Running Head: LIVING ALONE AT OJC Living Alone...

大阪女学院大学

Running Head: LIVING ALONE AT OJC

Living Alone at OJC

by

Sachi Yukawa

A graduation thesis submitted to the International Communication Course,

Department of English & International Interdisciplinary Studies,

Osaka Jogakuin College,

in partial fulfillment for degree requirements.

Advisor: Prof. S. R. Johnston

January 26, 2009

Living Alone at OJC 1

Abstract

In Osaka Jogakuin College, 91 students of 940 do not live with their parents, and 69

students of 91 live alone at Osaka. They have coped with school life and house work, and they

have experienced many troubles and culture shock during this college. In this paper, I researched

about their experiences. The methods were questionnaire and interview. The questionnaire was

givein to OJC students: six students who live alone, two students who do not live alone but live

with relatives, and eight students who live with their parents. I asked them about living alone, for

instance positive and negative points, or what kind of culture shock they had and how they over

came the problems. They say there are both positive and negative points of living alone.

Moreover, they had culture shock between Osaka and their hometown. For example, they had

culture shock about the difference rules or manners in public place, direction or rough words, and

fusions between city and countryside. However, all six students feel they could grow up since

live alone, and they all also recommend other students to live alone if they have opportunity. In

conclusion, they have experienced many troubles and culture shock, but they have enjoyed living

alone and they look at bright side of the experience.

抄録

現在、大阪女学院大学・大阪女学院短期大学に在籍する９４０名の学生の内９１名の学生は親元を離れて

おり、さらに内６９名は一人暮らしをしながら勉学と家事を両立させている。故郷を離れ大阪での暮して

いる彼女たちの中には、新しい環境での新しい文化に触れカルチャーショックを体験している学生もいる。

この調査では本学に在籍する学生がどのような問題を抱え向き合っているのかを調べた。親元を離れてい

る学生と実家に暮している学生各８名に対してのアンケートをもとに、一人暮らしに対する印象や実際体

験した問題やカルチャーショックについて調査をした。調査の結果、一人暮らしをしている彼女たちは何

らかのトラブルやカルチャーショックを体験していた。例えば、ゴミの分別方法の違いや公共の場所での

マナーやルールが地元と違い、戸惑いを感じたことがある学生がいた。言葉使いにも違いがあり、自分の

話す方言が相手に伝わらなかった経験や、相手の話と言葉に対して誤った解釈をしてしまった経験もある

ようだ。また地方出身であることにコンプレックスを抱き、都会生活に早くなじもうと無理をしてしまっ

た学生もいた。しかし、彼女たちはそれらの問題に向き合い、自分なりの解決方法を身につけているよう

だ。それに加え、「学生の一人暮らし」に対しても善い面も悪い面も持っているが、自身の一人暮らしの

経験で変化したことは何かという質問に対して全員が「自立できた」「自分の考えを持つようになった」

など、プラスの回答をした。また「機会があれば一人暮らしをするべきである」という質問に全員が同意

する結果となった。彼女たちは一人暮らしの中でいろんな問題に直面をしているが、充実ひた一人暮らし

を送っている。


Living Alone at OJC

Introduction

In Japan, there are many students who live alone and they try had to cope with both their

schoolwork and it. However, it is not so easy to live alone in new environment by leaving their

hometown, especially at the beginning. I also came from a small town in Wakayama prefecture

and I lived alone near school for four years. I enjoyed living in big city, but I sometimes felt

some culture shock in my daily life such as language, values and life style and so on. When I

realized different point of culture, I was surprised and confused. I think other students who live

alone in same situation like me also feel some culture shock. Especially, the students who came

from Kyusyu, Kanto or Hokuriku region seem to have many gaps between new region and their

own hometown in every respect. Thus, I researched about their culture shock while gathering

much data, and I analyzed about their culture shock and how to overcome those problems.

Literature Review

First of all, we need to understand what culture shock is. There is much literature written

about the definition of “culture shock”. In the literature, Culture Shock written by Dr. Carmen in

San Diego State University (1998) says “we can describe „culture shock‟ as the physical and

emotional discomfort one suffers when coming to live in another country or a place different

from the place on origin” (p1). For example, the way that we lived before is not accepted as or

considered as normal in the new place. In short, culture shock occurred not only abroad but also

in domestic country.

Moreover, culture shock has many stages and each stage can be ongoing or appear only at

certain times. According to Carmen (1998), it has five stages, and these stages are present at

different times and each person has their own way of reacting in the stages of culture shock. The

first stage is that all of the new things encountered are exciting for them and they feel only

euphoric about that. The second stage is to encounter some difficult times and crises in daily life,

for instance, communication difficulties may occur such as not being understood. In this stage,


people feel discontent, dissatisfaction, anger, sadness, and incompetence in many things. In some

cases, people also feel home sick in this stage. Then, the third stage is characterized by gaining

some understanding of the new culture. People become able to feel pleasure and sense humor to

new culture. Afterwards, in the fourth stage, the person realized that the new culture has good

and bad things to offer, and they start to define themselves and establish goals for living.

Moreover, the last stage is the stage that is called “re-entry shock”. This occurs when returning

home. For example, some new customs in new environment can not be accepted in old culture. In

all of that, culture shock has five stages, everything encountered is new and exciting stage,

negative feeling stage, gaining acceptance new culture stage, realize good and bad point of new

culture and establish goals for living stage, and re-entry shock stage.

In the culture of university students who live alone in Japan, there is little literature about

“culture shock”. If we say “different culture”, we tend to image that country- by- country like

Japanese culture, Western culture or something like that. There is much literature about the

differences of food, religion, education, language, race and so on the country as a unit. However,

we cannot find easily literature about culture shock in domestic, especially limited college

students who live alone.

We can find many books about manual of living alone. For example, these manuals say

about how to live safely at apartment, bolstering disaster- prevention countermeasure, or coping

with illegal business practice or door- to door sales. In examining literature on students who live

alone in Japan, most of that it has to do with safety and food. Little has to do with the shock of

living by one self. In the pamphlet Anzen ・anshinnahitorikurashi manyual [The manual on

safety and living comfortable for people living alone] written by Toshikazu (2005), it also

emphasizes safety concerns.

Moreover, some professors studied about Japanese university students, and they have

insisted there are differences between students who live at home with their family and those who

live alone. For example, many university students work their way through school today, and


students who live alone have a more expenses than students who live at home

(Zennkokudaigakuseikatsukannkumiaiunngoukai, 2003). On the other hand, there are very little

of data about „culture shock‟ of students who live alone. In short, very little of the literature

actually seemed to ask students what they think and what concerns they have living alone during

college. This research examines how some students at OJC think about living alone, especially

concerning “culture shock.

Research Questions

It seems that students have felt confused, anxious or something by the time they could be

gaining acceptance in a new culture in Osaka while studying at OJC. I predicted that each

student‟s experience will have specific problems or culture shock, and the symptoms will also be

different for each student so I researched about their culture shock, and how they dealt with it.

I have three major questions about culture shock of OJC students who live alone.

First of all, what kind of culture shock or problems do they have? Many students came

from all over the country, and they seem to have their specific troubles or distress in daily life

especially at the beginning of start of new life.

The second research question is how to overcome when they experienced some culture

shock.

My third research question is how does OJC support the students who live alone. For

example, have OJC staff ever discussed with students who live alone about their personal

troubles?

Methods

As for answering the three major questions, I gave questionnaire to eight students who do

not live with their family. Six of them live alone, and they came from Hiroshima, Kochi,

Shizuoka, Hyogo, Okayama, and Fukui. Two of them live with relatives, and one came from

Wakayama and she is fourth age, the other came from Chiba and she is second grade. In addition,

I gave questionnaire to eight students who live with their family and they all are fourth grade.


After that, I interviewed with one student who lives alone because I interested to hear her

thinking more detail by interviewing. She is fourth grade, and she came from Fukui prefecture

and she lives alone for four years. Then, next I interviewed with OJC support students staff to

research about students who live alone at OJC.

In the questionnaire, I asked about basic information such as their age, location,

commuting time to school as so on. In addition, I asked them the advantages or disadvantages of

living alone. These basic questions are not connected with „culture shock‟ directly, but it may be

of some help to prove an association between them and OJC students‟ culture shock. Moreover, I

want to know the different impression to “living alone” between OJC students living alone and

students living at home.

Students‟ Living Situations at OJC

At OJC, while most students live with their families, there are also a lot of students who

live along. This section describes the living situations of students at OJC by gathered basic

information.

Osaka Jogakuin College

First, we need to know about Osaka Jogakuin College. OJC was founded in 1884, and it is

an educational community based on Christianity. “Our aim is to raise up persons who search for

truth, respect themselves and others, have the power of insight supported by accurate knowledge

and rich sensitivity, and participate actively in society” (Osaka Jogakuin College, 2009). The

college has no dormitories, but is standing in the City of Osaka, so it has a good location to

access. According to the data of OJC in first December 2008, the number of four-year college

students is 609, and the number of junior college students is 331, and the total number of them is

940.


OJC is women‟s college which includes both four- year college and two-year college. The

four-year college has specializations in international management, international communication

and international collaboration in English.

Students Living Alone at OJC

First of all, Table 1 shows the number of students at OJC who do not live with their parents.

For the year 2008-2009 I gathered basic information of students living alone at OJC. There were

59 students in the four-year college and 32 students in the junior college, for a total of 91 students

not living with their families.

Table 1 The Number of Students not Living with Family

Four- Year College Junior College

1st grade 10 17

2nd

grade 13 11

3rd

grade 18

4th

grade 15

Other (admission or repeater

students)

3 4

Total 59 32 9

1

The Prefectures from which Students Come

Next, I researched about where students come from. Table 2 shows the prefectures from

which students come. The date shows not only the number of students living alone, but also the

number of students leaving their hometown and living their relatives or someone.


Table 2 The Prefectures from which Students Come

Wakayama

21

Tottori

4

Gifu

1

Hyogo

12

Chiba

2

Fukui

1

Nara

7

Osaka

2

Toyama

1

Hiroshima

6

Shizuoka

2

Niigata

1

Mie

5

Tokushima

2

Aomori

1

Okayama

5

Kagawa

2

Hokkaido

1

Kochi

4

Shimane

1

Shiga

4

Yamanashi

1

Most of the students come from Wakayama, which is next to Osaka. There are 21 students

from Wakayama. The next highest number of students is 12 from Hyogo Prefecture, which is

also next to Osaka. The third highest number of students is seven from Nara Prefecture, which is

also next to Osaka. Thus, more than 40% students come from close to Osaka City.

In addition, five students came from Mie and four students came form Shiga which both are

Kinki area. The next highest are is Chugoku and Shikoku area. For example, five students came

from Okayama, four students came from Kochi and Tottori, two students came from Tokushima

and Kagawa, and a student came from Shimane. In the area of Chubu, two students came from

Shizuoka, and one student came from Yamanashi and Gifu. Moreover, some students came from

Hokuriku, Kanto, Tohoku, and Hokkaido area.

As Table 2 shows most of OJC students who leave their hometown came from Kinki area

especially from Wakayama, Hyogo and Nara. However, other students came from many different

areas like Tohoku Shikoku Hokuriku. In short, 91 OJC students came from all over the country.


The Type of Property to Live in

Table 3 shows the type of property of 91 OJC students who do not live their family. They

live in a variety of situations.

Table 3 The Type of Property to Live in

Four- Year College Two-Year College Total

Efficiency apartment (one- room)

35

22

57

Other types of apartment

9

3

12

Live with Relatives

7

5

12

Boarding

3

1

4

Under investigation

5

1

6

Sharing with friends

0

0

0

Total

59

32

91

The total of students who live in efficiency apartment (one-room) is 57, includes both four-

year college students and two-year college students. In addition, 12 of 91 OJC students live in

other type of apartment by themselves which is not one-room but there are some rooms. In short,

more than 70% of the 91 students who do not live with their parents live alone at one-room

apartment or other type of apartment.

In addition, of the 91, 12 students live with relatives in the Osaka area. For example, they

do not live with their parents, but live with sister, brother, or other relatives. Moreover, some

students live with acquaintance. Four students of 91 students board at acquaintance.

On the other hand, nobody lives with friends. For example, many people live their friends

in apartment and share it in America. However, in general, sharing room with friends is not

common in Japan. Thus, since OJC has 940 students, about 10% of the students do not live with


their parents and live in a variety of situations, and 16% of 940 students live alone at efficiency

apartment or other type of apartment.

Impressions of Living Alone at OJC

As I mentioned, I gave questionnaire survey to 16 students including both who live with their

parents and who do not live with parents. This section describes the impression of living alone

with a focus on understanding the culture shock of those who live alone and have come from

outside the area, and the different impression of living alone between students who live with their

parents and those who do not live with parents.

How Have you Changed since Living Alone?

I asked six students who live alone “how have you change since living alone?” Living

alone has some opportunity to grow up. For example, changing impression about living alone,

became independent, or became good at cooking. I researched how the six students changed

themselves compared with before and after starting living alone. Table 4 shows how have they

changed since living alone. The question is open question, so they had many answers.

Table 4 How Have You Changed since Living Alone

Acknowledged of the importance of parents 3 Became independent 2 Inspired by meeting a whole variety of

people

2 Changed attitude 2

Can control how to spend money 1 Have gotten good at cooking 1

The most common answer, the number of three of six is “Acknowledged of the importance

of parents.” Before starting living alone students depended on parents in all aspects. However,

they become to be able to do anything by themselves like cooking, cleaning, or something like

that. Especially, they feel thankful to their mother. When they live with their parents, mother did


all house working, so they realize it is so hard work and they became to respect mother compared

with before. Then, the experience teaches one a renewed recognition of the importance of family.

The next highest answer is “Became independent”, “Inspired by meeting a whole variety of

people” and “Changed attitude”. Since leaving their hometown and starting a new life in new

environment, the six students who live alone met a variety of people both at OJC and outside the

college and inspired by them.

After that, two of six answered they changed their attitude. They say they have own

thinking and opinion. The reason is that they feel they have become independent. By having self-

reliance, a student said she could control how to spend money, for instance, she keeps accounts

and she grasp the monthly budget like food costs or social expenses or sundry expenses. In

addition, another student had gotten good at cooking. In short, six students answered positively

about the question “How have you changed since living alone?”

What are Positive and Negative Points of Living Alone?

Then, I asked the six students who live alone two questions “what are positive and

negative points of living alone?” The questions are also open question. Table 5 shows positive

and negative points of their impression of living alone.

Table 5 What are Positive and Negative Points of Living Alone?

Positive points Negative points

Be not restricted by time 3 Hard to cope with school life and

housework

3

Can do as one pleases 3 Cannot wake up in the morning 2

Can be strong 1 Become to be lazy 2

Can be independent 1 Sometime feel lonely 2

Became to thank parents 1 Increase the number of times of eating

out

1

Can have opportunity to face myself 1 No conversations 1

Can get good at cooking 1 Be late to go back to apartment 1

Tranquility 1 Tend to be late or absent school 1


They have many positive and negative points of living alone. The highest positive point of

living alone is “Be not restricted by time” and “Can do as ones pleases”. They like to be able to

do anything they want whenever they want, for example eating, going back home, taking a

shower. They are not told by their parents what they should do, and they are in the selective

situation during living alone. For example, they can select eat dinner at home or eat out, or select

what time they back home. Moreover, they can invite their friends every time without parents‟

permission. Thus, they do not follow parents‟ advice in comparison with students who live with

parents. Instead of that, they have to do all by themselves, and it means that they have

opportunity to be able to be independent.

On the other hand, they also say there are negative points of living alone as many as

positive points. The most common answer is “Hard to cope with studying and house work, and

how to take care of themselves without help from their family. Therefore, some of them tend to

be lazy, for instance, cannot wake up in the morning and increase time to go out and eat.

Moreover, a student feels living alone brings no conversations and sometimes feels lonely in the

apartment. In the situation of living alone, we spend alone for a long time at home. As a certain

student mentioned she can have opportunity to face herself, but on the other hand, we do not have

much times conversation or discussion with family. For example, we cannot ask parents‟ advice

soon about school, job- hunting, or distress which like cannot ask others but family. Therefore

they sometimes have stress, and they feel lonely and home sick.

Comparing positive and negative points, they have both opinions about living alone.

However, I interpreted they have different mentalities. For example, they can spend their own

time and do anything they please while living alone and some of them think it is positive points

of living alone. On the other hand, other students feel negative in regard to that, For instance, to

be late to go back home, and cannot wake up in the morning. Similarly, some students feel living

alone is tranquility or can have opportunity to face themselves and theses is positive point, and


others think living alone means no conversation and sometimes feel lonely. In short, theses

specific matters which students who live alone have can construe both positive and negative. It

depends on how the student looks at its. In short, students‟ living alone is a very line between

positive and negative line.

Problems Living Alone and Overcoming the Problems

I asked them “Have you ever had some problems or shock since you live alone at OJC?”,

and five of six students answered “yes”. Table 6 shows their kinds of problems or shock they had

and how they overcame those problems. The question is also open question.

Table 6 Problems Living Alone and Overcoming the Problems

Kinds of problems or shock How to overcome

1 Sometimes feel lonely and homesick Calling old friends or family

2 Cooking Go eating out with friends

3 Give up friendship because of difference of

values

Have a talk with close friends or just try to

get used to it

4 Had to go back home when I am busy Do something

5 Difference how to separate trash

Bad manners (Smoking, spit, bicycle, traffic

light)

High sense of Osaka (Osaka is the best)

Gaiety

Word intonations

Using escalator

Adjust to the environment through the time

There are a variety problems and shock they have, and they have original methods of

overcoming the problems. As Table 6 shows, some students have experienced not culture shock

but just personal problems. However, other students experienced many problems connected to

culture shock. For example, student 1 sometime feels lonely in Osaka and misses old friends and

her family. In short, they do not have some “culture shock” in Osaka, but they did experience

some specific troubles and it is kind of occurring to people who live alone.


One Student’s Culture Shock

In addition, Table 6 shows student 5 feels many culture shocks in daily life. I was

interested in her answers, so I interviewed her about that and she told me more detail about

problems and culture shock which she experienced. First of all, I describe about her. She came

from Fukui Prefecture, and this is her fourth year since she moved to Osaka. She lives in one-

room apartment, called a mansion in Japanese. It takes her about 30 minutes to OJC. First, she

felt culture shock about the rules between Osaka and her local area. For example, how to separate

trash is different. In case of her local area, separating refuses is very strict. She has to carefully

separate trash and put name on each designated trash bag. However, the rule of separating trash is

less strict than her local in case of Osaka. She says “I lived in countryside, so I had impression

that cities like Osaka have more strict rules against separating trash compare with my local area.”

In addition, the rule of using escalator is also different between Osaka and her hometown.

When using escalator in Osaka, all the standing people stay to the right side and left is for going.

However, she did not have such a rule in her hometown. I also never had such kind of rule in my

local are, because my hometown is very countryside which is less heavily populated area, so I do

no need to stand in a queue on the escalator like Osaka. She also does not need to do that in her

local area.

Moreover, she had culture shock about manners at Osaka. She felt people in Osaka have

bad manners in public. For example, many people are smoking while walking through the crowd.

In addition, she thought people in Osaka often spit saliva in public place, so there are many rests

of spiting saliva in the road. In addition, she felt that there are many bicycles which are on the

walk, not parked in the bicycle parking lot. Other thing which she had culture shock about

manners is people in Osaka often ignore a traffic light while driving cars. She also feels people in

Osaka often drive on the horn.


Moreover, she had strong culture shock at beginning of living alone at Osaka about the

way of speaking of people in Osaka. People in Osaka speak in Kansai accent, and it sometimes

makes people who come from other prefecture surprised. For example, people in Osaka often say

“Anta” in Japan, which means “You” in English, to close friends. In generally, the word “Anta”

is rough word and we usually do not use the word, but people in Osaka use the word very often in

daily life. Moreover, they also often use the rough word “Aho”, which means like “Fool” in

English, but it is not so negative in Kansai accent and it is used in friendly manner and has humor.

However, she says “When I heard such kinds of rough words from people in Osaka at the first

time , I was really shocked. But I realized they usually use such kind of word in daily life and it

does not mean much.”

Other culture shock is about sense of person in Osaka. Osaka is famous for “Owarai”,

which means “Comedy”, and Osaka is the biggest city in Kansai area and prosper. She says:

People in Osaka feel they have strong sense of pride. I think they have never lived

outside from Osaka, but they think Osaka is the best prefecture than others. In case of

me, I came from Shizuoka Prefecture which is very countryside, and since I started

living alone in Osaka, which is a big city, I found there are positive and negative points

about living in city. At the same time, I also found positive and negative point about

living in countryside. I think only those who live in both city and countryside can realize

these points. However, people who are born and raised in Osaka tend to think Osaka is

the best prefecture in Japan. I sometimes hear such kind of opinion from them, so I had

culture shock about their thinking.

Moreover, she also had culture shock about fashion of Osaka. According to her, she was

surprised about fusion of girls living in Osaka, more fissionable than her hometown and she had

impression people in Osaka wear much make up. At the beginning when she came to OJC, she

thought everyone wears glitzy dress, but it was not true.


Through the interview with her, she told me more detail her episode which she experienced

since she started live alone in Osaka. After that, I asked her how to overcome these culture

shocks. She does not have specific methods of overcoming that, but she naturally adapted new

hobbies or rules through the times.

Views of Students Living Alone: Comparing Two types

I asked both students who live alone and live with parents same four questions to research

how they have impression about “student‟s living alone” in general. I researched whether there

are some different impressions about students living alone. These four questions are an interval

response format, called Likert, and I asked them to circle a number which is their specific

number [１strongly agree, ２ agree, ３ neutral, ４ disagree, ５strongly disagree]

Table 7 View of Students Living Alone by Students who do not Live Parents

Number of students→ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Q1. Students should live with family ４５５４４５３２

Q2. Should live alone if have opportunity ４２１１２１２１

Q3. Should not live alone but live with

someone ３４３３４４２２

Q4. Difficult to cope with study and house

work ３４４２２５３４

Table 8 View of Students Living Alone by Students who Live with Parents

Number of students→ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Q1. Students should live with family ４３４５５３５３

Q2. Should live alone if having opportunity １３２１２２２３

Q3. Should not live alone but live with

someone ４２３４４２３３

Q4. Difficult to cope with study and house

work ２１４２２２４２


I had expected there are some different impressions about student‟s living alone between

students who live with parents and those who do not live with parents. However, there are not big

differences between them actually. In case of question 1, most of both students who live alone

and those who live with their family have impression “disagree” or “ strongly disagree”.

Moreover, most of them have impression “strongly agree” or “agree” on question 2. In case of

question 3, two students have impression “agree”, three students have impression “neutral”, and

three students have impression “disagree”. However, in case of question 4, there is a little

difference between students who live alone and those who live with parents. In case of students

who live alone, six students answered “neutral”, “disagree”, “strongly disagree”, and they have

positive impression about cope with study and housework. On the other hand, six students who

live with parents answered “strongly agree” or “agree” and they have negative impression about

coping with study and housework. In conclusion, both students who live alone and those who live

with parents have positive impression of student live alone during college, but students who live

with parents think coping with study and housework is difficult compared with students who live

alone. Students who live alone seem to have made use of their experience and they can well cope

with study and housework.

OJC Support

As I mentioned above, OJC students who live alone sometimes have their specific

problems or culture shock. Then, how does OJC support those students? I interviewed with an

OJC students support staff. I asked a staff member what kind of problems do students have and

how she supports them. She started to take care of students who live alone at OJC since three or

four years ago. She keeps tabs on situation of them, for instance, the number of them, the

situation of their living or from where they come. Moreover, she sends them announcement about

living alone, for example, the event of gatherings for the students. Through the interview, she


told me about her work, and she also told me about some episodes which some students

experienced problems.

First, she says, “ We think security is the most important thing for students living alone”.

She hands out the living alone manual “Anzen ・anshinnahitorikurashi manyual” (2005) to the

first year students. The manual says four advice to promote well –being during living alone at

university. First advice is the manners of living alone at apartment like how to separate trash or

keep noise to a minimum. Second advice is methods of prevention of crime. For example, the

way of block intrusion by suspicious individuals, prevention of crank call, stalking activities, or

attention of illegal business practice. Third advice is the way of accident prevention. It says some

points of accidents prevention like to make familiar with the escape routes or evacuation spots.

Fourth advice is the point of apartment- hunting. The manual gives advice to solve the specific

problems which students who live alone have.

Second, OJC organizes “Gatherings” four times a year, in April, before and after summer

vacation and the season of Christmas. The purpose of the gatherings is to exchange between each

student or to call their attention to how to spend long vacation. She says:

We would like to make students who live alone to attend Gatherings more to deepen

exchange with each other. Especially, the students in first year grade seem hard to make

friends. Actually, they attended gatherings every time when they were first year students,

but attendance gets fewer as their grade in OJC advance. I guess they have already close

friends and they do not need to attend to the gatherings to make new friends.

In addition to above, I asked her if they had ever discussed with students who live alone

about their troubles or culture shock. Actually, she said there are not so many problems students

have. Moreover, she started to support the students since only three or four years ago, so she has

almost never been having a talk about problems directly from students.

However, she told me about some students who experienced some troubles or culture

shock before she became in charge of staff of students living alone. Examples of troubles are that


stranger came in a certain student‟s apartment, or the noise from neighbors in same apartment. In

addition, a certain student made an arrangement about the way to get rid of pigeons which lived

on the balcony. It seemed that it was difficult for them to solve themselves.

However, their troubles are not related to culture shock but related to daily life. She told

me a certain student who had culture shock. A certain student had culture shock about gaps

between city and countryside. She came from countryside out of Osaka. She was surprised by

difference of Osaka and her local. She made new friends at OJC who grew up in Osaka, and she

thought her friends are more fashionable than her local friends. Moreover, she felt city had more

attractive place than her local. Therefore she became to have a strong complex about growing up

in the countryside. In addition, she had frolicked in order to be like a city person. For example,

she changed her hair color to bright too much, and she was flashy dressed to look more

fashionable. The OJC staff said:

She had never come to talk to us, but we all staff realize she had taken it too far and we

really worried about her. However, she became natural again after about a year. The later

I heard from her, she certainly had taken it too far the first year sine she came to Osaka

to be adapt to life in the city, but she realize that she dose not have to push herself and

became to behave in her primary character.

Through the interview with OJC, there are not so many problems or culture shock they

have, but some people got involved in some troubles, and a certain students feel strongly culture

shock. However, OJC staff support them by many ways, for example, handing out “Living Alone

Manual”, “Gatherings”, conversation with students and watch them carefully.

Conclusion

Osaka Jogakuin College has 609 students, including both four-year college students and

two-year college students, and 91 students of them came from all over the country, especially

from Kinki area like Wakayama, Nara, and Hyogo prefectures. They do not live with their


parents, each them live near college in variety of situations. Among 91 students, 69 students live

alone at one-room apartment or other kinds of apartment.

First, all six students changed themselves since they started to live alone. They became to

thank to parents, could be independent, got good at cooking, and control spend money. Moreover,

a student was inspired by variety of people who have variety thinking and she changed her

attitude. In addition, they have their own positive and negative points about living alone. The

positive points are can be independent, be not restricted by time and can spend time on their own.

On the other hand, they feel living alone is hard to cope with study and housework, can not wake

up in the mornings. However, theses specific matters which students who live alone have can

construe both positive and negative. Thus, it depends on how the student views living alone: as

positive chance or as negative.

Five students of six who live alone at OJC had some troubles or culture shock in Osaka.

In case of the student who I interviewed had many culture shocks compared with her local

Shizuoka prefecture. For example, she had culture shock about the difference of the rules of

separating trash or using escalator. Moreover, she had impression bad manners in Osaka like

ignoring traffic lights.

Not only her, but some students had also some culture shock, for instance, gaps between

city and countryside, or feel home sick. They have their own ways of overcoming the problems.

For example, go out with close friends or call to family and switch their mood, or some of them

adjusted naturally to new environment.

As I mentioned above, some students experienced troubles and culture shock. Then, OJC

staff have supported students who live alone to spend comfortable school life while handing out

manual written about manners or crime-prevention and accident prevention. They usually take

care of the students by gatherings or counseling.

Through the research, I learned about culture shock or specific problems which OJC

students who live alone have. On the other hand, I looked for some literature review about


“culture shock” and university students who live alone, but there is not literature written about

culture shock among only Japanese students. Thus, more research on culture shock of students

who live along and come from other areas is necessary in order to help these students. My

research was only with six students who live alone, so we need more indepth research in this area.


References

Carmen, G. (1998, March 17). Amigos: Culture Shock. San Diego State University: Dept of

Counseling and School Psychology. Retrieved July 1, 2008, from

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/CGuanipa/cultshok.htm

Osaka Jogakuin College. (2009). Mission Statement. Retrieved February 6, 2009, from

http://www.wilmina.ac.jp/ojc/eng/pjilosophy

Toshikazu, K. (2005). Anzen ・anshinnahitorikurashi manyual [The manual on safety and living

comfortable for people living alone]. Tokyo: Student Support Center

Zennkokudaigakuseikatsukannkumiaiunngoukai (2003, November). Campus Life Data from

2003 to 2004. Tokyo: Daigakuseikyoukaikann..


Acknowledgements

I wish to thank all the students at OJC who answered my questionnaire. Especially, I

would like to thank my friend who answered my questions honestly. I also want to thank the staff

member at OJC who took time to answer my questions. Finally, I would like thank Professor

Johnston who helped my research and gave me much advice about this project.


Appendices

Appendix A

Questionnaire for Students Who do not Live with their Families

自宅外生の生活についてのアンケート

私は湯川幸と申します。この研究は、私の卒業論文製作のため、大阪女学院の自宅外生の生

活・文化を調べることを目的としています。私は、現在実家を離れて暮らしている学生の意見

をまとめたいと思っております。この研究への参加はあなたの意思に基づきます。この研究で

集められた情報は、研究レポートや研究発表で使用されますが、その際にはあなたのプライバ

シーは厳格に守られます。何かご質問などがございましたらご連絡ください。

氏名：学年：回生

Q1. あなたは自宅外生ですか？ □はい □いいえ

Q2. Q1 で「はい」と答えられた方にお聞きします。

a. 出身地はどこですか？ [ ]

b. 現在の生活状況は何ですか？次の項目の中から当てはまるものを一つ選んでください。

□一人暮らし □兄弟または姉妹と同居 □親戚の家に下宿 □友達と同居 □恋人と同

棲

□その他 [ ]

c. 実家を離れて何年目ですか？

□１年未満 □１年～２年未満 □２年～３年未満 □３年～４年未満 □４年以上

Q3. 「一人暮らし」をしている方にお聞きします。

a. 一人暮らしをしている理由は何ですか？

□ 実家が遠いので仕方なく。 □実家は近いが、実家を離れたかったから。

□ 自立するため □その他[ ]

b.一人暮らしを始めてから自分自身何か変化したことがありますか？(例：自立できた、意

識が変わった、価値観が変わった、など・・・)

[ ]

c.一人暮らしのメリットは何だと思いますか？

[ ]

d.一人暮らしのデメリットは何だと思いますか？

[ ]

e.一人暮らしを始めてから、何か苦労したり、ショックを受けたりした事はありますか？

□はい □いいえ

f. e で「はい」と答えられた方に質問します。

例えばどんなことで苦労したり、ショックを受けたりしましたか？(例：方言、生活環境

の違い、価値観の違い、友達づくりなど・・・)

[ ]

g. 苦労やショックを受けた時、あなたはどのようにしてそれらを克服しますか？

[ ]


Q4. 「自宅外生」のみなさんにご質問します。

a. ４年間の大学生活の中で最も重点をおいていることは何ですか？

□勉強 □人間関係 □クラブ・サークル □趣味 □アルバイト □その他[ ]

b. 片道の通学時間はどのくらいですか？ [ 時間分 ]

c. 現在クラブやサークルに所属していますか？ □はい □いいえ

―「はい」と答えられた方、その理由はなんですか？

□友達や仲間ができるから □クラブ・サークル活動の内容が好き・楽しいから

□趣味を深めるため □その他[ ]

d. 本学の「自宅外生の集い」のプログラムを知っていますか？

□知っている、参加したことがある。 □知っているが参加したことがない。 □知らな

い。

Q5. 「学生の一人暮らし」についてお聞きします。現在、実家を離れ一人暮らしをしながら大

学に通っている学生は珍しくなく、多くの学生が学業と私生活を両立させていると思います。

そこで、みなさんが、一般的な「学生の一人暮らし」について普段どのような考えを持たれて

いるかをお聞きしたいと思います。次の４つの項目に対して、[１非常にそう思う２少しそう

思う３どちらでもない４あまりそう思わない５全くそう思わない] の５つの中から、一

番あてはまる数字に○を付けて下さい。

・学生のうちは家族と暮らすべきである。 [ １２３４５ ]

・機会があれば一人暮らしをするべきだ。 [ １２３４５ ]

・一人暮らしよりは、誰かと同居する方が良い。[ １２３４５ ]

・学校の勉強と家事の両立は難しいと思う。 [ １２３４５ ]

質問は以上です。

このアンケート用紙は、私湯川幸に直接渡して頂くか、私のロッカーに入れて下さい。ロッカ

ーナンバーは「E174」です。よろしくお願いします。

このアンケート結果を元に分析したいと思っていますが、その後アンケートに答えてくださっ

た方それぞれにインタビューをし、さらに詳しい話を聞きたいと思っております。協力してく

れる方は、恐れ要りますが、メールアドレスの記入をお願いします。

連絡先(メールアドレス)：

何かご質問がありましたら、[email protected] までご連絡下さい。

ご協力ありがとうございました。

mailto:[email protected]


Appendices

Appendix B

Questionnaire for Students Who do Live with their Families

自宅通学生の生活についてのアンケート

私は湯川幸と申します。この研究は、私の卒業論文製作のため、大阪女学院の自宅外生の生

活・文化を調べることを目的としています。私は、現在実家を離れて暮らしている学生の意見

をまとめたいと思っております。そのため、自宅通学生の生活・文化も研究し、自宅外生との

生活にどのような違いが見られるのかを比較し、調べようと思っております。この研究への参

加はあなたの意思に基づきます。この研究で集められた情報は、研究レポートや研究発表で使

用されますが、その際にはあなたのプライバシーは厳格に守られます。何かご質問などがござ

いましたらご連絡ください。

氏名：学年：回生

Q1. あなたは自宅通学生ですか？ □はい □いいえ

「はい」と答えられた方に質問します。

Q2.４年間の大学生活の中で最も重点をおいていることは何ですか？

□勉強 □人間関係 □クラブ・サークル □趣味 □アルバイト □その他[ ]

Q3.片道の通学時間はどのくらいですか？ [ 時間分 ]

Q4.現在クラブやサークルに所属していますか？ □はい □いいえ

―「はい」と答えられた方、その理由はなんですか？

□友達や仲間ができるから □クラブ・サークル活動の内容が好き・楽しいから

□趣味を深めるため □その他[ ]

Q5.「学生の一人暮らし」についてお聞きします。現在、実家を離れ一人暮らしをしながら大学

に通っている学生は珍しくなく、多くの学生が学業と私生活を両立させていると思います。そ

こで、みなさんが、「学生の一人暮らし」について普段どのような考えを持たれているかをお

聞きしたいと思います。次の５つの項目に対して、[１非常にそう思う２少しそう思う３ど

ちらでもない４あまりそう思わない５全くそう思わない] の５つの中から、一番あてはま

る数字に○を付けて下さい。

・学生のうちは家族と暮らすべきである。 [ １２３４５ ]

・機会があれば一人暮らしをするべきだ。 [ １２３４５ ]

・一人暮らしに憧れる。 [ １２３４５ ]

・一人暮らしよりは、誰かと同居する方が良い。[ １２３４５ ]

・学校の勉強と家事の両立は難しいと思う。 [ １２３４５ ]

質問は以上です。

このアンケート用紙は、私湯川幸に直接渡して頂くか、私のロッカーに入れて下さい。ロッカ

ーナンバーは「E174」です。よろしくお願いします。


このアンケート結果を元に分析したいと思っていますが、その後アンケートに答えてくださっ

た方それぞれにインタビューをし、さらに詳しい話を聞きたいと思っております。協力してく

れる方は、恐れ要りますが、メールアドレスの記入をお願いします。

連絡先(メールアドレス)：

何かご質問がありましたら、[email protected] までご連絡下さい。

ご協力ありがとうございました。

mailto:[email protected]

Running Head: LIVING ALONE AT OJC Living Alone...

Documents

Transcript of Running Head: LIVING ALONE AT OJC Living Alone...