Home Base: Waseda University at Tokorozawa

Hello friends! This entry is arriving a bit later than intended, but for happy reasons--that is, I feel like I'm now nicely settled in and engaging with my project, exploring my surroundings, and just enjoying the time to focus on the rhythms of my new daily life.

In this entry, I want to introduce you to my new home away from home at Waseda University's campus in Tokorozawa, Saitama prefecture. The campus is about a 50-minute train ride west of Tokyo followed a 15-minute shuttle bus ride from Kotesashi station. Although the campus is in a more sylvan setting than the main Waseda campus in Tokyo, I'm able to get around the region easily via the punctual and reliable train and bus systems. And, for me on this sabbatical, there's a lot to love about being closer to nature and further from the complications of city life.

Waseda University - Tokorozawa Campus

One of the major private research universities in Japan, Waseda University consists of 36 departments organized into 13 undergraduate schools and 23 graduate schools distributed across six campuses. The Tokorozawa campus Instagram describes my campus thusly:

"Located in Tokorozawa City, Saitama, this campus is home to Waseda’s School of Human Sciences and School of Sport Sciences (both undergraduate and graduate!) Equipped with a sizable track and field and baseball ground facilities, students on Tokorozawa Campus pursue knowledge hand-in-hand with physical activity!"

The School of Human Sciences houses three departments: the Department of Human Behavior and Environmental Sciences, the Department of Human Informatics and Cognitive Sciences, and Department of Health Sciences and Social Welfare. My research host's program is housed within this latter school as part of the graduate clinical psychology program.

As you can see from the map, the campus does indeed feature several sports facilities from baseball fiends and a track and field stadium to an aquatics center, training gym, and even archery range. I wasn't aware of these features before I came, but I'm very much enjoying this aspect of campus. I love seeing the sports teams out practicing in the morning and evening as well as individual students doing their own training (including the ski team clearly prepping for their season by "roller skiing" around campus). There's ample beautiful places for runs and the training gym is well-equipped for strength training. One of my favorite campus "stumble upons" so far was running across a high school track meet during Japan's Health and Sports Day, a national holiday (see pictures below).

As befits the focus on physical performance and sport, the campus also houses the School of Sport Sciences.

Views of Waseda Tokorozawa campus. Note the statue of Pegasus and Bellerophon, a hero of Greek mythology, which graces the bus loop.

The campus features unusual contemporary architecture--particularly the "100 Building" (bottom left corner of map, above), which snakes up a hill and curves around to include classrooms, a very large lecture hall, offices, the cafeteria and student store, and the main administrative and admissions offices. The building terminates in the multi-floor tower that houses the library. From what I can tell, this building is home the majority of academic space on campus and its M.C. Escher like staircases have taken me a bit of time to figure out how to navigate!

Luckily, the lab I'm working with is in the 101 building, which has much more straightforward architecture, some of which is illustrated in the photos below.

My Dorm!

I'm very much enjoying being one of the only middle-aged ladies living in the Konpecki Dormitory, which (other than five rooms for visiting scholars) houses first-year athletes representing a wide variety of sports. Built in 2020, the dormitory's design is clean, modern, and environmentally conscious. The visiting scholar quarters are twice the size of the typical dorm room and feature their own kitchenettes and bathrooms with tub/shower. My favorite feature is the long balcony with two separate sliding glass doors. I leave these open (with screens pulled, of course) to let in the fresh air and the sounds of folks enjoying the tennis courts just outside the building. As you can see below, the balcony offers lovely views of the wooded campus beyond.

As far as new aspects of daily dorm life, I'm enjoying the ritual of removing my outdoor shoes after entering the lobby and placing them in my very own shoe cabinet and then switching to comfy indoor shoes before making my way up to my room on the 5th floor. I also enjoy hanging my laundry out to dry on the balcony--a very common practice here in Japan. As for cooking, I have a small fridge and a surprisingly powerful induction cooktop. Between that and the mini rice cooker I bought, I can prepare a a fairly wide range of dishes for one. Otherwise, the convenience store on campus affords easy lunches and the cafeteria is nice (and inexpensive) as well.

In the dorm, I mostly keep to myself but I enjoy daily casual interactions with the students, who are very polite and kind. On weekend nights, it does get a tad noisy outside but in an endearing, undergraduate kind of way.

I do have to wonder whether the students are at all perplexed by the random middle aged American lady chilling out in their dorm. : )

A Forest Landscape

The other wonderful feature of campus is that it is adjacent to several preserved nature areas. Just down a path a short way into the woods next to the athletic track, I found a wooden gate (pictured below) that leads to a series of trails maintained by a local forest preservation organization. As you can see from the photos below, the woods are lovely and the cooler autumn temperatures are making for great hiking weather.

Totoro's Forest

This series of trails crosses pieces of preserved land that are part of Totoro's Forest, a system of nature preserves across the Sayama Hills area of Seitama prefecture. Totoro is the fantastical main character of the 1988 animation classic, My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Tototro) by the beloved Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli studio. The movie features beautiful wooded landscapes and the magical forest creatures who reside there. I highly recommend giving My Neighbor Totoro a watch, no matter your age.

What's the connetion between the movie and the forests surrounding campus? Per the Totoro Fund's website: “The Sayama Hills are said to have been one of the models for the setting of the film My Neighbor Totoro. Stretching across Tokyo and Saitama, the area retains the scenery of Totoro's hometown. In order to protect the natural environment of the Sayama Hills, we have been collecting donations since 1990, purchasing forests little by little, and protecting them under the name 'Totoro Forest.'"

The various parcels of land are marked by beautifully carved, whimsical signs that feature characters from the movie (pictures below). Approximately 10 of these parcels are adjacent to campus and accessible by the trails described above.

Walking through the woods for the first time, the weather was a strange mix of mild warmth and gusting winds, reflecting the accelerating turn of the season to autumn. Loose branches lodged in the canopy crashed to the ground in the woods around me as the wind blew, adding a spooky-but-magical edge of anxiety to the experience. I could imagine turning my head and just missing one of the wood sprites from the Totoro movie disappearing behind a tree.

In the coming weeks, I hope to explore more areas of Totoro's Forest, starting with Lake Sayama to the south, which should be reasonable to hike to from campus. (Clearly need to do more research on this!)

Hopefully you enjoyed getting to know this unique and magical corner of the world--I know I have. Thanks again for reading!