Apart from a sweet tooth for rice and bean-based sweets and the ability to eavesdrop on elderly Kyoto ladies speaking in dialect…an incredible volume of experience and opportunities! As a Visual Arts/Asian Studies double-degree student at the ANU, I didn’t really think I was the right fit for a MEXT Scholarship after graduation. The application forms my Professor showed me wanted to know things like “Published Papers” and “Proposed Research Plan”, which somehow seemed too daunting to me. Since I wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to take after university, I spent a year working and didn’t think too much about applying. As it turns out, working several stressful casual jobs for the year was more than enough to convince me that I should follow my passions! Re-reading the application forms I realised that “research” really meant any field relevant to Japan that you could study in a methodical and planned way. I figured I was just as eligible as any Science, Linguistics or Japanese History student so I applied to become a Research Student for the following year. I wanted to study Japanese dyed textiles; both the traditional techniques and how they could be applied to Australian subject matter. My study plan incorporated both “left-brain” research delving into art history and traditional textiles, as well as creative hands-on study of the dyeing technique and its potential for contemporary art. It was exciting to find that there were several universities in Japan where I could pursue this niche field of study so I went ahead and applied.

This is how it all started

Snow at my university

Melinda Heal (Kyoto Seika University)

Exploring Kyoto Page 12

Settling in Japan

Before you know it, I was living in my first small apartment in Kyoto (think: brushing your teeth in the kitchen, which is also your bedroom, while the train runs right past the building rattling the windows), getting around by granny-style basket bike and spending my days studying the Japanese language and textiles. Like many Japanese universities, all of the classes and meetings at my chosen university would be delivered entirely in Japanese. Although I majored in Japanese in my undergraduate degree, it had been a year since I’d really had to use the language and it gets rusty fast! To brush up and also learn more academic Japanese I elected to join the MEXT-designated six-month intensive language course. This was held at Kyoto University and international students enrolled at all different Kyoto universities on the same scholarship program came together for the classes.

I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to crawl under the desk and disappear during the classes there…but I am so glad I chose to do the language course. In other classes I learnt how to write essays, how to use new grammar structures, how to make speeches and how to debate – all in Japanese! By the end of the course, my rusty skills had acquired a nice new sheen. Best of all though, I made some great friends there. During the first few weeks in Japan you have to hit the ground running. From opening a bank account (who knew it would take three hours!) and registering as a foreign resident to figuring out where to buy cutlery and which milk in the supermarket is actually just milk (I’m looking at you, drinking yoghurt!), those early days can be overwhelming so it is great to have allies who are in the same boat as you. I met people from countries I had never even thought to locate on a map and others I really only knew a little about; Uruguay, Chile, Turkey, the US, Indonesia, Germany...

As a Research Student, you are answering to your supervising professor. In my case, my professor asked that I submit a proposal outlining what artworks I wanted to make and what kind of research I would do, with a timeline, and then set me free. Since I was not required to attend or audit any classes, I decided I would spend my Monday – Wednesdays at university in the workspace which coincided with the normal class hours of the other Textiles students and then spend my other days exploring.

Working on a project

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We bonded over cafeteria lunches of student-priced noodles and fish-with-eyes-still, forming friendships that helped us all throughout our entire scholarship term. I can’t say the class did me much good though… Whilst I was lucky enough to have a spare afternoon a week out of my language classes to spend at my own university, it was really from the second semester that I could dive into my own research. Wow! The water felt so good! After months of listening tests, homework, essay deadlines and high-school style classrooms, it felt so nice to get into the world of art making, messy creative classrooms, eccentric professors and the most incredible art library ever.

I spent my “exploration” days going to museums, galleries and exhibitions. I was able to pay visits to a range of different dyeing studios, meeting with makers. I went to kimono, paper and fabric shops that had been in business for over 100 years, just tucked unassumingly between carparks and convenience stores. I found great photo opportunities at all sorts of cultural festivals – period costume parades, archery competitions, horseback acrobatics events and even baby sumo wrestling! Basically, I just made a conscious effort to get out and explore Kyoto. That was research in itself. At the two year mark, my research student period was ending and I had achieved what I’d set out to do in my proposal – and more! I had successfully had my artwork selected for a public art competition, I’d been in group exhibitions, I’d blogged about my various research interests, I’d given a (nerve-racking) speech about my work at an event in a packed out bar and I was about to stage my first ever solo exhibition at a beautiful gallery in downtown Kyoto. My Japanese had dramatically improved during day-to-day interactions with teachers, classmates and new friends. And still I felt there was far more I could learn!

Learning Japanese traditional form of art

Gradation of colours

Melinda Heal

Visit to Hiroyuki Shindo’s studio

On my school days I slowly learnt new skills in dyeing, using and also which my Professor had introduced me to. I experimented with depicting Australian birds and flowers and proactively learnt what I could from my teachers. I also spent time in the library, exploring the incredible collection of art books – reading what I could and really, just flipping pages and looking at a lot of pictures. I couldn’t believe the resources available there, books and reference materials so specific I could never have hoped to find them in Australia. There were books I was sure should have been handled with white gloves on; beautiful old volumes that the Japanese students didn’t seem to bat an eyelid at. Is it strange to be nostalgic for a library?

Inspirations everywhere

Sakura

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Major Mitchells Wildflowers 2012

Master course

As a MEXT scholar, whether a research student or coursework student, you have great opportunities and privileges. You are being paid to study the thing that you are passionate about. You are in the best position to meet people in your field and you have a great deal of control over your circum-stances. Want to learn more about

while you're at it? Join the university . Want to practice Japanese conversation?

Melinda’s first solo exhibition in Kyoto

I sat and passed the entrance exam for the Master’s course and was able to carry my MEXT scholarship over. With classes to attend and more deadlines, it was a very full-on two years. True to its reputation as a free-spirited university, the classes were such fun. One of my art theory classes involved the Professor sitting on a desk at the front of the classroom and pointing at unsuspecting students, inviting them to suggest a topic for that day’s class. No matter what nervous reply was offered up, the Professor managed to work up a lecture about it on the spot and neatly steer the whole discussion back towards art theory, all the while taking hilarious tangents in warp-speed Japanese. Another class saw us visit artist-run spaces all over the city each week and yet another was spent in group-work, making thought-maps on huge pieces of paper with post-its and textas. I also continued developing my artworks in the textiles studio and consulting with teachers who would breeze by to offer advice, some of which, even at the end of four years I couldn’t make head or tail of and just nodded along to. In amongst all of this I managed to keep up some exploring too.

Contact any one of the multitude of hopeful language exchange partners pinning their phone numbers to notice boards. Want to research Japanese statues, from the Nara period, in that one particular area of Japan, using that one particular technique? You can go to that location, find resources in the library, contact experts or read Japanese blogposts about it! It is all at your fingertips when you are in-country, with a home base, a small income and instant resources.

Page 15 Gion Matsuri

Thanks to the MEXT scholarship program, I spent four years in Japan. I was able to learn a great deal about Japanese textile dyeing, I had so many great opportunities to exhibit my artwork, I vastly improved my Japanese language skills and I had a blast exploring not only Kyoto but also a lot of places throughout Japan. The prospect of several years in Japan may sound daunting, but it is such a great opportunity. Some like to think that round-the-world travelling, skipping countries every few days or weeks and seeking out the wild and unknown will teach you about the world or your place in it, but I think the opposite approach might get you further. Stay a while in one place, seek out its “everyday” and “ordinary” things, learn about its history and culture, its peculiarities and customs, explore it and befriend its people and you will learn greatly not only about that place, but also about yourself. Plus, that way you'll only have to learn one language*! *oh, but three alphabets….oh well. Melinda Heal

Why not try?

Graduating Masters wearing the Kimono I dyed

Melinda Heal

Eucalypt trace 2015

Australian motif

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