Welcome to Fall '09!

Updates to this site have been spotty over the summer... after all, there hasn't been much going on with no students around. But I have a lot planned for the coming year and I plan to make this site a regular information source for everything that's going on related to Japan, both here at Grand Valley and in the larger west Michigan community. There's a lot going on, and if you are aware of any events I missed, please let me know and I'll post them here. First, though, let me outline some of the major plans I have for the fall semester.

First, we are going to have a Japanese Program Welcome Reception on the evening of Wednesday, September 9th, during the second week of classes. The purpose of this is to introduce our new Japanese teacher, Sayaka Abe, to our current students, introduce myself to the new students, and introduce everybody to the things we have planned for the coming year. The original idea was to have a potluck, but I have a bit of funding from MLL for snacks and drinks and I want to encourage strong attendance even for new students so I think it would be wise to make it a pseudo-potluck instead. In other words, I want to anyone who has an interest in Japan to come, even if they have nothing to bring. But if you know how to make something "Japanese-y" and want to bring it, please do so. And if you would like to contribute something but don't know what, you can come in an hour early, throw in a buck or two for ingredients, and help me make gyôza. The event itself will be starting at 7pm, in MAK B-LL-126 (probably) and will consist of a reception with snacks followed by a Japanese film. I haven't decided on the film yet, but I'm thinking something fairly mainstream, upbeat, and crowd-pleasing would be good (maybe Densha Otoko?). If you have any other suggestions, either for good films or for additions to the schedule, I'd be happy to hear them.

The film showed at the reception will also be the kickoff to the Japanese Culture Association's Japanese film series. Another film will be shown every two weeks following the reception, at the same time on Wednesday evening. I'm hoping that the evening screenings will make the time accessible to more students than last year, when films were shown in the afternoons. I also know the Asian Student Union has their meetings on Wednesday nights from 6-7pm, so we'll try to start later than that (perhaps 7:30?). The schedule is still to be determined, but we're hoping to have it set by the time of the reception so if you have any suggestions you'd better make them quick. For purely practical reasons we'll be focusing on films in the LRC (or in my personal collection) and it would be great to use it to expose people to films they might not see otherwise. In other words, we don't want to turn it into a Miyazaki film festival. Perhaps a combination of mainstream films, more quirky films, classics, and non-mainstream animated films would work best.

And speaking of the JCA, I'm hoping for a big jump in both membership and activity this semester. Enrollments in the first year classes are really strong and it would be great to get all those fresh kids involved in things right off the bat. I know the officers are getting together for an organizational meeting soon and the first official meeting will happen soon after, so keep your eyes peeled. I'll keep posting general JCA events on here, and you can also keep up with what's going on by joining the "GVSU Japanese Culture Association" group on Facebook.

One of the other things I'll be announcing at the reception is a plan I have to be more involved in organizing study groups and the Japanese Conversation Table. Last year several students took the initiative in putting together regular study groups in various sections of Japanese, but I made the decision to be hands off and leave most of it in the hands of the students. This year, I think I need to take a bit more active role in the organizing of these groups, if only to maximize the opportunities everyone has for attending them. I will be looking for a couple of students from every section of Japanese to be responsible for organizing times and locations for study groups. The focus of these will be on getting together to study the class material outside of class and, since there are multiple sections of 101 and 201, that should make it easier for students who are interested to get to at least one of the sessions each week. JPN 380 students may or may not have multiple sections (depending on interest) but since the JPN 201 students will be basically going over the same material as our JPN 202 class last year, it is also an opportunity to review. Since the focus of these study groups will be on the material covered in class, I'm hoping this will allow the Japan Conversation Table (JCT) to be mostly free from this material and focused on just conversing in Japanese, at whatever level the participants might be. In other words, I'd like it to focus on using whatever language the participants have to discuss a given topic rather than dividing them according to ability level. I think you will all be surprised by how much one can do even with limited Japanese when the focus is on communication rather than perfecting specific grammatical forms or vocabulary. I'd like to recruit students from each level of Japanese, as well as those who are already beyond the courses we offer at Grand Valley, to be involved in organizing the JCT and finding a time to meet at least once a week. And depending on the times, I or Abe sensei will try to attend as well.

Finally, I am thinking about ways to expand our range of options beyond the Grand Rapids area and take optional "field trips" as well. There are large Japanese communities in both Chicago and the Detroit area, and one possibility would simply be to carpool out to spend a day looking at what the shops (bookstores, restaurants, Japanese department stores, etc.) in either area have to offer. If there are Japan-related events going on in either city (or in Kalamazoo, Lansing, or Ann Arbor, where there are schools with strong Japanese programs), we could make that a destination as well. Once we get past the idea of being limited to the immediate area, there are hundreds of opportunities.

For now, though, please come to the Welcome Reception on the 9th. I'll be talking about all the above there as well. And please realize that I'm trying to coordinate all this, but ultimately the energy and motivation has to come from you. There is a HUGE amount of interest in various aspects of Japanese culture on campus, and I really need help organizing and channeling that energy. I think we could do really great things.