• Japan Study Tour a Success
• More Good Things to Come
• Announcing the EALC/SPEA Joint Master's Program

 

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Japan Study Tour a Success

Two professors and twenty-one Indiana University students, ten from East Asian Languages and Cultures and eleven from the school of Business spent Spring Break in Japan as part of the combined East Asian Languages and Cultures and Kelley School of Business class "Japan Study Tour, Spring 2003." Professors Marc Dollinger and Yasuko Watt developed this course using support from the Freeman Foundation grant. You can read more about the origins of this course in the October 2002 EASC newsletter.

Students spent the weeks up to spring break preparing for the trip, learning about Japanese business and culture, and studying survival Japanese phrases. Eight of the twenty-one students had never studied Japanese before. "The lessons ranged from thought-provoking to super-practical…We spent as much time learning about societal ideas and concepts as we did studying basic language survival," explained EALC major Sean Stone. Jennie Woolf, a business major, found the videos to be most helpful. "Some of the best things we learned during class were from the movies and videos we saw because it taught us a lot about the culture, which helped to better prepare those of us who had not studied Japan prior to the class."

The professors worked hard to create a class that challenged these students, who often exhibited very different points of view. Woolf continues, "The professors shared lectures and assigned work which was for all of us, rather than assigning certain work to students in certain areas. The only trouble we ran into was with the group projects. Business and EALC students have completely different training on how group work should be done, so it presented some complications which we had to discuss as a class." Stone concurs, "This may sound strange, but the greatest strength and weakness in the EALC/Business collaboration are the same. There is a real difference in approach and attitude in everything from planning to problem solving…but this very different perspective was very refreshing and seemed to add a lot of life to the trip."

The students left Indiana on March 13 and returned on March 22. While in Japan, they had the freedom to investigate issues which were of deepest interest to them while still participating in planned group tours. This combination of structured and unstructured time allowed students to experience Japan on their own terms. The group visited the Tokyo central government building, the Imperial Palace, Shibuya, Harajuku, Ueno Zoo, the National Museum, Kamakura, the National Diet, Asahi Beer, Nissan, and the Daily Yomiuri newspaper. In Shibuya, students encountered the largest organized anti-war demonstration face-to-face, and war with Iraq broke out while they were visiting the Yomiuri newspaper offices. They saw the newspaper company spring into action, and each of them left with ahot-off-the-presses extra edition about the war. Toward the end of their stay in Japan, students attended a reception hosted by the Indiana University Alumni Association of Japan.

Interested students also visited the National Diet Library and looked at some of Japan's rarest books. Other students saw Japan's most cutting-edge, completely paperless hospital. Nurses carry PDAs instead of charts, and patient files could be accessed on any of the 1200 computers which could be found in examination rooms and nurse stations throughout the hospital. After returning to campus, students used the information they gathered to begin work on individual projects which will be the culmination of the course.

Stone concludes, "The trip was a real joy, and I am lucky to have had the experience. It didn't change me; it re-forged me, presenting me with a lot of questions and scenarios that I hadn't had the opportunity to encounter." Business student Woolf agrees, "Because of opportunities such as this, I feel like I have grown tremendously as a person. I wish all students could have this chance as well. A course like this should be required before a student can graduate!" Written by Susan Furukawa.

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More Good Things to Come

A new combined department study tour course is being developed between East Asian Languages and Cultures (EALC) and the School for Environmental and Public Affairs (SPEA) by Michael Robinson of EALC and Roy Shin of SPEA. The course, which is still in the early phases of development, will meet during the first 2004 summer session and provide an intensive introduction to Korean public policy and government. It is being built around SPEA alumni who are now placed in government, NGO and private policy-influencing institutions. While the schedule for the course is still under discussion, some possible sites that students will visit include the Seoul City Planning Bureau, the National Environmental Agency, the Economic Planning Board, and the Seoul National University Institute of Public Policy. Much of the discussion, training and de-briefing for this class will be done on site in Korea.

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Announcing the SPEA/EALC Dual Master's Program

This fall the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures (EALC) and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) will begin to offer a joint three-year program that qualifies students for a dual Master's degree. Students must separately apply to and be accepted into both the MPA program in SPEA and the MA degree program in East Asian Studies. This degree parallels the joint degree EALC already offers with the Kelley School of Business (MA/MBA). The purpose of the degree is to prepare interested students to learn about East Asia while at the same time learning skills for government and nonprofit work. The dual Master's degree allows accepted students to streamline their coursework in each program so that they may complete a dual degree in three years.

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