HOKUSEITIMES

23

HOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020

hokusei gakuen university campus newspaper by practical translation b・SHINE LIKE STARS・number 23・august 2020

Impact of COVID-19
on studying abroad

Hokusei Students
get 50k each fromthe university

PAGE 3

Hokusei Events
Disappearing Acts

PAGE 7

Things madepossible due tolockdown

PAGE 11Special measures
for foreign interns

PAGE 5

Tourism industry
damagePAGE 2

The Hokusei Times interviewed two Hokusei Gakuen
University Students who
have been faced withchanging their plans ofstudying abroad. Sena Oi, athird-year student at the

Department of Economics,
and Genki Yama, a secondyear student at the Social
Welfare Department. If it
were not for the coronavirus, what did you plan to
do while studying abroad?

Sena told us he was goingto go on a working holiday
to Germany in April for one
year. He was supposed to
go to a ...

PAGE 8

PAGE 4The Reality of An Online
Drinking Party

online class Reality
Recently, online classes
have attracted attention asa new style education.
Many universities haveadopted this style of education due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many students are taking online
classes for the ﬁrst time.
What will the online classbring to students? In 2020,

Hokusei students
develop new gift

the novel coronavirus was
discovered in China andspread throughout theworld. Many infected people were conﬁrmed in Japan, and this resulted inmany deaths. The Japanese government and municipalities around Japan
instated a limit on…

An online drinking party has become popular because
the spread of COVID-19 has discouraged people fromgoing out for drinks. Many oﬃce workers or students
have an online drinking party these days, but this fadwill be over soon. With the spread of COVID-19, online
drinking parties is a fad in Japan. As the name suggests,
an online drinking party is a drinking session that isdone online without meeting in person. Drinking sessions—or nomikai in Japanese— are an indispensable
part of culture for Japanese people...

PAGE 15

PAGE 101

HOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020

Tourism industry COVID-19 Damage
COVID-19 is spreading around the world now,and this pandemic has affected not only ourlifestyles but also businesses. According to
the Japan Tourism Board’s announcement,
some lodging facilities are being forced into
bankruptcy. It has become clear that the
tourism industry will suffer if this situation
continues.
compared to Great East
Japan Earthquake in 2011,
there is concern about infections everywhere thistime, and the demand for
tourism around the worldis declining.
The Japan tourism industry
has to work towards recovery. At the same time,
there is no choice but toawait the revival of world
travel after the demand fortravel has recovered inJapan.
An empty Incheon Airport in 2019.

THE WEAK POINTS OF THE
TOURISM INDUSTRY
The greatest value of travelis out-of-the-ordinary experiences. However, due tothe COVID-19 situation,
people can no longer risk
traveling. Under this situation, the idea that travelingis bad is widespread.

IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON
HOTEL INDUSTRY
In the electronic version of
Nikkei Business on March
13, Hoshino Resorts representative Kaji Hoshinotalks about the impact of
Covid-19 in an interview
format. The following is asummary of the article.

Moreover, a few years before this pandemic happened, travel agencies werealready in a diﬃcult situation because of the introduction of cheaper andmore ﬂexible travel services on the Internet suchas Expedia and Airbnb. The
challenge facing the tourism industry is to create a
new business model by
maximizing responses tocustomer needs.

Hoshino says domestic
tourism demand dropped
sharply from March to
April this year. He does notknow if the impact willcontinue further. If it continues for a long time,
Japan’s tourism industry
will fall into a serious situation.

EXPECTED NEW SERVICEDIRECTIONSIn the tourism business,more casual services thatcan be enjoyed in a shorttime will be required. In
other words, it is necessary
to take advantage of thischange in lifestyle and enter the market of a new‘daily life’. And, provide
both the places where people can feel ordinary andextraordinary experiences
while adjusting the balance.
WHAT IS AN “ORDINARY
EXPERIENCE”?
Originally, traveling was
regarded as a healing experience and special treat
for people. For example, anewproject
called“Douminwari” has startedin Hokkaido. This is a subsidy program for travel expenses for people living in

After the “Emergency Declaration”, the decline intourism in Hokkaido has
been high. Hoshino thinks

2

Hokkaido.
The aim of doing this is not
only to support a COVID-19
depressed economy, butalso to make it easier for
everyday people living in
Hokkaido to get out. The
tourism industry is trying togive people the image thattraveling is precious, butalso a familiar and healing
thing.
THE FUTURE OF THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
The tourism industry wasdamaged hard by the impact of COVID-19, but it is apromising market that will
never fade. Nobody knows
how much impact this situation will have in the future.
Most of the companies thatgo bankrupt do so due to a
deterioration of cash ﬂow.
Therefore, it is necessary toprovide suﬃcient funds
through national and localpolicies such as Douminwari, borrowing throughﬁnancial institutions andthe use of “crowd funding”
and “accommodation ticket
for the future”. This ticket isa new service that people
can buy travel ticket in advance. Lastly, it is importantto promote travel in adiﬀerent way than before,both in terms of funding
and people’s needs. ■Nana DekuraIHOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020

Hokusei Students get 50k eachfrom the university
In June, 2020, Hokusei Gakuen University decided to distribute 50,000yen(about US$475 equivalent) to all enrolled students to help them get kitted
up for online classes.
CORONAVIRUS CHANGED
THE STYLE OF CLASSES
These days, the novel coronavirus is spreading aroundthe world, including ofcourse in Hokkaido, Japan.
The virus has impacted
many kinds of areas of society such as the economy,
education and so on. In the
education ﬁeld, all education institutions in Japan
had to suspend their operations due to governmental
requests arising from a national emergency declaration. Therefore, almost all
educational
institutions
introduced online classes.
As of writing in July 2019,
there are still many institutions which are continuing
to conduct online classes,
including Hokusei. In thoseonline classes, one online
video chat service named‘Zoom’ is being used. Zoom
is an online video chat service which is very wellknown and used for not
only education but also
business.
THE STYLE OF CLASS HASCOMPLETELY CHANGED IN
UNIVERSITY
Many universities introduced online classes using
Zoom. Students need tohave an Internet connection and a device—such asa smartphone or PC—touse Zoom and attend
online classes. There are a
lot of students who did nothave the equipment required. So those students
had to buy them, whichcost a lot of money. Therefore, some universities
created new mechanisms
to help their students.
HOW DID HOKUSEI HELPSTUDENTS?
Hokusei Gakuen Unversity
which is in Hokkaido Japan is one of those universities that helped theirenrolled students. The
university decided to distribute 50,000yen to each
student. The support wasa grant to help students
equip themselves withfacilities for attending
online classes. According
to the Hokkusei’s administration when conducting
distance learning, they
asked that students makeeﬀorts to improve their
computer and Internet
environment so that they
can take part in distancelearning at home. As anurgent support to reducethe cost burden for that
purpose, grants weremade available to all students enrolled in the undergraduate and juniorcollege departments. The
subsidywasappliedonline and the earliest
was a bank transfer from
June 19th.

uted a survey via SNS to
56 students at Hokusei
Gakuen University, to ask
about whether they aresatisﬁed or unsatisﬁedwith Hokusei Gakuen University's support. In addition, we also received
comments regarding the
support. As a result, 57%
of students were satisﬁed,
and 43% were dissatisﬁed. The results were divided and a little more
student answered thatthey were somewhat satisﬁed.

For those who don't have acomputer or tablet, 50,000
yen is not enough (3rd year
male student).

COMMENTS FROMKUSEI’S STUDENTS

In addition, there are somecomments that there weremany people who weresatisﬁed with the grant, butwere dissatisﬁed with thefact that the school fees
were not reduced eventhough they did not use
any facilities at the school.
With the coronavirus pandemic still ongoing, students are paying close attention to the school authorities' future actions. ■Taisei sato

HO-

Positive Comments: Afterthe declaration ofanemergency was issued, I
think it was speedy andgood that the university
responded with a subsidy
payment (4th year malestudent).
Negative Comments: I
wanted you to supply atablet terminal and a Wi-ﬁrouter rather than money(3rd year male student).

HOW DID STUDENTS FEELABOUT THE GRANT?
The Hokusei Times distrib-

3

Online classes cost internet
fees. The cost does notcome once, but every
month, so we need continuous support (year not supplied).
We received more negative
comments than positive
ones. Therefore, there are a
lot of students who are notsatisﬁed with Hokkusei’s
support of 50,000yen.

HOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020

hokusei students develop a new
Hokkaido classic gift
Hokusei Gakuen University, Hokkaido Electric Power Co. Inc's membership web
service, a pastry shop named "Sweets & Cafe Soshunro" and "Hokkaido Souvenir Research Institute" all have something in common. Do you know what it
is? In this article, we give you the answer.
KONKONSHUKIBIKETTO
CORN FLAVORIn May 2019, the above
companies and students
from Professor Katsunori
Suzuki's seminar at Hokusei
GakuenUniversity
alllaunched a project to invent
souvenir snacks that contribute to revitalizing local
areas in Hokkaido. They invented"Konkonshukibiketto corn
ﬂavor" which is a snack thattastes of corn. The shape of
it is round and it has a layerof cookie dough on the corn
puﬀ, with corn powder andcorn sugar sprinkled on top.
It includes 20 pieces for960 yen.
KICKOFF MEETING IN MAY
In the kickoﬀ meeting inMay, the students learned
the trends of confectionery
souvenirs in Hokkaido from

YamatoOgasawara
Shouten Co which runs Sky
Shop Ogasawara and othersouvenir shops. In addition, from Soshunro Co.,
they learned some policies
about stocking. For example, the ingredients arepurchased directly fromthe growers to ensure thatthey are always delicious.
In addition, they use minimal preservatives to makedelicious sweets.

At the first meeting

The students also hadsome insights to sharewith the pros. They made apresentation about a survey that they previously
took
about
"trendy
sweets", "sweet styles thatyoung people want tobuy”, and “sweets thatyouth like”, and discussed
some ideas with the people from each company

Some prototypes
who was in charge of thisproject.
THE SECOND MEETING IN
JULY AND EARLY AUGUST
The second meeting washeld as a tasting session in
July. Based on the resultsof the kickoﬀ meeting,Soshunro made two typesof cannulas, four types of
Choquette, and one typeof cookie sandwich. Then,the students expressed

Product cross section

4

their opinions and impressions. Based on such opinions, a meeting was held in
early August at the Sweets& Café Soshunro store. Getting hints from the appearance of the store and the
products being sold, cannulas and Choquette werechosen as candidates.
THE THIRD MEETING IN
LATE AUGUSTIn the third meeting in late

HOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020
and worked as a designer
at a printing company for 6
years. Now she started her
private design work. It’ acute design that shows
Hokkaido's character.

bun coated with sugar.
Also, they imagined thecustomer’s way of thinking
and thought the packaging
should be pretty, durable,
and easy to carry.

They also tasted the reﬁned chouquettes to checkthe ﬁnal form of them. The
products which combine
sweetness and saltinessbecame a new ﬂavor
sweet.

THE FOURTH MEETING INNOVEMBER
At the fourth meeting held
in November, the productname and packaging wereannounced.

August, each group discussed some important
points to decide which
baked sweets use, naming,
design of packages, price,and capacity of snack put it
a box.

The
nameis"Konkonshukibiketto corn
ﬂavor". The part of thename, “Kon” is inspired by
the image of fox’s cry,“Kon Kon”. “Shukibiketto”
means a combination of
Chouquette, and To”kibi”,
in English, corn. Also, thisname for corn is a Hokkaido dialect.

Finally, Chouquette wasselected to make the product loved by all generations,
to make people easy to accept. Chouquette is choux

The packaging was designed by Toriumi Kaori
who is a graphic designer
and illustrator who graduated from design school

The product

THE REACTION OF PEOPLE
WHO TRY THE PRODUCTAt a tasting event held at
Shin-Chitose Airport, many
people were impressed by
the souvenir and they sold
well.
Also, according to reviewson the product’s page on
Rakuten “The souvenir
seems to be a new productthat I have never eaten. I
want to buy it again.” It is
expected to become oneof the popular products
among Hokkaido's souve-

nirs in the future.
In my opinion, after a few
bites, it feels like the sweetcorn is melting in mymouth. The combination of
the crunchy texture of thepearl sugar on the outside
and the corn puﬀ that melts
the moment I bite make agreat combination of textures and people can enjoy
that.
The
"Konkonshukibiketto
corn ﬂavor" was released on
December 14. However,
now, because of COVID-19,
in the co-op of the university, the product is out ofstock. Also, Ogasawara
Shouten at the International
Terminal is closed due tothe shutdown of the international ﬂights. People canbuy it in Sky Shop Ogasawara in Shinchitose Airport orSky
Shop
Ogasawara's
online shopping site and
Rakuten. ■Moe Osawa

COVID-19 special measures forforeign technical interns
The Immigration Services Agency of Japan announced on April 17, 2020 thatthey will allow foreign technical interns, who were fired because of COVID19 to change status of residence. In this article, we will explain the differences between “Technical Training” and “Designated Activities” and the difficulty of applying special measures for COVID-19.
The Immigration Services
Agency of Japan in Ministryof Justice announced special measures whereby foreign technical intern trainees, who were ﬁred or who
are not able to work due tothe inﬂuence of COVID-19,
will be allowed to change

their status of residence
from “Technical Training”
to “Designated Activities”.
AccordingtoAkihiroSawada, a journalist, however, this a big hurdle.

“TECHNICAL TRAINING”
AND “DESIGNATED ACTIVITIES”?
There are many diﬀerences between “TechnicalTraining” and “DesignatedActivities”. In particular,
there are four main diﬀer-

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN

5

ences that readers should
know about in order to understand foreign technicalintern trainees’ situation.
Those are the purpose of
the systems, terms underwhich visa holders can livein Japan, admittance offamily to Japan, and con-

HOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020

Image by Ray.K CC-BY 2.0

siderations when changing one’s job.
First, the purpose of thetwo status of residence
systems is diﬀerent. The
reason why Japan started
the Technical Training
system is to contribute tointernational cooperation.
That is, to allow young
foreigners in developing
countries to learn technical skills and knowledge
by working in Japan.
In this way, they can servea good purpose for economic development after
they go back to theircountries.
In contrast, the Designated Activities system wasdeveloped to solve a lackof workforce in Japan.
Therefore, people who
apply to engage in designated activities need to
be work-ready. They must
pass technical and Japanese tests before theycome Japan.
On the other hand, people
who do not yet have technical ability and are notgood at Japanese can apply to the technical training system.

foreigners who apply toTechnical Training canlive in Japan for 5 years
at the most. Anotherdiﬀerence is whether
they can stay in Japan
with their family or not.
People who apply toTechnical Training cannot bring their familywith them to Japan.

pan.
Finally, whether they canchange their jobs or not
diﬀers between the twosystems. According toNaoko Sunai, a journalist,
under the TechnicalTraining system, residents cannot change
their jobs as a rule.
Changing one’s job isallowed only in special
situations such as when
the company which welcomed the foreign technical intern trainee violates the rules.

In comparison, people
who apply to Type 2
Designated Activities canbring their family to Ja-

Also, technical interntrainees are not allowed
to change their jobs to a
job in a diﬀerent ﬁeld
even if they are able tochange their job. Unlike
the Technical Training
system, people who apply under the Designated Activities system canchange their jobs, justlike an ordinary Japanese citizen.

It seems that theJapanesegovernment
should help theforeigntechnical interntrainees more toachieve their
goals

WHAT
SPECIALMEASURES EXIST DUE TO
COVID-19 ?
On the homepage of the
Ministry of Justice, there
is information for people
who ﬁnd it diﬃcult tokeep their internshipbecause of dismissal andSecond, foreigners who
apply to enter Japan under Type 2 DesignatedActivities can live in Japan
with no limit. However,6

so on. However, it is only
for those who will aim topass a technical test tochange status of residence from “TechnicalTraining” to “DesignatedActivities”, which is quite
diﬃcult.
This information says that
before they apply for achange of residence status, people who fall into
the above situation needto seek employment fromanother company, whichis in diﬀerent ﬁelds orjobs, to work and make anemployment contract.
AccordingtoAkihiroSawada,ajournalist,
there are conditions attached to this changing ofresidence status. That is,
the applicant can stay inJapan for 1 year, but they
have to aim to get Designated Activities status
which requires passing
technical skills test andJapanese-Language Proﬁciency Test (N4 level),which is quite diﬃcult. Ifthey can’t pass thesetests, they have to go backto their countries.
It seems that the Japanese
government should help
the foreign technical intern trainees more toachieve their goals. ■Hina Igarashi

HOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020

HOKUSEI EVENTS DISAPPEARING ACTS
THESE DAYS A PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN VIRUS CALLED COVID-19 HAS SPREAD, AND
AROUND THE WORLD PEOPLE ARE FORCED TO CHANGE LIFESTYLES. HOKUSEI UNIVERSITYIS ALSO INFLUENCED BY THIS PANDEMIC. COVID-19 HAS ROBBED STUDENTS OF MANYSCHOOL EVENTS.
mas in person, as well as
many things for them.
Such methods were exceptional and a ﬁrst forthe department, so it
seemed to be so hard.

usually, This stage isused as a performancestage to invite newstudents to club
activities, but this year,
here is quiet.

WHAT SCHOOL EVEVTSWERE CANCELED?
In an average year’s schedule, Hokusei Gakuen University holds a lot of school
events. Just to name a few
large
and
well-known
events, there’s graduation
ceremony, entrance ceremony,sportsfestival,school festival, and so on.
These have all been cancelled.
These events are held only
once in a university student’s life, so students who
have had their graduation
ceremony or entrance cere-

There were also other issues where students were
especially aﬀected. The
annual course registration
orientations were not conducted, the class schedules were delayed, and an
online class support teamwas quickly organized. In
these ways, Hokusei madeeﬀorts for students.

mony cancelled must be
sad. For students, entertaining events such as the
sports festival and theschool festival are like abreak time from their hard
study every year.

CLUB ACTIVITY FACILITIESThere are a lot of club activities at Hokusei Gakuen
University.
However,
COIVD-19 has forced abreak on these activities.
When will the extracurricular activities forstudents come back? Hokusei Times asked Mr.
Cho, and according to him,
it depends on the university’s crisis management
stage.

Moreover, these eventsare usually great chances
to create memories forstudents.
THE EFFECTS ON HOKUSEI
UNIVERSITYIn this unexpected situation, Hokusei Gakuen University was forced to deal
with the problem very
promptly. The Hokusei
Times asked Mr. Cho fromthe Department of General Aﬀairs at Hokusei
how the university responded to this situation.

As of writing in July 2020,
the university was at
Stage 2. At Stage 2, facilities related to club activities such as the clubbuilding and the gymnasium are still not been
available. Hokusei considers very carefully any removal restrictions because the current pandemic carries a high riskof the spread of infections. In this author’s
opinion, Hokusei’s cautiousness is very good.

According to Mr. Cho, one
example is sending diplomas for all the graduatesby post. Due to the cancellation of the graduation
ceremony, Hokusei was
not able to present diplo-

7

STUDENT’S VOICE
Hokusei Times interviewed
Mr. M who belongs to the
Hokusei baseball club. The
club’s activity has beensuspended since April. He
loves baseball, but he has
not been able to play it for
more than two months. He
said that he is sad becauseof a lack of baseball in hislife and he wants to play
baseball as soon as possible.
Now, he does voluntary
practice waiting for the restart of the club’s activities.
There is a strong passion in
his heart. For him, he thinksthat COVID-19 should calm
down!
FUTURE CORRESPONDENCE
TO RESTART THE EVENTS
Nobody can clearly predict
how long this situation willcontinue. There are still
people being infected with
COVID-19 every day, so it isdangerous to return to theoriginal style of life all at
once. Hokusei Gakuen University will follow the policy of the Hokkaido government and consider schoolplans accordingly.
When people related to
Hokusei hold some eventsor do some activities, weneed to keep “social distance”. There are manythings that students can do.
Student
shouldtakemeasures that match Hokusei’s eﬀorts.■
Ryo Sasayama

HOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020

Impact of COVID-19 on studying
abroad at Hokusei
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected studying abroad around the world. Hereat Hokusei, both the Spring and Fall 2020 Study Abroad programs have been
postponed. Below, you’ll hear from students who had to change their original plans of studying abroad due to COVID-19.
contact from the study
abroad agency. He’s not
currently attending Hokusei
and he continues to study
German by himself. Genki
has decided to leave forIndonesia in August 2021.
For now, he will be able tostudy abroad as per his original plan, just a year behind
his original schedule. He
cancelled his leave of absence from Hokusei and heis taking online classes.
THIS is a photo of theinterview. Clockwisefrom top left: Sena Oi,
Yuri kashima(interviewer), genkiyama.

The Hokusei Times interviewed
two
Hokusei
Gakuen University Students who have been facedwith changing their plansof studying abroad. SenaOi, a third-year student at
the Department of Economics, and Genki Yama, asecond-year student at theSocial Welfare Department.
IF IT WERE NOT FOR THE
CORONAVIRUS, WHAT DID
YOU PLAN TO DO WHILESTUDYING ABROAD?
Sena told us he was goingto go on a working holiday
to Germany in April for one
year. He was supposed to
go to a language school

there for the ﬁrst threemonths. Also, he would
have stayed with a hostfamily in Germany. Genki
was going to go to Indonesia for six months. He was
supposed to help teachers,
who are non-native speakers teach Japanese to highschool students. Both weregoing to take a leave ofabsence from university
for a year.

to Tokyo to get a visa. But
unfortunately, the German
Embassy suddenly
stopped accepting applications the day before he
was going to apply for his
visa. He plans to postpone
his plan until next year,
but there is a possibility ofmore changes to his plan.
He still needs to wait for

I am bitterly
disappointed but I
believe I will beable to do it nextyear

HOW DID YOU CHANGE
YOUR PLANS?
Both Sena and Genki had
to postpone their plans
because of the COVID-19
pandemic. At the beginning of March, Sena went

8

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT
THE GREAT IMPACT ON
YOUR PLANS?
We asked them how they
feel about this unexpected
situation. Sena said, “At ﬁrst,
I was very disappointed, andI couldn’t believe that I can’t
go to Germany. But I believe
I will be able to do it next
year and I changed my wayof thinking at once. I’mlooking forward positively
to coming next year,” heanswered cheerfully. Genkisaid, “I’m very sad and bitterly disappointed. But I
have an opportunity to go
to Indonesia next year. So,
this makes me feel muchbetter. I think this term will
be a big chance to improve
my Indonesian language
skills. I will do my best!” He
thinks this apparently badsituation as a big positive
chance. Both were taking a

HOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020
positive attitude.

If you change yourway of thinking,you will be able
to prepare a lotof things to chaseyour dreams

ing, you will be able to prepare a lot of things tochase your dreams. You
can study a lot and gather
a lot of information related
to the country where youwant to go. It is a time tobuild your motivation!”
Genki said, “our eﬀorts
won’t be wasted! We canstep towards the nextstage because we areyoung. This bad situation

WHAT DO YOU WANT TOTELL STUDENTS WHO ARE
IN THE SIMILAR SITUATIONAS YOU?
We asked them if they had
any message to give tostudents who are in a similar situation as them. Senasaid, “at one glance, there
is no hope. But if youchange your way of think-will change into good one
depending on you. Let’s
work
hard
together!”Throughout the interview,
we could see how people
are resilient. Although many
students have faced diﬃculties due to the COVID-19
pandemic, they have an
ability to think positively.
People can always look forward.■
YURI KASHIMAHOW COVID-19 AFFECTED THE ECONOMY
These days, COVID-19 is a big blow the economy around the world. The numberof patients of COVID-19 in Tokyo has been increasing gradually. We had tochange our lifestyle because of the pandemic, and it has caused a lot of serious problems. Let’s look at the economic impacts in Japan.
2006COMPANIESWENTOUT OF BUSINESS IN JAPANfood and beverage industries.

Company sales have decreased because of theeﬀects COVID-19. This has
had a serious impact on the
management of Japanesecompanies.

The number of bankruptcies because of the spreadof the virus infection in
Japan took two months toreach 100 companies, but
after the number broke
100 the number of companies has increased rapidly, reaching 200 in justone month.

Japanese news website
Sputnik published an article that “200 companies
went out of business because of COVID-19 all overJapan”. As of June 1st, 134
companies went bankrupt
after they ﬁled for bankruptcy protection and 66
companies are working on
legal measures such as cessation of business and 200
companies already wentout of business.
In addition to the bankruptcy in May of Renown, a major apparel company, theimpact is expanding in various industries, including
funeral-related companies,
which have increased family funerals, as well as accommodation-related andincome at all. In that time,
how can we earn money?
Which job will be requiredin the future?”.
COVID-19 AND THE FUTURE:
A
DOUBLEWHAMMY
Because of COVID-19, JAL
and ANA which is airline
company announced they
will not hire a new graduates in 2021. Like this, inthe future, job hunting
will be very competitive.
You may have many rivals,
and the more skills andeducation are required
more than ever. Moreover,
it is said many businesses
will be gone because ofdevelopment of AI. Until
now, in factories and other places, robots havebeen the focus of production instead of humans
due to mechanization.

MANY PEOPLE LOST THEIR
JOBS
Kyodo News reports that“In Tokyo, one in every 13
university students in Japan is considering leaving
school as the COVID-19
outbreak has left many ofthem without a source ofincome or ﬁnancial support, a recent survey has
found. The survey, which
covered some 500 universities and college students, said 37.4 percent
said they were making
less from their part-timejobs, while 23 percent
they were bringing in no

However, in recent years,
technological innovations
such as rapid progress in
AI have been advancing in
addition to robot produc-

9tion. As a result, we aretransforming into an era
where human beings cannot survive the same wayof work, not just at the factory but at every job. Jobs
that were previously supported by humans may bereplaced by robots and AI
in the future. Isn't this avery important issue for job
hunters who are choosing
their jobs from now on?
Under these circumstances,
it is no exaggeration to saythat communication skills
are the most importantskills required for future
professions. It is also diﬃcult to substitute artiﬁcial
intelligence for occupations that require negotiation, cooperation, bargaining power, and insight withothers. In summary, communication skills, language
ability and specialty will be
important keywords to get
job in the future.■
Sayaka Hirota

HOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020

The Reality of An Online
Drinking Party
online drinking parties have become popular because the spread of COVID-19
has discouraged people from going out for drinks. Many office workers or
students have online drinking parties these days, but this fad will be oversoon.
have had an online drinking
party but most of them
don’t like it.
PROS AND CONS

This is a computer
screen while having an
online drinking party
using ZOOMWHAT IS AN ONLINE DRINKING PARTY?
With the spread of COVID19, online drinking parties
is a fad in Japan. As thename suggests, an online
drinking party is a drinking
session that is done online
without meeting in person.
Drinking sessions—or
nomikai in Japanese— arean indispensable part ofculture for Japanese people, but COVID-19 has
made it impossible havenomikai.
Because of COVID-19, mostshops that serve alcohol
were temporary closed
from April to July and everyone stopped going out
for a drink. In such a situation, many people havestarted to have online
drinking parties by using
some video conferencing
apps. It is not only popularamong oﬃce workers, but
also
among
students
these days.

ing parties don’t want tohaveanother
onlinedrinking party. It meansthat about 80% of students who answered thissurvey think an online
drinking party is not fun.

STUDENTS’ HONEST OPINIONS

In a survey conducted by
Lip Pop, 75% of people intheir 20s answered theywould not want to have
online drinking parties ifthey could. As these results show, many students

The results of a survey byHitomi Sugiyama focusedon students show thatmost students don’t likeonline drinking parties.
When asked if they enjoyed online drinking parties more than face-toface parties, 22 out of 27
respondents said “No.”
Moreover, it became clearthat 24 out of 27 respondents of students who havetaken part in online drink-

10

Very few people
like to have online
drinking parties

The main reason why students don’t like online
drinking parties is that theconversation is less exciting than face-to-face parties. Many students said it’s
hard to have a smooth conversationsmoothly because some people start tospeak at the same time andthere are many pauses in
the conversation. In addition, people have to talkabout the same thing in alarge group, unlike an actual drinking party. Many students feel uncomfortable
about that.
Although there are somebad points like these, an
online drinking party hassome attractive points forstudents. For example, people can go to bed as soon
as the drinking is over. Thisis great for students who
have classes or part-timejobs early in the morning.
Besides this, people don’t
have to spend so muchmoney compared to an actual drinking party. This isalso great for students.
ONLINE DRINKING PARTIES& JAPANESE CULTURE
Online drinking parties have

HOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020

Online drinking
parties will beforgotten soon

become a hot topic in Japan, but what about othercountries? According to thearticle from the Sankei
News, online drinking parties are not popular in Chi-many Japanese people
want to have a drinking
party even if it’s online.

na. That’s because most
Chinese think the purposeof drinking is to interact
with people in person, so
there’s no point in having
an online drinking party.
Moreover, the fact thatmost of the articles about
online drinking parties are
related to Japan suggeststhat they are not so popular overseas. Ordinarily,
drinking with other oﬃce
workers or friends fromthe same club is very
common in Japan, so

THE FUTURE OF ONLINEDRINKING PARTIES
An online drinking party is
an appropriate way ofdrinking for our new lifestyles after the corona disaster, but will it become
even more popular in the
future? The answer might
be “no.” Many people havetaken part in an online
drinking party out of curi-

osity, but from survey data
it seems most of them feelit’s not fun. It’s fair to saythat people won’t have
online drinking parties
when most pubs start operating as usual. However,some people may continue
to have an online drinking
party as a way to communicate with family or friends
who live far away. ■Hitomi Sugiyama

WHAT WAS POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF
THE SELF-RESTRAINT PERIOD
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, some companies and corporate groups launched newservices in order to help consumers and industries that are hit by coronavirus. However, thanks to the self-restraint due to the coronavirus, new things have been created and done.
Since last year, coronavirus
has been spreading all over
the world. This pandemic
caused a very serious situation and aﬀects people
working and living in various industries. There may
be a silver lining though.
SERVICES FOR COMPANIES“Komehei”, which is one of
the largest reuse department stores in Japan, hasstarted a “corporate Purchase Service” that purchases accumulated inventory held by manufacturesand retail stores and resells
cheaply at online stores andreal stores. In addition,“BASE”, which provides
online shopping site construction services, has also
started to support businesses suﬀering from coronavirus. It introduces otherfactories and production
destinations to business

operators who are suﬀering from coronavirus regardless of whether they
use the service or not, using their own networks.
Furthermore, food delivery
services have been enhanced these days. “Wolt”,
which operates a food delivery business in 80 citiesin 22 countries, mainly inEurope, has expanded to
Sapporo city, and now it
can be found in the city.
“Uber Eats”, which is already popular in Honshu,
will also be introduced.
The number of people whoare reluctant to go to restaurants due to the pandemic, and the proportionof those who work at homeincreased. Therefore, fooddelivery services are used
more often.

11

HOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020

JOB HUNTING SUPPORTThe eﬀects of coronavirus
have a bad inﬂuence on student job hunting. Every
year, job fairs are held in
various place, but there is
no opportunity to meet students and companies due tothe coronavirus. ONE CAREER, which operates thejob-hunting website, held a‘ONE CAREER LIVE’ to deliver a job fair on online every
day on weekdays in Marchusing YouTube LIVE function. This is very convenient. For example, even people like us who don’t live inTokyo can attend themthat are usually held there.
In fact, job interviews are
being
conducted
ononline. It is expected thatthe mainstream communication method will change
fromface-to-facetoonline.

forced to stay at home duringholidays.
Variouseﬀorts are being made in
the entertainment industry
to eliminate such stressesof them. In Asahikawa city,‘Drive Theater’ was held
on 9th May at a parking
area of Dinos Asahikawa to
enjoy movies while getting
in a car.

NEW CHALLENGES FORTHE
ENTERTAINMENT Most movie theatres are
INDUSTRY
closed, so it is held for
Due to the announcementof the emergency declaration, many people are feeling stressed and tired never before, as they arepeople who spend theirmost time at home. After
that, it is held at TSUTAYA
in Ebetsu city. People canwatch it while eating somefoods you take out fromthere. It is more immersive
and interesting for them towatch it outside than athome.
Furthermore, it is inconvenient for people who usually
use ﬁtness gym because it isclosed. Therefore, someﬁtness gyms oﬀer online
instruction for them. Online
instruction will become
more popular as it can bedone anytime and anywhere.■
Ayane Kaimai

WHICH IS BETTER: ONLINE CLASSESOR FACE-TO-FACE CLASSES?
The COVID-19 pandemic
started in December, 2019.
It has caused a lot of troubles around the world,even in Japan. We cannot
live our normal lives now.
This will continue until
COVID-19 stops. Accordingly, as of writing, universities could not do face-toface classes. This is a very
hard thing for everyone,
include students and teachers. Here, I focus on how
online classes have impacted teachers.
HOW DO HOKUSEI TEACHERS THINK ABOUT ONLINE
CLASSESI interviewed two teachers
to ﬁnd out teachers’ real
feelings about online classes. Both of them said, they
prefer face-to-face classes
than online classes. Why isthat? We found out online
classes’ advantages anddisadvantages
through
those two interviews.

THE ADVANTAGESONLINE CLASSESOFFirst, one teacher said thatan advantage of online
classes is that students
and teachers can communicate with each otherno matter where we are.
That is, we do not need tocare about location, which
is a good thing. We cantake a class in our favorite
or comfortable places.
This may motivate bothstudents and teachers.
Second, another teacher
said that teachers do nothave to wake up early anddrive to school which
would be especially nice if
it were winter. That is, we
can use time for something else because we getmore free time. Finally, wewere told that online classes allow students to give
simple feedback anonymously, which might give
students more conﬁdence
in replying. Students cangive their opinions easierin online classes than face-to-face classes because
they do not need to worry
about being recognizedwhen replying.
THE DISADVANTAGES OFONLINE CLASSES
Next, our interviewee
teachers told us aboutsome disadvantages of
online classes. First, theysaid “I have less classtime, but a lot more prep
time.” Unlike face-to-faceclasses, they have to prepare many things. Such as

12

links, homework and sending feedback to students.
Also, they said that, if students have a problem, it isdiﬃcult to communicate
the solution to them compared to being with themface-to-face. When they
help students, they need tosend a lot of messages. It isdiﬃcult to explain what to
do because they cannot
give feedback directly. In
addition, they said, it isdiﬃcult to connect withstudents more individually.
In this way, there are a lot

HOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020of problems regarding
communication. Therefore,
it is not nearly as eﬀective
as teaching in person. Furthermore, there are problems regarding Internet
connections. If a student
has slower Internet connection, they may not beable to participate in class.
They might feel unable toparticipate in lessons that
require more verbal communication.■
Keita Tanaka

Discoveries because of COVID-19
One teacher gave a particularly important insight. He said “many students are
not computer savvy and some of them do not even have a computer. I cannot
believe that a developed nation like Japan has so many university students
who do not have a computer or an internet connection. Japan is going to fallbehind the rest of the world if this does not change. You cannot conduct business, domestic or international with a smartphone.” Perhaps, it will take a very
long time to stop COVID-19. We should take this opportunity to change. We
should set up an internet connection and computer and we should adapt tothis situation.
Some people prefer online classes more than face-to-face classes. However,these people are in the minority, it seems. I am sure there are good points of
online classes but face-to-face classes is better for teachers and students. We
hope to restart them soon.

What measures Did Hokusei Take for COVID-19?
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the introduction of online classes, Hokusei Gakuen University has taken several measures to prevent the
spread of infection on campus.

A Handwashing Station taken in frontof the library
HANDWASHING STATIONSAt the time of writing, students at Hokusei are, in
principal, not allowed tousecampusfacilities.
When they have to come toschool for some reason,
however, they must be
careful not to spread infection. As one of the ways toprevent the spread of theCoronavirus, Hokusei set
up a total of 15 temporary
handwashing sinks in ﬁveplaces around the campus.
They installed four sinks
at the entrance of Building
A and C, and another fourof them are located in
front of Hokusei library.
Each of these buildings,

the college hall and thestudents’ activities building has two sinks, and therest of them are placednext to Faculty Oﬃce
Building Two.
According to the Finance
Division of Hokusei, thesehandwashing stations cost
2,794,000 yen (about
US$26,000) in total to set

13

up. The Finance Division
added that whoever enters
the university is supposed
to wash and clean theirhands with hand sanitizer
before entering the buildings. The hand sanitizers
are placed in front of theentrance of Building C, andon the ﬁrst and second
ﬂoors of the library. Also,
wearing a mask is required
while at the college in order to prevent droplet infection.
DISINFECTION
Hokusei Gakuen University
has also been thorough insanitizing around the campus to prevent the spreadof infection. The campus issterilized at least once aday. In particular, somecommon parts people often
use, such as elevator buttons and hand railings are
sanitized more than once aday. The cleaners also disinfect the desks, comput-

HOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020
ers, as well as the classrooms that were used for
lectures or other purposes
every day.
OTHER PREVENTIONS
To prevent infection andprovide students with detailed information about
the school’s response to
the Coronavirus, they set
up a crisis management
system. This crisis management system has ﬁve stages, 0 to 5, and as of writing,

we are now in Stage 2
where only online classes
are allowed. Students arealso restricted from goingto the campus. However,students who cannot takeonline classes at home are
permitted to use computers at school. Other facilities, such as the school
gym and the students’ activities
building
areclosed. In addition tolimiting who can enter theuniversity, the university

records every visitor’sname on a list. This helps
to know who came to theuniversity in case someone is conﬁrmed as infected. In the library, there
is a box for sanitizing
books. It is located near
the entrance of second
ﬂoor. There are only threesteps: put a book in thebox, press the blue button, and wait for 45 seconds until it is sanitized.
Hokusei also makes aschool announcement ofpreventions of COVID-19
on PA system several times
a day. Another thing they
did was to display posters
instructing how to wash
one’s hands and cough appropriately. These posters
are displayed on the walls
in all the restrooms in thecampus.
Juri Oyama

Online Job Hunting
There are many companies which have had toreview the schedule tohire, due to coronavirus.
Tokyo Olympics had been
going to be held this year,
so they tried to expedite
the time of the recruitment activities to ﬁnish
them before Tokyo Olympic. However, the government has issued the emergency declaration andstopped the activities. As
a result, the activities
have been moved later
than any other year.

the companies use online
recruitment. This trend ismore common with companies which have more
employees.
THE BENEFITS

There are merits of online
job hunting: it’s easy forstudents to join seminars,
there’s no cost for transportation, they can use
their time eﬃciently, andso on. In other words, rural
students have no disadvantages of cost and time,and all students can ’visit’In such situation, Online several companies a day.
job hunting, which has ex- THE DISADVANTAGES
isted
conventionally,
matched the trend of Stay There demerits of online
Home and has been in- job hunting: people ﬁnd it
creasing rapidly. Now peo- very diﬃcult to grasp othple have to consider that er peoples’ reactions andeﬀective internships are the atmosphere in internot only face-to-face but views, because of thealso using the Web. In ad- diﬀerence from face todition, now more than six- face, so they will get worty percent of Japanese ried about whether they
companies are making can communicate with
their guidance and person- each other.
al interviews online in Also, one must consider
their recruitment.
their network environAlso, a recent investigation ment, the place to doshows that no more than online meetings, their
where
they
20% of companies in Ja- manners,
pan do not use online sys- should look, and so on. As
tems. In other words, for the solutions, so far,about eighty percent of they need to practice andget lots of experience, as is with the Internet. Especialthe case of face-to-face ly older-age recruiters
job hunting.
must get used to working
online, but it is almost imActually, universities inpossible for them to get up
Japan can help them doto speed as quickly as
that. For example, at Hoyoung people. So, recruitkusei Gakuen university,
ers have to make up forthe employment support
that in other ways.
department carries out
various seinars, personal For instance, online interconsultations and gives views on Zoom, they needaccess to a web interview to try to create a profesroom by using vacant sional atmosphere, berooms in Hokusei, to de- cause the atmosphere iscrease their anxieties even often relaxed online. If not,a little.
recruiters will struggle toselect successful candiHIRING PROBLEMS
dates. Also, they had better
In changing times like to- prepare well-written quesday, people are required to tions and use non-verbal
be adaptable. In fact, now communication to improveyoung people are more the quality of the online
familiar with the Internet, interview.■
so they will get better
Ryosuke Kosaka
soon. On the other hand,elderly people struggle

14

HOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020

TUITION

The reality of online classes
for Hokusei students
Recently, online classes have attracted attention as a new style education. Many universities
have adopted this style of education due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many students are taking
online classes for the first time. What will the online class bring to students?
In 2020, the novel coronavirus was discovered in
China
and
spreadthroughout the world.
Many infected people
were conﬁrmed in Japan,
and this resulted in many
deaths.
The Japanese government
and municipalities around
Japan instated a limit on
going out to prevent infection from spreading.
Due to this situation,
many universities including Hokusei Gakuen University decided to doonline classes.
There are two styles of
online classes. One is thereal-time class. This is aclass style where students
can talk with teachers interactively, according toclass schedules. The otheris the on-demand class. A
teacher assigns a reading
and a lecture video towatch on the Internet, andstudents watch these.
Most Hokusei Students
have experienced bothtypes of online classes, sowhat is their opinion on
both? How do the students feel about online
classes? There are somemerits and demerits to doonline class. We summarized these based on theInternet article and interviews with Hokusei students.
MERITSFirst of all, students cansave time because they
do not have to spend it
commuting to school. By
doing online classes,
they seem to able to usetime for other things.
Also, some students can
reducetransportation
expenses.

tion and computer. Without these, students must
go to university to use
computer rooms or buy
some things to take partin online classes.
Furthermore, some students say that online
classes are worse quality
than regular classes. Thisis probably because theway of teaching haschanged.

Second, online classes—
especiallyon-demandclasses—do not have thelimitation of time andplace. This is a valuable
thing for students. They
can take a class anytime,
anywhere if the Internet
is available.

DIVIDED OPINIONS
There are both arguments for and against on
online classes. For example, some students saythat they can concentrate more in online classes, but other students
have an opposite opinion.

Third, there is one greatfeature of the application ZOOM used to do
real-time online classes,
and that is called“breakout room” Students can hold a meetingwith a small number ofpeople by using this.
Some students say thatthey can express theiropinioneasierin
breakout rooms than inregular classes.

There is also the issue ofquestions and answers
during classes. Duringreal-time classes, stu-

dents can ask questions
and give comments toteachers during class byusing the chat function or
using their microphone.
However, during an ondemand class, this is notpossible. When students
have a question, they
have to send an email tothe teacher. If the teacher
does not notice the email,the question of the students is not solved.
CONCLUSION
Through this unplanned
situation, not only students but also the university and teachers haveproceeded by trial anderror. After all, there aresome merits and demerits, regardless of whether
it is a regular class or an
online class. What thestudents should do is toadapt themselves to thegiven circumstances. ■Junya Izumi

DEMERITSFirst, it’s diﬃcult to conduct
activeclasses
online. Classes withpractical skills such as
physical education ormusic is ineﬃcient when
conducted online.
In addition, online classes cannot be done without the Internet connec-

15

HOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020

international resort niseko AT a Crossroads
Niseko, where crowds and tourists come to Japan for good quality snow, the japow in
winter. However, this season looked different than usual. The Hirafu area was quiet andthere were very few tourists and holiday makers even in March. Coronavirus had a negative impact on the region of Niseko.

EFFECT OF CORONAVIRUS
On February 14, the ﬁrst
case of coronavirus was
conﬁrmed in Hokkaido. Furthermore, on Feb. 28, after
the ﬁrst case was reported,
there were an extra 66 cases, so the Governor of Hokkaido declared a state of
emergency and called forresidents to refrain from
going
out.
Countries
around the world restrictedtravel to Japan. One company in Niseko essentiallydismissed foreign workers
expecting that the pandemic would have a bad
impact. The majority ofbusinesses in Niseko would
have lost their winterproﬁts during the pandemic as there were so fewer
tourists and holiday makers
around Niseko as foreign

governments insisted thatcitizens return to theirhome country during thistime.
BREAKING THROUGH THE
CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
As time passed the infection rate of coronavirus
increased more and more
in Japan. After the emergency declaration was
ﬁnally over in Japan on
April 16, there are stillquite a few foreigners stillin Niseko. Even if theywanted to return to theircountry, the prices of
ﬂights have soared orhave been cut oﬀ and they
are forced to remain. On
the other hand, some foreigners have chosen not
to return to their homecountry. Mr. Garth Caleb(25) came to Niseko from
Australia on a working
holiday visa in November
2019. He said he had 29
days of work in Januarybutsurprisingly
only
three days in March. He
mentioned that “the company understood the economic situation due toCoronavirus, he did notwant to miss out on any of
the time of his working
holiday visa as he could
only apply once, andhoped that the situation
would be back to normal
and could travel around
Japan” as a reason to stayin Japan. The company heworked for in the winterarranged for foreigners
who decided to stay in
Niseko to work on thefarm, and he says he has
been working at the farm
ﬁve days a week since late
April.
SUPPORT FOR LOCALSIn the Niseko area, various
regional initiatives areunderway that are for servicing restaurants damaged by the decreased
number of tourists andthe government requests
to refrain from going out.
One of these examples,
aimed at residents in thelocal area, is opening thearea in front of the promotion bureau government building entrance asa free of charge space tosell lunch boxes and creating a website for delivery and takeaway service.
The purpose is to promotea "new Hokkaido style" in16

Shiribeshi jurisdiction forrestaurants trying new
business styles.
PROBLEMS COME TO THE
FOREFRONTThe coronavirus pandemic
highlighted some problems
in Niseko that have existed
even before the pandemic.
For example, Niseko relies
on tourists from foreigncountries and mainly relies
on proﬁts from the winterseason. Most of the annual
income for tourism-relatedcompanies in Niseko isearned in winter at facilities where foreigners are
the main customers. Niseko
must expand and improve
the summer activities andcreate a new style that
doesn't rely only on the
beneﬁts of winter. This will
be a good opportunity toappeal not only to touristsin Hokkaido but also to Japanese tourists and to improve the pricing and hospitality of expensive foodand drink which is focusedon foreigners.
SUMMARY
There are still opportunities to seize new customers
such as opening of the
Shinkansen and holding the
Olympics. It would be great
to see and create a Niseko
that can be ﬂexible andrespond to various situations and that many people
want to visit regardless ofcountry, region, or time ofyear.■
Shiori TakeuchiHOKUSEITIMES | AUGUST 2020

August 202017