The Museum Circuit

What's the easiest way to develop an appreciation of Japanese tradition and culture? Visiting museums! As the Japanese saying goes, "Autumn is for the arts." So why not go see some of Japan's many wonderful museums!

Each of Japan's four National Museums (the Tokyo/Kyoto/Nara/Kyushu National Museums) holds a "Cultural Exchange Day for Foreign Students" when admission to the museums' regular exhibitions is free for foreign students. The schedule of Culture Exchange Days for this year is included below... the Nara and Kyushu museums haven't had theirs yet; don't miss your chance!

The Tokyo National Museum, located in Tokyo's Ueno district, is one of Japan's most famous museums. On the second floor, you can trace the greatest masterpieces of 12,000 years of Japanese art, from pottery figures of the prehistoric Jomon Period to the kabuki theater and ukiyo-e woodblock prints of the early modern Edo Period.

A separate annex called the Hyokeikan serves as the museum's Asian Gallery, displaying treasures originating from many Asian cultures including China, India ancient Gandhara, Persia, Thailand, and the Korean peninsula. These exhibits provide an Asian perspective on Japanese culture and give a powerful sense how Japanese art was fed by the broad cultural streams of Asia.

The city of Sakura, Chiba is the home of the National Museum of Japanese History. It offers dynamic and compelling exhibits showing the pageant of history, with extensive use of meticulous recreations and replicas that give a close-up view of what life was like in Japan during various historical eras. These exhibits include a large-scale Jomon Period settlement, a reconstruction of a so-called "red seal" Japanese merchant ship from the Age of Discovery, and many more that bring history to life.

The history of the art, way of life and cultural exchanges of the Japanese archipelago unfolded over millennia, blending and refining many influences to flourish and reach a zenith during the Edo Period. The chic urban civilization of those centuries is captured in the Edo-Tokyo Museum, located in Tokyo's Sumida Ward. Inside the museum's soaring interior space you can cross a re-creation of the famous Nihonbashi bridge and slip back in time to the days of kabuki theater and ukiyo-e woodblock prints.

Impressionist painters like Renoir and Monet highlight a collection of Western art masterpieces from the Renaissance to the 20th century at the National Museum of Western Art in Ueno, Tokyo.

Today Japanese manga and anime are admired around the world. Some art historians say these media inherit the spirit of picture scrolls from medieval Japan such as "The Frolicking Animals and Humans" and "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons." So visiting the Ghibli Museum Mitaka (founded by acclaimed animation director Hayao Miyazaki) and the Kyoto International Manga Museum is a great way to get a fresh perspective on understanding Japan's cultural traditions.

"Cultural Exchange Day for International Students"
•Tokyo National Museum: October 3   http://www.tnm.jp/en/servlet/Con?pageId=X00&processId=00
•Kyoto National Museum: October 25   http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/eng/index_top.html
•Nara: November 2   http://www.narahaku.go.jp/english/index_e.html
•Kyushu National Museum: November 3   http://www.kyuhaku.com/

International Speech Contest in Japanese

To provide a venue where foreigners can express, in Japanese, both frank questions raised by living in Japan and the things about Japan that charm them... it was for this purpose that the International Speech Contest in Japanese was started in 1960.

The speech contest was created with the goal of deepening the understanding of Japan among foreign students studying Japanese, and serving as a gateway to mastery of the language. Prizewinners in the contest are chosen based on excellence in Japanese orational ability and expression of a unique perspective on Japan and the Japanese.

This year was the 50th anniversary of the speech contest, so it was appropriate that the event was held in the city of Hakodate, Hokkaido, which was celebrating the 150th anniversary of its opening as an international port. The contest attracted 130 entrants from 27 countries and regions, from among whom 12 finalists were selected. The finalists gave speeches laced with humor on the theme of "Japan as I see it".

These contestants included eight foreign students hailing from Mongolia, China, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Indonesia, Russia, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal and Uganda, as well as a Chinese language teacher, a caregiver at a senior home, a housewife and a university instructor.

Let's meet the three prizewinners, and summarize their presentations.

Mr. Dominic Bagenda Kasujja of Uganda was the recipient of the Foreign Minister's Award. His speech was entitled, "Three things I learned in a northern country." "I like the word, 'postwar' that people use in Japan," began the Ugandan's speech, "because in many parts of the world there are countries which have yet to experience 'post'-war, since their wars continue to this day." He went on to weave in anecdotes about his difficulties and slip-ups trying to shovel snow in Hakodate's cold winters, before concluding that, "If we deal with various problems before they "freeze solid," a 'postwar' springtime of peace will to come to Africa too."

The Education Minister's Award was awarded to Ms. Shapovalova Svetlana, a Russian housewife, for her speech "I finally figured out what 'hai' means in Japanese," in which she talked about discovering the many nuances of the word 'hai' as said by Japanese people. She used a car navigation system as an illustration of how she finally arrived at an understanding of this word. She injected humor with anecdotes about miscommunications with her husband that led to her discoveries about what 'hai' really means.

The Organizers' Special Award by Three Sponsors was awarded to Chinese university exchange student Ms. Guan Lin, who gave a speech entitled "On becoming friends with Japanese people." She related her struggle to make friends, and the story of how, having shared her woes with her father in China, he replied, "Never give up on anything. I didn't give up on your mother, and that's why you exist today," which inspired Lin to make progress in making friends.

The International Speech Contest in Japanese is run jointly by the International Education Center (http://www.nichibei.ac.jp/news_archive/index.php?id=36 Japanese only), the Japan Foundation (http://www.jpf.go.jp/e/japanese/event/benron/index.html) and the hosting city. NHK Education broadcasts footage of the contest nationwide in Japan.

The 51st International Speech Contest in Japanese will be held at Ryutopia (Niigata City Culture and Music Hall) in Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture from 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 5th, 2010. The details of the contest will be announced in early December.

So all you foreign students in Japan should give this contest a try!

This time, our interview is with Dhugal J. Lindsay (38), who came to Japan from Australia to study and is now working in Japan.

Lindsay was an exchange student at Keio University and later completed his master's and doctorate at the University of Tokyo. While still a student, he began working at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and now he is making contributions to the study of deep-sea marine life as a Research Scientist in the Marine Biology and Ecology Research Program. He also has a deep knowledge of haiku and has published collections of his poems in Japanese.

Dhugal J. Lindsay

What brought you to Japan to study?

A Japanese high school student came as an exchange student to my high school, and we became friends. Through him I became more interested in Japan. Ever since middle school, I had been interested in Japanese stuff like ninjas, anime and trade relations with Japan. I took Japanese classes as an elective and learned a bit of the language. At university, my interest only deepened.

While I was a university student, I took advantage of the exchange program with Keio University. I spent a year there studying Japanese, then went back to Australia for a time. However I wanted to study at a Japanese university that was strong in marine biology. So I wrote a letter to a professor at the University of Tokyo who was famous for plankton research, got a recommendation letter from my advisor at my school in Australia, and was accepted to the master's program.

How did you get your current job?

After finishing my master's at the University of Tokyo, I was torn between going back to Australia or continuing on to the doctoral program, but I eventually decided to continue. In the third year of my doctoral program, I received an offer from JAMSTEC to be special researcher. So I started working there as I continued with my doctoral program. And that's how I ended up where I am today. I've been in Japan for 19 years now. My wife is Japanese and we have three kids. I've started to think recently, "Maybe I'll end up staying here in Japan my whole life and be buried here."

How did you get into haiku?

In Australia, we learned the basics of haiku in elementary school, so I always had a general idea about haiku.

Through a mysterious coincidence, the homestay I did while I was at Keio was with the poet Yoko Sugawa. Sugawa-sensei introduced me to the art of writing haiku, and as I worked with her on writing them, I became fascinated. For me, the great appeal of haiku lies in discovering a connection between yourself and the natural world, and then distilling that into a few expressive words.
Not only that, through haiku I also deepened my understanding of the Japanese language and the inner spirit of the Japanese people.

What are the advantages of Japan as a country in which to study abroad? What advice would you give to those following in your footsteps?

In Japan you can do world-class research. Japanese universities plan many exchange activities, so you have lots of opportunities to make friends with exchange students from other countries and Japanese students. Another big plus is that it is easy to obtain scholarships. But above all, it's the warm-hearted kindness of people and the convenience of the living environment. There are plenty of part-time jobs available.
In terms of my own experiences, at my workplace, I was given responsibilities from a young age, and the environment allowed me to pursue my ideas.
One other thing about Japan that is very appealing is the opportunities to encounter Japan's many remarkable cultural traditions... for me, it was haiku. I recommend that exchange students take advantage of the opportunities they have to be exposed to Japanese traditions.