Most final years are incredibly busy, but Dan Brooks, 22, is one of the busiest. Not only does he study two languages, Japanese and German, he also runs the Japanese Society and has now decided to run for Activities Officer in this year’s Leadership Race. Her Campus spoke to Dan to find out more about his course, his experiences abroad, the Japanese Society and his motivations for running for Activities Officer.
Japanese and German are two very different languages, what made you choose those two languages in particular?
That’s a question I get asked a lot. It’s a bit geeky really – I started off really liking German in school, and from that moment I knew I wanted to study German in the future. I then realised that my school also happened to offer GCSE Japanese and I thought it would be a shame to miss out on the opportunity. Once I had finished my GCSEs, I thought that there would be no point in giving them up, and that I should take it further because I enjoyed learning languages so much. When I was doing my A Levels and the time came to choose a degree, I really didn’t want to give up either German or Japanese, so I went looking for universities where I could do both without having to do a major or minor split; that’s why I landed on Leeds.
Which language do you prefer?
The way both languages are taught is very different. We focus on different topics; for example, in German we tend to study a lot about the environment and nuclear energies, whereas in Japanese I feel that I’m much more able to talk to people as if you were in a pub. My Japanese is a little bit more casual and a bit friendlier in some ways than German, because we’re always debating in German class.
Tell us a bit about your time abroad. You spent a year in Japan and a term in Germany. Was it hard adapting to both cultures?
The contrast between my year in Japan and my term in Germany is really quite large. When I was in Germany I lived with family friends who I’ve known since I was seventeen. They treated me like royalty and really spoiled me! Also, I was already quite au fait with the language and the country, so it wasn’t that hard a transition. However, spending a year in Japan is the longest time I’ve ever spent abroad and the furthest away I’ve ever been from home. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I had been able to return home at some point but that was impossible, so it meant it was a solid year away which is quite a long call. Sometimes it can feel a bit lonely but it was a really fantastic year and I had so many new experiences – I don’t regret it for an instant. I really loved both countries.
What is your favourite memory about your time in each country?
In Germany, my favourite memory was that after I helped my host father assemble a barbecue, we ate a barbecue once a day for the rest of term. That was probably the best bit – the family routine and being treated like a member of the family was a really nice feeling. I think my favourite memory in Japan was the trip I took to Hiroshima with my friend Max – a friend from my German course who visited me in Japan. We travelled in a bullet train, ate the traditional style Japanese pancakes, stayed the night in a Manga café, visited the Atomic Dome and the peace museum – which was pretty harrowing – and went to Miyajima, an island next to Hiroshima, where we saw some beautiful scenery and thousands of wild deer.
Let’s talk about the Japanese Society. Why did you run for president of the society?
For a start it’s a really good society – it’s a combination of Japanese exchange students and Leeds students studying Japanese, so it’s a wide group of people. During my first and third years, I saw how the society brought everyone together and how happy it made people feel, which made me want to be a part of it. Seeing the influence it has on peoples’ lives and the fun we had together made me want to recreate that in my final year.
What sort of activities and events does the Japanese Society run? What are you most proud of?
We have a mixture of events to cater for both the Japanese and Leeds students. We have karaoke socials, which are to introduce Japanese members to the idea of socialising through karaoke, and traditional pub socials at the Eldon, a proper British style pub where Japanese people can learn about British pub culture. We also have a weekly afternoon tea session for people who don’t feel like drinking and want a more relaxed atmosphere. That’s probably the thing I‘m most proud of, afternoon tea, because we had never had it before this year and it has really taken off. I’m really happy we introduced it to the society and I hope that next year’s committee will keep it going.
Have you got any future plans for the society?
We’re currently planning a cultural festival to commemorate the first anniversary of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan. It’s going to be called the ‘Spirit of Japan Festival’, and will have a series of traditional Japanese performances and activities for people to do, such as origami and calligraphy. We’re also going to be raising money for the Japanese Red Cross, so all the proceeds will go towards helping with the reconstruction efforts in Japan. We’re really looking forward to it.
Japanese, German, committee work and now you’re running for Activities Officer, how do you handle all of that?
I’m not going to lie; it’s a bit of a struggle! At the end of the day, you make time for things that are important to you. I think the main thing that has helped my organisation is using a whiteboard instead of a diary to write down everything that I need to do that day. It’s a case of trying to not be too hard on yourself, time management, prioritising and letting other people help you.
We’ve just mentioned you’re running for Activities Officer, what made you run in the Leadership Race?
It’s basically the same reason why I ran for Japanese Society president. Having run the Japanese Society this year and receiving such positive feedback, it’s really rewarding to see the positive effects that societies have on people’s university experiences. We have people from all over the world, united together through the common interest of Japanese culture. Running the society made me realise that I would love to do this on a much greater scale. I think at the moment, only half of the students at the university are involved with clubs and societies. I want to encourage more people to get involved.
If you win the Leadership Race, what will you do?
My manifesto focuses on three main points. First of all, I want to help people get involved by improving the promotion of clubs and societies. One of my ideas is to have a massive whiteboard at the Union so that people can see what societies are doing every day. I also want to rename the International Fresher’s Fair the Alternative Fresher’s Fair, to include International, Part-Time, Postgraduate and Mature students, so that all groups feel represented. My second point is supporting clubs and societies by reforming the room booking system to prevent double bookings and guaranteeing that non-profit events aren’t overtaken by profit events. I also want to change the membership system so that it’s easier for societies to manually register members, as well as making it easier for students to get membership online. My final point is improving students’ employability skills through societies, as well as with other activities, because I feel the Union could be more involved with employability.
What kind of things will you be doing for your campaign?
So far, I’ve produced a campaign song, which is a parody of Tik Tok by Ke$ha. We’re hoping to make a music video for it, which will involve me running around campus in a Superman cape. I’m really looking forward to it, because if you don’t have fun campaigning then what’s the point? In addition, I’m focusing on a flyer-free campaign, so I’m going to try not to shove pieces of paper on people’s faces, but rather I’m going to place little business cards strategically around campus.
It sounds great; I’m looking forward to seeing the video. Best of luck with the Leadership Race!
To find out more about the Japanese Society and the ‘Spirit of Japan Festival’, join their Facebook group: ‘Leeds University Union Japanese Society’