Tag Archives: PUK

Excursion in Kumamoto

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The Department of Environmental Resources heads out each year to clear out some local areas in Kumamoto. This year we went to the mountains near Nagomi Town and cleared out a lower area of some tree growth. There were lots of weeds and much brush to cut and move. The area you see here was pretty grown-over and needed some work. After doing the cutting, we took a break and had a bento. The weather was cold in the morning, but was perfect around lunch time. Students brought the cut material down and divided it into wood and brush piles. The plan was to have a barbecue after, but was postponed. Thank you all for a great job! :-D

The Center Exam: 2008

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Well, the exam season is under way for this year. Although there are some exams that come much earlier, the season officially starts with Japan’s Center Exam. Most prospective college students take this exam as a kind of benchmark (if you are aware of the U.S. system, think SAT or ACT on steroids) of their achievement from their high school studies (or in the case of those who don’t get in the first time, high school studies plus a year or two). The Exam is actually a series of ten exams held over two days. On the first day, Saturday, there is a series of five tests aimed at social studies and the humanities. The day is capped with an English listening exam where everyone listens to a customized player with an IC card prerecorded with 30 minutes of conversations. The second day of exams is all about math and science.

For all the students who come and all the tests that are administered, everything runs quite smoothly. For those of us administering and proctoring, we have at least two meetings beforehand (one just for the listening exam) where the procedures are explained and people can ask questions. On test days, we are required to show up 45 minutes before anything happens, given a pep talk, and our watches synchronized (my new Casio MR-G performed beautifully as it is synced to a radio signal here in Japan). Each room has a team of an administrator and two or more proctors, plus a person to distribute, count and check the finished scan sheets after each exam. It is two full days, from 8:00 in the morning until after 7:00 or 6:00 in the evening.

The students then take exams for each of the colleges (more accurately the departments) they are considering. Those scores are combined with the relevant Center Exam scores, and those with the highest scores are offered a spot starting in April. Some who are offered a slot at more than one school can then take their pick. Any slots which are passed on are open for a second round of testing at those colleges. If any part of this sounds confusing, just think test, test, test, test, and test. Rinse, repeat. As the number of 18-year olds falls each year, it is becoming easier to get into college. The economic fundamental of supply and demand is taking an interesting twist here. Perhaps more on that later.

Tanuki @ PUK

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Hurt Tanuki @ PUK

I was walking into our building the other night and saw a student crouched over what I thought was one of many cats that hangs around our school. The student said “tanuki desu,” meaning it’s a tanuki (or raccoon dog if you look it up in a dictionary. But a tanuki is a tanuki. It was chowing down on some of the food someone left for the cats. On close inspection, you can see that its right front paw is seriously injured. I’m guessing it got hurt in a trap or something and cannot fend for itself. It has found a ready source of food.

PUK Tanuki

As it left, it turned and gave us a nice chance to take some parting shots. I hope it heals soon.

3rd-Year Students Cook a Healthy Dinner!

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3rd-Year Students Cook a Healthy Dinner!, originally uploaded by technicle.

For the second time since I arrived, the Food and Health students invited me to a meal. The first time, the second-year students invited me, and it was free. This time it was the third-year students, and they charged ¥300.

There was plate of cold, sliced pork with tomatoes, wakame, and cucumber; a small, but plentiful portion of rice; miso soup; a soy bean dish; and a jelly desert made of oranges. The menu said it was 667 calories. Nice job!

The Great Flood of ’05

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Sunday, the 4th, during one of our big entrance exam days, a water tank used the heating system in my building broke. I first noticed an unusual sound some time after 10:00 am. About an hour later, the sound increased in volume and strangeness (it’s a word! I looked it up! ;-) ) I stuck my head out to see if there was anything going on, and heard the sound of very heavy rain IN THE BUILDING! I looked out the window and saw no rain (although it had been raining on and off all morning). When I walked around the corner, I saw the scene seen above. I ran down to a couple of professors offices and they made some calls. Since it was Sunday, the tank drained before any of the heating guys could come by. The next 3-4 hours were interesting as several students, teachers, and researchers pushed and guided all that water down the stairwell.