Category: Japan

What is experiential learning?

I thought this question several times and reached to the conclusions through my experience of study abroad in Japan.

The definition of experiential learning is, according to University of Colorado Denver:

“Experiential learning is a process through which students develop knowledge, skills, and values from direct experiences outside a traditional academic setting. Experiential learning encompasses a variety of activities including internships, service learning, undergraduate research, study abroad, and other creative and professional work experiences. Well-planned, supervised and assessed experiential learning programs can stimulate academic inquiry by promoting interdisciplinary learning, civic engagement, career development, cultural awareness, leadership, and other professional and intellectual skills.”

What is the goal of study abroad program?

The main purpose of study abroad is cultural awareness through visiting many interesting places in the different countries. I think that it is very easy to lose the goal because seeing the various places is memorable, but not directly related to cultural awareness without reflective inquiry. Keeping journals is one way, but without reflective inquiry or reflective questions, students feel as thought they are JUST visiting Japanese famous places.

I focused on “EXPERIENCE” on experiential learning in my program, meaning that we learn Japanese culture through experiencing. For example, in my program, making plastic food samples, taking sushi lessons, making cup noodles, and staying in temple (Sukubo), etc., are invaluable in learning about the culture.

The most moving thing at the Hiroshima Peace Park was the museum where the objects recovered from the families of the victims who died from the atomic bomb blast or later from complications were housed on display. Especially though, the belongings of the children. Many of the artifacts in the museum belonged to children, like wallets, school uniforms, and lunch boxes. The most moving for me, however, was the metal bike and helmet belonging to a little boy. It said the boy loved his bike tremendously and would ride it all the time. He was a very happy child. Unfortunately, he died during the blast and the family couldn’t handle burying their son in a graveyard so they buried him in the family backyard with his precious bike. It was donated to the museum by his father in later years, but remained buried with the boy for a number of years. War is horrible for everyone and it’s horrible that people had to endure these tragedies, but it’s very fortunate that there are these belongings in the museum so people may remember their lives and who they were.

I think President Obama visiting is very good for the country. However, the ideas he speaks of are very unrealistic in my opinion. I don’t think any country that has atomic bombs will ever get rid of that kind of power. They don’t want anyone ahead of them and they like being on top. I think that countries believe that getting rid of that power will make them weaker in a world view and put them at a risk, although having bombs in the first place is a risk.

Religion is in every aspect of their daily lives, so it is no wonder it would be included in such a memorable place as Hiroshima. The Do Spirit of Japan is relevant in Hiroshima. There are so many religious monuments, whether Shinto or Buddhist in the area, commemorating the victims of the atomic blast. It is a reminder to people to keep their spirit alive through something as important as religion.

To me the big difference between Nara and Kyoto was that Nara was more of what I expected it to be. And I thought that Nara was this small little town that is only known for its deer. But I was wrong, Nara is actually a pretty nice size, maybe like Akron. It’s a very touristy city too, everywhere you go you can see deer merchandise, signs, or cartoons. With Kyoto, I thought that it was going to be a really old city where the buildings aren’t really that modern. But Kyoto is a busy bustling city. And they are very modern, with so many shops.

One thing that I found interesting was, of course, the deer. It was so odd to see the deer just roaming around, being very friendly and calm with people. It was like a fairy tale to me. What I can tell so far is that Japanese culture is very in tune to nature, so I was thinking maybe that’s a reason why they let the deer roam around. I just wonder, how did this all start? It must have took awhile for the deer to get used to people. And do deer have any cultural significance?

A key concept that I found interesting in Japan is that the Japanese take bits of different cultures or ideologies and then make them their own.
For example, in Kyoto there was a Buddhist shrine within a Shinto shrine/temple. This really proves the point that many Japanese don’t follow just one religion. Which makes sense — both reglions have greatly influnced Japanese culture — it would be hard to just choose one. And I think that this helps people have more of an open mind when it comes to learning about different ideas.

We are in Kyoto, Japan. We had open-roof-top bus tour to visit major temples yesterday. Today students had a free time all day. They planned and moved it into action depending on their interests. Some of them had a bike ride to go to Arashiyama, and some of them took a bus to visit not only temples and shrines but also a Cafe and an electric store! They got lost and walked more, and solved their problems on the spot. We are having fun and collecting great memories.