領 域 ： アニメーション
派遣元 ： 
ロッテルダム芸術アカデミー
期 間 ： 2005.09.12 ～ 2005.12.20
This is most likely one of the many reports of an exchange student at Zokei in the year 2005.
Because the chronological order of event relative to all of these students should be apparent from most of the other reports I strive to write only about the experiences that personally effected me while studying in Japan in the hope of giving the reader an idea of what Zokei University can be like to a foreign student.
My time at Zokei university can be described as “turbulent”.
Arriving there I did not really know what to expect. It is a strange sensation for a foreigner driving the in the University’s special “zokei bus” up the hillside. And the bus is filled with Japanese students which you are unable to talk with yet.
Regarding this I must say that the University did a wonderful job making me and the other exchange students feel at home. Especially Mr. Yoneyama was a great help in getting us op to speed in Zokei-university life. He was very patient with all the exchange students and always around to answer any question I had.
Furthermore just stating the fact that I had 4 welcome parties and 3 goodbye parties to attend tells enough about the fantastic way Zokei’s teachers and students treat their guest-students.
I was very pleased that we could meet with students so fast. Talking to the students that want to exchange in the future was very good to “break the ice” I have made a lot of friends from this group some of witch have or will visit me in Holland.
I am not the kind of person that makes contacts with other people easily. It always takes me a lot of trouble to find the courage especially when I visit another country. However the unconditional devotion of the Zokei staff to make me feel at home made me a lot more at ease.
Eventually I ended up following not to many classes for various reasons.
The first week I tried a lot of the normal animation classes that Mr. Moori proposed and that the second year animation students mostly followed but not all of them where to suitable for me. The main breaking point was unfortunately language. I was very pleased to be able to view the works of famous animators like mr. Kifune and Inowe and they where happy to show me their insights of the Japanese animation ways but unfortunately I don’t speak Japanese and they do not speak English so they could not help me any further.
Mr. Moori was more than able to fill in this “gap” however I experienced his lessons of animation and animation history as very insightful and I learned a lot from him in these 3.5 months. It took me a while to get used to the Japanese way of teaching but I soon found that giving a small presentation every lesson about my project gave me a good review point for myself over my work and naturally a most useful comment from Mr. Moori.
Having dropped some lessons in the first week I met up with some other teachers that could learn me something (in English). I was very flattered that Mr. Oki sought to teach his own students by showing my work and his rich experience in Japanese and Western culture made talking with him a pleasure for the mind.
Miss Awano’s classes where good for me because they made me wonder what else I can use animation for besides making movies. I still regret that I could not finish the project I started at her interface-design lessons.
Also outside the classroom miss Awano was invaluable, she took me and Kira to a Japanese drum concert, she organized us a trip to Gibly museum and took care of the closing party at the exchange student exhibition. Besides this work she also made it possible for me to show my work at a media art exhibition at the Magida museum. I am very grateful to miss Awano for all the hard work she has done for me. She always told me I appeared to be a very serious person. I just did not want to let all the effort she took go to waste.
The eventual result of my studies is apparent. Because of my busy schedule I devoted myself to do one larger animation. Mr. Moori had given his class the “Japan animation” assignment. The assignment was largely a “free” assignment except that it had to be about Japan.
I wished I would have had to have the opportunity to make the animation in the same way most of my Japanese classmates made it, using classic drawing animation. Unfortunately the scope of my story and the shortage of time forced me to make it a “quick” computer drawn animation with various programs.
In spirit of my exchange to Japan I decided to place the story at the old Dutch trading post that used to be in Nagasaki in the 17th century. The relationship between the Netherlands and Japan dates back a long time and I do not believe many animations from that point in history have been made. Although many Japanese students told me the know about Deshima from lessons at school, I am afraid that most students in Holland don’t know about it at all.
The story of the animation tells about 2 Japanese boys that want to enter the heavy guarded trading post to see the big Dutch ship that is docked there. In this time only government officials, licensed merchants and prostitutes where allowed to enter Deshima.
To avoid the guard the 2 boys dress up as a prostitute witch leads to a terrible misunderstanding when they meet a drunken Dutchman in the compound.
Despite my best affords it took a long time for me to make the story clear to Mr. Moori and the class. It was a very good lesson in communicating the message of a story, both in the presentation as well as in the animation itself.
I hope I am forgiven for not coming to the University every day. I think I missed 3 classes in total during my stay. Most of these where the result of my urge to visit differed places in Tokyo, Yokohamma and the direct surroundings of these city’s. I even took the liberty to visit Kyoto for a few days. Although I tend to take my study’s very seriously I could not resist basking in rich culture the country has to offer.
In this respect I am also most grateful to the Zoe students that where most happy to show me around and take me to various museums and exhibitions. If I would have to find these on my own I would have ended up only seeing the tourist spots of the country while I always like to look beyond that.
The last weeks of my stay I worked as hard as I could to make up for the lost time.
I think the staff of the computer room will remember me as the foreigner that came to borrow the wacom-tablet every day to work in the corner of the room with his headphone on.
When I came back to Holland it took me a while to settle down again.
Even as I write this report I must admit I still long for my exiting days in Tokyo where every week brought a busy schedule and gave me the opportunity to meet new people and visit interesting places. I don’t have the luxury to sit and back and dream of Japan however because there is still a lot to be done at my Academy in Holland, like finishing my graduation movie.
Looking back on my time in Japan I must conclude I earned the effort I put in going to Zokei University tenfold. It is like going in to a bathroom in somebody else’s house. Everything is a little different and not familiar yet to you but you soon find out that the bathtub is filled with relaxing warm water and it does not take long to feel at ease completely.
If any student from Zokei University visiting Holland needs any help getting around I am most willing to help out.
Again I like to thank the president of Zokei University and his staff for making my stay a memorable one.
Leander Kruizinga
●東京造形大学およびこのサイトに関するご案内
学校法人桑沢学園 東京造形大学
