Summer Camp to Learn Japanese Culture
Universitas Syiah Kuala, under the coordination of the Office of International Affairs successfully held the Virtual Japan Summer Camp program, within three days, 17-19 June 2021. The program invited two students of Japan as the instructor, and they are students from Tokyo University and Hokkaido University.
“The Virtual Japan Summer Camp is designed to motivate students, especially Universitas Syiah Kuala students, to study at universities in Japan, by promoting university in Japan, the culture and language”, stated Dr. Muzailin Affan in his opening speech, as the Chairman of Office of International Affairs.
Virtual Japan Summer Camp program is an online study program where participants have opportunities to learn Japan language and its cultures, which the session led by Risa Shimizu, a student of Hokkaido University, to have virtual walks, guided by Kota Sugiyama, a student of Tokyo University, and to have Japanese cooking demo, guided by Lupita Kemala Sari, and alumna of Student Exchange Program in Japan, Shinshu University.
In learning Japanese, participants were taught how to make a daily conversation and get to know useful daily basic words, as well as Japanese manners, like introducing self. Besides, the participants were also taught how to write Japanese alphabets, called Katakana. All participants were encouraged to be active and interactive through activities such as practicing dialogue and playing online Japanese language games. Meanwhile, for the virtual walk session, participants were guided to have a campus tour in Tokyo University, which the university is known as the number one university in Japan. Further, they visited several tourism spots in Japan such as Japan Train Station, Akihabara, Asakusa Temple, and Tokyo Skytree Tower. On the last day of the program, participants had a chance to join in a cooking demo, how to make a famous Japanese food called Gyoza. The session was led by an Indonesian since the ingredients are needed to be adjusted for a certain reason, but surely without losing the original taste from Japan.
According to testimony from all participants of the program, they enjoyed the activities held. It was educative and amusing. Having the natives as the instructor was exciting, moreover, they could interact directly with and got to know them. During the learning, the materials given were not difficult to be understood and suitable for the beginner. The participants did expect they could join another similar program like Virtual Japan Summer Camp in the future.
The Virtual Japan Summer Camp program was attended by a total of 31 participants from different backgrounds. Most of them are university students who are from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
“I am very glad OIA has an opportunity to arrange Japan Virtual Summer Camp for this year, even though we are still facing Covid-19 pandemic. I do hope this program can motivate all participants to know more about Japan and of course study in Japan”, closed Dr. Muzailin in his short welcoming speech.
