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World Meets Hosei Miko Kishida Sora Miyasaka Ayumi Ono Shinichi Takeuchi HOSEI UNIVERSITY Having a Japanese boyfriend or girlfriend is the best way to improve Japanese language skills. This article shows the trend of inter- national dating inside Hosei University. Only 9 percent of Japanese people have had relationships with foreigners, accord- ing to a survey in which Hosei University’s Japanese students – 52 female and 33 male from 16 to 24 years old – answered ques- tionnaires on love and relationships with foreigners. More than 60 percent, however, want to date foreigners. Respondents’ average age is 19.6 years old. The survey showed typical places the stu- dents want to take their foreign dates to are touristic places such as Asakusa, Harajuku and Kyoto. One of the respondents said he wants to show Japanese traditional struc- tures and watch sumo with foreign dates. This result shows Hosei University’s Japanese students want to introduce Japa- nese culture and help their foreign dates understand it. Foreign students who go to Hosei University can learn not only Japa- nese language but also culture. Japanese students worry about differ- ence of language and culture when it comes to making friends with foreigners. Lan- guage barriers prevent Japanese students from communicating with non-Japanese comfortably. That’s why people have to study language. Our survey says that 60 percent of Japanese students are interested in interacting with foreigners while a lack of confidence in language skill basically makes them shy away. The survey results, however, propose how foreigners can get Japanese boyfriends and girlfriends; foreign students can ask Japanese students out to places where the Japanese want to take foreigners to. For- eign students can feel closer to the person though learning Japanese culture. The survey team was lucky enough to have chance to ask a Japanese girl who is a Hosei student and dating a Korean guy. They got to know each other in Canada where they were studying abroad. Thanks to dating him, she improved not only her English skill but also Korean skill. She also said dating him made her view for the future broader. She felt he was totally different from Japanese guys in terms of how boys treat girls. She also said dating is one thing, but making friends is another, and stressed the importance of making Japanese friends. Hosei University gives foreign students many opportunities to make Japanese friends. There are classes that they can take with Japanese and the university has a so-called language buddy system. Also, there is a room designated for Japanese- foreigner communication, in which Japa- nese students who want to communicate with exchange students hang out. Hosei University is very friendly to foreigners! Hosei students ready for foreign dates Natsuho Ishizuka Kanae Ito Chifumi Koide HOSEI UNIVERSITY Even though mapo tofu, a Chinese dish of tofu, ground meat, beans and onion with a spicy, slimy sauce, is a very regular meal in Chinese restaurants in Japan, it’s not so regular in China. “It’s the second time for me to have mapo tofu in my life!” Shan Jiang said. Shan came to Japan in the beginning of September, 2015, as an exchange student from China to Hosei University. We took two of Hosei University’s for- eign students – Shan and Alex Rizzatello, from Italy, – to dinner at a Chinese restau- rant, Kodarubo, at Ushigome-Kagurazaka, the neighborhood of Hosei University’s main campus in the Iidabashi district of Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward. Ushigome-Kagurazaka, which is in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward, but just a few minute’s walk from Iidabashi, is famous for a street with traditional atmosphere and entertainment district with geisha in the Edo and Meiji periods. At the Chinese restaurant, we ordered smashed cucumber pickles, mapo tofu, pig ears salad and mixed fried rice. Mapo tofu is a must-have item for Chi- nese restaurants in Japan, but its popu- larity depends very much on regions of China and is not at all popular in some parts of China. She said the taste was okay but she was surprised that meals came in very small portions. Most people in China enjoy sharing not only meals but also atmosphere with their families or friends, and thus restaurants there serve meals in large dishes. In contrast, most single people living in Tokyo eat alone. “I feel that in Tokyo the relationships between people are more superficial. There is an advantage, but on the other hand there is a disadvantage,” she added. Rizzatello also has similar experiences in finding differences in food culture between Italian restaurants in Japan and foods in Italy. His favorite food is pizza, but he does not recognize pizza in Japan as pizza. “It is not pizza,” he said of pizza in Japa- nese restaurant. As Shan mentioned, it can be said the size is too small in Japan. He grew up eating pizza in Italy, and thus he has never been satisfied with Japanese ones. Next time, we will take him to an Italian restaurant in Kagurazaka. There is a fabulous restaurant, Stefano, owned by an Italian man. Besides, Kagurazaka area is well known as a gastronomic area. There are many high quality French restaurants. and Kagurazaka is called “Petit Paris” because it has many stone-paved paths as does Montmartre, Paris, and there is Institut Français (French culture center) nearby. That’s why there are more than 20 French restaurants, bistros or bars in the area. At the end of the meal at the Chinese restaurant, a waiter brought a service dish, “Dragon’s Clouds” (prawn cracker.) The taste of mapo tofu was much spic- ier than usual, a friend of mine who ate with us said. It is possible that the chef cooked it spicier for Shan as a way to show hospitality to a Chinese customer. Such hospitality, or omotenashi in Japanese, is typical in the Kagurazaka district. We would love to take Hosei’s foreign stu- dents to Kagurazaka! Kagurazaka area offers warm welcome
