STUDENT INTERVIEW: Chris Resnik (AIJP)

Chris Resnik

Declan: Thanks for your time.
Chris: You're welcome.
Declan: Whereabouts in Switzerland are you from?
Chris: From the German speaking part.
Declan: Somewhere near Zurich?
Chris: Umm very close to Zurich. About 20 kilometers from Zurich. Usually when people ask me where I'm from I tell them Zurich because they might know where Zurich is but definitely won't know where I'm actually from.
Declan: Unless they are Swiss?
Chris: Even then.
Declan: Unless they are from Zurich?
Chris: From that region. People who drive cars will probably know the place. Actually they would probably swear at the name because there are lots of traffic jams there.
Declan: What is the name of this infamous place?
Chris: Hirzel.
Declan: Damn that place. Horrible traffic.
Chris: You've been there?
Declan: Nope.
Chris: If I just say Hirzel nobody knows where it is. If I say well Hirzel is where the author of Heidi lived, then there is some recognition. Especially in Japan. The book is called arupusu no shoujo in Japanese.
Declan: But they still won't have any idea where it is.
Chris: I guess not.
Declan: They imagine Hirzel to have mountains, cows, cowbells, green grass and people wearing strange outfits.
Chris: That is not so far off track. There are mountains, cows, greenery and all the gossiping you usually have in small villages.
Declan: How long does it take to get from there into town?
Chris: About 40 minutes to get to Zurich by bus and then train. About the same as going to Nagoya from Okazaki.

Declan: When did you start studying at Yamasa?
Chris: April 15th 2004.
Declan: Why do you remember the specific date?
Chris: Because I arrived in Japan on April 8th and it was a week before classes started. And I remember the arrival date because I was really excited about going to Japan.
Declan: Did you start as a beginner?
CR: No. I studied Japanese in Switzerland for about 3 and a half to 4 years. I studied by myself for about 3 years and then about 8 months of private lessons.
DM: And when you arrived at Yamasa which level were you at?
CR: In SILAC, I started at chapter 24 of the Minna no Nihongo series.
DM: How long did you do SILAC?
CR: 14 weeks. I originally signed up for 12 weeks but then cut to 10 weeks because the company I was applying to work with asked me too, but when they had trouble obtaining my work visa they asked me to extend my stay at Yamasa so I ended up staying for 14 weeks.
DM: Did you have to repeat any modules?
CR: I had to repeat 1 module before going into the Intermediate.
DM: The ukemi or the keigo?
CR: Can't remember. I just remember that I got 75% in one of those modules so repeated that before going up.

DM: Who were the teachers for that first semester.
CR: Yokozawa, Yoshiguchi, Kawashima...
DM: All good teachers?
CR: Yes. They were very good.
DM: Which class did you start in?
CR: G class. From chapter 33 of the second Minna no Nihongo book.
DM: Why so low?
CR: The night before the placement test I probably shouldn't have been out drinking. I did the test with a hangover.
DM: Serves you right.
CR: Yep. But since AIJP and SILAC concentrate on different things it was good repetition of what I learnt in SILAC.
DM: Were any of the people who you started with in G class in your current class.
CR: Sai-san from Taiwan.
DM: Did you take the JLPT last month?
CR: Yes.
DM: What level?
CR: I passed level 2.
DM: How were your 3 scores?
CR: I don't remember the exact numbers.
DM: Yeah right....
CR: (muffled sound)
DM: And which class are you in now?
CR: A class.
DM: How many people are there in the class?
CR: 14.
DM: Where are they from?
CR: 7 from Taiwan
DM: All girls?
CR: All girls. And then 3 from the USA, 1 Canadian, 1 from Singapore, 1 from Romania, and me.
DM: So everyone in the class sits next to somebody from Taiwan.
CR: Pretty much so.
DM: Do you sit next to the same person everyday or do you all move around?
CR: We are supposed to move around, but this quarter, basically whoever comes in early sits wherever they want and the spaces fill up.

DM: And how many teachers do you have?
CR: This semester we have five.
DM: Who are they?
CR: Fuma-sensei is the tannin sensei, Kuroda-sensei, Kurita-sensei, Nie-sensei and Hattori-sensei.
DM: Is it good having males as teachers?
CR: Yes it is. Better diversity.

DM: What were you doing immediately before you came to Yamasa?
CR: System admin for a software engineering company.
DM: What did the company do?
CR: Producing semiconductor emulator software.
DM: Where were you working?
CR: It was about a 30 minute commute from Hirzel.
DM: Damn that traffic.
CR: Actually I was living in a different place at that time.

DM: What do you do when not you are not studying?
CR: I play the guitar. At last year's Yamasa speech contest I did a guitar performance and a couple of people were kind enough to come on stage and we sang 2 songs.
DM: J-Pop songs?
CR: Yes, 2 J-Pop songs.
DM: Which ones?
CR: We did "Ojisannofurutokei" by Hirai-Ken and then "Change the World" by V6.
DM: The boy band from the interview with Stephanie?
CR: Yep. Reka from Hungary chose the two songs because she knew more about Japanese pop music than we did. 2 of the guys who came onto the stage, 1 of them was Jan from France and he'd never actually sung on the stage before. Another guy couldn't remember the lyrics so during the grandfather's clock song he did clock sound effects.
DM: Did you buy sheet music or just play the songs by ear?
CR: Reka had a lot of Japanese CD's that she bought here in Okazaki, and she lent me the CD so I listened to that for a while. One of the reasons we chose those songs was because I was the only one playing an instrument. So we had to choose songs that could be played without a band.
DM: Did you bring the guitar with you from Switzerland?
CR: Yes, but when I went back to Switzerland for Christmas I took it back and left it there.
DM: So you are currently guitarless?
CR: Yes
DM: I could lend you one of mine.
CR: From the self-proclaimed worst guitarist in Okazaki?
DM: Don't mock me. I can prove it.
CR: I was checking out the musical instruments in umm, what is the name of the music shop in Aeon?
DM: Shimamura Music.
CR: Yes. They had a nice selection so if I stay in Japan longer I might buy a guitar there.
DM: I bought my keyboard there, not a bad range of stuff. Rock Inn has instruments too. Hokindo has guitars.
CR: Does that mean you play the keyboard?
DM: Depends on your definition.
CR: I know that you have a piano in the bar and spend a lot of time in there....
DM: I am the worst pianist in Okazaki.
CR: (laughing)
DM: Don't laugh
CR: You can prove that too?
DM: Oh shut up.

DM: Have you been able to make many friendships while studying here?
CR: Yes. Its easy to start friendships, but its difficult when they go back to their own countries, and I'm notoriously bad at replying to emails.
DM: What about Japanese friends?
CR: I met a girl in Okazaki and she is now my girlfriend and I guess many of the friends I have made were originally introduced through her. Then also, there are things that happen by chance. Fukaya-san, the guy who asked you if there was someone who could translate a letter from Japanese to German?
DM: The muso from the the bar...
CR: The musician yes.
DM: Pretty good too.
CR: Yep. He's actually pretty amazing. He teaches guitar up near CAM...
DM: The live house?
CR: Yep. And also bass, banjo, and err, a Chinese instrument, the niko I think. But he's mainly into blues, jazz, irish folk music and so on.
DM: All the good stuff I can't play.
CR: My real interest is more heavy metal. I like hard rock. 80's guitar heroes.
DM: Joe Satriani and co?
CR: Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci...
DM: Hmm. What about electronic music?
CR: My dream is to produce my own album
DM: Heavy Metal genre?
CR: The music would probably be a mix between metal and techno.

DM: Do you go to many live clubs?
CR: I went to Satin Doll once. The jazz club.
DM: Did you like it?
CR: A bit smoky and pricey. The jazz was really good though and they do jam sessions every once in a while. Their website has a full schedule.
DM: Did you find that through our guidebook too?
CR: Yes.
DM: What about larger venues, concerts and stuff?
CR: I don't go to concerts very often because they are so expensive. I was surprised at how expensive live music can be in Japan. I went and saw "Dream Theater" in the shiminkaikan near Kanayama station. That was a bit of an adventure because back then I couldn't read kanji very well and I went alone.
DM: No problems?
DM: I got lost actually. Eventually I found a long line of people lining up and I thought, well maybe this is it, but I wasn't confident of asking anyone. Embarrassed I guess. So I eavesdropped for a while and when I heard "dream theater" and "John Petrucci" and stuff I could relax a bit.

DM: Interesting story. What else do you do when you aren't studying? Getting any exercise? Playing any sports?
DM: Inline skating.
DM: Skating?
DM: I hate jogging. I was interested in learning naginata, so I looked into that.
DM: That would be a good way to meet people. And not as physical as karate and things.
CR: Yes. But I found out that the practise sessions were for Saturday mornings and lost interest pretty quickly (laughing). I also went to the public gym, the one near Jusco, what is it called?
DM: okazakishitaiikukan
CR: Yep. I went there a couple of times. Not the newest equipment but very functional. And cheap of course for 200 yen. Unfortunately last year when preparing for the JLPT I invested a lot of time in studying and neglected exercise pretty much.

DM: Where do you live?
CR: I'm in Yamasa Villa 3. I moved there from one of the shared room in the Student Village at the end of March 2005.
DM: Single?
CR: Yes.
DM: What is the accommodation like?
CR: I liked the Student Village a lot but when I decided to study long term I wanted a bit more privacy so I asked the Housing Office if I could be on the waiting list.
DM: Privacy was the first thing? Is that why you wanted to change to a single occupancy apartment instead of a single room in the village?
CR: Privacy was the main consideration. I was in a shared by 2 room in the village instead of a single, and wanted more private space. My own bathroom and things. So I'm happy with the apartment.

DM: When did you start AIJP?
CR: In October 2004. I had a bit of a gap between SILAC and the AIJP because I missed the July start date as I thought I would be working from August that year. When that didn't work out I just studied kanji by myself and did some travelling. Swiss passport holders can renew a tourist visa without having to leave Japan so it was fairly easy.
DM: Yes. Along with a few other countries. Did you go back to Switzerland to get the student visa stamp or just hop over to Korea or somewhere close by?
CR: I went to Korea for a couple of days when changing to the student visa. There were a few problems. With my usual bad luck I went there on a Tuesday and on the Wednesday and Thursday the Japanese Embassy was closed due to a public holiday so I couldn't get the visa until Friday.
DM: Changing the flights cost you much?
CR: It cost a little bit of money but it couldn't be helped. Fortunately one of my former classmates was kind enough to let me stay at his place and he showed me around Seoul, which was pretty interesting.
DM: Do you still keep in touch with your Korean friend?
CR: Yes we sometime email and he calls me sometimes. He's actually a bucho in the company he works for.
DM: An older guy?
CR: He's about 47 I think. He comes over to Japan sometimes for business trips. It was interesting in Korea because he took me up to the DMZ at Panmunjeom. He said that if there was another war he'd still have to go back into the army.
DM: Reservist?
CR: Up to about 50 I think. In Switzerland the age for reservists was up to 42, but I think it was cut to 30 a few years ago.

DM: Interesting. Lastly have you done much travelling while here in Japan?
CR: I haven't travelled much so far. I would like to get down to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
DM: Where have you been so far?
CR: Hokkaido, Kyoto, Tokyo, Gujo Hachiman, Lake Biwa, the Atsumi peninsula area, over to the Grand Shrines of Ise, up to Nagano. And I did a lot of bicycle tours around Okazaki after I started working on the guidebook. So most of the shrines and temples around here.
DM: Good. OK that is it I think. Thank you very much.
CR: No problem.

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