Hitting Hongo

So I've now passed my first week in Tokyo, and I've been out and about a lot, seeing plenty, meeting friends, old and new, and generally having a good time of it! It is easy to forget at the moment that I am actually here to study though, especially as my current course of academia is frustratingly vague and, in typical Japanese style, nothing is made apparent to you without what feels like an unreasonable line of questioning! More on that later.

On Friday I went to explore the Hongo campus, where my Professor conducts as weekly seminar with his postgraduate students. I was requested by my tutor to meet him there in the early afternoon, but one of my hallmates, David, had been told of a library tour going on in the morning, which we decided to take a look at. Having navigated the trains around Tokyo to the campus and been shown the workings of the library, David and I had a bit of spare time to take a look around the campus - which has it's own park and lake, something that is completely novel to me! Apologies in advance, the photos are from my cellphone, and so not quite as crisp as they would be on my DSLR.

The Main Building of Hongo Campus

Towards the library

The view towards the main entrance

Towards the lake

I can see myself spending quite a lot of time here at the lake, there's all manner of photography potential here, not to mention it just being a cool and serene place to be, despite being smack bang in the middle of Tokyo!

Hongo Campus also has some quirky artworks and statues of famous people about whom I know little; you can tell from the architecture and surroundings there is a lot of history here.

Having done my exploration and brief orientation of the campus (I will need to return to get my bearings still, it's a busy place), I met Keishi my tutor at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the location for the seminar I was going to attend with Prof. Sato. I had been asked to make a brief presentation on myself and where I'm from, what I've studied, etc etc. I covered all the topics from Nelson and Wellington, my schooling, friends and family, as well as my interests and ambitions. So engrossed was I that Keishi managed to take a sleuthy photo of me in action without ever me noticing him!

The seminar continued afterwards with a discussion on a book on ways of thinking (I understand the Japanese education system at primary and secondary levels places little to no emphasis on critical thinking, favouring instead rote-learning, so they must do it at tertiary level). This was conducted in Japanese and so I found myself understanding maybe 1/3 of the content, so I must concede that the seminar's usefulness was negligible to me, but it was good to meet everyone and acquaint myself with their studies.

Following the seminar, I met with Prof Sato in his office, and we discussed what I was hoping to get out of the program, and what I would do. The area of study I wish to work in it appears may be outside of the scope of Prof. Sato's ambit, and so he recommended a different program, the Graduate Program in Sustainability Sciences, which operates out of the same campus, however it is different in structure, having some support or connection with the United Nations as I understand. Following on from this conversation, I have been spending time trying to crystallise an area of study that may be more focused, and allow me an easier time of research. Rather than looking at Asia broadly, I am instead looking at Japan-New Zealand cooperation in sustainability measures, with the hope that this approach will provide a greater volume of material, and more vitally, that the material will be in English. 

Frustratingly I don't know much about what the entrance examination will be like, though word on the street is that MEXT scholars, such as myself, have an easier time of them than others, because our scholarship acts as something of a blank cheque, which is naturally quite appealing to universities. So for the remainder of the week I'll be looking at what material exists on geothermal cooperation between the two countries, and trying to assess whether there is much scope for further research in this area.

Otherwise, as mentioned in the earlier blog, I am not required to attend classes yet, but I have been welcomed to attend some classes, both for general interest and also to further my own research. To this end, late last week I emailed a few professors, asking whether I could attend their classes. I've been allowed to come to a few of these, including a Japanese legal class, one on global environmental policy, and one on environmental and social governance - all in English! The only downside of this is that they are all on Friday, and some of them share the same timetable slot, including with my seminar with Professor Sato, meaning my week is heavily weighted towards the latter end, and even then it's a bit of a quagmire! Some thought will need to be given as to how to manage this...