Our Assistant Director Hiroaki Seino (from Aomori Prefecture) gave a special lecture for students learning Advanced Japanese at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) School of Humanities & Languages on the many charming aspects of Japan.
The lecture sought to convey the many instances of Japanese culture one may not readily find in Australia, such as the yuru-kyara, mascot characters sponsored by certain municipalities to promote local products and tourism in that area, regional dialects, and celebrations accompanying the four seasons. Students got a surprise when Hiroaki demonstrated Aomori’s regional Tsugaru dialect – a very thick accent.
The students gave us their impression that thanks to this lecture, they became even more interested in Japan’s diversity. Among the 50 students in the class, only 10 had visited Japan so far. We hope that the students not only learn the Japanese language as a subject, but also that they visit Japan and get to experience many of the whole of Japan’s nice points.
