留学生１年
As a foreigner in Japan, I have not noticed that Japanese people do not make jokes, and again as a Mexican I found quite funny what he thought was black humor because our black humor is a little bit darker. Also, jokes are part of our culture in that even in our worst or saddest moments we still laugh because in the end humor is the only thing we’ve got, or have you ever seen a sad Mexican?

中国 ２年
I never know that jokes could have so many meanings and the backgrounds of the jokes could hide so many stories and also describe some difficult touchy current issues that are hard to talk about. I was very impressed by Mr. Juppe’s introduction. He introduced himself using only simple, little pictures in which a bunch of information about himself is hidden. No.4, in particular, I think I could never ever come up with an idea that explains his favorite ice-cream. What a brilliant thought!

英米 ２年
It was a very very interesting and funny talk. I had never thought about “Jokes”, so I could notice a lot of things thanks to today’s talk. For example, I noticed humor and jokes are not only funny, such as the background of a country’s culture, history, and national identity. The difference between foreigners and Japanese toward jokes are really interesting. Actually, Japanese don’t often tell jokes about Chinese or Koreans, so I am impressed. I think we can learn a lot of things from humor

英米 ２年
Today’s presentation was funny and thanks to Professor Juppe, I came to have an interest in foreign humor. I had thought that jokes were just for fun, however, today, I realized that jokes are very useful to understanding other cultures. Moreover, I was surprised in European countries, there are lots of jokes which are related to “death” or “religion” because in Japan, such kinds of theme are taboo. I thought it was a good way to study cultures through such funny jokes.

スペイン　２年
I liked his presentation it was really fun. So now I’d like to tell one Japanese joke to say “Thanks.” One day, a man went to the hospital where a doctor who doesn’t have a license works. And he asked the doctor, “Could you take a look my garden? It’s really overgrown.” The doctor asked, “Why do I have to do that?” The man replied, “Because I heard that you are the doctor who doesn’t have a license.” The end. Translation is also very important to the humor behind this joke.

英米　２年
I never had a chance to know about jokes before, so today’s lecture was quite interesting. When I listened to the cassette tape both in English and Japanese, I couldn’t understand the point in Japanese, but in English, I understood. I thought that Joke was an example of Western culture. I also learned that knowing background information is important when joking. I strongly thought about that when only the foreign students were laughing and Japanese students weren’t laughing at all; only making curious faces!

フランス　２年
I did not know there are some kinds of jokes, such as a black humor ethnic jokes and religious ones. To understand jokes, it is really important to get relevant information and to know the background. I am not really interested in politics or economics but the jokes Mr. Juppe told us today made me feel like studying and watching the news about the topics. Also I think it is the most interesting and enjoyable way to focus on issues and to feel connected to society. Studying about areas which I am not interested in is so hard, but jokes help a lot.

ドイツ　２年
I love your Jokes! In Japan, there are few people who make jokes or make a play on words. I don’t know why but when I make a play on words, people around me give a wry smile and I become ashamed of the joke. I’d like Japanese people to be more accepting of different jokes. Thank you for your speech.

英米　１年
This class was the most interesting one than that I have taken. The joke about Haagen-Dazs was wonderful. I was very impressed by jokes in this class. In Japan, black humor is not good but I liked these joke. I wish I could take this class again. If Mrs. Miyaura had been born on February 29th, I could take this lecture again.

国際関係　３年
Ethnic jokes, religious jokes, political jokes are entertaining and sometimes useful as a symbolic example to describe certain typical aspects of a group or individual. However offensive they might be, I think they are still more useful than they are harmful. Some people tale them too seriously, but with self-control you can take the advantage of jokes as ice breakers, facilitators or something like that. Just a Brazilian opinion.