TOPICS
- 2014
We had MIT students visiting UTokyo Hongo Campus from 28 May to 12 June.
We had MIT students visiting UTokyo Hongo Campus from 28 May to 12 June. Since Winter Semester 2011, Global Center for Innovation in Engineering Education (GCIEE) has been offering a course called M-Skype where UTokyo students exchange language with MIT students through Skype. The students from MIT studying Japanese as their second major at MIT (in Very Fast Track course) visited the Faculty of Engineering this year as well as last two years to study Japanese in our Japanese classes and to join the M-Skype class and discuss with UTokyo students. They also spent their time out of campus experiencing Japanese life and culture.
Followings are some of their miscellaneous impressions of Japan.
Since I came to Japan, I experienced some once-in-a-lifetime things, such as Japanese tea ceremony, Kimono, and learning Japanese history at museums. As a foreigner, I feel so lucky to have learned Japanese traditional culture as well as contemporary culture through this exchange program.
Szu-Po Wang
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We visited the University of Tokyo in order to study Japanese. During our stay in Tokyo, we enjoyed ourselves very much while studying hard. UTokyo students brought us to well-known places where we learned a lot about Japanese culture. We ate various kind of food and bought interesting things at Asakusa, Akihabara, and Oedo-Onsen. Yesterday, all of us wore Kimono. Kimono was difficult for me to put on, but it was beautiful. I felt a bit too hot as Kimono consists of many layers.
Eeway Hsu
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Thanks to the University of Tokyo, I have enjoyed myself very much last two weeks. I visited many places where I really felt “a fusion of classic and modern times”. I liked both the silence at Meiji Jingu and the liveliness in Shinjuku and Shibuya. I also joined various events and experienced a lot there. In particular, I had a great time with Sumo wrestlers from Oguruma-beya. In the last two weeks, I felt interested not only in Japanese but also in Japanese culture. I am going to keep studying Japanese and will look forward to visiting Japan again.
Yuchen Fu
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My name is Kevin Peng. I would like to talk about VFT at MIT and life in Tokyo.
First, I would like to tell you why I took the VFT (Very Fast Track) at MIT. I have been interested in Anime and Manga since I was a child. When I was a freshman at MIT, my roommate took the VFT. After coming back from his visit to Japan, he told me that Japan was the number-one country and he wanted to go back to Japan. That is why I became interested in visiting Japan, especially Akihabara. I thought that I could visit Japan for free if I took VFT.
Second, I would like to tell you my impression on life in Tokyo.
*Snacks
I tried many kinds of snacks in Japan. These pictures are some of the snacks I tried. I also tried other snacks as well but I cannot remember them now. I think Japanese snacks are better than American ones. For example, Poifull, which is similar to JellyBeans, tastes like Gummi Bears. It has an interesting texture and tastes good. Many of my friends want to try KitKat, so I went to “Don Quijote” to buy 16 bags of them for my friends.
*Festivals
I saw various kinds of food. I had an interesting experience there. I couldn’t find “Koimusubi”, which is a pity. My answer would be “Don’t know” if you had a question to “Koimusubi”.
*Akihabara
I went to “Book-off” in Akihabara. “Book-off” sells many 100-Yen secondhand books. I was so happy that I bought 19 books there. I also went to a game center. I think Japanese game centers are more attractive than American arcades. I like to play music games in Japanese arcades. I often play “StepMania” in US, so I like to play Japanese Taiko games very much. One of the most difficult games to play is the crane game. My roommate told me that he had never got anything even though he applied his perfect strategy. That is why I tried the crane game this time. I was successful only after spending 2,500 Yen on it.
Kevin Peng