There is currently a push at Wabash headed up by certain ambitious faculty members and students to have an Asian language offered as part of the regular course curriculum. Last year, I decided to join that effort by planning out an interest group in Asian studies that will be starting this year. After pooling student interest through the Facebook and by having sign-up sheets around campus, I found that there are more than 50 students on campus who would be willing to support a program in Asian languages. Last summer I worked with a number of very generous faculty members, namely Kay Widdows of the Economics department and David Blix of the Religion department (who is on sabbatical this year) to organize a proposal for an exceptional Dill grant, one that would allow me to go to Japan and study Japanese in Tokyo during a six week intensive language program. The result of the proposal was that I soon found myself in Mitaka, Tokyo studying Japanese at the International Christian University.
My interest in Japan began as a small child while watching television. One way my parents pushed me and my siblings to be more culturally diverse was to have us watch foreign television shows that had been translated into English, many of which were from Japan. Those few childhood experiences impressed themselves on my mind in a way I never thought possible, and I found that it was impossible for me to forget Japan. In Junior high I practiced origami; in high school I started to learn karate and became close friends with a few of the Japanese families in my hometown. I even started tutoring Japanese students in English. The first few weeks in Tokyo were the most difficult for me. Being there I came to realize that I truly was in a foreign land; nothing there was familiar. As time drew on and my Japanese improved. I began to see again those things that drew me to Japan in the first place.
There is something abstract and beautiful that attracts me not just to Japan, but also to China and that entire part of the world. The abstract qualities found in Japanese and Chinese calligraphy, artwork, language, and in particular philosophy are not only beautiful and intricate but universal and I find give me an added insight and intuition into fields that are totally unrelated. Unfortunately, these same principles are often incomprehensible, but I believe that this is the exact thing that defines the liberal arts. Therefore, I think that every Wabash man should be able to learn about such a culture, and find in it something that he can admire.
Especially in light of current political and social trends, Japan and China are becoming huge players in the world market. Therefore it is essential to the very creed of this college that students someday have the option to learn Japanese or Chinese. I ask all the students that are interested in learning such things to make themselves heard. It is your college and I prompt you to make the most of what you have available here.
As I said, there are plans of starting an East Asian studies club, whose agenda would include celebrating the cultures of these countries, practicing the languages, and starting a reform movement to have Japanese or Chinese as permanent classes at Wabash College. Unfortunately, my current schedule does not allow me to head up this club, so it may be next semester. But who says that I have to be the only one starting things? If there are enough interested students willing to fight for such a cause there is no limit to what can be done. Always let your passion for those things that you admire guide your actions.
Johnson is most definitely a Wabash man and Wabash always fights.