Clive's Exploration Log

Clive is a first-year student attending a private middle school in Shibuya.  After studying hard in school, with a tutor, and on his own, he's finally managed to master hiragana and katakana.  He's also memorized the most common kanji, but he strives to memorize more every day.  According to his tutor, a student in Japan is expected to learn nearly 2,000 kanji before entering high school.  Although he can understand basic instructions, he spends extra time with his tutor reviewing classwork and studying them due to the unfamiliar language.

He's finally learned how to do basic things like cleaning the classroom at the end of the day and delivering lunches to the other students.

He attends school Monday through Friday from 8:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.  His courses include Japanese, social studies, mathematics, science, Russian, music, fine arts, health and physical education, and computer studies. There is also a moral education course every Monday at school.  So far, he's doing very well in Russian, music, fine arts, and math.  He only needed his ears for music and eyes for fine art, so his limited understanding of the language didn't hamper him as much.  As for  math, he could look at the examples in detail at first and then ask his personal tutor to help him translate the instructions later.  He grew up being able to speak and read some Russian, so he was able to start that class with a head start.  Computers were easy enough, too.  Physical education wasn't bad, but they played a lot of games he was unfamiliar with.  This left him struggling with Japanese, social studies, science, and health.

It's mandatory to join a club, so he tried to join the choir club to help with his pronunciation.  Unfortunately, the choir club was full and preparing for a competition, so they refused to let him join.  The same happened with the wind band.  After considering things, he already studied music a lot at home, so why did he need to study it extra at school?  He didn't want to get burnt out.  After speaking with his mother, she recommended trying the tea ceremony club.  He could learn more about Japanese culture and manners there, after all.  Unlike in the US, he could only join one club; otherwise, he would've considered also joining the calligraphy, go, and shogi clubs.  Clubs last until 5:15 p.m. every school day.  He's studying Japanese, social studies, mathematics, science, Russian, music, fine arts, health and physical education, and computer studies.  There is also a moral education course every Monday at school.

Their family's personal driver, Tanaka-san, drives him home afterward.  He works on homework in the car.  He typically gets home around 5:45 p.m. to eat and sneak to the digital world for a little while and take a breather.  His tutor, Suzuki-san, a college student studying English, got a raise and now helps him understand and interpret the material from school from 6 to 9 p.m.  He records several of his lectures at school.

Before bed, he may just try to relax or will practice the violin, guitar, or flute.  Sometimes, he sneaks to the digital world to do this.

On Saturdays, he spends time with his music tutors.  He studies piano in the morning, violin and guitar in the afternoon, and the flute in the evening.  His Sundays are free.  He's been pretty stressed since moving to Japan, but he diligently studies Japanese every day.  He spends his Sundays reviewing his lessons from the week and memorizing important vocabulary and kanji, but this day is more free.  Sometimes, his parents will take him out to visit places.  Other times, he will just relax and play games or read books.

Since he's in a private school, he doesn't have to test into the high school, but he still wants to learn a lot and do well.  He plans to attend a college in Japan so long as he and his parents live there.  His parents encourage his education, and waste no effort getting him the appropriate teachers to supplement his lack of Japanese knowledge.

The digital world acts like a stress-free place to relax and have fun to him.  He also treats it as a cheat to get more hours in his day.