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The top five surprising observations of a Japanese student visiting an American university

A Japanese university student shares her most memorable observations after a short visit to an American university town.

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Japan going crazy for college girls after the release of a new photo collection

Move over dancing queen, here comes the “Campus Queen”!

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Want to study abroad in Japan but short on funds? The Freeman-ASIA program might be able to help!

Scholarships for US students studying abroad ensure more people get chance to experience learning in Asia.

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International students at Ohio university call cafeteria’s foreign fare culturally insensitive

Food fight! Are these foods cultural adaptations, or abominations? Students take up issue with their university’s menu.

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New multiple choice answer sheet is the anti-cheating gift from the teacher gods

Multiple choice tests were already annoying enough; let’s see the Scantron machine scan this answer sheet.

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How Japanese universities are trying to help worried parents by babying their students

University means a lot of things to people, but most of us have the same initial thought when we receive that glorious acceptance letter: FREEDOM! You are rid of your parents, can ignore those pesky siblings and finally carve out your own space in the world. You get to experience all sorts of the highs and lows, like living on your own for the first time, cooking for yourself and being the only one who cares if you make it to class.

All the responsibility lies with the student; university is the time for coming of age and shaping the adult that you will be. Recently though, Japanese parents have become increasingly vocal about their concerns for their children and the fact that there are not many support systems in place to give the parents some peace of mind. Well, as it turns out, the universities are listening and bowing to parents’ wishes.

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Japanese university English teacher fights student misbehaviour with eccentric new rulebook

“All students must play with their cellphones constantly for 90 minutes” and “Any student bringing the appropriate textbook will be removed from the classroom” were among the new rules announced in a Japanese university English class last week as one lecturer attempted to tackle lazy, inattentive students who text in class and forget homework. The beleaguered teacher distributed her new anti-manifesto for classroom behaviour along with a gloriously bizarre expletive-laden worksheet, both of which were posted by a student on Twitter with the caption “Sensei finally cracked”.

I did say expletive-laden. So if you’re reading this in class, make sure your teacher doesn’t catch you reading the swear words.

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7 Japanese daily planners to suit every lifestyle, from hostess to otaku!

For the past six years, I’ve made a point of buying myself a little Rilakkuma daily planner each January and using it to keep track of my appointments, deadlines, to-do lists, etc. These kinds of daily planners are widely used in Japan, perhaps as a result of the Japanese love of punctuality and efficiency (or maybe they’re so punctual and efficient because everyone uses daily planners?) Sure, you could use the functions built into your smartphone or tablet, but there’s something about writing things down that just makes you feel like you’ve got it all together. Also, and this is kind of geeky, but it’s sorta fun to flip through your old schedule books and see what you were up to on x date 3 years ago. In fact, Japan loves schedule books so much that you can now choose from a huge range of styles which are tailor-made to cater to specific lifestyles. Whether you’re a hostess, train otaku or exam-cramming student, there’s a schedule book out there for you!

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Compulsory manga? Top Taiwanese university’s manga course has a waitlist of thousands

Like the rest of my classmates in my first Japanese class, I was inspired by manga to start learning Japanese. Although manga is usually deemed as ‘leisure’ reading, there are some quality manga that deal with serious societal issues. In fact, at National Cheng Chi University, one of the top universities in Taiwan, there is actually a class in which you have to read manga. Mandatory manga readings? It’s no wonder the class is so popular that some students have to wait four years to get in!

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Chinese university gets hot new Japanese teacher; internet goes crazy

Ask any group of students why they like a particular class and you’ll probably get a range of sincere-sounding answers professing love of learning and enthusiasm for the subject matter. While those things may well be true, in real life our reasons for making even the most crucial of life decisions aren’t always particularly noble or earnest.

When a beautiful young female teacher named Ms. Du took charge of Japanese language classes at one Chinese university this year, so many students turned up that she had to move to a larger classroom. Now, the stunning sensei at China’s Southwestern University of Finance and Economics has even become an internet sensation after photos of her were posted online.

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“Terrible, amazing things my teacher said”: Tweets from the Japanese classroom

Did you used to think that your teachers all lived in the school on the weekends? Lots of kids are shocked to discover one day that their teachers have private lives, families, and even friends outside of school. This collection of tweets are all from Japanese students – whose sometimes-cynical, sometimes-exhausted, pretty-much-always-awesome professors probably just wanted to remind them that teachers are people too.

That’s right – it’s time for a snappy little segment which we’ll be entitling, in honour of its Japanese hashtag equivalent, “This devastatingly amazing thing my teacher just told me!”

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“Be a blank slate”: The way to get hired in Japan?

As far as things not to say in an interview go, you’d think it’d be pretty high up on the list. But the young Japanese university student, rejected by all the other companies he’d applied to, was prepared to take the risk. “This company is the only option I have left,” he pleaded with the interviewer. “I’ll do anything!” An unusual strategy, certainly. But he got the job.

Japanese site Niconico News reports that the man is now entering his ninth year of employment with the company, so it seems the gamble paid off. But is the company’s positive reaction so unusual? Some Japanese employability experts are arguing that, for many companies, the ideal graduate recruit is a “hakushi” – a blank page that the company can do what they want with. When companies train new recruits extensively, an across-the-board willingness to learn is valued more than previous experience.

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These awesome university dining hall breakfasts only cost 100 yen

When was the last time you spent 100 yen (US$.98) on breakfast and felt satisfied? Sure, your dollar menu Sausage McMuffin tasted good, but after hitting your stomach like a greasy, calorie-laden brick, did it really keep you going until lunch? I thought not. Prepare to be jealous (and perhaps say “OC desu!“) of the following parade of filling breakfasts purchased at Japanese university dining halls, each for an unbelievable 100 yen.

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Japan’s hellish job hunting process “shuukatsu” gets animated, terrifies netizens 【Video】

During Japan university students’ final year, many go through a long, physically and mentally draining process of finding a job before they graduate; a process known as “shuukatsu.” Students don matching black suits and attend job fairs, company briefing sessions and employment seminars en masse in the hopes of obtaining a job offer, or “naitei.” Young people often complain about the soul-sucking system and how difficult it can be to land a job offer without completely abandoning your personality along the way.

Recently, an animated short film has been making waves among Japanese netizens for the horror movie-like way it portrays the difficult and often depressing job hunting process in Japan. 

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Japanese university seating plan meme submitted to web for approval

The internet is a vast ocean of small infographics, flow charts, and images with the aim to succinctly present the truths of life to the masses. However, not every clever doodle is worth being held in our hard drives to be pulled out during a relevant discussion later on. These images sink into the deep abyss of the internet ocean, only to be found when James Cameron finally gets a good enough sub.

Let’s watch as one humble netizen submits their typical Japanese university seating arrangement to others. Will the chart hit home with other students, or will it fall flat? First let’s look at an English translation of it.

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According to Hong Kong dailies dated May 11, university officials in Beijing and Shanghai were reported as saying authorities had directed them to refrain from teaching seven subjects in their classes including “freedom of the press,” “human rights” and “universal values.”
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Hair Stroking Headphones Escalate Japanese University Robotic Girlfriend Simulation Race

The Japanese engineering and academia circles were rocked this week by the emergence of the Riaju Coat (Fulfillment Coat), a robotic coat which provides a slightly less virtual girlfriend experience from that of dating sim games.

Now it appears this development has sparked a girlfriend simulation tech race with rival universities.

Nadeju Headphones (Stroking Fulfillment Headphones) were developed by an ambitious team at Maizuru National College of Technology (MNCT) to simulate the feeling a girl stroking your head.

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For the past few years, Japan has been in a fuss about soushoku danshi, literally translated as “herbivore boys.” These are young men who represent the antithesis of the rowdy, skirt-chasing, big-spending corporate man associated with the 1980s bubble economy: they’re passive, conservative with money, prefer to stay in instead of going out drinking with coworkers and are generally uninterested in sex.

Such personal lifestyle choices wouldn’t be considered problematic if Japanese society wasn’t struggling with a declining birthrate and low consumer spending. But when an ever-increasing portion of your male population is enjoying their evening with a cup of tea at the local manga cafe when you need them to be out buying cars and procreating, you’ve got a situation on your hands.

To make matters worse, a survey conducted by The Japanese Association for Sex Education (JASE) reveals that the number of young Japanese women who have had sex has decreased dramatically over the past 6 years.

Perhaps the ladies of Japan have finally given up on trying to get their male counterparts into bed and joined convent themselves.

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Awesome Course Schedule, an app released last year by Japanese content provider Labit, has been rapidly gaining traction with students at Japanese universities, because it allows them to rate and review their courses. Read More

The Japanese web portal goo recently asked its users their biggest regret from their college years. It seems in Japan as well, those heady days of freedom in university offer more than plentiful chances for screw-ups. Youth is one factor, but compared to middle school and high school students, university students have a whole lot more time on their hands and a whole lot less supervision, leading to a lot of navel-gazing, time-wasting and jack-assery. Some things are true the world over, I guess!
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