Japanese TV to Film Harvard

The Japanese public will get a condensed version of the Harvard experience next month when television station Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) airs a 45-minute documentary on the university.

NHK is broadcasting the program in an attempt to inform the more than 10 million expected viewers about the American university system, station officials involved with the project said yesterday.

One of the leading Japanese broadcasters Yoshi Hidaka will host the program. Hidaka serves as the station's chief United States correspondent.

Schoichi Sugiyama, translator and researcher for the crew, said yesterday that the show will try to document some of the differences between Japanese and American universities.

Peter Costa, director of news and public affairs, said that the Japanese are particularly interested in education. "They want to know how we teach what the students learn and what the students think of it all," he said.

Sugiyama has not yet discovered how Harvard teaches its students and or interviewed any students, but said that he intends to during the next two weeks.

Among other student activities, the crew plans to film lecture classes and conduct interviews with individual students. Yesterday they visited the Crimson and they want to interview Harvard's youngest undergraduate, Sugiyama said.

In the meantime, the Japanese have concentrated on the administrative end of the university, admissions and investment. They are already surprised.

Sugiyama was particularly taken back by the admission and interview process conducted at Harvard. "In Japan 95 percent of the entrance weight is placed on exams. Other extracurricular activities are not nearly as important. Group interviews are common, but they usually are only for five minutes," he said.

The entire education process is different in the United States, Sugiyama said. He said that Japanese students spend most of their time in classes listening to lectures and have little interaction with professors.

At Harvard, Sugiyama found a different approach. "Students have discussions with their professors," he said.

That process leads to an entirely different university life. Sugiyama said that Japanese students often lose motivation for university work after passing the grueling entrance exams.

The program will air in late February.