Bulletin Spring‧Summer 1992

Excellent Resources The Japanese Studies Department is conveniently located on the sixth floor of the recently completed Hui Yeung Shing Building at Chung Chi. On the floor above is the departmental recording room and an audiovisual language laboratory. The sixth floor also houses a reading room, where students have access to a wide variety of Japanese books, magazines, tapes an d slides. The department's own library also stocks an excellent collection of Japanese, Chinese and English literature, although part of the collection belongs to the University's main library. Some 800 books out of the total collection of over 3,000 titles are devoted to Japanese and Japanese studies, and this figure is expected to increase over the next couple of years to meet the growing demand from students. Apart from this specialized collection in the departmental library, the students also have access to some 3,500 Japanese books in the University Library System. Many Scholarships Available Students taking Japanese language and Japanese studies as their main subject are in the fortunate position of being able to benefit from a variety of scholarships awarded by different Japanese organizations, such as the Japanese Government Monbusho Scholarship, the Haruna Scholarship, Daiwa Scholarship and many others. They can also apply for the usual Government and University scholarships. Student Opinions Irene Castilho (Elective) Irene Castilho majors in government and public administration and minors in business administration. Greatly interested in Japanese society and customs’ she studied Japanese language in her second year in the Japanese Studies Section. Because of her outstanding academic results, she was awarded an undergraduate scholarship by the Japanese Government Monbusho in September 1990 to study Japanese language and culture for a year at the University of Tsukuba. Upon her return ， she continues with her Japanese studies in the University's new Department of Japanese Studies. 'In my second year I attended only three classes of Japanese a week as an elective. Because of the limited class time and large class size, the chance to practise speaking the language was relatively small. The grammar-oriented teaching approach further reduced opportunities of oral practice. So when I first arrived in Japan, I could only communicate with the people there in simple Japanese. But on the whole, I would say the Japanese language course offered by the University is satisfactory, in terms of teacher qualifications, teaching methods, course content, facilities, as well as classroom atmosphere. As I do not major in Japanese language, I learn only the basics here. The year in Japan is what has benefited me most in my pursuit of knowledge about Japan. One word of advice to those who are going to study in Japan: you should grasp every opportunity to mix with the local people and to get acquainted with local events. Apart from the pursuit of academic knowledge, try take an inquiring attitude towards everything so that you can acquire a deeper understanding of the Japanese culture, people and way of thinking. As student representatives from The Chinese University, you should also try your best to introduce to the Japanese your own culture and experience.' Department of Japanese Studies 11