Response to Diana's

I just realized that this post is the second post since I came here... Lazy me :P
(Well, I wrote some in Japanese though)


Several days ago Diana wrote something on her blog as a response to my post, and they were interesting questions to think, so I try my best to reply from my point of view. Oh, and I have to mention before saying anything that my knowledge is mostly based on my student life in Kyoto University, so it might be wrong for other Japanese universities (I guess it is not so different... right?). OK, so here I'll write down what I think below:


Question "what is the cause of no-study atmosphere in Japanese universities?"


I think mostly because it is not hard to graduate from universities in Japan. For example, especially since I came here I feel master courses in the Netherlands are much harder than those in Japan. There are so many things to read, to do and to remember here. Of course there are also so many things to do even if you are a student in Japan, but, at least from my point of view, it is much harder here than in Japan (believe me, I spent one year as a master student in Japan, so I suppose I know something about lives of Japanese master students :P).


Hmm, OK, to be honest, it is doable, not too hard even here (first two weeks were literally too hard because of this "bad" teacher! He was the first teacher for me here, so I thought I couldn't pass any exams in the Netherlands. But now I know he was not a typical one and I think I'll be fine with exams).


However, even in Japan, I know some students in Kyoto who work (namely, study) so hard by themselves especially in the department of mathematics and physics. In these faculties, competition between students is so serious that almost all the students who managed to get into master courses are so motivated (I heard it is normal to fail the entrance exam of these graduate schools and to try again next year. It's not normal for me to study one more year only for the entrance exam). So, what I wanted to say is that not ALL the Japanese students are lazy (some might complain if I forget to say this! hehe).


You asked me if I agree with the idea: The level of education is relatively low, which means students don’t need to study much. This results in low expectations from companies and that is why they test students after graduation.


I disagree with this because I think the reason why companies do not expect much from students is not because the level is low but because they expect something else which does not related so much with academics. This must be the reason of low level. So, I think it is the other way round.


Companies usually expect "potential (do you understand what I mean? I want to say the ability of learning something)" from students. They don't expect much from student for the moment, but they do in the future (after their job training). To estimate "potential," companies try to know students' past (what they have done etc.), and in order to estimate it, the procedure of recruiting takes so long:


firstly, you need to submit an entry sheet (which asks you about your educational history, your experience of success/failure, the reason of choosing that company etc. The questions differ from company to company very much). Next step is web-test, which test your ability of mathematics, logical thinking, English and Japanese etc. Sometimes they ask you to take an aptitude test. Only if you pass these ones, you can finally take interviews. However, some companies would do a "group interview" in which we have to work together with other applicants to discuss about a given problem which does not have any correct answer (e.g., "It is infamous that Japanese people cannot speak English, even though most people learnt it in junior high and high school . What should be done to make the situation better?" "Recently the winners of sumo are always foreigners. What is the best way to produce Japanese winners?" etc). The bad thing about this group interview is that the result is not only dependent upon your ability but also upon your luck (your performance might depend on your group members, right?). After these processes, you can go to individual interviews.


Then, the next question is: Why do people go to University then? If you don’t need to study for graduation and getting jobs, why don’t you just apply for a job without a diploma.


Many people who is doing job-hunting say that it is very important from which university you come (even though nobody cares which university you graduated in business scenes anymore). Some of them have disadvantages because they are not from "good universities," and they actually claim about it a lot. Sometimes they cannot apply for a briefing session (provided by a company) because the webpage says "it's fully booked," whereas some from "good universities" can apply at the same time!


As I wrote before, entrance exams are very competitive and difficult. You know why? Because if you are from "good universities," you can take advantages as I just wrote above. Then, why companies do those discriminating things? I think this is because they think usually smart kids (I am mentioning 18-year-old people from high school) can show a good performance in entrance exams, and can enroll into good ones. Usually these "smart kids" have high "potential" than those who perform less. I guess this is the reason why people try to enroll into a good one instead of running straight into getting a job after high school.


What is strange is that there are, obviously, foreigners applying for jobs outside April. Are there really no Japanese people who get a job on a different time than right after graduation? This might be a biased view on the situation, I cannot imagine that you can only apply for jobs during a certain period. Companies need employees, independent of the period of the year they’re in. Do you know anyone who has applied for a job after graduation?


Really? I just know one German girl who applied for a job outside April (but still, she was a student when she applied), and believe me, this girl is the ONLY ONE who did this as far as I know. To apply for jobs in Japan, you need to submit this "entry sheet" to the company, and they just receive them only for a certain period. After this period, the website says "the deadline is over." I don't know what they would say if you try to apply for a company after the deadline, but I guess you really need a good reason why you were not to be able submit them in time.


Do you know if your teacher has children? Do you know their hobbies? Do they talk to you about other things than your courses?


Yes for all the questions :)
I think my supervisor is exceptionally friendly with students (I think I'm lucky with respect to it).


...let me tell you something I heard from a professor from my university. He and a colleague have been working with Asian students and they don’t like the formal attitude (“Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. No, sir.”), they think it is too distant. Where do you stand on that topic?


In Japanese language, these is a formal way of talking (I think you know about it quite well, don't you? :D). For this reason, I wouldn't have the same feeling with those Asian students. I feel the distance between teachers and students in the Netherlands is too short, instead! Students call their teacher with their first name here...! I was quite surprised when I first hear someone does that. I couldn't even believe my ears :P


Aaaaaaa!!! I promised to write this by the end of March, but it's the beginning of April now... Sorry><