Regarding Sapporo itself:
Sapporo was created with the assistance of Americans...its first college is an agricultural college (I seem to find those!) and they helped design the city in square city blocks. Most of Sapporo still follows that pattern, although due to the mountains there are some exceptions. They have electric heaters under the steep road slopes in town, so that in winter the snow is melted and goes into the drainage system, thus reducing the number of wrecks and making transportation move easier. They also have `chirping crosswalks` for the blind and textured sidewalks to assist them as they walk the city streets.
The city is full of beautiful gardens and art museums. Plants that I have recognized include azaleas, mimosa trees, lavender, mums, sunflowers (they LOVE them), lilies, impatiens, hydrangeas, petunias, and peonies (Granny would love to see them...they are beautiful). They import Mandarin oranges from southern Japan as well as tomatoes, but grow corn, rice, eggplant, cucumber, soybeans, wheat, and bamboo...by the way, bamboo root, which is used in the ramen soup, is very good!
The city is very clean...all streets get cleaned by a street cleaner once to twice a week (no easy chore in itself!), and the neighbors lay out their trash together in a pile then cover it with a weighted net to keep animals out. It appears that one family is mainly responsible for making sure the net is available and used.
There is a trolley that takes you on a square route through downtown, a subway system which covers 3 main routes in Sapporo, and a bus system. In order for me to use the subway and bus, it would be a 40 minute subway ride and hour long bus ride.... that explains why they come to pick me up!
I have yet to see a lawnmower...most cutting of grass is done with a weed eater and they trim very close to the ground. Lots of the homes, however, have beautiful container plants on their stoops or balcony.
Regarding the school system:
There are fewer high schools than JH schools, which number about 100. Students take a test 3 times a year (Sept., Oct., and Nov.) in which they attempt to make a qualifying score for one of 3 choices they are allowed...all tests must go to only 3 schools. If the scores are not high enough for any of the 3, they can go to private school. 98% of MJHS students go on to high school - mainly public.
Recent elementary visits:
I found it funny that the younger children, 1st and above, were fascinated by my blue, round eyes, pierced ears, and blonde hair. If I sat down in a chair and they were brave, they would come to me, put their hands on each side of my face, and look and giggle. I couldn’t figure out why until I saw some of their drawings, then it made perfect sense. By the way, I have some really cute ones to bring home to show you!
Students at elementary and some at JH level are a little more active than we usually allow in our classrooms. Some teachers, the younger ones, are allowing them to have more freedom to work in groups, talk among themselves, etc. like many of us do in our classes. The older teachers, particularly in JH, still like the rigid, controlling classes. However, when I went to the HS, I could understand why they might allow it in the lower grades. HS students are given a great deal of information for their college exam.... teachers mainly teach for the test. English is taught only as composition, not as grammar, so many students lose the ability they gain in the early years. I suspect the superintendent is aware of the problem and will try to fix that...he is big on Western influence in the education system. We had talked about how beneficial it would be to have American teachers come over for 6 weeks to teach nothing but conversational English.... Japanese teachers, although they do a good job, often mispronounce words or their proper use.
One last thing, just to emphasize how important Sports Day is to these kids...students brought their shoes, baseball hats, tennis racquet covers, etc., to the teachers, including myself, to sign and to provide a wish for good luck in their attempts. Remember, the JH students in most of these sports only practice for this one day...then the rest of the year and the beginning of next year is practice for the one day again next July. There is no weekly ball games.... its all or nothing. No wonder there was so many tears!
Heading to Furano Saturday with Yoshi to see the Lavender fields, then having dinner with her parents. It is rare to be invited to a Japanese persons` home for dinner, because the housing is very small. I was honored to go to a students` home last night, and will be so honored again Saturday at Yoshi`s folks. Dinner last night was a traditional Japanese New Year’s dinner, served in a beautiful lacquer box. There were eggs, scallops, bamboo root, mushrooms, zoni (New Year’s soup – not much taste), some type of vegetable that I didn’t catch the name for, beans (which are somewhat sweet) and cooked shrimp - biggest I ever saw!) along with a salad of chicken, cucumber, and cauliflower. It is very expensive and unusual for a family to have this dinner any other time but New Year’s as it is to wish all who eat it much happiness...as was the blessing this family gave me as I left.
Next Tuesday, Ms. Yamada has tickets for us to go to the Sapporo Symphony to hear them play. They are supposed to be one of the best in the world and the performance center, one of 4 in the city, is supposed to be beautiful.
Well, that’s all for now...if you have any other questions, please try to send them by next Thursday...I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to check email in Tokyo when I go there on Saturday. I leave Sapporo about 10:30 am to catch a train to the Chitose Airport and my 1:30 flight (takes about an hour to go by train), do a 90 minute flight, then about another 2 hours of train and subway to the Akasaka Prince Hotel. The Guest House has had free Internet and a computer available to use, but when I return to Tokyo it will be back to paying for computer time.
I’ll send at least a couple of updates on my activities before I leave here. I appreciate all of you enjoying these long emails, but I’m not sure if I’ll get to ever come back, and many of you wanted DETAILS so you’re getting them!
Take care, all!
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