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AN ADULT LEARNS JAPANESE (DURING COVID) - PART 2

2/22/2021

By: Scott Maccarone, Community Guest Contributor

Days go slow, weeks go fast. “Wait, what day is it? Is it Thursday?” I ask my wife. “No it’s Tuesday” she responds. The days blend together and work from home keeps not only our bodies but our minds confined to the same four walls. Our brains want to be distracted. “I’ll get it!” I shout as my ears hear the sweet sound of the doorbell - another Amazon package containing some pens (I love writing instruments), protein bars, and the complete DVD collection of Poirot. Why am I still using DVD’s?! Because Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and all the other streaming services do not carry some of my favorite shows like Columbo and Poirot unless I sign up for another streaming subsidiary like BritBox or AcornTV. Maybe we will consolidate all these streaming services into an accessible, yet fully loaded entertainment service?! Yes - consolidated, accessible but loaded entertainment. Let’s call it CABLE for short! But I digress. Rantings and ramblings aside, the monotony of daily life during COVID can be difficult to cope with. Fortunately for me, I have each Saturday morning to look forward to with Aki Sensei teaching Japanese!

During non-COVID times, I would meet with my martial arts group (Kashima Shinryu at UCLA) for practice twice each week, and my wife, our son, and I would meet with friends for coffee, brunch, dinner, or walks on weekends. How do we maintain our mental health when the very mechanisms we employ to protect our sanity are stripped away? How do we regain a sense of routine and socialization when we are stuck at the bottom two rungs of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? My answer came in the form of Aki Sensei’s Japanese class in addition to turning to Zoom for martial arts and social “gatherings”.

My Japanese language class gives me a sense of normalcy and progression when days smear together. I open my textbook’s in the evenings once my son has gone to bed and study Japanese for an hour. I can see my progress flipping through the pages of my textbook, lecture notes, and homework as the days, weeks, and months pass by. The completed lessons and homework assignments act like signposts along an intellectual highway - “Now passing Lesson 4. Next stop Lesson 5!” Having this intellectual highway is comforting since our temporal highway has been ravaged by COVID and under construction indefinitely. We typically measure progression with birthdays, holidays, festivals, and other celebrations with friends and family. Our response, for better or worse, has been to push pause on all these events, effectively freezing our sense of time because our celebrations - our sense of progression - have been stuck in a holding pattern for a full year. By creating my alternative intellectual highway, I have been comforted with a new sense of progression in my life.

Aki Sensei does an excellent job each Saturday morning holding her students accountable for the material and ensuring each student has the opportunity to participate in class. Aki Sensei brings fun and interesting cultural topics and “phrases of the day” building the language-culture bridge. For example, we learned about Setsubun which occurs the day before spring, typically on February 3rd, but this year (2021) occured on February 2nd which had not happened since 1897! Setsubun is also called the “Bean-throwing Festival” owing to the tradition of throwing roasted soybeans while shouting “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” (“Devils out! Fortune in!”). Along with seeing Aki Sensei and my classmates via Zoom each Saturday, the routine of studying and practicing Japanese at home has established a new normal for me - a new routine I can depend on through the chaos of work, parenting, and COVID.

I have found the mental challenge of learning Japanese gives me a sense of purpose when so many of my other activities and interests have been put on hold. I still practice Kashima Shinryu in a limited way on my own. And 1-2 times per week the group meets virtually for a short practice session and discussions. This practice exercises my body and spirit clearing out the mental cobwebs and better preparing my mind for Japanese lessons. But more than that, the language and my martial art feed each other and have served me well as strong and steady signposts as I traverse this new landscape.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
はじめまして。マカロネスコットです。よろしくおねがいします。
Scott Maccarone is a mathematician by education, earning a MS from UC Irvine, but writer by choice. Scott has practiced various martial arts from Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu Kodokai, Judo, boxing, Muay Thai, and Kashima Shinryu. The history, spirit, and culture of Japanese martial arts elevate Scott’s practice into physical exercise, intellectual study, and a means to achieve psychological well-being. Scott has been to Japan twice and intends on many return visits post-COVID. Scott is most fortunate to have met his wife who is truly his best friend and better half, and is continually in awe of his young son whom he loves far more than evolution requires.

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An Adult Learns Japanese - Part 1

2/12/2021

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By: Scott Maccarone, Community Guest Contributor

Duolingo, Babel, The Pimseuler Method, Rosetta Stone.....the list goes on. All of these apps and programs are marketed as ways to help people learn languages ‘more quickly, efficiently, and with better memory retention’. Duolingo is an app attempting to “game-ify” language learning at no cost to the user, while Rosetta Stone can cost as much as a downpayment on a car. I have tried some of these apps and methods, but to limited success. Deep down we all know why the programs and apps and gimmicks and “hacks” don’t work-- because there is no shortcut to learning Japanese. Learning Japanese takes effort every day to read, listen, write, and speak; it takes a community of peers to build an encouraging support system; it takes cultural awareness to understand not only what speech to employ but the corresponding behaviors and gestures; and it takes passionate teachers to correct and guide students along their path. Welcome to the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute (GVJCI)!

I was introduced to the Japanese language and culture through martial arts. I was small, timid, and not particularly athletic as a youth, and surrounded by plenty of big, strong, boisterous farmers and cowboys where I grew up in my rural community. Martial arts magazines and books became a fascination of mine owing to the idea of acquiring some rare or mystical skill enabling me to overcome bigger, stronger, faster opponents. But my little rural town only offered poor quality “strip mall karate”. I eventually found an Aikido dojo which fit my ideas of what a true martial art should be. That is, until I entered community college and learned about the Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu Kodokai dojo located just across the highway from where I was attending college. This dojo opened my eyes to the world of koryu and Japanese culture, and the training here would set my standards and expectations for quality martial arts instruction.

At the Kodokai dojo we greeted each other with “Konbanwa” or “Oyasuminasai” at the end of the night; we thanked our seniors and instructors with “doumo arigatou gozaimasu”; and we counted to ten while warming up with calisthenics - “Ichi, ni, san, shi!” our instructor would yell; “Go, roku, shichi, hachi!” we would yell back as we ran around and around on the tatami mats. And when it was time for pushups, our sempai (seniors) would call out “Ichi!” and we would move into the lowered position of a pushup - chest one inch off the floor and backs flat as a board. Only when our sempai would see all of us in proper position would they call out “Ni!”, instructing us to push up into the extended plank position. These experiences in my college days brewed a strong desire within me to learn more - more about the language itself and the culture. But as many young males tend to do, I put this off foolishly thinking, “I have plenty of time, I’ll learn about that later.” And now, several years later, I decided learning Japanese would never become a priority unless I made it a priority.

I had recently moved to the South Bay and was looking for a Judo dojo nearby. I had visited several dojo’s looking for the right fit, but when I found the GVJCI Judo dojo I was immediately impressed by the high caliber sempai and sensei, as well as the history of the dojo. Something about the GVJCI Judo dojo reminded me of the Kodokai dojo - the camaraderie, the learn-by-doing philosophy, the discipline and rigor, even the scent. My search for a quality Judo dojo had finally ended and I returned early to the next class ready to participate.

I noticed some flyers around the building with “GVJCI Schedule of Classes” when I arrived early the following Thursday night for my first official Judo class. The schedule showed children’s and adult’s Japanese language classes taking place Saturday mornings in addition to many other classes throughout the week in art, dance, music, martial arts, and community events. Excitement built within me at the idea of taking Japanese language classes at the same place I would be practicing Judo. And so, still feeling the effects of my Judo class and swallowing several tablets of Motrin with my coffee, I hobbled over to my car and made the short drive back to the GVJCI for Japanese lessons Saturday morning. Fortunately, classes had just started the week prior, so I hadn’t missed too much material and was welcomed to join. Eriko Sensei was kind and helpful, and she made sure everyone had an opportunity to participate in class activities. Eriko Sensei made it clear she enjoyed teaching Japanese and made time for her students to ask questions after class either in person or via email. Once class had ended, Eriko Sensei introduced me to Principal Larry Hada so I could formally sign up for the course.

Pictured: Gardena Judo Club at the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute.

I awoke excitedly, though typically stiffly and sorely, as each Saturday morning dawned that fall. I would arrive 10-15 minutes early with a travel mug filled with green tea or coffee and finish off a homework assignment while discussing with other students. The interaction with other students and with Eriko Sensei brought life and spirit to learning Japanese. Learning Japanese isn’t about scoring points to “level up” on some language app or listening to a recording droning away the various phrases. I began to realize how the social component of learning Japanese was feeding my soul and at the same time helping me learn the language. There is a kind of mutual dependency between learning the language and the socialization. Having peers I could tutor, and be tutored by, certainly helped me acquire the language efficiently, but there was something else. The friendships we built made us want to learn and help each other all the more. I would soon find more interconnections, such as the socialization and language learning connection, on my journey.

Another interconnection I discovered is how learning Japanese cannot be separated from the Japanese culture. However, this is often the case with the various apps, programs, and methods on the market. They treat the Japanese language like it is it’s own self-contained unit. But learning the Japanese language helps us to better understand the Japanese culture and learning the Japanese culture helps us to learn the Japanese language! This mutual dependency between culture and language can be observed by looking at the phrases and gestures with which we speak to a supervisor compared to a colleague or subordinate. From simple greetings and expressions of gratitude, to more complex verb conjugation, choosing the appropriate speech is crucial to building relationships, and creating or maintaining harmony within the group. And here again is another example of how the culture informs the language - the Japanese language was almost designed in such a way as to reflect the desire of the Japanese people to not embarrass others or to cause others to “lose face”. For example, when asking someone to go see a movie Saturday night (どようびのよるにえいがをみませんか。), the response is what most Americans would classify as a “gentle let down” - “Saturday night is a little……” (どようびのよるはちょっと). The cultural implication is Saturday night is a bit inconvenient, but rather than possibly offending the person with a direct statement, a reticent response is called for culturally.

Pictured: Me at a temple (I don’t recall the name) in Kyoto in April 2019

I believe the apps and programs mentioned at the outset of this post will always miss the mark for people who really want to understand a language and a culture, because they view language learning as a linear progression rather than an infinite loop. In Japanese culture, relationships and group dynamics are inseparable from learning the language and inform our speaking and writing forms. Lastly, these apps and programs focus on passive learning, meaning they attempt to “teach” Japanese via listening and reading. But learning Japanese requires active learning, that is, speaking and writing. These are ways of “doing”, ways of action; they alert the Universe to your presence and to your effort. Speaking and writing Japanese is a way of creating rather than simply absorbing. And the more we create, the more we want to create. I hope to see YOU taking a class at the GVJCI creating with us!

I’ll talk about my experience learning Japanese through the GVJCI during COVID in my next post - stay tuned!

Pictured: Me at the Sensō-ji temple in Asakusa, Taito City, Tokyo in April 2019

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

はじめまして。マカロネスコットです。よろしくおねがいします。
Scott Maccarone is a mathematician by education, earning a MS from UC Irvine, but writer by choice. Scott has practiced various martial arts from Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu Kodokai, Judo, boxing, Muay Thai, and Kashima Shinryu. The history, spirit, and culture of Japanese martial arts elevate Scott’s practice into physical exercise, intellectual study, and a means to achieve psychological well-being. Scott has been to Japan twice and intends on many return visits post-COVID. Scott is most fortunate to have met his wife who is truly his best friend and better half, and is continually in awe of his young son whom he loves far more than evolution requires.

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My Experience Interning at GVJCI!

2/5/2021

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By Taylor Ingman, Marketing & Social Media Intern

Hello! My name is Taylor Ingman and I am a senior at Oberlin College in Ohio, majoring in Psychology with a minor in East Asian Studies. Over the past few months, I have had the wonderful opportunity of being a Marketing & Social Media Intern for the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute. While I did not grow up in the South Bay, I knew about GVJCI from my family members who did-- my mom has told me about attending the GVJCI Annual Matsuri while she was growing up, and my uncle has talked about playing in the Sansei League at GVJCI as a kid. Having heard about their fond memories, I was very excited to learn more about GVJCI through this internship.
After interning at GVJCI, I now have fond memories of my own! I loved attending some of the online events for children, such as the Tomodachi Baking Workshop series and virtual Oshougatsu celebration. I also liked helping out in person at the monthly LA Regional Food Bank distributions for seniors and the Painter's Tape restaurant fundraiser. Through this internship, I was able to experience firsthand how GVJCI positively impacts the South Bay community and makes people of all ages smile.

I have met so many lovely people through GVJCI, both staff and volunteers, and I have really enjoyed being more involved in the South Bay Nikkei community. I loved working with and becoming friends with Mika, who was also a Marketing & Social Media Intern-- it was a lot of fun to collaborate on social media posts and attend the monthly food distributions together! The GVJCI is such an important part of the South Bay, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to intern at such a great organization. Interning at GVJCI has allowed me to play a part in preserving Japanese and Japanese-American traditions and culture, which is very important to me. I am really going to miss interning with GVJCI, but I look forward to staying involved in other ways and would love to attend future events and programs. Thank you GVJCI!

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The Amazing Experience of Being a GVJCI Intern!

2/4/2021

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By: Mika Matsumura, GVJCI Social Media and Marketing Intern

My name is Mika Matsumura and I am a second year at the California State University of Fullerton. My major is Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing. 2020 was pretty crazy and unpredictable, but I would definitely say that interning at Gardena Valley JCI was the highlight of my year. I met so many amazing and humble people in the community while volunteering at the food distributions. In addition, I had the opportunity to be alongside the hardworking GVJCI staff and the other intern Taylor, my new friend. Writing the blogs and talking to new people allowed me to learn more about Japanese culture as well as the Nikkei community.

I grew up in the North Torrance area and my parents got me involved in all sorts of activities such as SBY basketball, FOR basketball, Sansei baseball, Girl Scouts, Karate, FOR Volleyball, Obon Dancing at Gardena Buddhist Temple, Japanese School, and of course going to the annual Matsuri here at GVJCI. When I was little, I absolutely loved Matsuri with all of the fun carnival games and delicious food! Little did I know that I would be a Social Media and Marketing Intern here.

I have made so many unforgettable memories as an intern. Some of my favorite memories were when Taylor and I went to the actual site of GVJCI for either food box distributions or the restaurant drive through fundraiser. Of course, our weekly zoom meetings were great, but I loved seeing everyone in person even if we were wearing masks. Those interactions where I got to see people smiling with their eyes were the best. It was exciting to meet new people while volunteering! I enjoyed listening to their story of how they first heard about GVJCI, as well as their love for the community. The staff here are the friendliest people and they really treated me like family. Even though my internship is over, you will surely still see me volunteering! Thank you GVJCI for an incredible experience.