July 11, 2001

Morning all!

It’s been a hectic couple of days, and Yoshi will be picking me up shortly, so will try to get straight to it:

Sunday, after giving my partners the day off and doing some things around here (laundry, calls home, etc.), I ventured out to the subway and headed downtown myself. Managed to find my way around, shopped a little, then got lost! I knew I could find a taxi and get back on my own, but darn it, I wanted to do the subway! So, I wandered down to Odori Park...must have been a God-thing, because there was this wonderful group of musicians playing with wooden reeds, guitars, and synthesizers. Sat surrounded by beautiful flowers and listened to the beautiful music. It turns out I stumbled upon the International Music Festival that was being held in Sapporo.

Blue Whale in Odori Park

Clock and TV tower in Odori Park

Curujey!  The 2 bigger guys are from Canada, the keyboardist from Cuba, and lady is from Bolivia.

An international group that I enjoyed so much that I bought one of their CD's

 Then, I figured out which way was the gate to the subway, and started walking that direction. Lo and behold, I came upon a Mikoshi festival...where they carry a symbol of the temple they attend upon their shoulders singing and chanting. It was then followed by a demonstration of traditional Japanese temple dancing...lots of fun to see. I have pics to post on a web page soon.... check out the main page to find the link! 

My friends in Japan referred to this as "Japanese line dancing"

Monday, I went to Ookurayama Elementary School near my junior high. It is located right below the small ski jump, where their kids get to practice ski jumping in the winter! They also have a roof playground (fenced high of course) and a pool. A local mother who is married to a Frenchman (to talk they had to learn English!) was my interpreter for the day. I spoke to 3 classes of 3rd graders, who were fascinated by the legend of the Cherokee Rose, 2 classes of 4 graders who were more interested in what American kids did at my school, had lunch with 1st graders who were fascinated by my round, blue eyes, helped the 6th grade teacher with an English lesson, and observed 5th graders play Beethoven’s 5th Symphony with accordions, xylophones (spelling not right, I’m sure!), mouth pumped organs, recorders, and drums...and they were very good! After school, I observed the Broadcasting club make the next days announcements (JH has it as well) then spent about 30 minutes discussing with elementary teachers what American schools do differently and how things will progress in Japan in the future. Japan seems to feel that they are 5 years behind the US, and want to do the same things as us, so I was suggesting ways to improve upon our mistakes...child abuse cases, gangs, etc. It was a very nice day!

Yesterday, I observed a couple of classes and helped Yoshi and Yamada teach English. I also had a very interesting conversation with a young lady about Japan-US relationships right now. She is the daughter of a local professor and is very well versed on world problems...she was concerned that the relationship between the US and Japan was getting bad and was wondering how I felt and what my opinions were...had a wonderful talk with Yoshi as interpreter, and we are getting together today to discuss it more. Later that evening, Yoshi and I went to observe the JH principal teach Karate to his class, then went to the top of Mt. Moira to see Sapporo at night - a little foggy but a beautiful sight. Not sure the pics will turn out, however, I did pick up some beautiful post cards.

The young lady in the middle of the top picture is 8 years old, and according to Mr. Omura, she has the potential of making the Japanese Olympic team by the time she is 16 if she continues to work as hard as she has.  She needs two levels to make a first level black belt.

Tonight, Yamada and I are having dinner at a PTA parent’s house (I hope no sushi!). Saturday, Yoshi and I will go to the Lavender fields and have dinner with her parents, and next Tuesday I am to go to the Sapporo Symphony with Yamada. The rest of this week, I am helping the 8th grade English teacher in all of his classes...no rest for the weary!!

Maybe later in the week I can have more time to go into greater detail about these events, and some of you have asked more specific questions that I will try to address. As soon as I catch my breath, I’ll try to do that! In the meantime, I’ll enjoy the cool air and think of you all!