Jennifer Daniel has been back at St. John’s University for
nearly a month, but her memories of Japan still make her smile.
Jennifer joined three other St. John’s students in January
for two weeks in Tokyo as visiting students at Kokushikan
University. Even now, her eyes grow wide when she
talks about the trip, as if focusing on scenes only she
can see.
“It was beautiful,” says the 20-year-old junior from Brooklyn.
“We went to Kamakura, a historic site outside Tokyo where
there are sixty-five shrines. Then we crossed a footbridge to
Enoshima, a sacred island in the middle of a lake. I still
can’t believe I was there.”
“The cultural exchange was amazing,” says Sarah Roth, a St.
John’s sophomore from Crystal Lake, Illinois. “There was a lot of
discussion with Japanese students. We went to lectures about
Japanese pop culture. We even learned basic Japanese so we could
navigate the Tokyo subways.”
“It was an experience they'll never forget,” says Dr. David Blanchard,
Associate Director of Transfer
Articulation Agreements, who accompanied the
students. “They were immersed in Japanese language and
culture. We owe it to our unique exchange agreement with a leading
Japanese university."
A Bond Grows Stronger
The visit reflects renewed strength in St. John's thirty-year-old
agreement with Kokushikan University, which has 12,964
students on three campuses in Tokyo. Formed in 1975, the agreement
gained new vigor in 2004, when Dr. Wayne James, Executive
Director of International and
Graduate Enrollment at St. John’s, contacted officials
there.
“I knew the relationship could bring many more benefits to
students from both institutions,” says Dr. James. “I also felt that
strengthening this articulation agreement would assist our own
international recruitment efforts. It's a significant
opportunity."
Under the agreement, forty-seven students from Kokushikan will
come to St. John’s on February 10. They will spend the
semester living on the Queens campus as they learn English, engage
in workshops with St. John’s students and experience life in New
York City. They are the second group of Kokushikan students to
visit St. John’s under the agreement.
In Spring 2004, during a recruitment trip to Asia, Dr. James
made a special visit to Kokushikan University. There he met with
Professor Tokubumi Shibata, whose grandfather founded Kokushikan
University, and Professor Kageaki Kajiwara, Dean of
Kokushikan’s “School of Asia 21” and Professor Masako
Okamoto.
“My impression was that Kokushikan is a very contemporary
institution – on the cutting edge of higher education in Japan,”
says Dr. James. “They were as eager as we were to mutually
enhancing our relationship. We decided the best way to do so was to
have students from each institution visit the other to promote
cultural exchange.”
At a second meeting, Dr. James and officials from Kokushikan
created an addendum to the existing agreement. The addendum stated
that Kokushikan would take an initial step by sending their
students to St. John’s University for a “cultural immersion.”
A Full-fledged Articulation
Agreement
In preparation for the visit, Dr. James enlisted the aid of the
entire St. John's community. To work toward making the
relationship a full-fledged articulation agreement, he asked
Dr. Blanchard to join as his co-partner in the project. Together
they worked with administrators from Residence Life, Student Life
and the Intensive English
Program.
“In the Spring of 2004, Wayne gave me the reins,” says Dr.
Blanchard. “I enjoyed working closely with Eri Fujita, the
international travel coordinator for Kokushikan’s Asia 21
program.”
In February of 2005, the first twenty-one
students from Kokushikan came to St. John’s, paving the way for
St. John’s students to visit Kokushikan this past January. Dr.
Blanchard and Dr. James accompanied the students, who met with the
President of Kokushikan University, Professor Hideo Osawa. “We all
appreciated how enthusiastic President Osawa was to meet with our
students,” notes Dr. Blanchard.
Now Dr. James is working on the next phase of the program. “We
want to forge a two-plus-two articulation agreement,” he explains.
“Students would spend two years at Kokushikan, and two years at St.
John’s. Dave and I are still working on this phase, and we’re
confident it will come.”
Once in a Lifetime
For the St. John’s students who visited Kokushikan during winter
break in January, seeing Japan was a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity. The St. John’s students engaged in discussion groups
with Japanese students, attended lectures on Japanese culture and
even took an intensive Japanese language class. They also toured
Tokyo and other historic places.
In addition to Jennifer and Sarah, the St. John’s group included
Cathy Gonzalez, a senior, and Whitney Coleman, a sophomore. Joining
them was Michael Brady, a sophomore at Wesleyan University.
“When I found out about it, I knew I had to go,” says Cathy, a
21-year-old Communication Arts major from Manhattan. “I’ve always
been drawn to Japanese culture – it’s so unique, so different. This
seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Like the other students, Cathy learned about the trip on “St.
John’s Central,” the University’s intranet. “My sister thought it
would be wonderful,” says Cathy. “She earned her master’s at St.
John’s, and she has a fellowship that allows her to travel
extensively to Asia. Japan was one of the countries she never
hit.”
Cathy was so taken with Japanese culture that she brought home a
special memento: studio photos in which she poses in authentic
geisha clothing and make-up. “I’d always thought geishas are so
elegant, so mysterious,” she says. With help from a Japanese
student, Cathy located a studio “tucked away in an alley, very
quaint.” Cathy chose the brightly-colored kimono of a “miko,” a
kind of “geisha-in-training.”
“To my surprise,” Cathy recalls, “it didn’t take very long for
me to put on the make-up, the kimono and the other clothes. But
when I saw myself in the mirror, I couldn’t believe how thorough
the transformation was. It was a very special experience.”
A Different Sense of Style
For Whitney Coleman, a 19-year-old sophomore from Silver Spring,
Maryland, her first glimpse of Japan was “surreal.”
“It really hit you in the airport,” she recalls. “It was a
dream-like feeling – here I was in a different country, with a
totally different language spoken all around me. It was exciting –
not everyone my age has a chance to visit Japan.”
Equally astonishing to Whitney was the way Japanese youth
culture differs from that of the United States. “There are such
different fashions on the street,” she says. “In New York, guys
wear baggy pants, loose t-shirts. Guys in Tokyo wear form-fitting
jeans, but the girls hardly ever wear jeans; they like dressy
skirts, shorts with boots. You also see a lot of dyed hair there –
green, pink, wild colors.”
Japanese students were just as interested in the way the St.
John’s students dressed. “They tended to be reserved and polite,”
says Whitney. “But when they got to know us, they asked a lot of
questions. A lot of the girls liked my hair, my braids.”
For Whitney, attending a traditional Japanese dance class
offered an opportunity to directly experience the culture. “I’m a
hip-hop dance teacher,” she says, “so I was interested in Japanese
dance techniques. In Japan they’re more focused on formal technique
-- very different from the way Americans dance.” Whitney was such
an attentive student that the instructor shook her hand after
class.
The Unique Benefits of Studying
Abroad
Perhaps the best part of the trip, the students agreed, was a
renewed interest in the study abroad
opportunities that St. John’s offers. As a Catholic university in
the Vincentian tradition, St. John’s prepares students for today’s
global marketplace by emphasizing an appreciation for diverse
societies and cultures. The University’s Study Abroad programs
reflect this commitment.
“Thanks to this trip, I’m definitely more interested in the
study abroad opportunities available at St. John’s,” says Whitney.
“Getting to know different people, different cultures, is a
blessing.” Whitney hopes to take advantage of St. John’s Study
Abroad program in Africa
this spring.
“I’ve always loved the idea of seeing other countries,” says
Cathy. “I studied Italian at St. John’s, and my professor
encouraged me to visit Italy.
I saved up enough to visit Rome, Florence and Milan.” Cathy is
considering a Study Abroad course in The
Gambia or South Africa this summer.
The students also plan to stay in touch with the Japanese
students they met at Kokushikan. They will have a chance to see
them again this month, when forty Kokushikan students come to St.
John’s for the Spring semester.
“On the day we left, we met them at the airport,” says Cathy.
“They were very considerate hosts. It’s exciting to know we’ll be
able to be the hosts this spring.”
Our students trip to Kokushikan University generated memories
captured in photos. We invite you to share the experience through
our Photo
Gallery.