アメリカ文化も研究対象にしている柳沢ゼミでは、COIL（Collaborative Online International Learning）を導入し、後期の5週間にわたって、アメリカのバレンシア大学の学生と共同で日米文化交流学の共修プロジェクトを実施しました。
プロジェクト名は「2024 Meijo-Valencia COIL Initiative: Cross-Cultural News Article Discussions」。互いの国の文化を表象した英語のニュース記事を選び、その疑問点を互いにプレゼンで説明し合うという試みです。

(In Yanagisawa's seminar, which also studies American culture, COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) was implemented. Over a period of five weeks in the fall semester, a joint learning project on Japanese-American cultural exchange was conducted in collaboration with students from Valencia College in the United States. The project was named the "2024 Meijo-Valencia COIL Initiative: Cross-Cultural News Article Discussions." In this project, participants selected English news articles that represented each other's cultures and presented explanations to address questions about them.)

まずは、動画で自己紹介! (First, self-introduction via video!)

　柳沢ゼミ3年生12人は、まず、A～Dの４グループに分かれ英語での自己紹介動画を作成し、そのリンクを Google Classroom ににアップしました。同じく、バレンシア大の学生にも19名にも自己紹介動画をアップしていただき、動画交換による自己紹介をおこないました。

The 12 third-year students in Yanagisawa’s seminar were first divided into four groups, labeled A through D, and created self-introduction videos in English. They uploaded the links to these videos on Google Classroom. Similarly, 19 students from Valencia College also uploaded their self-introduction videos, allowing for introductions to be exchanged through video.)

柳沢ゼミ生が選んだニュース記事と質問 (News Articles and Questions Chosen by Ynagisawa's Seminar Students)

Group A
News Article: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89w4110n89o
Q:In Japan, people think celebrities shouldn't say something political, but why can American celebrities actively show their political opinions to the public?

Group B
News Article: https://www.npr.org/2024/05/01/1248401802/columbia-university-protests-new-york
Q: In Japan, students do not participate in demonstrations, but in the United States, I hear that students are protesting even if it means getting arrested, as in this article. Why do they do that? Also, does protesting bring about any change?

Group C
News Article: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/23/florida-open-carry-ashley-moody-00180553
Q: This is the news that the gun ban in Florida has been rejected. Why is gun control still so lax in the state, even after the Orlando shooting in 2016? Why doesn't the state take steps, like California, to regulate guns at the state level?

Group D
News Article: https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c8dp10d4vq2t
Q: Was the assassination attempt on Trump carried out by a lone perpetrator, or do you think there was an organization or something else behind it? Also, are there any rumors in your surroundings about whether an organization or something else was involved in that case?

バレンシア大生が選んだニュース記事と質問 (News Articles and Questions Chosen by Valencia College Students)

一部を掲載 (Selected Excerpts)

Group A
News Articles:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5852749/
Q:
?What does your daily food intake consist of?
?What is your favorite traditional dish to eat?
?Are there any medicinal factors that come with specific foods you eat?
?What are some Japanese desserts?
?What do typical Japanese breakfasts look like?
?What is the culture and the history of certain foods and flavors?
?What are common condiments, sauces, and seasonings?
?What types of “fast food” do you eat?
?What are the portion sizes of dishes at restaurants? Too small or too big?

Group B
News Articles: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5852749/
Q:
?What role does umami play in taste preferences and nutrition in the traditional Japanese diet (Washoku), and how could it be beneficial in improving diets in other countries?
?What are the potential health benefits of umami taste in reducing sodium intake without compromising food palatability or quality in other words?

Group C
News Article: https://eastasiaforum.org/2024/02/20/japan-takes-action-on-overtourism/
Q:
?How does the tourism affect your lifestyle?
?Do you like or dislike the tourism?

Group D
News Article: https://eastasiaforum.org/2024/02/20/japan-takes-action-on-overtourism/
Q:
?In this article it mentions that some residents might feel marginalized in their own cities due to the sheer amount of tourists, I know that Meijo University is placed in Tempaku-ku, Nagoya; do you feel that the tourism there makes you feel that way?
?The pandemic is mentioned in this article, stating that it “disrupted the global tourism industry," did you get to see what life was like without so much tourism? Was it better? Worse?

解説スライドの作成とプレゼン録画

バレンシア大生の解説プレゼン (Explanation Presentations by Valencia College Students)

ゼミ生の学びの声 (Reflections from Seminar Students)

?Thank you for answering our questions. I found that American celebrities have a stronger influence than Japanese celebrities. It was impressive about how American fans idolize these artists, almost treating them as objects of faith, which gives power to the artists’ political opinions. I thought this process made a lot of sense. (Rino Okumura)

?In the opinion of the Florida students, many of them were in favor of gun control. This was a surprise to me, because I had imagined that many of them were against gun control. I was impressed that each and every one of them had a firm opinion about gun control. (Yura Kato)

?I asked Valencia university students about demonstrations that were conducted by university students in America. I knew the differences of values between Japan and America by reading articles and their answers. In Japan, it is important for students to be cooperative at school. Then, there are less students who have their own opinions and try to make a claim in Japan than in America. While, they asked us about the role of umami in Japanese food. I was surprised that umami is an impression of Japan. I didn’t have any knowledge about umami, so I had to learn about umami. It became a good opportunity to understand not only American culture, but also Japanese culture. (Yuzuki Kishi)

?Communicating with students in the US was very interesting. That was a very valuable experience. I could learn about the politics of the US and a pop culture community. The two things I surprised in this work were, “American celebrities’ fan community is bigger than I expected” and “Taylor Swift’s fans tend to lean more towards the Democratic party”. The second one was very interesting for me. In Japan, I have never heard that someone’s fans tend to lean towards either one party at all. I could learn that how celebrities’’ fans be are very different between the US and Japan. (Akito Goto)

?In my group, we asked whether the man who took action against Donald Trump's assassination attempt was planned by one person, or whether another organization was involved. Although we got an answer, but all members did not mentioned politics opinion, because they were afraid that it would change their interpersonal relationships. As America is said that a country of freedom, I expected that many people who argue their own opinions, even on political issues. But in reality, there were also people who did not tell to each other in order to avoid conflict, so it was a valuable opportunity to hear the opinions of local people.　(Yukine Sakamoto)

?It was nice to have a cross-cultural discussion with students from Valencia College. We learned a lot of things and the truth about the United States. It was refreshing to hear opinions about the issues in their country from someone who lives there. I did not know that it is better not to discuss politics. I never knew that if we had not engaged in that discussion with students from Valencia. Also, through our discussion, I learned about issues in our country as well. In Japan, we are facing such a significant over-tourism problem. I never realized it, but now I know more about that issue. I am glad that I was able to learn about that. (Sakika Nakanishi)

?The most impressive answer was that fans also want to know about the political policies of American celebrities. In Japan, people often imitate celebrities' makeup, hairstyles, beauty methods, and diet. However, no one wants to imitate their ideology, so I thought it was refreshing. In Japan, people only care about the appearance of celebrities, such as actors, and the entertainment aspects such as singing and dancing, such as idols and singers, and don't care about other things. In the first place, politics is not a topic of conversation in everyday life, and many people are not interested. However, in America, people are very interested in politics daily, so I felt that the difference in attitude may be because of the point that people in Japan often use appearance and habits as a reference, but overseas, people who share their beliefs are often used as role models. I also thought that perhaps the difference in attitude may be the reason that in Japan, people look at celebrities for external factors such as appearance, while in America, people look at celebrities for internal factors such as beliefs. (Runa Fukatsu)

?There were many learnings to be gained from this Meijo-Valencia COIL Initiative, but most of all, even though it was online, I was able to share questions from latest news and articles with American students and learn the latest opinions, which is something only possible through this program. In particular, I was surprised that the answers I received from Valencia students were so different from what I had expected from the image I had of the U.S. It was very interesting and led me to broaden my own values. On the contrary, the questions I received from Valencia students about "tourism in Japan" were not only about the benefits of the tourism industry, but also about problems and real-life examples, which gave me an opportunity to rethink tourism in Japan.
Through this program, I hope to continue to explore and learn more than what is happening around me in the future, with an interest in Valencia and international current affairs. (Ryoka Matsui)