Student Mobility: UTM student participated in Summer Session in East Asian Studies at Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan

Mohd Ariffin Abu Hassan

One student from the Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Goh Lim Yue was selected to participate in the Summer Exchange Programme organised by Sophia University located in Tokyo, Japan.

The Summer Session in East Asian Studies was a summer session programme organized by Sophia University from 10 June to 28 June 2019. This programme provided opportunity to study about Japan and explore the country’s relation to Asia and the rest of the world.

As a community living in Asian country, the programme provided participants a chance to learn and understand more about the background and history of the Asian country from experienced and professional lecturers from universities around the world. This was helpful as a lesson to teach and avoid any untoward incident from happening in the future.

The host university, Sophia University had hosted a welcoming party and farewell party on the first and last day respectively for all participants. In the party, food and drinks were provided along with speeches from head of programme, special karate performance, photo taking session, and lastly free time session.

Throughout the programme, Miss Goh had taken part in two academic classes out of seven available choices. The classes were “History of Modern Japan: From Edo to Tokyo“ and “First Steps in Japanese”. The learning ambient and experiences were very interesting and different from the usual experience in UTM. The class consisted of students from around the world such as United State of America, United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, South Africa, Republic of China, Hong Kong, and other country. Throughout the programme, participants had the opportunity to engage in East Asian studies in an excellent environment as well as meet students from around the world.

Beside academic classes, participants had also taken part in cultural events. The cultural events were Kabuki viewing in National theatre and “Wadaiko” Japanese Drums experience. The privilege of going to a National theater as Sophia University summer school participants was that Japanese to English translation of the entire show was provided. Overall, the performance was mesmerizing and would definitely be recommended to foreign students who wish to learn the background and culture of Japan. However, due to financial limitation, the writer only took part in one of the two cultural activities.

Furthermore, Goh Lim Yue had also participated in “Sophia Communication Summer Camp 2019” organised by local student club called “International Circle Sophia Community (SOCOMI)”. A two-day and one-night camp was held at Niigata province, a countryside of Japan. In the camp, a series of classic routinely activities were organised, which included Onsen, BBQ, ice breaking, cultural exchange parties, and soba making experiences. The specialty of this camp was that it provided a down-to-earth chance for participants to exchange culture knowledge with local students.

To conclude, this once in a lifetime opportunity was made possible by participating as an exchange student representing UTM. All UTM students are strongly recommended to participate in both short term or long term exchange programme. Goh Lim Yue had felt the sense of honour to participate and develop a lasting friendships with fellow students from all over the world and explore Japan as a new horizons.

Lastly, appreciation and gratitude went to all UTM international office staff and administrators as they had fully committed, assisted, and guided me throughout the whole application process.