On Wednesday, I spent one of the class periods with Mrs. Yamada`s 7th grade elective English class (it is optional at that grade), where they were reading about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the `I Have a Dream` speech. They had some questions regarding the definition of the word `rights`...were mixed up with the definition turning, not one in regards to laws.... so I spent the entire class time explaining from the Constitution to slavery to the Civil War to Rosa Parks, to the revolution of the 1960`s.... felt really good to be able to teach Social Studies again! Kids seemed to love it.
That afternoon, I was taken to the Superintendent of School’s office and introduced to him...he was a former professor of Mrs. Yamada`s, who joined me along with Mr. Omura (school principal). Nobuo Dobashi spoke very good English and demonstrated much respect not only to myself but also to the others from the school that were with me. In fact, that is one of the nicest things about being here...the sensei’s (teachers) are well respected by students, parents, community members, and particularly the people they work for. Even when corrected about something, it is done in total respect, not humiliation or embarrassment. Almost makes me want to stay! Mr. Nobuo gave me a gift, a beautiful desk set with a lovely expression written on it. Can’t wait to put it on my desk! He is a former FMF teacher himself and was also the past president of the local university. He was particularly interested in education trends in the United States.
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| Mr. Dobashi presenting me with my desk set |
The next morning, I was taken to tour the Education Center for Sapporo. It is designed not only to be used by educational staff, but also by the community. The building it is housed in is called Chieria, which means `building of warmth to gain intelligence`. It contains 5 floors, which we toured. The 5th floor contains an educational library with the neatest moveable racks so less space is used! The racks contain educational materials, studies, reports, and research information that can be used by all Sapporo educational personnel. There is also a Japanese training center which teaches students who have been or are returning from overseas the language and customs of Japan. And, there is a video area in which they can make training videos for Sapporo educators.
The 4th floor is the main office of the Education Center. There are rooms specifically for art, computers, media, cooking, etc. in which in-service training is given to the Sapporo educational staff.
The 3rd floor contains a large computer training room, where teachers and community members are allowed to try out new software, enabling them to decide what works best before purchasing it. It also contains the consultation areas for parents of students with adaptability or disability problems, and there is a private entrance for both 3rd and 2nd floors for those parents. (Big thing over here if you have a child who is not `normal`...) Also, teachers can come to see advice on how to handle students who are problems, not of ability, etc. They also work with children who refuse to go to school or are bullies. Basically, it is the Special Education area, and most students who need those services get them in this building, not in a school building.
The 2nd floor contains more consultation areas and the Lifelong Learning Center, where citizens of Sapporo come to sign up for community education classes like learning to sing, cook, computers, etc. that are offered during the day and evening. The 1st floor contains a wonderful public library known as the Media Plaza. Many books are available for reading, and a section of computers provide free Internet access. There is also an area containing 6 `sitting` areas...a small bench seat with a TV, VCR, headphones, and Computer...where videos can be watched ranging from subjects like art history to biographies of famous people from all over the world. There is also available on this floor music studios where people can come to record their own CD`s. Outside the Media Plaza, there are two large screens.... one that resembles an airline departure schedule but shows times of community ed classes and their subjects. The other is a large screen TV in which several newscasts are shown. Very impressive. Also on this floor is the Chieria Hall where we saw the traditional Japanese dancing last Saturday (I can’t believe its only been a week!)
Friday afternoon, there was a school assembly. Each homeroom showed what they have been doing during the past month (homeroom’s remind me of OASIS, for you Oliver folks) by skit, overheads, or pictures. Some were very cute! Then, Mrs. Yamada and I stood on the stage and they `officially` welcomed me and I then presented the Mandela I had brought and an Oliver yearbook for them to examine. The President of the Student Council then came to welcome me, in perfect English I might add, and directed the entire school in singing their school song.... absolutely beautiful! Nice to see that guys aren’t afraid to sing and that they know parts, not unison singing! Mr. Utsumi, the headmaster, then presented two captains of two sports trophies that the team had won. It was a very nice and polite assembly and Yoshi says they recorded it and will make me a copy.
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| Student Council President starting the program |
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| Examples of work done during the past month |
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| Sport trophy presentations |
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| Before each person speaks, they bow to each other and the crowd. A sign of respect. |
I then joined the 7th grade teachers for dinner...and in their case, drinks. It is common in Japan for people to gather on Friday, and even during the week, and have drinks and talk about their work in an informal setting. This apparently is a custom that developed when sake was made, and it continues to this day. The dinner is done in courses...our first course was a seaweed wrapped piece of raw tuna...managed to get the seaweed down (really wasn’t that bad, just tough) but not the tuna. Second course was toasted bread with some type of cheese and garlic (that was good!); tomato’s with an Italian dressing (good also), another piece of raw fish, and broccoli steamed then dipped in butter and garlic. Next came possibly the best cheese pizza I’ve ever had (or else I just wanted pizza really bad!), followed by a basil and garlic pasta dish.... with sardines. I managed to get down some of the pasta w/o the sardines, but it was difficult. This was followed by shrimp scampi in garlic and butter. still in most of the shell.... I could manage that ok. Another fish dish came along, but I went for more pizza. Dessert was cream filled crepe topped with strawberries and chocolate - now that was heavenly! After leaving about 7:30 am I returned to the Guest House about 10:30pm.
Today, Saturday, I went to another elective English class (7th) where the students introduced themselves to me in English then asked me a question...ranging from what sports did I play in junior high to what has surprised me the most about Japan. They are very attentive and eager to learn about us. After classes ended at 12:50, the sports practices began. A couple of the female teachers, however, had brought lunch, and after we ate, we went to a local flower shop for fresh flowers...today, I was going to get lessons on Japanese flower arranging and calligraphy from Ms. Nakagawa, one of the Japanese teachers (our regular English class). It was a lot of fun to hear of the three types of arranging and listen to their comments. Ms. Nakagawa is one of few on this island known for her calligraphy, in fact, she is nearly a master. She brought all her brushes, some of which came from her ancestors from China, her stones of ink, and special paper to show me. Then, she did my name in one of the three types of writing used in Japan, and had me do it. They said they could read it and fussed over it...didn’t look that great to me! Then, after watching another demonstration, I did the Japanese alphabet...again...didn’t look like it needed all the fuss it was getting.
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| My name in Japanese |
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| The student and the teacher spelling my name |
The
upright style of flower arranging is called Moribana.
You’ll notice on the board that the lower part is referred to as Tai,
the middle as Soe, and the top as Shin. These are the same as what is listed on the
slide, just in a different language…Mimoko-san has a Chinese background so she
tends to use their references on this.
This arrangement features the 3 basic parts….the Shin, or the center flower is 10-12” tall or 1.5 x the size of the vase. It represents Heaven. The taller support flower is the Soe, which represents Earth, and is 7-9” tall or ¾ the size of the Shin flower. The Hikae, the shorter support flower, represents the overall balance of man and is 3-5” tall or ½ to ¾ the size of the Soe. These 3 elements are then called sansai, which is the harmony between nature and man.
Ms. Nakata then demonstrated a very thin, but very long brush on a huge piece of paper on the floor...writing the words to a popular song in Japan that mentions peace, love, etc. She asked me then to write something in English...I couldn’t think of anything so Mrs. Yamada asked me to write something that I had said in Mr. Kageyama`s Social Studies class when we were discussing Hiroshima...peace on earth always. So, that’s what I wrote and signed, and they have hung it on a bulletin board in the hallway so the students can see. I then asked them to write the school song in Japanese so I can bring it back and we can show it at Oliver...Yoshi will provide the translation for us. On the way home tonight...a piece of home...McDonalds! (For those of you who don’t like it...I guarantee you would if you hadn’t had American food in a while!)
In Japan, Shodo (calligraphy) has always been considered a fine art, much like painting, and is even today exhibited in museums. Great importance is placed on expressing the individual’s personality in Japanese calligraphy. The Japanese study calligraphy to develop their character and to develop a sense of beauty as well.
Supplies include a bowl to hold the ink, a block of ink along with liquid ink, a variety of brush sizes, a felt backing and weight to hold paper (which may also be used as a brush rest, and a specific weight and size of paper, usually unlined.
The Japanese language consists of 3 types of alphabet: The Kanji which was developed from hieroglyphics via China and is based on pictorial characters; the Hiragana which represent phonetic symbols and based on cursive style of Kanji writing; and Katakana which is used to describe a word of foreign origin. The last two were developed in Japan.
To read a newspaper, one must know 1,945 common symbols of all 3 languages which are taught at elementary and junior high levels, along with the English alphabet. Writing is from the top right to bottom right then moving to the left top.
I had a lot of fun learning about Shodo, and I can verify that you must have a great deal of patience to do this. I think my hosts were being kind, but they seemed to make over everything I did and appeared surprised that I could do it at all. In one of the Social Studies classes that I sat in on, they were discussing Hiroshima and the dropping of the Atomic bomb. I was asked by the teacher if and what we taught about that, and how Americans felt about weapons such as that now. I replied that most of the emphasis in our schools was on Hitler rather than the Japanese, and that as far as using atomic weapons again, we were trying to avoid that as much as possible because of what happened to their people as a result of our actions. However, if we felt that it took something like that to defend our country, we would be willing to use it. But, our first desire was to have peace on earth always. So, they asked me to write that down on this poster so that it could be displayed in the school as a reminder that there are options other than violence that should be explored in order to come to a reasonable conclusion, and I was honored to do so.
Tomorrow, weather permitting; we will go to the Sea of Japan for the afternoon. Next week, I visit an elementary and a high school, and there’s the All Sports day. On Saturday, 4 other US participants and their partners will be coming to Sapporo for a regional meeting and press conference about FMF MTP. If some of them get to stay, we will go listen to Yoshi sing karaoke at Susinko...the party spot in town.... was wild Friday night so hope it’s not too bad on a Saturday! Weather permitting again, we might go to the national park on Sunday and maybe the hot springs...and public baths...THAT will be an experience, one way or another...
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