Academic Life: TUJ vs. Chapman

Back in November of 2017, I sent out an email to all 91 study abroad students in an attempt to get to know some people before landing in Tokyo. All I can say is it was a success. During my short email exchanges with students from across the United States (mostly from Pennsylvania), two of them, my friends Marie and A. P., had this to say about Chapman.

Chapman University is an outstanding university. I think you will may find TUJ a bit easy coming from there

-Marie, Kutztown University

I’m curious about Chapman — where is it located?

-A. P., Temple University

To answer A. P.’s question, Chapman is located about 5 minutes east of Disneyland in Orange, California. To answer Marie regarding academic life at TUJ though requires a blog post.

At the time of writing, Midterms are occurring. Overall, academic life is almost identical to Chapman; most classes transfer back as 3 units (4 for lab classes). However, classes do meet for slightly longer compared to Chapman. Back home, a 3 unit class meets for 2.5 hours per week; at TUJ, a 3 unit class meets for a full 3 hours. A class that meets 3 times per week will last 1 hour per session while a class that meets twice per week will meet for 1.5 hours. Due to the way classes are scheduled, you have as little as 10 minutes to get to your next class. This is not a problem if all of your classes are located in the same building: either Azabu Hall (the main building) or Mita Hall. Both buildings are about a 5-minute walk away from each other so if you have a class in Azabu and another one in Mita (or vice versa) immediately after, good luck. Luckily (or unfortunately), most students have several hours between classes so the odds of this happening are rare.

As for art classes or lab classes, I personally don’t know since I don’t take those classes. I am taking two political science classes, a communications class, and a Japanese class.

In my personal opinion, Chapman does a better job at scheduling classes. I like to bunch my classes one after the other during the mornings and take the entire afternoon to do my homework. I’m able to do this because Chapman usually offers multiple offerings for the same class from the get-go (although this isn’t always the case such as the case of LEAD 314 prior to the Spring 2018 semester). At TUJ however, there was only one single offering of every class I signed up for. Additional offerings weren’t even offered until some classes were over capacity. For example, so many people signed up for Media and Society that they added a second block. However, despite high demand, only one block of Practical Japanese (great class but don’t take it if you studied Japanese before) was offered, forcing many students to take Elements 1 instead. As a result of this scheduling system, I (along with fellow students such as Marie) ended up with an awkward schedule that essentially left me trapped at TUJ’s small and loud campus with no place to work. Yes, there’s a library, but I always study in my dorm. Different strokes for different folks.

As for workload, it’s really light. One of the classes I’m taking is called East Asia and the United States (I highly recommend this class), an upper-division political science class. This class is my hardest one this semester and requires a writing assignment. However, you’re only required to write a 1,500 word paper on the relations between the United States and a country you’re assigned at the beginning of the semester (in my case, Indonesia). Back at Chapman, an equivalent class would require writing a 20-page paper on a similar topic. For example, Chapman’s Political Economy class requires a 20-page paper, according to my friend Steven anyway. When I took International Relations with Dr. Trokkos last Spring, I wrote a 10-page foreign policy brief on the issue of nuclear weapons in North Korea, and this was for a lower division class! On the opposite side of the spectrum, my Practical Japanese class, which is a half-language half-culture class, requires short readings. The most work I have done thus far was prepare a discussion leader activity on Japanese social issues. There are some papers due in this class but those papers are mostly reflections on field trips you get to take (my post on Setsubin is an example). To put it simply, the workload is lighter, and I think that’s on purpose. My classmate Milan, who goes to Temple Main in Philidelphia, said the workload was lighter than at the main campus.

The faculty at TUJ are a blend of full-time faculty who live and work in Japan and visiting faculty from Temple Main in Philadelphia. Every single professor I have is amazing! Professor Michael Cucek teaches a class on East Asia and the U.S. and he is highly passionate about Asian politics; his passion truly shows. He’s TUJ’s equivalent of Dr. Cummiford at Chapman as he’s a walking encyclopedia. Dr. Masaki Kakizaki teaches Foreign Governments and Politics (or Comparative Politics) and does a great job at teaching. His class is super organized and he always updates students on schedule changes. Professor Ronald Carr teaches Media and Society and while I don’t agree with all of the content in his class, he has a laid-back way of teaching yet his lectures always capture my attention. It’s kind of like surfer dude meets Japan in his class. Yuka Matsuhasi teaches Practical Japanese (as well as several other classes) and she is highly energetic! Her class, while I should’ve signed up for a more advanced Japanese class, is the absolute best way to end my day! I highly recommend all four of these professors and I wish Chapman had more faculty as passionate and engaging as them. This is the first semester I’ve had where I highly recommend every single professor I took a class with.

To be fair, TUJ is a commuter campus: everybody commutes. My daily commute consists of taking the Tozai Line from Takadanobaba to Iidabashi station, where I transfer to the Namboku Line to Azabu-Juban station, then walk about 5 minutes to Azabu Hall. At best, this commute takes 35 minutes one way (including all of the walking I do), at worst, 50. If you’re living in Musashi-Kosugi, you would most likely take the Tokyu Meguro Line from Musashi-Kosugi to Shriokane-Takanawa (this line turns into the Namboku Line), which at best takes 50 minutes (also including walking). Also, the administration ENCOURAGES you to go traveling across Japan! Personally, I try to go on weekend excursions around Tokyo and the Kanto region, but there are long weekends where you can go traveling. However, I often find myself living like a dorm-hermit, studying and reading because it’s truly quiet there.

Much like Chapman, TUJ offers opportunities (albeit limited) to get involved with the local community. Through their community outreach office, you can volunteer to play with elementary school kids at Higashimachi Elementary on weekends. There’s also a career development office where you can get help with finding internships, employment, and resume-building. Psychological services are also offered at Mita Hall, but book your appointments early on; they fill up fast. As for the quality of these services, I don’t know since I have not utilized them. However, I have utilized Chapman’s career development office on multiple occasions and I can tell you we are so spoiled with the services we have. You can also sign up for clubs at TUJ; the go-kart club comes to mind. Clubs are very limited, but to be fair TUJ currently enrolls about 1,200 students.

If you’re worried about safety at TUJ, fear not. Japan is ridiculously safe. I leave my laptop out in the open all the time with no worry whatsoever. Heck, I even lost my passport in Japan (here’s my post about it) and got it back with everything intact! There is no reason to worry about safety in Japan.

To put it simply Marie, yes, I have found TUJ easy coming from Chapman, although I have had some time-management issues due to the commute and schedule.

Note: At the end of the semester, I plan on writing a brief review of my TUJ experience. Would I recommend this program to a friend? Stay tuned.