By Jane Singer
京都の大学で教えるジェーン・シンガーさんは、学校の授業よりもサークル活動に熱心な日本人学生の姿に興味を持ったといいます。サークルの良さを生徒に聞いてみたところ、友達をつくれるからとの答えが返ってきました。アメリカの大学ではサークル活動が活発でないため、学生は寮生活やルームシェアなどを通して友達を作るそうです。また、アメリカ人は知らない人でも気楽に話しかけるので、わりと簡単に知り合いになれるのだそうです。
Kyoto is a university town, with some 40 public and private universities within the city limits. Thirty years ago, local college campuses were the staging grounds for protest marches, strikes and student takeovers of administrative buildings.
Current students, however, put their megaphones to a less confrontational use. Today's college quadrangles abound with dancers perfecting their hip-hop moves, jugglers tossing bowling pins, and cheerleaders toppling from each other's shoulders ? all members of student circles or clubs.
I've been fascinated by this aspect of campus life since I first began teaching at Japanese universities five years ago. At the two universities where I teach, a sprawling national university and a diverse private college, some of my students doze off in class as a result of daily 6 a.m. rowing sessions at Lake Biwa.
Other students I've never seen before suddenly appear mid-semester explaining about regional sports contests or three-day cultural exchanges with Korean university chess clubs and begging (unsuccessfully) to have their absences excused.
I decided to learn more about university clubs. The national university's Web site lists 85 officially registered athletic clubs or groups and a mind-boggling 104 "liberal arts circles."
They run the gamut of sports, from boxing and speed skating to parasailing and riflery, and include Noh and rakugo performance groups.
I informally surveyed students in three of my classes about their club activities. Nearly four-fifths of the students I asked at the national university belong to clubs or circles, with most joining their groups to try something new, to continue developing a skill or interest, or to make friends. Alarmingly, more than two-thirds admitted that they actually spend more time on circle and club activities than they do on class work.
What does that say, I wondered, if students at one of Japan's top-rated universities spend more hours jumping double dutch than they do with their books? Is this a harbinger of Japan's inevitable decline?
In defense of the kids, more than half of the students identified academic studies as the most important element of a full university life, and several felt that they really should devote a few more hours to their studies.
When asked the greatest benefit of club membership, students wrote that they can hone organizational and leadership skills, exchange information on classes and interests, and make connections that might help in future job-hunting. Most importantly, though, as a sophomore girl explained, in this huge, impersonal university, clubs are the best way to make new friends.
Circles or clubs do exist in the U.S., but mainly as expressions of shared identity or affiliation. Besides clubs, American students seem to have a broader range of opportunities than Japanese to make friends.
For example, U.S. students are often required to spend their freshman year living in a campus dorm, and many choose to join a live-in sorority or fraternity. In addition, American students often share houses or apartments to cut costs, which few Japanese students do, despite sky-high rents here. After all, there's nothing like sharing a bathroom with someone to help you forge bonds, for better or for worse.
In addition, Americans seem to find it easier than Japanese to start up casual conversations. Japanese students may feel uneasy about what wording to use until they ascertain if another student is their senior, their junior or from the same class. Americans aren't as concerned about relative rank in everyday conversations.
I experienced this recently when visiting the U.S. Consulate in Osaka on some passport business. I started chatting with the four other Ameri-cans in the waiting room, and within minutes we had all shared our life stories. In contrast, I'm still waiting for the Japanese women in my yoga class to say hello.
I've decided not to give up on my èpèè-wielding, volunteering, gospel-singing students, but it would be nice to see their drowsy countenances in class occasionally. If nothing else works to spur attendance, I'm thinking of renaming my class the International Exchange Club and planning a weeklong retreat in Nagano next summer.
Jane Singer
京都在住のアメリカ人ライター。大学教授でもあり、生け花アーティストでもある。
- staging…for 〜の拠点
- takeovers...buildings
（大学）本部の占拠
-
quadrangles...with
〜でいっぱいの中庭
-
sprawling
広大な
-
doze off
うとうとする
-
rowing sessions
漕艇（そうてい）の練習
-
begging…excused
欠席した理由を認めてもらおうと（うまくはいかないが）
-
mind-boggling
圧倒されるような
-
gamut of sports
ありとあらゆるスポーツ
-
harbinger…decline
避けられない日本の衰退の兆し
-
hone
〜に磨きをかける
-
sophomore
大学2年生
-
freshman
大学1年生
-
live-in…fraternity
共同生活を送る女子学生の社交クラブと男子学生の社交クラブ
-
sky-high rents
とてつもなく高い家賃
-
forge bonds
きずなを築く
-
for...worse
良くも悪くも
-
èpèè-wielding
エペ（フェンシングで用いる剣）を振りかざす
-
drowsy countenances
眠そうな顔
