April 21, 2008

Studying is In-Part 1


Petunias are blooming, a crisp breeze is blowing, and I'm hoping to begin something new. Spring air makes me feel like learning. And I'm fortunate to live in Japan because studying(勉強benkyo) is in and helpful tips are everywhere.

New school term and fiscal year begin in April in this country. This is the season when young and old alike flock to bookstores, hoping to learn something new. Bookstore shelves are filled with titles, such as "Study Skills to Increase Income 10 Times", "Leverage Studying," "How to Study-Making the Most of Your Brain," and even "Study Hacks!(The title is in English. I didn't translate it)."

One of the new business trends is "study room." You may not believe this, but it's true. There are about 50 places offering charged study rooms in the Kanto region.* For a cubicle in Shinjyuku, Tokyo, it costs up to 23,000 yen per month(≈US$221 as of April 20, 2008). (Nihon Keizai Shimbun Newspaper*, evening edition, 4/19/2008) I myself go to a study room in Roppongi.

Any trend, including this study craze, experiences booms and busts. It seems studying is most popular ever throughout its history(at least to me). So why are many Japanese into studying now? In the next post, I will elaborate the story of why we are seeing the trend.


*The Kantō region (関東地方, Kantō-chihō) is a geographical area of Honshū, the largest island of Japan. The region encompasses seven prefectures which overlaps the Greater Tokyo Area: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kant%C5%8D_region)

*Nihon Keizai Shimbun (日本経済新聞, lit. Japan Economic Times), or Nikkei (日経, Nikkei) is a leading economic newspaper. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihon_Keizai_Shimbun)

7 comments:

Meghan said...

That's so interesting! I didn't know there was a study craze in Japan. It's amazing how many trends there are in different countries. I can't wait to read more about it. :)

Karen said...

Meghan, thank you for reading my blog of a study geek. I'll post the photos of the study room, hopefully in a week or so. If you have any specific topic that you want to hear from me, please let me know!

Bogota said...

Hi there!
Well, I’m not meghan but I’ve got some questions for you.
Do you know anyone (perhaps you yourself) that studies at the TODAI -university of Tokyo- or the GEIDAI -Tokyo University of fine arts?
Any architecture staff, teachers, students or architecture post degree investigators at these or other universities?
Any other university in Tokyo that you can say it has a good architecture program?
Anything or anyone related with architecture?

I`m planning to take part in a post degree course in Tokyo and right now any info about universities, staff, programs, etc. will help me quite a lot!

Thanks!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Karen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Karen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Karen said...

Hi, Bogota, thanks for your comment! You are the first reader of my blog who left comment besides Meghan.

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with architecture, but I've just written a post exclusively for you to answer your qeustions. The title is Resources for aspiring architects. Hope it will help you.