Jeshua's Life

It seems I've failed to navigate Japanese Bureaucracy. Today, at the Closing Ceremony for my study abroad program, I received a "Certificate of Participation" instead of a "Certificate of Completion." I found this out when they were handing out the Certificates and the announcer said that the person sitting several seats before me was the last one receiving the certificate. Before this I had no knowledge that this was going to happen. They had given me no indication that I had not fulfilled the requirement to complete the program prior to this. After the program, I went to the International Student Office and had a long talk with the person in charge there. It turns out what happened is as follows.

The University here has at least 4 separate systems here that we can take classes in. One is only for people in this exchange program (JYPE), and is taught in English. The second one is Japanese language classes (Tokubetsu Katei), which has levels ranging from 1 to about 6, with 1 being the intro level. The third is a separate Japanese language class program (Zengaku Kyouiku), which is available to anyone who tested into level 4 or 5, but should probably have a difficulty rating of 5 or higher on all of the classes. The final is the "Regular" classes that the Japanese here take, which is obviously the hardest since it's all college level Japanese.

In the fall, I chose my classes such that I would fulfill the required 13 credits for the semester. One of these was a JYPE class called "Japanese 3." It turns out that Japanese 3 is really a set of 4 specific Japanese classes in the Tokubetsu Katei program. I attended all four, and found that the listening and grammar parts of Japanese 3 were much too easy, so I ended up moving up to listening and grammar 4, while staying in reading and speaking 3 and taking some other classes. After a month of classes, you register for the classes you are taking, and so I put all of those classes on my record. This resulted in what should have been 17 credits; a fairly good load when the minimum was 13.

In the spring, I again chose my classes such that I would fulfill the required 13 credits for that semester, which would result in me getting the required 26 to complete the program. This time I registered for 2 JYPE classes (2 credits each), the JYPE lab (5 credits), 3 Zengaku Kyouiku Japanese classes (1 credit each), 1 Tokubetsu Katei course (1 credit), and 1 regular class (1 credit). I also audited another Regular class without registering for it. This should be 14 credits. Sounds good right?

Here's the catch: The Tokubetsu Katei courses don't always count for credit as far as the JYPE program is concerned. Had I stayed in level 3 for all of the Japanese courses in the fall, I would have gotten those credits. Because they were too easy and I moved up a level, I don't get credit because level 4 courses are officially part of the JYPE program. So this means that while I thought I was getting 17 credits in the fall, the office is now only recognizing 9 of those credits for me. They won't even recognize the two level 3 classes that I took, because I didn't take the other 2 level 3 classes. Never mind that they are separate classes in the Tokubetsu Katei program, and that EVERYONE ELSE in those classes is getting credit for being in them. Just not me. Because I didn't take a listening class and a grammar class that were too easy for me, I don't get credit for my reading class or my speaking class. Oh, and after the fall semester was over, nobody informed me that I didn't meet the 13 credit requirement for that semester. Had I know, I would have been able to sign up for another of the pointless JYPE classes that are a waste of time and are impossible to learn from, or I could have registered for that regular class I audited. Had I know, I would have done something to make up for the shortcomings of their screwed up credit system. Now I'm stuck with a Certificate of Participation, along with the people who failed classes or didn't go to class (and at least one other person who got caught in the same trap I did), instead of having a Certificate of Completion.

So, to sum it up, I didn't officially complete this program because I took classes that taught me something instead of taking classes that were too easy for me or worthless. If you can't tell from having read this, I'm rather upset about this, although I suspect that this isn't something that will make much difference. Oh well, at least this study abroad program has been a fairly good experience up until now.

Edit: And it should count for something that I got a 4.0 for my classes this semester, and close to that fall semester as well.