The Newsletter
The
of the
Friendly ~ ·INGUI ST
, L~tfD5e ~ e C.rde Dee. 1"1,1'1t5" N..S..
CHRISTMAS' PARTY lt On iYedn<?oday, Dec. 18 (today) , I.EC will bafl a Christmas Party at Harpsr Hall. from 6:00:-9:00. Harper Hall is near the back gate at ICU Kiudez,,,. garten . Participants will meet at D-kan louup at 5:30; it you will be late , go direotly to Harper Hall . Please bring a s mall gift won.h about ~500 and a participant ' s tee ot ¥5()0. Cake , tea, gumdrops and other candies will be ser.ved. (Sorry , no alcohol!) Feel free t o .~ring your own favorite ca.11dy or cookieal We will play games, of course . What kinds of games? That •• secret! This is the last event ot LEC in 1985. I.Er' S HAVE FUN 11
More generally, campus life iteelt ehowa little interaction between national grQUJJII• Howev6r , unlike t h~ problem mentioned above givt.-n t te I'.iS:1.t mot ivation it could eaail7 be rei!lediod - - t !:le nasons for the lack of ural. in~cr~~ti on a=e 1"-finitaly more complex . Surel7 thos~ Jaµne s e who have been educated abroad have
a I t was a pleasure to re~d the editorial of a recent edition of the Weekly Giants (Dec 12, 1985) . Paradoxically~ in P. so-called internal tional university, articles written in English are s urprisingly scarce. The fact that it stood in splendid isolation a:nct.g fourteen pages blackened with kanji emphasizes the paradox but does not ~xplain it. Rathe~, it leads one to think that language exchanges at ICJ are not quite what they are claimed to be by the university's boist erous prospectus. Nor are academic pursuits, f or that matter. Apathy pervades the campus and , the administrative machinery accurately reflects the situation. Does the fault lie rlth the student body, with the teaching staff - whose role 16 t o actively guide and nurture exchanges and thinking - or both? . This articl~ does not otter r emadies, much less an analysis of the situation cut ·rather a sketch of the salient · teatures ·which characterize the general complace~cy.
I
.
The inadeguacies of language oxchanges Newspapers have a major role to play in the promotion of language exchanges . Why then i s the principal newpper of an international institution exclusiTely run and written by Japanese atudents? Two possible explanations stand out : · vested interests and the apathy of foreign stud1 1 enta. Yet although one might expect ·a certain , resistance from Japanese staff members, the ease with which this article was accepted gives one no option other than the rejection -of the first al• ternative. Theforeign community stands accused. One may cock an eyeb~ow at the lack of interest shown by foreign students, but evidently "here one year, gone the next" is not an attitude r.onducive to cha.nge.
~lWO.. lU 'lY i n tb.; .., - cs~~~ .,_ _ __
ICU and acad<,mic eu:euite Th~ editorial of the Weekly Giants raised four points. The university bookstore •• called "diminutive"; calls were made for the creation of a student government and the extenaion of l i bt'ar)' hours; the advisor system was criticized. In essence such attacks question the veracity of ICU's claims to being a university. Yet t h• art;\.cle is misl eading for it discusses nttda which , though r elevant to American or European universities, are not felt at ICU. Despite it.a claims t o internationalism the latter i s a Japanese institution which cannot be compared t o i t s Western counter parts . Western ideals are .-not necessarily shared by t he Japanese. There will be differences of opini-on as to the d~ti~• of a universit y. The truth is thatdeapite the occa.• ai onal growl to exercise the jaws, students a re content wit~ the current situation . 'Ther e is no Hn~c. · i1'1 scratching a spot if it does -not i tch. Announcements If you have some news or comments, please pu.t it in the M-box of !SHIMURA, Chia.Id (Jr. )• ls there anyone who will be l onely in Tokyo ~ver Christrns !l:,d New Year's'Z Please c~tact OONISHI, Akiko (Jr . ) , LEC will plan acaet hing for y~.
t-~~------------------------1 00 YOU LIKE UNAGI?
,4
LEC ia having an unagi party on Monday , January 6th at Harper Hall from 6(50 to 9: 00. Fee: ¥500 + rx (less than ~'1000) For more info contact HASHIMoro, Yoehio (Jr).