered that they know about this. The
rest of volunteer don’t know about the agreement.
For question number 8, . Do you think Japanese government should donate
the 1 billion yen consolation money to Korea government? This result from thisquestion amazed me a little bit. At first, I thought the volunteer will agree withJapanese government for donating consolidation money. 100% of the volunteer
selected “No, They should not.” For the reason why they thought the Japanese
government should not donate the money, It will be stated in the next question.

15

For question number 9, Could you explain your reason for number 8? The
main reason why the volunteer thought the government should not donate themoney. One said “ How long the japan have to take responsibility for their war
crime? Just donating the money, Can it fix the dispute? Actually, According to myresearch, the Japanese government have donated the money to Korean in this
comfort women issue before. There is no end for the request for the money by
Korean government. If Japanese surrender to donate money, They might have todonate again and again.” Another said that “ From my own research, The Japanese
government have paid to Korean government about this issue before. The issue
should have been fixed from that time. Moreover, The Korean also have some
dispute with Vietnam for Raidaihan issue. If Korean government willing to paid
for Vietnam in Raidaihan issue. The Japanese government can donate to this 1billion yen to Korean government. If Korean didn’t, There is no necessary forJapanese government to do that.

Deficit about this researchThis research has many limitation and deficit about the methodology. The
total number of volunteer in google form is just 8 people. So, It is exaggerated
exceedingly when I stated that Japanese university student thought that……… In
the Covid-19 situation, The deficit and limitation is impossible to avoid. I even can
not go to japan for collect the data and get more volunteer. Originally, the Goal of thenumber of volunteer is 15-20 people.

Conclusion

In this comfort women issue, There are so many argument on this issue. It
was not easy to decide or judge what side is justifiable. This research had
investigated about Japanese university student’s perception

about comfort women.

Most of the volunteer accepted that “Japan country is the aggressor country. Japan
have to take responsibility for their war crime”. But, In specific detail, The volunteer
do not agree with the money donated to Korean government on2015 Japan-Korea
comfort women agreement. They consider it as an excuse from Korean to request the16money from Japan. Lastly, We can not judge that most of the Japanese university
student have such a perception towards comfort women similar to what I have said.
As I told you earlier, this research has many deficit and limitation.

reference

１．源淳子、戦争の語りと現代若者の戦争観に関する研究（3） 大学生からの聞き取

り : ｢ 慰安婦 ｣ 問題・南京大 虐殺について, 関西大学人権問題研究室紀要, 2017-03-31
access form
https://kansaiu.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=pages_view_main&active_action=repository_view_main_item_detail&item_id=3101&item_no=1&page_id=13&block_id=21

2. J.Mark Ramseyer,Contracting for sex in the Pacific War, international review of law
andEconomics,

volume

65,

March

2021

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0144818820301848
3.Life as a comfort women, Asian boss, access fromhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsT97ax_Xb0

accessfrom

17

Method of English Teaching for Japanese Students – A Comparison
Jan-Alexander Dau
Leibniz University of Hanover (Germany)

Summary:
このエッセイでは、日本人の英語教育方法について、ヨーロッパの教育方法と比較し、両者の共通点や相違点を探ってみたい。それぞれの教育方法の状況や基本的な枠組みを評価した結果、発話中心の教育を含む直接対面でのコミュニケーション・アプローチを重視することによって、ヨーロッパの学生は大学や高校を卒業した後の能力や理解力において日本の学生よりも優れていることが分かった。また、語族を共有しているため、ヨーロッパの学生は英語のフレームワークを理解することが容易である。CEFR に基づく言語学習と認証のアプローチは、日本の学生の能力と理解力を高めることができるだろう。

1. Introduction
In this thesis, the method of English teaching in Japan and how different, international
proficiency certification frameworks impact the approach of the Japanese Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) on future learning methodologies shall beanalysed and compared with how Japanese students themselves perceive their learning
environment and their experiences during school, university and afterwards.
Currently, there are multiple different certification frameworks which are internationallyacknowledged and experience daily use by companies, universities and other institutions. While
TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), IELTS (International English Language
Testing System), TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) and EIKEN(Jitsuyo Eigo Gino Kentei (Test in Practical English Proficiency)) are used as tests to prove theuser's ability at a certain point in time, the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference
for Languages) (Europe, 2020) is more an “autonomous, life-long learning as a process andtechnique” (Rappleye et al. 2011). The CEFR has underwent adaptions outside of Europe,
leading to the creation of the CEFR-J in Japan. It has been described as the result of “and urgent
need for a common language framework in order to discuss foreign language learning, teaching
and assessment” (Masashi, 2012). The MEXT has acknowledged in a 2016 report, that the
CEFR is an important measurement to overhaul the Japanese education system (Shillaw 2017).
2. Certifications and learning approach18

Currently, Japan is using the JLPT system to evaluate foreign languages learners in their ability
to read, listen in addition to their vocabulary and grammar, comprehension (Japan Foundation2012). On the contrary, the TOEFL test I.e., is requiring its examinee in addition to the tasks
above to speak about a certain or familiar topic (ETS 2022). Certifications like this overall givea third person recipient an official statement of what the possible employee, graduated university
student or colleague has been able to deliver at the certain point in time in terms of English or
Japanese language proficiency at one of those test topics in any of those certificates.
This different approach is an underlying pattern when it comes to comparing the European andJapanese language learning approach. Europeans tend to put an emphasis on directcommunication and face-to-face discussions, while Japanese classes tend to have a reading or
listening focus, without the student needing to create own answers or perspectives on certain
topics. This can limit the actual information intake and recreating ability. A student including
learning approach, with the student needing to speak and producing answers or dialogue on timeor under time pressure, has shown to be more effective in elevating ones ability to indulge in aforeign language and levelling up the language proficiency itself (Brown, 1941). Due to theabsence of these methods, in addition to Japanese language being non-related to the English
language family, creates an even harder obstacle to overcome the more time progresses in ones
educational path. European non-native English speakers have the advantage of their prospective
language being “related” to the English language, since European languages all derived from
Latin, thus making it easy to connect missing vocabulary or eradicate misunderstandings bycomparing their mother tongue with the missing vocabulary piece (Robinson, Croft 2016).
While certification just aim for a snapshot of ones ability at the point of examination, the CEFR
approach tries to create a combination of learning method recommendation plus additional
possibilities to obtain valuable certifications. The CEFR was first published in 2001 and creates
six level of foreign language proficiency, Starting from A1, A2, over B until C2. This
implementation of levels is creating the possibility for teacher to establish learning and teaching
objectives, to review curricula, design teaching materials and outside of the academic
advantages, it provides a basis for recognition of language qualifications (Europe, 2020). The
combination of these points from the area of certification, but also main education andgeneralizing curricula gives the European Union the chance, to standardize education and thecertification process.
MEXT has taken a look into the CEFR process, and tries to adapt those resolutions into theirown standard, the CEFR-J. Having been launched in 2008, the CEFR-J Project is an attempt to19reconstruct the CEFR framework of teaching and assessing foreign languages in Japan. So far
it hasn’t found it’s way into Japanese classrooms.
To assess the status quo of Japanese English teaching methods, we will take a look at the data
we gathered with Japanese students and how they perceived their English learning experiencefrom school until university, and what the main focus points were.
3. Questionnaire Preparation and Results
To gather the relevant data on Japanese student preferences, a questionnaire was created anddistributed to various students from the Okayama University. It contained x questions and thequestionnaire itself was divided into a 4 step approach.
Step 1 contained of questions regarding general information gathering, like age, university
department and current English level, as well as learning motivations. Step 2 consisted ofquestions towards the interviewees certification status. Did the interviewee already participate
in a certification exam? If so, what was the score and what was the underlying motivation totake this exam? How did the interviewee study for this examination? The third step was future
focussed, and focused on information regarding future assignments or certifications, if theinterviewee prepared for another examination and if so, what the underlying motivation wasfor obtaining an additional certification. The fourth and final step was past focused, how theinterviewee experienced his or her English learning process in school, what type of English
learning techniques were used by teachers and what method the interviewee prefers to learn
English. Additionally, the interviewees worst English learning experience was asked,
furthermore the interviewee was asked to give an opinion on what English learning method is
the most effective in his or her perspective.
Overall, 15 students from different faculties of the Okayama University, aged between 19 and24, took part in this survey. At the time of answering the questionnaire, most of them didn’t
study English at all or not enough, with the main reason for studying English in the first place
were future prospects regarding career or job opportunities, followed by communication
purposes.

20

As a main result,Japanese students
preferred the TOEIC
certification over any
other one, with 80% of
the interviewees having
either already undertakenor planning to take the
TOEIC examination.
The European favourite
TOEFL was chosen zero times as an answer in this first question. Following closest to the
TOEIC were the IELTS, EIKEN or not having a certification yet/not planning on taking an
examination as answers with the same amount of ticks.

Additional certificates havebeen on the students horizon
as well, this time theEuropean favourite has beenchosen as the students niceto-have, with 40% thinking
about taking it as anadditional incentive for theircareer. Other certificatesappear in a well mixed order, without a single second favourite emerging out of the answers
given by the students.
4. Conclusion
One possible disadvantage or having an overwhelming number of certificates, which all use a
different approbation approach is, that not every certificate can be evaluated equally. Certain
employers or companies might prefer a specific certificate, while others tend to a different one.
This can make it hard for a student or learner to choose the right certification ahead of their jobhunting process. Additionally, if the learners preferences change, i.e., he or she wants to workor study abroad, some of the certificates mentioned are just domestically viable. The CEFR

21

English language certificates are not accepted at every university in Japan, some are specificallyrequesting TOEIC or IELTS certificates to be able to apply for their exchange program.
On the other hand, the afore mentioned overwhelming number of certificates can be one possible
advantage. Due to that, the learner has the possibility to achieve one of those certificates, since
statistically the chances for one of these being close to his or her local residency are high.
Additionally, a lot of webpages are giving approximations of result comparisons between
different certifications. With this, users can compare themselves and their respective test scoreswith another application who took a different certificate.
All in all, we saw that Japanese students were wishing for a more communication, discussion
driven approach, like the CEFR is offering in Europe. The worst teaching methods were simple
listening and following strategies, while the most effective were face-to-face engaging learning
activities. Grammar and reading proficiency have to be focused as well, but shouldn’t be themain focus of any class.
The main difference between the Japanese and European learning approach is the amount ofemphasis placed on the learning method “communication and discussion”. From ourcomparison, we saw that communication heavy approaches were favourited by students and leadto stable, as well as sustainable results in language proficiency. The CEFR gives a sustainable
learning approach while achieving important certification results for future necessities. A global
joint framework for certification and learning-/teaching approaches could create the possibilityof equal level distribution for non-native speakers to advance to a native or near native level.
English learning is a lifelong process and needs to be enabled through action-oriented,
communicative structure during and after class.

Reference:
Europe., C.O., 2020, COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES learning,teaching, assesment, … companion volume (COUNCIL OF EUROPE).

Masashi, N., 2012, The development of CEFR-J: where we are, where we are going.
Rappleye, J., Y. Imoto, and S. Horiguchi., 2011, Towards ‘thick description’ of educational transfer: Understandinga japanese institution’s ‘import’ of european language policy., Comparative Education 47, 411-432

22

Shillaw, J., 2017, Changing English assessment standards in Japanese schools

Japan Foundation., 2012, Summary of Linguistic Competence Required for Each Level [Internet] at:https://www.jlpt.jp/e/about/levelsummary.html [Last accessed: 01.02.2022]

ETS., 2022, TOEFL iBT® Test Structure., [Internet] at: https://www.ets.org/toefl/score-users/about/structure/ [Lastaccessed: 01.02.2022]

Brown, H. Douglas., 1941., Principles of language learning and teaching., Pearson

Robinson, S., Croft, S., 2016., Why Learning European Languages is easier for English Speakers [Internet] at:https://www.simonandsimon.co.uk/blog/how-learning-languages-with-similar-roots-is-easier
01.02.2022][Last

accessed:23

Okayama Seagulls Influence on Okayama City
岡山シーガルズが岡山市に与える影響
李哲熙
Lee, Che-Hsi
National Taiwan University (Taiwan)

要旨：1999 年に設立された岡山シーガルズは、バレーボール V1 リーグに所属するクラブチームです。バレーボールの練習・試合だけでなく、地域住民へのバレーボールの指導、健康増進のためのクラス、自治体と取り組む地域貢献活動等、岡山県民の役に立つ社会貢献活動に取り組んでいます。この研究では、アンケート調査により、岡山シーガルズの活動が岡山の地域住民にどのような影響を与えているのか明らかにするとともに、調査結果
や現状を分析し、台湾のバレーボールリーグが学ぶべき点について考察しました。

1. Okayama Seagulls introduction:
Okayama Seagulls , established in 1999, is a club volleyball team; they are not sponsored by
one specific company but by a lot of residents, individuals and local small companies. Okayama
Seagulls provides many social and SDG activities (Sustainable Development Goals) inOkayama Cities. For instance, volleyball courses, health expectancy speech, human rights
awareness class, community development activities, women's empowerment speech and so on(pic. 1). The activities are approximately 200 times annually. In recognition of the team's
cooperation in various awareness-raising activities to promote the importance of human rights
awareness, which it has been involved in since its establishment, the Ministry of Justice awarded
the team the "Human Rights Protection Merit Award" for 2008, a letter of appreciation from the
President of the National Federation of Human Rights Protection Commissioners.

24

Pic. 1. Communituy service activities by Okayama Seagulls
https://okayama.v-seagulls.co.jp
2. Okayama Seagulls' SDGs Activities:
The team is involved in several social action projects related to the SDGs. Some of the examples
are explained below.
2.1. Extending healthy life expectancy:
Aiming to extend healthy life expectancy, participating in various stretching classes andconveying the joy of exercising (Pic. 1) .
2.2 Volleyball class activities:
Teaching volleyball for various people such as elementary school students, junior highstudents and disabilities to activate sports activities in Okayama (Pic. 3).

25

Pic.2 Extending healthy life expectancy
Activity

Pic 3. Volleyball class Activity
https://okayama.v-seagulls.co.jp

https://okayama.v-seagulls.co.jp
3. Motivation:
Japan's National Volleyball League is the best in Asia, which is an outstanding organization that
the Taiwan league can learn. Since last year (2021), Taiwan established a brand new basketballleague, Plus League, which made a substantial success and revived the Taiwan basketballleagues again for over 20 years. Therefore, as a die-hard volleyball lover, I know that tons ofvolleyball fans in Taiwan are eager for the same level volleyball league to be established, andJapan National League will be the best for us to learn. It motivated me to do the localization
research from Okayama Seagulls.
In recent years, people in Okayama, especially Okayama University students, have learned a lot
about Sustainable Developments Goals activities. Therefore, I'm interested in implementing aprofessional team's effort.
4. Method:
In order to know the influence of Okayama Seagulls, I made a questionnaire focused on
Okayama University students and professors and finally got ten responses. The questionnaire,consisting of 20 questions,

includes the familiarity of Okayama Seagulls, the comparisons

between Okayama Seagulls and other professional sports teams in the atmosphere, marketing
aspects. And the second part, the respondents judge the level of SDGs activities in different
aspects, which includes volleyball improvement in Okayama prefecture, volleyballimprovement in Japanese nations, motivation for kids to play volleyball, motivations for kids to26

become professional volleyball players, income that can bring by the activities to Okayama
prefecture, expansions of the number of Okayama seagulls fans.
5. Analysis:
According to the questionnaire results, we can see that there are 70% of Okayama citizens heard
about Okayama Seagulls; however, only 10% of them have the experience of seeing games in
Seagulls' main court. (Fig.1) With a brief introduction of those Seagulls' activities, most of themagree that those are SDGs activities, which are typical social feedback that good for Okayama
citizens.
For more details, all the respondents think that these activities can help volleyball promotion in
Okayama prefecture; 80% of the respondents think that can help improve the level of volleyballin Japan (Fig. 2). Secondly, all the respondents believe that it can enhance the motivation for
Okayama kids to play volleyball; 80% of the respondents think that can help motivate kids tobecome professional volleyball players and 70% of the respondents believe that can bring moreincome to Okayama prefecture. Finally, 60% of the respondents believe that can expand the fansof Okayama Seagulls, and 60% of the respondents think that can attract more sponsorship fromlocal companies.

Heard about Seagulls

Watch game experience
0

2
No

4

6

8

10

Yes

Fig.1 The number of respondents that have heard about Okayama Seagulls and the experienceof watching games in the main court. (n=10)

27

Expand fans of Okayama Seagulls

60

Bring more income to Okayama

70

Motivate kids to be professional players

80

Motivate kids to play volleyball

100

Improve the level of volleyball in Japan80

Help volleyball promotion(Okayama)

100
0

10

20

30

40

50 60
(%)

70

80

90 100

Fig.2 The respondents' feedback of the benefits of Okayama Seagulls' SDGs activities

6. Conclusions:
In conclusion, people in Okayama recognize the effort of Okayama Seagulls on SDGs activities.
However, the results show a weak connection between the respondents and Okayama Seagulls.
The reasons are supposed to be the lack of data and the concentration. Due to all 10 data comefrom Okayama university students and professors, which means it is more focused on 20-30 and
50-60 generations, different from Seagulls activities aiming generations:under18 and over 60.
Thus, further data colletion and analysis will be required for more accurate analysis.
Though the connection between citizens and professional teams can be more robust, I still notice
the importance of localization. Okayama Seagulls not only bring the fans by the outstanding
plays on the court, but they also know the importance of the things that are "outside the court".
A star player may temporarily bring fans, but a complete localization plan can bring long–termfans in one city. This is what the Taiwan league can really concentrate on. Taiwanese havestrong regional consciousness; 26 prefectures make 26 individual and special local features andcohesion. If the Taiwan league can bring Okayama Seagulls' operation model into Taiwan, I
believe it will be easier than building a business model as now we see.
Take Taiwan new basketball league, Plus League, as an example. There's a new team in Hsinchu,
called Hsinchu Lioneers. They made much effort in marketing and localization. They also taught
primary schools students on basketball, they also charitable activities for the local residents; inthese two years, though they didn't get the best grades on basketball games, they definitely won
the most fans from whole nations, which made the also win the best fans teams in 2020-21

28

seasons. That is to say, the localization operation model works in Taiwan, and I believe that thevolleyball league can do it in the same way.

References:
一般社団法人日本バレーボール機構（2022）バレーボール V リーグオフィシャルサイト
https://www.vleague.jp / [Accessed on February 2nd 2022]
岡山シーガルズ (2022) 岡山シーガルズ公式サイト https://okayama.v-seagulls.co.jp/ [Accessed on
February 2nd 2022]
岡山シーガルズ （2022） 岡山シーガルズ Facebook ページ
https://www.facebook.com/OKAYAMASEAGULLS.OFFICIAL/
2022][Accessed on February 2nd

岡山商工会議所（2018）シンポジウム「SDGｓで拓く！スポーツによる地方創生」
https://www.okayama-cci.or.jp/news/16865.html [Accessed on February 2nd 2022]
山陽新聞 （2021）ＳＤＧｓ推進 １４団体たたえる 岡山でアワード表彰式
https://www.sanyonews.jp/article/1204250 [Accessed on February 2nd 2022]
Enterprise Volleyball Leagues (2022) Enterprise Volleyball League on CTVA website (in Chinese)
https://tvl.ctvba.org.tw/ [Accessed on February 2nd 2022]
Hsinchu Lioneers（2022）Hsinchu Lioneers official website https://www.lioneers.tw/ [Accessed on February
2nd 2022]
Wikipedia (2022) Okayama Seagulls https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okayama_Seagulls [Accessed on February
2nd 2022]

29

The four students presented the paper on January 26, 2022.

The End