Reflections of Hakodate

The two months I spend in Hakodate were the best of my life. Looking back on the experience, I think having an open and positive attitude was one of the most important reasons why I was able to fully appreciate this study abroad opportunity. Although I’m sure that my unhappy experience at Cambridge in the previous summer was key to helping to develop that attitude, Hakodate is such a wonderful little town, and HIF as a program is so carefully and precisely executed, that it really is difficult not to be happy. And I felt happy every single day I was there. There were rarely any lows, and on the rare occasions that I felt weighed down by the work, or felt frustrated by my inability to communicate effectively with my host family, the next day I would bike along the coast and the sea breeze would take away all of my worries.

Reflecting on those two months, I don’t think I learned as much Japanese as I imagined I would – I thought I’d come out of the program nearly fluent, and be able to read manga and watch simple television programs without the aid of dictionaries. I have to admit, I still can’t – the dictionary is a must. The main obstacle, above all else, is vocabulary. I don’t have a problem with what HIF has taught me, but I’ve come to realize that the study of a language does not depend on any set curriculum or textbook. Once you learn the basic grammatical structures and have a decent feel of the language, most, if not all of the progress that you make, will be dependent on your own efforts.

Two of my friends in A 組 love to sing Japanese pop songs, and they studied the lyrics of dozens of songs and can sing them perfectly. They tell me that they can find all of the grammar structures that they learned in class in those songs, and more. Saying “I love to watch Japanese Anime and drama” is one thing, but watching it with Japanese subtitles, and freeze framing and taking down the new vocab and new grammatical structures, and (I cannot emphasize this enough) actually reviewing what you learned, is something completely different. One must be interested in the material to do these things, but by the time you’re doing daily reviews using Anki, and reading and re-reading your notes, what’s fueling you cannot be your interest for the material alone. You must have a strong drive and motivation for studying the language itself.

This all sounds really preachy, but it is what I’ve realized from these two months in HIF. I still have a long, long ways to go after HIF, and I look forward to the say when I can feel satisfied not only with my Japanese skills, but by my work habits and consistency – those are the things that carry over to other fields as well.

In terms of pure Japanese skills, I think I’ve always been rather good at speaking, and I’m especially proud of my ability to interpret the implied context of the situation (空気読める). By the end of HIF, I was very confident of my ability to get myself understood in daily conversation. I could begin conversations with ease, and find alternative ways of expressing myself if I couldn’t get through to my 相手 (person I’m talking to). However, language is a fickle thing. Just after a week of not using Japanese and staying at home, that confidence has diminished considerably. Again, I am reminded that perceived language ability is much less important than having consistent study habits that will actually help you improve.

Outside of academics, I was extremely fortunate to have met my host family, who felt like real family after these two months, and I became very good friends with the Chinese 留学生たち that lived besides us (which was slightly problematic since I had another group of people to speak a non-Japanese language with). While お婆ちゃん and  お爺ちゃん  were both extremely nice to me and I cannot complain, I felt slightly disappointed that there were no young family members of my host family with whom I could converse with on a regular basis. I really envied the HIFers who had middle school or high school children in their host families. Theoretically, お婆ちゃん’s two 孫さん (grandsons) are both my age and would have been perfect to talk to, but alas, they were both at college and I did not have the fortune to meet them.

Summer in Hokkaido is beautiful beyond description. Take any scenery, and add in the crystal blue sky, and the roaring of the ocean, and the cool breeze, and in it there is born a shade of transcendence. The food is unforgettable. Snaffles cheesecakes (why did I not discover them sooner!), the melt-in-your-mouth salmon slices at 函太郎, お婆ちゃん’s crab miso soup… Hakodate taught me how to enjoy every little moment in life – it is in the air you breathe, in the next bite you take, in what embraces your eyes once you turn the corner.

I want to thank 奥野先生 for always being adorable, patient and understanding. I want to thank my host family, for treating me like one of their own. I want to thank every one at HIF, for being so considerate and thorough, and for holding this program for twenty-seven years straight. Finally, I want to thank the Light Fellowship and Yale for making my summer possible. Without your generous support, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I am deeply indebted to all of those who labored tirelessly to help me enjoy my two months in Hakodate. These two months have been nothing less than unforgettable. ありがとうございました！ 皆さん、サヨナラ – but this is not the end. I’m certain that I’ll be returning to Hokkaido, and to Hakodate in the future. Until next time!

Chris

So touched when Okuno sensei told us at the last show and tell that the 一番楽しかったこと for her at HIF was being with us... We're the ten little smiley faces at the bottom!

Me getting my certificate of attendance from 山崎先生

Feeling sad to leave HIF...

Here's the final speech that I made on behalf of all the HIF students to end this blog... It's been a fun two months and I hope you enjoyed my blog as well! :)