Teaching Creative Writing in a Japanese University
I've been teaching in a public Japanese university since 1999. For most of those years I have taught creative writing, initially integrated into other English classes, but for the past ten years as full-fledged creative writing courses. Recently Rosie Milne interviewed me about teaching creative writing in a Japanese university, and a short version of the interview appears on the new Asian Books Blog. These are the aims of the blog, in Rosie's words:
"I hope Asian Books Blog evolves into an online venue for lively conversation about reading and writing on this continent. I hope it becomes a place where visitors can urge on others' books they've loved--this is generally my own policy when selecting books for the short notices I offer. These notices alternate with posts of a more general nature--interviews, and discussions of relevant topics. Although the blog is in English, in addition to English-language writers, I plan to feature many books in translation, and to talk both to Asian writers who are not writing in English, and also to translators."
So take a peek at the Asian Books Blog and join the conversation.
And here is the longer version of the interview for those who don't mind longer.
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Asian Books Blog: You’re an American teaching creative writing in Japan. Is language an issue? I assume you teach in Japanese, to Japanese students? How difficult is it to teach creative writing in your second language? If you teach in English to Japanese students, is it difficult to teach creative writing to students writing in their second language?
Holly: I teach a variety of courses, in English, including fiction writing and poetry writing, in a Japanese public university. Most of my students are Japanese; some come from other East or Southeast Asian countries. For all, English is a second language. I love teaching creative writing to students regardless of their English ability, and I believe reading authentic stories and poems in English then striving to write their own helps nonnative speakers connect to and claim the language in a personal way. My students start each semester knowing little about the craft of fiction or poetry, but are quick to learn, and they seem to love the opportunity to be creative with language—something with which they’ve had little or no experience in their previous schooling.
Asian Books Blog: Is there any difference between teaching creative writing in Asia, and in the States?
Holly: Well, of course, anyone writing from within Asia, regardless of their language of writing, will be writing from within their environment in Asia. Climate and culture influence the stories we cultivate. My students also bring into their English writing their thinking from a language completely different in structure from English. Students in Japan have all been well exposed to imagist poets and manga, and many have been in intense educational environments and clubs that meet nearly every day year-round, so they bring to the classroom very different social norms and experiences from those of typical U.S. students. Most of my students in Japan, unlike creative writing students I’ve had in the U.S., have never written a short story in any language, and most have never tried writing poetry. They come into the class with few expectations and much trepidation. It is a joy to watch them morph into ambitious writers and attentive and lively readers.
Asian Books Blog: Are students’ ambitions similar on both continents?
Holly: Few of my students in Japan actually aspire to be writers whereas many students in university creative writing classes in the U.S. do consider creative writing as a viable major and as something that might weave itself into their future. Creative writing is generally not taught in universities in Japan and does not quite fit within the traditional view of university as a stepping stone to a stable job in a Japanese company. But times are changing . . .
Asian Books Blog: Do any issues crop up in class that seem to you specifically Asian?
Holly: Sometimes I encounter students who insist on creating bland characters named Mary and Bob in bland settings in borrowed, predictable plots. I have to convince them that Japan-set stories, and Japanese or other Asian characters, can be convincingly written in English. I have to push them to think of their own unique points of view and find stories from deep within their own bins of collected story seeds. I have to convince them that their Asian-based stories are worth telling to an English-language readership.
Asian Books Blog: Are your students aiming to reach an international, English-speaking readership? Or are they focused on writing for Japan?
Holly: My students are mostly writing for their immediate audience, their fellow university students in Japan, but I encourage them to think more broadly, to think of university students throughout Asia and around the world.
Asian Books Blog: What do you think is the most important aspect of your job as a teacher of creative writing?
Holly: My job is to expose students to possibilities, to share stories and poems that lead to prompts for their own ideas, to give them tools for creating stories and poems in English, and to nurture curious, responsive readers and writers. Most importantly, my aim is to open their minds and to inspire them to discover creativity with words.
Asian Books Blog: What do you find most enjoyable about your job? And the most frustrating?
Holly: Frustrations can usually be worked around—as long as you have students and as long as the institution supports your courses. In an ideal world, my students would all have much more tech support, and would have more creative writing opportunities at the university, but I feel fortunate to have been able to teach creative writing in a Japanese university—it is not a common course offering in Japanese higher education.
I love to see the evolution of the students as they travel from bewildered beginners to imaginative and capable writers. At the end of the semester it’s a joy to hand out the student publications that result, and in the poetry classes to watch students listen with rapt attention as fellow students stand before them reading selected poems from their final portfolios—moving others with their own words.
"I hope Asian Books Blog evolves into an online venue for lively conversation about reading and writing on this continent. I hope it becomes a place where visitors can urge on others' books they've loved--this is generally my own policy when selecting books for the short notices I offer. These notices alternate with posts of a more general nature--interviews, and discussions of relevant topics. Although the blog is in English, in addition to English-language writers, I plan to feature many books in translation, and to talk both to Asian writers who are not writing in English, and also to translators."
So take a peek at the Asian Books Blog and join the conversation.
And here is the longer version of the interview for those who don't mind longer.
************
Asian Books Blog: You’re an American teaching creative writing in Japan. Is language an issue? I assume you teach in Japanese, to Japanese students? How difficult is it to teach creative writing in your second language? If you teach in English to Japanese students, is it difficult to teach creative writing to students writing in their second language?
Holly: I teach a variety of courses, in English, including fiction writing and poetry writing, in a Japanese public university. Most of my students are Japanese; some come from other East or Southeast Asian countries. For all, English is a second language. I love teaching creative writing to students regardless of their English ability, and I believe reading authentic stories and poems in English then striving to write their own helps nonnative speakers connect to and claim the language in a personal way. My students start each semester knowing little about the craft of fiction or poetry, but are quick to learn, and they seem to love the opportunity to be creative with language—something with which they’ve had little or no experience in their previous schooling.
Asian Books Blog: Is there any difference between teaching creative writing in Asia, and in the States?
Holly: Well, of course, anyone writing from within Asia, regardless of their language of writing, will be writing from within their environment in Asia. Climate and culture influence the stories we cultivate. My students also bring into their English writing their thinking from a language completely different in structure from English. Students in Japan have all been well exposed to imagist poets and manga, and many have been in intense educational environments and clubs that meet nearly every day year-round, so they bring to the classroom very different social norms and experiences from those of typical U.S. students. Most of my students in Japan, unlike creative writing students I’ve had in the U.S., have never written a short story in any language, and most have never tried writing poetry. They come into the class with few expectations and much trepidation. It is a joy to watch them morph into ambitious writers and attentive and lively readers.
Asian Books Blog: Are students’ ambitions similar on both continents?
Holly: Few of my students in Japan actually aspire to be writers whereas many students in university creative writing classes in the U.S. do consider creative writing as a viable major and as something that might weave itself into their future. Creative writing is generally not taught in universities in Japan and does not quite fit within the traditional view of university as a stepping stone to a stable job in a Japanese company. But times are changing . . .
Asian Books Blog: Do any issues crop up in class that seem to you specifically Asian?
Holly: Sometimes I encounter students who insist on creating bland characters named Mary and Bob in bland settings in borrowed, predictable plots. I have to convince them that Japan-set stories, and Japanese or other Asian characters, can be convincingly written in English. I have to push them to think of their own unique points of view and find stories from deep within their own bins of collected story seeds. I have to convince them that their Asian-based stories are worth telling to an English-language readership.
Asian Books Blog: Are your students aiming to reach an international, English-speaking readership? Or are they focused on writing for Japan?
Holly: My students are mostly writing for their immediate audience, their fellow university students in Japan, but I encourage them to think more broadly, to think of university students throughout Asia and around the world.
Asian Books Blog: What do you think is the most important aspect of your job as a teacher of creative writing?
Holly: My job is to expose students to possibilities, to share stories and poems that lead to prompts for their own ideas, to give them tools for creating stories and poems in English, and to nurture curious, responsive readers and writers. Most importantly, my aim is to open their minds and to inspire them to discover creativity with words.
Asian Books Blog: What do you find most enjoyable about your job? And the most frustrating?
Holly: Frustrations can usually be worked around—as long as you have students and as long as the institution supports your courses. In an ideal world, my students would all have much more tech support, and would have more creative writing opportunities at the university, but I feel fortunate to have been able to teach creative writing in a Japanese university—it is not a common course offering in Japanese higher education.
I love to see the evolution of the students as they travel from bewildered beginners to imaginative and capable writers. At the end of the semester it’s a joy to hand out the student publications that result, and in the poetry classes to watch students listen with rapt attention as fellow students stand before them reading selected poems from their final portfolios—moving others with their own words.
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