In order to meet actual Japanese students, the International Division folks recommended that we join some kind of club here on campus. Waseda, like any other big University, has a club for just about anything. However, unlike some of the club members in the U.S., people here seem to take things pretty seriously. It seems to be a trait of Japanese people that when they do something, they do it to its fullest.
The badminton club is no exception to this rule. The badminton club that I joined at home in Illinois was very relaxed. We reserved a gymnasium twice a week and a few people would show up looking for a good time. As badminton is not very popular in the states, we were lucky if we had a dozen people show up on any given night. Well, that's not the way it works here.
There were about fifty people that showed up for the first meeting that I attended. A few people met at Waseda before going to the gym in Kasai (on the other side of Tokyo). The courts, nets, and facilities were the same as in Illinois, but the similarity stopped there. Rather than just playing around four the entire three hours, there was an actual schedule of events. First we stretched together as a group, led by the club captain. Then we jogged around and shouted our allegiance to Waseda (even though some of the students are from other schools). Finally we picked up our rackets to play.
Well, at least I thought we would play a game. No, we had to practice a number of different shots over and over. Luckily the whole game of badminton is played in English (right down to the score of "seben-foh"), so I could understand roughly what we were supposed to do. First there were drops shots, then smashes, etc. It was all quite tiring, but that portion of the practice was soon finished.
From this point many of the experienced players were paired up for games. However, the beginners like myself had to practice some more. The club has a staff of students who just stand around and tell us rookies what we are doing wrong. Now, I never really learned proper technique, so I got a lot of criticism during this portion of the practice. I don't think I managed to please any of the instructors, but I tried my best. Finally the beginners were allowed to play a few games, but only to the score of three. It was not so exciting.
Anyway, even though I poke fun at the practice session, I did enjoy myself overall. My main objective was just to meet new people. This was the first time I was really doing anything on my own. Nobody introduced me to these people. I just entered on normal terms. It was rather nice. I can't say that I made any long-term friendships yet, but I enjoyed just answering the usual "Where are you from?" and "Where did you learn Japanese?" (they must think that there are no Japanese people or teachers or anything in the world-I don't get that). A fun time was had by all.
I have attended two sessions so far. The second one lasted four hours until 9:00pm at night. I was a little tired and hungry after that one. I am still not sure if I want to join the club. The fees are about US$50 per semester. Plus, it seems my racket cracked on the plane ride here, so I need to buy a new one of those for about US$80. Anyway, it has been fun to see how a Japanese club works. Until next time, Aaron.