2017 Activity Report
March Activity Report
2 April 2018
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu
Despite it being March already, Belgrade has been buffeted by blizzards.
In Japan we say ‘sankanshion’ (alternation of three cold and four warm days) and ‘the return of the cold’, and similar sayings also exist in Serbia. Getting warm and then cooling down again is typical of early spring weather, but continuous blizzards? I think the cold returned a little too much.
Near the end of the month the weather became warm again, and I am quite relieved.
【The Start of Summer Classes】
The summer semester has finally begun. I was a bit busy organizing the classroom allocations immediately after the semester began, but things started to calm down just after mid-March, and the students switched from ‘holiday mode’ to ‘study mode’.
【March 8th – International Women’s Day】
While it isn’t really recognized in Japan, in Serbia and other European countries, March 8th is ‘International Women’s Day’. It is a little similar to Japanese Valentine’s Day, except it’s a day where women are celebrated. On the day, flower stalls appeared on the streets and people walking in the streets were either buying single roses or bouquets.
I received a rose from the leaders of extracurricular activities, and afterwards I also received a flower from a first year student in one of my classes. I don’t normally receive flowers so I was a bit embarrassed and self-conscious.
I was also very surprised to find that all female faculty members of the university (from the professors to the cleaners) were given extra pay. While it’s only a small sum, apparently it is given every year. While I feel like this could actually lead to inequality between female and male staff, I still graciously accepted the extra pay.
【Alumni Meeting at the Embassy】
I was invited to an alumni meeting at the embassy, so I attended.
This gathering is held every year so students and graduates who have gone on exchange to Japan can meet and socialize.
Here there are not many jobs that require one to use Japanese, so despite having gone on exchange, many students are unsure of what to do now and are worried about their futures.
Through gatherings like this, former exchange students can meet and make connections, and the gathering itself is a very good platform to exchange information that will benefit the next generation of students.
February Activity Report
28 February 2018
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu
It’s the end of February, and Belgrade has become much colder.
I watched Tokyo experience a massive cold wave from the warm winter of Belgrade, but now for some reason we are experiencing blizzards. The snow in Serbia is smooth and dry, and it might actually be good that it doesn’t contain much water. However, what is really tough is the roads after snowfall. Once it gets cold in Belgrade, it doesn’t get warm again for a while, so the footprints of many people walking around in boots freeze over again and become slippery.
Even after the snow melts, it doesn’t get warm until around May. It’s a long winter.
【Examination Period】
Since it is cold outside, the fact that it is warm inside is a godsend. The final examinations for the first half of the semester were held. Even if you don’t pass the exams at this point, students do not go into their next year at this point, so these exams don’t determine whether students can continue onto the next level or not. I hope the students that failed this time will try harder next time.
In the last week of February, the final examinations for the second half of the semester were held. There isn’t enough space in the classrooms for all the students of the literature department, so designing an exam timetable at the start of the semester is stressful. On top of this, we have to take into account the schedules of the students.
【Central and Eastern Europe Japanese Teacher Training】
A teacher training workshop was held by the Japan Foundation Budapest, and so I participated as an invited guest of the University of Belgrade.
It was a workshop that gathered Japanese language teachers from all over Central and Eastern Europe, and so I was able to ask the opinions of teachers from a wide range of schools including higher education institutions, high schools and Japanese language schools. I don’t usually meet teachers aside from the Japanese department staff at the University of Belgrade, so it was a very inspiring and informative opportunity.
【Budapest at Night】
I had a discussion with a few teachers from different countries/regions on how to tie culture in with Japanese language education.
Through talking with teachers from other institutions, I started thinking about what kind of power we should be helping our students cultivate as the Japanese department of the University of Belgrade.
I only have about three months of classes left, but I want to think about how I can apply the things I learnt at the workshop to my classes.
January Activity Report
31 January 2018
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu
This is the first Activities Report for 2018.
I will continue to report on happenings in Belgrade this year.
January in 2017 was actually the coldest recorded winter in years. There were weeks where blizzards lasted for days on end, and it was a situation where it was too cold to go outside or even walk. However, perhaps because of this, winter 2018 was a warm one.
This month, snow only fell twice in Belgrade, and some days it seemed like spring had already arrived. I went to Egypt over the New Year, and so I was prepared for the cold when I came back, but it was so warm that when I got off the plane in Belgrade, it felt like I was still in Egypt.
【Examination Period】
During this warm winter, the first examinations of 2018 were held. For the first year students who entered the university in 2017, it is their first examination period. Assuming they pass all their exams in January, students have winter break until the last week of February.
The most important exam, ‘Modern Japanese’ is held every year on Sunday morning at 8am. It was a warm day for January, so the students weren’t having trouble with their hands becoming numb, and it was comparatively a more relaxing examination period for us teachers too.
【Elementary School Observation】
As part of a Japanese promotion project run by the Japanese department together with Mitsubishi Corporation and the Japan Embassy, I went to observe a school as coordinator of the GJO.
This time, I went to an elementary school in a new urban area in Belgrade that is participating in this program for the first time. In addition to this, it was also the first time for the participating teachers, so we were all newbies.
However, the principal and teachers welcomed us with open arms, and trusting relationships with students and teachers were formed. As a visiting teacher I felt very relieved.
This year, there are 17 schools training Japanese department graduates to become Japanese teachers. It’s difficult to go and observe all of these schools, but either way I want to go and observe how these teachers are doing.
December Activity Report
December 2017
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu
It is now December, the very last month of 2017. The winter semester ends this month, and the long exam period is about to start. I feel a sense of approaching loneliness when I think that soon I will no longer see my students once the vacation starts. As in many other European cities, the squares of Belgrade are now home to a number of Christmas stalls. It is the seasonal tradition to serve anything from candy to light meals. Temperatures are unstable, sometimes cold and sometimes warm, but it is usually warm and cozy inside people’s homes, just like in Hokkaido.
【2017年度第2回 日本語能力試験実施】
On the third of December, the Japanese Language Proficiency Test for the December sector was carried out. That morning saw Belgrade’s first snowfall of the year; an unfortunate event for participants in the Belgrade half-marathon scheduled for that day. Thankfully however it did not snow heavily, and with only minor effects on traffic it was possible to start the test on time.
There were about a hundred applicants, making it a relatively small exam site, but the operations staff were nervous, the examinees even more so, as this was the time when their several months of effort would finally pay off.
【中間試験「コロキウム」】
It was December, and there was the mid-term “Colloquium” starting in many subjects. The exams start from the middle of December, and all subject exams are completed by the end of the month. Since scores from the Colloquium form an important component of the final assessment, students had to spend the entire month cramming.
November Activity Report
November 2017
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu
In November in Belgrade, the weather pendulates between cold spells and warm spells; this particular November a cold has made an outbreak among the students. November is also witness to a number of “Slava” days, which are important family celebrations (celebrated on different days in each family), so there were classes in which the number of students decreased by half, due to a combination of the cold and Slava.
On the day of the Slava, in which families celebrate their own patron saint, relatives and neighbors gather together for a feast of eating and drinking. On this day everyone takes the day off of work or school and gathers at home. In Japan the only occasions for which we are allowed to take the day off are funerals or memorial services, so I envied the Serbs their opportunity to take time off work and celebrate.
【鈴木先生のご訪問】
Professor Tomomi Suzuki from the Japanese Language Center at TUFS came to our university to conduct research. Over the course of a few days she had students answer questionnaires regarding Japanese language education, and also mingled with students in her free time.
【Playing Japanese games at a café】
Members of the “Fluency Café” club showed Professor Suzuki around the city as part of their club’s activities, and then played Japanese-language games. These activities were arranged by the coordinators and the student leaders of the club; this new attempt at playing Japanese-language games proved successful, and everyone had an enjoyable time.
【Start of lessons targeting the JLPT】
We have been carrying out preparatory classes for the JLPT since the end of October. Every week for 90 minutes, students would do workbooks or worksheets prepared by the teachers according to their levels. Because of issues with the time table, students either had to attend said classes early in the morning or in the evening, so it was probably not easy for the students, but most of them participated earnestly.
October Activity Report
October 2017
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu
【Entrance Ceremony & Meeting New Students】
On the 2nd of October, the entrance ceremony for the new first-year students was held, and the orientations for each language major were also held.
Despite the fairly large classroom, the students were packed in pretty tightly!
From here on begins their (at least) four year Japanese journey. In this group of students, there are some people who have already studied Japanese before, but for most of the students it is their first time even learning hiragana. Every year, it’s very interesting watching the students go from barely knowing left from right, to having the whole world gradually open itself before their eyes. I look forward to seeing what kind of Japanese they will become able to speak.
【Japanese Artist Solo Exhibition】
From mid-October, a solo exhibition of Kenji Nagai’s woodblock prints was held for two weeks at a gallery in the center of Belgrade.
Thanks to the University of Belgrade’s Professor Kayoko Yamazaki, I was able to hold a special workshop in the gallery with the Japanese department students.
It was a place full of inspiration and a stimulating Japanese experience for the students, who walked around commenting on the art, and appreciating the art while listening to the explanations.
September Activity Report
September 2017
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu
It is September, and so the vacation period will soon come to an end. Until mid-September, Belgrade was hot enough to say ‘it’s still summer,’ but as we reach the end of September, the cold days are increasing.
In Japan, autumn comes between summer and winter, but here in Belgrade it seems that winter comes straight after summer. Although I thought it was hot until yesterday, today was cold already. In this changing of the seasons, everyone seems to have a cold.
This month, in addition to regular examinations, I am preparing applications for December’s Japanese Proficiency Examination (JLPT). The students have come back from their vacations, and club activities have started again.
【JLPT 2017 Application Period】
From September 4th-11th applications for the JLPT were accepted by the University of Belgrade Literature Department. This application period is set to coincide with the university’s examination period, and so, every year, many students step up to the challenge. There are also applicants from other universities and high schools, and applicants from neighboring countries. Here, only one of the two annual JLPT’s is held (the December examination), but despite this I think it is good to have even one chance to measure one’s growth so that students stay motivated in their studies.
This year there were over 100 applicants. I hope that all the applicants, no matter what level they are, use the following three months to study hard for the examination in December.
【September/October Term Regular Examinations】
Regular examinations were held at the same time as the JLPT application period. At the beginning of September the ‘September Term’ examinations were held, and the ‘October Term’ examinations were held at the end of September. Some of the students became very tan over the summer vacation, like lingering memories of a great summer.
【Club Activities – Pera-Pera Café】
During intervals in the examination period, we reopened ‘Pera-Pera Café.’ Around 10 students gathered, and we ordered drinks at a café while speaking Japanese for the first time in a while.
It seems that there were some students who had not spoken Japanese for a few months, but everyone tried their best discussing their summer vacations.
Pera-Pera Café was held irregularly over the summer vacation, but, from this semester, we will hold it regularly. I intend to choose the time with the student leaders.
August Activity Report
August 2017
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu
It seems that Japan’s intense heat is not letting up, but here in Belgrade, the coolness of morning and evening, and the gentleness of the sunlight makes me feel that autumn has arrived. Although there are many years where winter comes straight away without a trace of autumn.
Students that enjoyed their summer vacation back home are slowly returning, and are starting to study again in preparation for the examinations in the beginning of September.
【Exchange Meeting with a Japanese High schooler】
On 28th August, as part of the ‘Tobitate! Ryugaku JAPAN’ campaign, Yuto Otawa, a first-year high school student on a one month chess exchange in Serbia, visited the University of Belgrade and met with the students of the Japanese department.
At the start of the meeting, we showed Otawa inside the linguistics department building, home to the Japanese department, which he seemed to have an interest in.
Afterwards, we ate ice cream in the center of Belgrade, and went for a walk around the popular tourist attraction and local relaxation spot, Belgrade Fortress’s Kalemegdan Park.
In the end, there was time for the students to sit and chat with Otawa in a café. The students felt a little embarrassed, as they had never had the chance to speak Japanese with anyone but their teachers, so while they did not talk a lot during the walk, they began to speak more and more while in the café.
After seeing this exchange meeting between such young students, I hope more Japanese exchange students come to Belgrade.
July Activity Report
July 2017
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu
It is now July.
In Belgrade they have the phrase ‘harsh winter,’ but the sunlight pierces right through your skin, and makes me moan that it is just as ‘harsh.’ It is very hot. This year’s winter was apparently the coldest in years, it seems like summer is going to be intensely hot in return. Unlike the heavily air-conditioned public transport in Japan, the buses here are like saunas, so I am losing the will to go out.
【Bulgaria Summer Camp】
From 2nd – 7th of July, the ‘Balkan Peninsula Japanese Summer Camp’ was held in the seaside town of Kiten.
This camp is a Japanese training camp organised by the Japanese department at Bulgaria’s Sofia University, funded by financial aid from The Japan Foundation, in which students from neighboring Balkan Japanese educational institutions are invited every year to participate in. This camp is not only a chance to learn about Japanese language and culture, but also an opportunity to learn about the culture and language of the participating students’ countries, making it a very valuable experience.
As in previous years, the University of Belgrade received an invitation for four students and one coordinator to participate.
This year’s camp’s theme was ‘Linguistic Variety.’ Teachers from each institution held workshops on topics such as Japanese dialects and role language, and there were also calligraphy and kimono-wearing workshops.
The Serbian Students usually do not have the chance to speak Japanese with anyone except the staff at the University of Belgrade. When we left for the camp, the students were saying ‘I don’t feel confident,’ but by the end of it they were laughing that they ‘were not nervous to speak (Japanese) anymore.’ Seeing my students speaking Japanese happily with the students from other universities, I felt… really glad that I tried my best and came to Bulgaria. (We had to change buses three times on the way to Kiten. It took 18 hours…)
Anyhow, we managed to enjoy the camp, and it ended without any injuries. For the four students that participated, I think it was a very good opportunity to grow. I hope they use this experience to further their study from now on.
June Activity Report
June 2017
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu
June in Belgrade is a little cold in the morning and evening, but as hot as a midsummer’s day during the daytime, with strong sunlight and long daylight hours, allowing people to gather outdoors until late at night. It is the season where I often think ‘oh it’s still early’, then look at my watch to find it is already 9pm, and so I end up hurrying about preparing dinner. At the university, end of (school) year examinations have begun, and the students cannot hide their lack of sleep from the piled up assignments.
【The Beginning of Exams and the Graduation Ceremony】
The 2016-2017 end of semester examinations have begun at The University of Belgrade. The examination system here is very different to Japan, with many examination periods occurring over one semester. Regardless of when your class ends for the semester, the end of the semester and graduation period can change based on what classes you take and when you take them, and whether you pass them or not.
Many of this year’s fourth years studied very hard to sit exams in the first exam period, and were able to graduate from the Japanese department. As a coordinator, they were my first year group I taught upon coming to Belgrade, so it was very moving to see them graduate and go down their own paths.
There are still some students that have not passed all their subjects, so I hope they can pass and graduate during one of the other exam periods.
【University of Belgrade Club Activities Substitute】
As I have introduced many times before, the Japanese department here at the University of Belgrade has club activities run by students such as reading club, conversation club, and calligraphy club. These clubs all feature things that cannot be done in the classroom, and members gather voluntarily outside of class times.
This month, Yana and Ana, two fourth year students who started a club and worked hard to organise activities every week, will graduate, so during this year’s last ‘Pera-Pera Japanese Café’ we decided to choose the next leader of the club.
The students seemingly ignored my worries as to whether the club would survive without Yana and Ana, and had a lively discussion in which several candidates were suggested. While a final decision has not yet been made, all of the candidates have a sense of responsibility, so no matter who is chosen, the next leader will definitely be someone that the other students can rely on.
As a coordinator there is nothing more promising than this, and I believe that club activities will continue to be lively, enjoyable, and harmonious.
May Activity Report
May 2017
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu
In May, summer arrived in Belgrade at last. Both in town and the student dorms, men and women, young and old were enjoying the sunshine. We coordinators have also soaked up Serbia’s ‘sun-loving’ culture, and we always chose the outdoor seating at restaurants and cafes. This was a month where you could enjoy the shade of a tree before it really gets hot.
End of Year Group Presentations
On 23rd May, we borrowed a room at the town’s culture centre for a joint lesson with all year groups. In these meetings, each year group prepares and gives some kind of presentation.
The first and second years chose a Japanese song, the third years made their own documentary-style video (!), and the fourth years, who will be graduating after their exams, gave a speech thanking their Japanese teachers.
During the words of thanks to coordinator Takami, who will soon be leaving, there were several students who were moved to tears… I too was moved while watching the students convey their own feelings in Japanese. These presentations which showed each of the students’ individualities renewed my desire work hard so that I can greet them with a smile next time, too.
Summer Term Final Calligraphy Club, Reading Club and Pera-Pera Café
There are few opportunities to come into contact with Japanese people or culture in this area. The three above extracurricular activities, which offer the chance to use Japanese outside of lessons, are all popular with the students.
In particular, there are a lot of students who are enthusiastic about the calligraphy club, and they often sit having prepared the newspapers and tools etc. even before the coordinators arrive.
With the Pera-pera Café and reading club as well, there are lots of students who say “because we have these sessions we can read and talk in Japanese”, and I too am glad that they have continued.
Since the more senior students had the initiative to spread the word and make preparations, we somehow managed to continue these activities. There will be a change of leadership, but it seems that they’ll be able to have these extracurricular activities next year too.
Up to now, we haven’t been holding activities during the holidays, but we are thinking of re-opening them around the exam period in September. Even though by then, everyone might have even forgotten how to write ‘一’…
April Activity Report
April 2017
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu
In April is the Eastern Orthodox Church’s Easter, and the three-day holiday was spent doing things such as dying eggs and eating spit-roast pork and lamb. Meanwhile, the cold returned with a vengeance, and there was even snow at the end of April. The ice cream stalls keep opening and closing… However, Serbians seem to think that since the weather turned nice once in March, you have to sit outside. I have caught sight of people defiantly sitting out on the terrace instead of inside cafes, with a coffee or a beer in one hand and blankets on their laps.
2016 Mitsubishi Japanese Diffusion Project Closing Ceremony
On 27th April, the closing ceremony was held for the Mitsubishi Japanese Diffusion Project at the Japanese Embassy in Serbia. This is a project in collaboration with Mitsubishi Corporation and the Japanese embassy that has continued from 2014 to now, sending graduates of our Japanese department to primary and secondary schools in various regions of Serbia to conduct Japanese lessons. This year saw 7 primary schools and 9 secondary schools participating- the highest numbers within the three years. At the ceremony, many of the teachers and students who were learning Japanese came not just from within Belgrade but from other regions as well.
There was a harmonious atmosphere from beginning to end, with a programme including the yearly tradition of high school and primary school student presentations of speeches, choruses and haiku recitals in Japanese. The University of Belgrade graduates who held lessons as Japanese language teachers were deeply moved by seeing the fruits of their labours in the presentations by the students they took charge of.
In addition, at the end of the ceremony, to celebrate three years of the project’s success, the Japanese ambassador to Serbia, the head of Mitsubishi in Belgrade, and the deputy head and coordinator of the Language department at the University of Belgrade broke open a ceremonial sake barrel.
Among the Serbian guests and the 18-year-old high school students, there were many who had never tasted Japanese sake before, and so the meeting ended full of surprise and smiles. I hope that projects like this will be continued as projects that are helpful, if even just a little, to a pro-Japanese Serbian society including learners and teachers of Japanese.
