The Final 24 Hours in Japan

It was hard to believe that it was already October 29th and this amazing trip was coming to an end. I woke up early Wednesday morning and went to the restaurant on the 40th floor of the hotel. The restaurant had windows on every side that offered amazing views of Tokyo. If you sat by the windows on one side of the restaurant and it was a clear day, you could even see Mt. Fuji. That sky wasn't too clear that morning, but it was still possible to see the outline of Mt. Fuji in the distance. (The picture on the left is actually a picture I took from the airplane on our way to Fukokua.)

After breakfast, I made my way down to the meeting room to watch the other groups' presentations and learn about their Host Cities. Watching the presentations made me realize what a different experience each group had and how much we had to learn from each other. It also made me realize that as much as I had seen and done during my time in Tokyo and Takeo, there are still so many places I want to see in Japan! Each region is really different. According to the group presentations, the one thing that was the same in each region was the content of the curriculum being taught in the classrooms. In the United States, the curriculum taught in each grade and subject area is designed by individual districts and the materials used to teach the content are chosen by the districts as well. In Japan, there is a national curriculum that is decided upon by the central government and the districts have to choose from 2 or 3 textbooks that are selected by the national government as well.

The way each group chose to present the information about their Host City was as different as the cities were. Some groups sang songs, some had people playing instruments, some made iMovies, and others made Power Point presentations. Some groups even used a combination of some or all of these media! My group, the Takeo City group, decided to make a Power Point presentation. We also put together a display table with different artifacts from Takeo. We used posters that advertised the yabusame festival and the drummers that performed, the gifts that were given to us from the schools, pottery we bought in Takeo and porcelain purchased in Arita, books made by children in the elementary school, and personal mementos that reminded us of the experiences we had with our host families. To top it off, when we presented our slide show, we all wore kimono or hapi coats or yukata and the newspaper origami samurai hats the elementary school students made for us. We might have looked silly, but we had a great time! It was great to be able to share our experience with the rest of the group and give them the essence of our time in Takeo.

One of the best aspects of the day was that JFMF flew Mori-san, the member of the Takeo City School Board who worked with Laura-san to organize every aspect of our stay in Takeo, to Tokyo to see the presentations. We were able to thank Mori-san and Laura-san in-front of the whole group, to let them know how much we really appreciated everything they did.

Wednesday night JFMF had a "Good-bye Banquet" for all of the teachers and JFMF staff to celebrate the end of our trip. There were lots of speeches made, pictures taken, and business cards exchanged. Since JFMF had done an incredible job of incorporating a learning experience about Japanese culture into every aspect of our trip, they felt no need to stop our learning about Japan with the banquet. At the end of the night, we were treated to an Aikido demonstration, led by Ishiguro-san, a member of the JFMF staff in Japan and a 5th don in Aikido. Aikido doesn't focus on punching and kicking like other martial arts. Instead, they use the force of the movements of their opponents to move them away. There were 4 of Ishiguro-san's students participating in the demonstration. One of them was a Shinto priestess who was a 2nd don. She was really amazing and even though she's a girl and much smaller than her opponents, she won every match, except of course for one against Ishiguro-san!

That night we all went out on the town in Tokyo for the last time. Mori-san even came with us! The question was, what do you do in Tokyo when you only have one night left to take in Japanese culture and everything this amazing city has to offer? The answer, of course, is KARAOKE! All of the rooms in the local karaoke lounge were filled with groups of American teachers and their Japanese friends singing along to their favorite songs.

Thursday was filled everyone making their preparations to go back to the United States. Our flights all left at different times, depending on which airport we were flying into, so it was a morning filled with good-byes. Melinda and I had our final taste of Japan with a traditional Japanese breakfast in the restaurant that overlooked the beautiful garden on the hotel grounds. Afterwards, I headed out into the Akasaka district of Tokyo, where our hotel was located, to visit one last shrine. I was not going to waste one minute of my time left in Japan! I left the hotel with Lori, Jeannette, Amy, and Steve (the same ladies I went to Kyoto with) and we headed off to the Hie shrine. Even though I had seen shrines in cities at least 100 times during my stay in Japan, it still amazed me that such a beautiful, peaceful temple could be located in the heart of a bustling metropolis like Tokyo. One of the most striking things about the entrance to this shrine that was closest to our hotel was the number of torii gates that lined the steps leading to the temple grounds.

On the way to the hotel a few hours later, I don't think I fully grasped that it was time to leave Japan. Even once I was through customs at Narita airport, it didn't feel like I was leaving. Once they stamped my passport at the immigration booths, it should have hit me that my trip was over, but once I was through the gate there were opportunities to experience Japanese traditions that I had yet to encounter. Immediately on the other side of the immigration booths, there were people offering us the opportunity to create woodblock prints and dress in traditional Samurai armor. I only had about an hour and a half until I needed to board the plane, but there was no way I could pass up such an opportunity! I have always loved Japanese woodblock prints, but I never realized how they were made. There are different wood cutouts for each color ink that will appear on the print. The individual cutouts have raised areas that are inked with the desired color. Then the paper is laid on top of the cutout, face down, and pressure is applied to the back of the paper in order to transfer the ink to the print. Each time the paper is moved to a different wood block, it needs to be placed down carefully to make sure the colors and shapes appear in the appropriate places. It was so much fun to put on the samurai armor, despite the fact that it was incredibly hot in the airport. There were so many layers and different pieces, that it took two people to dress each person! Once the armor was on, they gave us a sword and told us to strike a samurai pose, so I made the angriest face I could! The people running these activities took a picture and printed it out for me to keep. I think this is one of the best souvenirs from my trip! Next thing I knew, I had ten minutes until it was time to board the plane for the 16 hour flight back to Washington, DC.

In many ways, the trip flew by so quickly and I can't believe it's over already. In other ways, it feels like I was away for a much longer time than I actually was, because I saw and learned more in those three weeks than I could ever imagine. My transition back to life in the United States has been an interesting one, but that's a story for another time!

Return to Tokyo

By Tuesday, all 158 teachers participating in the JFMF program had returned to Tokyo from their Host Cities. I was so happy to see all of the friends I made in the first week that went off to different cities, and it was incredible to hear about the different places they visited and the experiences they had. In many ways, we all had similar experiences in that we visited the same types of schools, but the characters of our Host Cities were very different. Some people visited industrial towns, some people stayed in big cities, some people traveled to the northern part of Japan, and still others visited an island (Okinawa) with a culture that is very different from the culture of the larger Japanese islands. On Wednesday I would get to hear all about the experiences each group had and what they learned in their Host Cities because each group was going to give a 15 minute presentation about the unique characteristics of the places they visited. But first, we had more to learn about schools in Japan and the Takeo group had to plan their presentation.

Tuesday morning began with a seminar on Art Education in Japan, led by the director of a Japanese toy museum who taught us how to make some traditional Japanese toys out of paper (but not origami). In the afternoon we had a Question & Answer session on Japanese Schools and Society with a professor from a university in Tokyo. This session gave us an opportunity to reflect on our visits to the schools in our Host Cities and ask any lingering questions about schooling and life in Japan. Many people had questions about the college entrance exams Japanese students need to take and the emphasis Japanese High Schools put on preparing students for these exams.

Once the seminars were over for the day, I met with the other members of the Takeo group to discuss how we were going to present Takeo City to the rest of the JFMFers. Let me tell you, 8B, this was not an easy task. First of all, you know how difficult it can be to work with a group to complete a project. In school, you are sometimes asked to work in groups of 2, 3, or 4 to accomplish different goals. In this case, all 15 of us had to work together on this presentation and all 15 of us had different ideas about how it should be done. Plus, we had to sum up an incredible week in an amazing city in only 15 minutes! In the end, we decided to divide up the responsibilities and work in 5 smaller groups, with three people in each group. Melinda, Will, and I agreed to work on the part of the presentation that described the schools we visited in Takeo.

After spending almost every waking minute with the group for the past 2 weeks, I decided to venture out on my own Tuesday night. I was determined to see the Harajuku section of Tokyo and most people had already been there. I knew which subway station I had to get to and (amazingly) I got on the correct train heading in the right direction and made it to the Omotesando station without incident. Once I exited the subway station, however, things became a little more confusing. When I walked out of the station I found myself at a huge intersection, and even though I had a map, I wasn't sure which way I needed to go. Those of you that are familiar with my sense of direction will not be surprised to learn that I did not walk towards Harajuku on my first try...or my second...or my third. On one hand, this was a little annoying because I was getting tired and hungry and I wasn't sure if I would make it to my destination before everything closed for the night. On the other hand, I did get to see areas of Tokyo that I probably wouldn't have seen otherwise. My journey took me through the high fashion district, where all of the top fashion designers like Issey Miyake, have their stores. The clothes weren't the only eye-catching designs in this area, even the architecture was amazing. The picture on the left shows the Prada store I walked by that was designed by Herzog and de Meuron from the Royal Institute of British Architects. Of course, I was wandering for so long that it was dark by the time I passed by the building!

After an hour or so, I finally decided to take a rest from walking and grab something to eat. I stopped in a 7-11 (there are 7-11's EVERYWHERE in Tokyo!) to buy a rice ball (onigiri) and took it with me to the park at the end of the road. What a great choice that was! First of all, the onigiri was really yummy. (Since I can't read Japanese, I always had to hope I was buying onigiri with something in it that I liked. Sometimes I got lucky and other times I didn't.) Second of all, there was a huge lantern sculpture in the park that was all lit up and changed colors every few minutes. It was really beautiful and I probably wouldn't have found it if I hadn't gotten lost. I sat by the lanterns and watched the colors change while I ate my onigiri.

Since there are no public trashcans in Japan (or very few), I balled up my onigiri wrapper, put it in my purse, and rounded the corner to get back to the main street and continue on my mission to find Harajuku. There was a busy train station on the corner and I had to laugh when I saw what it was called...Harajuku Station! I had finally made it! I might have taken the long way, but I was there. There is a street in Harajyuku called Takeshita Street. It is filled with little shops and stalls and some really funky clothing stores. On Sundays, lots of kids can be seen hanging out on this street wearing some really outrageous fashions. It reminded me a lot of South Street in Philadelphia, but without cars.

After browsing through the shops and stalls, I turned back and retraced my steps to find the Omotesando station and head back to the hotel. After wandering around on my own for the evening, I was looking forward to spending time with my friends again at the hotel. We all got into our yukata (Japanese pajamas) and met in Jill's room to watch the latest clips of Tina Fey imitating Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live and share stories from our week apart in our Host Cities. The night ended early because we all had to wake up early the next day to put the finishing touches on our presentations before we shared them with the group.

Making the Most of Every Minute

Well, I'm back in the states and, once again, I find myself trying to adjust to the time change. It was not easy to leave Japan knowing there were still so many things that I wanted to see and do, but I was also excited to come home and share my experiences with all of you in person! Not to mention, it was pretty thrilling to come home to a championship winning baseball team! GO PHILLIES! There is also a pretty big election taking place on Tuesday and you know I couldn't be out of the country for that! Since there are still a few more issues we need to cover before the voting begins on Tuesday, we will cover those on Monday in class and talk about my trip on Wednesday. Meanwhile, I will continue to update my blog and fill you in on my last week in Japan.

My trip did not end when I left Takeo. I still had 3 1/2 days left in Tokyo before it was time to head back to the United States and I was determined to see and do as much as possible in that time. In fact, as soon as we got off the bus at the hotel in Tokyo, I was back on a train with a few friends from my group, headed to Kamakura. Kamakura is one hour away from Tokyo by train and it was the capitol of Japan during the Heian period (1192-1333). We knew we would never get to see all of the sites in Kamakura in just a couple hours, but we figured that seeing some of Kamakura was better than not seeing any of Kamakura.

Our first stop in this historic city was the Hasedera temple. The Hasedera temple was started by the Jodo sect of Buddhism and is home to the largest wooden statue of the goddess Kan'non, the goddess of Mercy, in Japan. On the way to the Main Hall, where the Kan'non statue is housed is an area called the Jizo-do. In Buddhism, Jizo is the guardian of lost children (I've show pictures of similar shrines before, in which the statues at these shrines are wearing red "bibs"). In the Jizo-do at Hasedera, there are at least 1,000 statues of Jizo that have been dedicated by parents who lost their children. The sight of all of these statues in one place is very moving. In the same temple complex, there were winding paths that took us through lush gardens. There were Shinto shrines in every nook and cranny, with amazing views of the Pacific coastline. People from all over the world have been to Kamakura to visit these shrines and offer their prayers for peace.

There was so much to see at Hasedera that there was only enough time to visit one more temple in Kamakura. We walked (actually, we almost ran) down the street to the Daibutsu, the Great Buddha of Kamakura. The Daibutsu is dates back to 1252 and it is the second largest Buddha in Japan. Just like the Great Camphor tree in Takeo, you can only really get a true sense of the enormity of the Great Buddha when you see a picture of people standing next to it. It only stands to reason that such a big Buddha would have a great, big pair of sandals, too!

We left the Daibutsu as the sky began to get dark and went for a quick hike through the hills of Kamakura on our way back to the train station. Right before we turned back onto the main road, we came across the entrance to another shrine. Even though the shrine was closed up for the night, the gates were still open. Since we didn't know if we would ever have a chance to come back, we decided to have a look around. Somewhere in the background we could hear a waterfall, but from where we were standing, we couldn't see where it was coming from. Tucked back in the far corner, we could see a dim light. When we got closer, we could see that it was coming from the entrance to a small cave that contained a shrine. Based on what we found at the shrine, we deduced that this was the Zeniarai shrine, where worshippers come to wash their money. It is believed that money washed in this shrine will double.

There are so many more places I wanted to visit in Kamakura, but by this point all of the shrines and temples were closed, it was getting late, and I had seminars first thing the next morning. On the train back to Tokyo, I began to realize that my time in Japan was coming to an end and I was going to have to make the most of every minute I had left to even see a fraction of the things I had yet to see in this amazing country! Over the next few weeks, I will continue to update my blog and share not only what I did over the course of my last two days in Japan, but also my reflections on Japanese schools and society and how they are similar to and differnent from American schools and society.

Family, Friends, Culture, and Tradition Part II

Sunday morning, I was awoken at 8 am by the siren that sounds throughout the town every day at the same time (it also sounds at noon and 5 pm). Mrs. Kondo came in my room to make sure I was up, and once everyone was dressed and ready, we left the house and went to an open air market that is held on Sundays in the center of town. At this market, local farmers, fishermen, and merchants sold their goods. The merchants at the markets knew that the American teachers staying in Takeo would be at the market this week, so they made special signs in English to welcome us and explain their products. I bought some handmade New Year’s cards and Mrs. Kondo bought food for breakfast. When we got back to the house, sat down to eat the breakfast Mrs. Kondo prepared.

Breakfast in Japan is VERY different from breakfast in America. While she was preparing a typical Japanese breakfast, Mrs. Kondo asked what Americans eat for breakfast. I told her that we usually have eggs, toast, cereal, or a bagel and cream cheese (I had to explain what a bagel was). For breakfast at the Kondo’s, we had rice (rice is eaten with EVERY meal in Japan), soup with chicken, mushrooms, and bean curd, and two different kinds of tofu (raw and fried). I didn’t love the fried tofu, but I didn’t want to offend

anyone, so I made sure to finish everything in my bowl.

After breakfast we headed to the nearby town of Arita, which is famous throughout Japan and the rest of the world for producing beautiful porcelain. In Arita there is a museum that documents the history of ceramics in Japan. Almost all of the information in the museum was in Japanese, but I was able to see that the earliest Japanese pottery in the collection dated back over 400 years. As the pottery became more modern, the shapes and designs became more complex and the colors were more varied and brilliant.

On the way home from the museum we stopped at the supermarket (again) to pick up food for lunch. Since Japanese kitchens tend to be pretty small, families tend to shop for one day or one meal at a time. Many families in Takeo also practice some kind of farming. They might not grow all of the food they need to exist, but they grow some of the food they need. For example, the Kondos grow onions and squash, and they got their rice from a friend’s paddy nearby. Lunch on Sunday was a yummy dish called yakisoba. Mrs. Kondo and Hanai sliced the vegetables and meat, while Mr. Kondo cooked the veggies and noodles on a big, electric pan in the middle of the dining room table. While we were eating our yakisoba, the tofu truck passed by the house. Much like ice cream trucks in America, the tofu truck plays a simple song through a bullhorn on top of the car (it almost sounds like the truck is singing "to-fu") and the people in the neighborhood who need to buy tofu run out to the truck to make their purchase. Since the Kondo's bought tofu at the market in the morning, they didn't need to purchase any from the truck that day. In fact, we were already eating tofu in the salad we had with our lunch!

After lunch, we took some time to relax at the house and watched the Phillies play in the 3rd game of the World Series! I was so excited to be able to see the game, and it was so awesome to be watching it in Japan!! The neatest part was that the Japanese sports channel actually had reporters in a Press Box at Citizens' Bank Park, so the announcing was in English and Japanese. While I expected to hear the announcers speak Japanese, I did not expect to see the player stats and batting line-up in Japanese. We also noticed that an advertisement for a juku, or cram school, was superimposed over the digital sign behind home plate. Over the course of the weekend, I had been trying to explain to the Kondos what Philadelphia was famous for (other than Rocky), like cheesesteaks, the Liberty Bell, and the Philly Phanatic. This was not an easy task without pictures, but during the World Series, the TV cameras showed each of these highlights of Philadelphia and I was able to share visuals of these local favorites with my Host Family.

While we were watching the game, Mr. Kondo's sister came to visit from Arita with her daughter, Namiko, and Namiko's best friend, Maiko. Namiko and Maiko are seniors at Takeo High School and they were looking forward to meeting me and practicing their English. When they came over, Namiko and Maiko were both in their school uniforms, which means they were at school studying on Sunday! Both of them attend a juku and are preparing for their college entrance exams. Our guests took a break from studying long enough to share some tea and cream puffs they brought from a famous French pastry shop in Arita. I was able to ask them questions about high school in Japan and they asked me what I thought of Japan and Japanese food.

Once the baseball game ended (Go Phils!), Namiko gave me a lesson in shodo, Japanese calligraphy. By creating an example for me to copy from, Namiko taught me how to write the Japanese symbol for Peace, which is pronounced "Heh-ee-wa". After the girls left, Mrs. Kondo taught me how to write the Japanese symbol for Compassion, pronounced "Na-sa-keh". Hanai warned me that Mrs. Kondo teaches shodo to her fourth grade students and is a very strict teacher, and she was right. I kept forgetting to use my left hand to hold the paper steady and Mrs. Kondo corrected me every time. In the end, Mrs. Kondo might have been a strict teacher, but she was a very good teacher and I learned a lot from her.

After my shodo lesson, it was time to pack my bags and say my goodbyes to my Japanese family. They drove me back into town to the ryokan where I and the rest of my group would be spending our last night in Takeo. It was hard to say goodbye to the Kondos. They showed me such kindness and welcomed me into their house with open arms. They also did so much to teach me about Japanese culture and family life. We promised to keep in touch, trade pictures from the weekend, and send music suggestions. I let the Kondos know that if they ever visit Philadelphia to run the steps of the Art Museum like Rocky Balboa (something Mrs. Kondo is really looking forward to doing), they always have a place to stay.

My group's night at the ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn), was the perfect way to end our stay in Takeo and spend our final night as a small group. We started the week hardly knowing each other, and ended it knowing that we will each remain a part of each other's lives forever. I was very lucky to spend my time in Takeo with such an amazing, diverse group of dedicated teachers and administrators. At the inn, we dressed in yukata and we were treated to a traditional Japanese feast. I have never seen so much food in my life! I tried to take a picture of my place setting, but I had to start eating the food so there would be room for the next course! The beef was served to us raw, but was cooked on our tables in little clay pots by a candle. It was so yummy! After we finally finished all of that food, the owner of the inn rolled out the karaoke machine and we all took turns singing songs. Finally, after a filling dinner and lots of out of tune singing, we took our final bath in the onsen. After that, it was back to the tatami rooms we shared together to get a good night's sleep and prepare for our flight back to Tokyo the next morning.

Now, I am sitting in my hotel room in Tokyo, back where I started this adventure, getting ready for our closing banquet. I can hardly believe that it is already time to come home! I have had such an amazing time in Japan and I've learned so much more than I've had time to relate in this blog. I can't wait to continue sharing this experience with you once I return to Pennsylvania!

Family, Friends, Culture, and Tradition

Well, friends, I am back in Tokyo after an amazing week in Takeo. After spending so much time in the countryside, Tokyo almost feels like America! There is so much to tell you about my weekend I hardly know where to start!

My weekend began with the Home Stay portion of our "total immersion" experience. For this part of the trip, every participant in the teacher program was matched with a local family who volunteered to invite a teacher into their home for a day and a half. I was very nervous to meet my Host Family. I was so busy getting ready for the trip before I left the United States that I didn't have time to print out pictures of my family and school to show them and I was nervous that we wouldn't have anything to talk about. As it turned out, I didn't need to worry at all! My hosts had a wonderful weekend planned!

Mr. and Mrs. Kondo picked me up at the hotel at 9:30 on Saturday morning. They drove me back to their house to drop off my belongings and pack a picnic lunch. In Japan, all members of the family play a roll in preparing the meals. For this meal, Mr. Kondo gathered the items we would need for our picnic while Mrs. Kondo taught me how to make onigiri, or rice balls. There are many different ways to make onigiri, and we made four different kinds for our picnic. For the first type, we mixed sesame seeds and seaweed flakes into the rice. For the second kind, we mixed a different kind of seaweed flakes into the rice, and for the third and fourth kinds we added a little salt to the rice and filled the center of the onigiri with different kinds of pickled vegetables and wrapped them in nori (paper thin sheets of seaweed). Next we had to shape the rice. The confusing thing about "rice balls" is that they are not really balls, but triangles. Shaping the rice into triangles is much more difficult than it sounds. My onigiri looked more like ovals than triangles, but with a little practice my technique started to improve. After the onigiri were completed, we packed our lunch and drove up a long, twisting path to the top of one of the highest mountains in Takeo. On top of the mountain there was a reconstruction of a castle, with a gorgeous view of the rice fields of the region. While we ate our lunch, Mr. and Mrs. Kondo told me more about Takeo and pointed out some of the key features of the geography and told me about the history of the area.

On the way home from lunch, we stopped at a store to buy some flowers. Mrs. Kondo was going to give me a lesson in ikebana, the traditional Japanese art of flower arranging. I think I mentioned before, that ikebana is one of the arts a Japanese woman is supposed to learn in order to be considered a "good wife" and a traditional Japanese home should always have flowers to represent the season. Mrs. Kondo chose two types of flowers to represent autumn(sunflowers and a long stem with lots of purple flowers on it) and two kind of leaves (one that had thin branches with lots of small leaves and a lily pad). In ikebana, there are three important stems, a high stem, a low stem, and a stem in the middle. After the three major stems are in place, the other flowers and leaves are put in place to fill in the spaces. Just as traditional Japanese music starts slow and soft and then gets faster and louder before slowing down again, the goal in ikebana is to create a rolling effect, like water flowing in a river.

After my ikebana lesson, we all drove to the train station to pick up Hanai, Mr. and Mrs. Kondo’s 19-year-old daughter, who was away at college. Hanai is studying Speech Therapy at a university two hours away from her parents’ home and this was the first time she came back to visit since she left for school two months ago. Hanai was very excited to see her parents and they were very happy to see her. Throughout the weekend I kept hearing them repeat the word yokata, so I asked them what it means. They told me that yokata means “glad” or “happy”.

On the way home from the train station we stopped at the supermarket to pick up food for dinner. I didn’t think a Japanese supermarket would be that much different from an American supermarket, but, boy, was I wrong! It is true that, like an American supermarket, the Japanese supermarket had different sections for different kinds of food, with one section for meat, one section for fish, one section for seasonings, one section for snack food, etc…, but what was in each section was different from what you might find in those same sections in an American supermarket. For instance, in the seasoning section, there was salt, but I didn’t see any pepper! There were also lots of different types of sauce made from soy and ginger, as well as a variety of types of dried seaweed. While Mr. & Mrs. Kondo and Hanai selected the foods they needed to prepare dinner. I bought some of the seasonings we used earlier in the day to make onigiri so I can try to make them at home.

When we got back to the house, Mrs. Kondo began to prepare dinner while I talked with Hanai and Mr. Kondo. They shared pictures of their travels to Canda and Alaska three years ago and I told them about Philadelphia and showed them where it was on the map. Once the basic preparations for dinner were underway, we all went into the kitchen to help Mrs. Kondo finish the meal. Hanai helped Mrs. Kondo chop vegetables while Mr. Kondo and I set the table and I served the rice. Dinner was a true feast! In addition to the rice there were fried chicken wings marinated in a sweet soy sauce with sesame seeds and a traditional soup with a milk base that had mushrooms, tofu, chicken, cabbage, and meatballs. The soup was heated up in a big, electric pan in the center of the table. There was also a WHOLE FISH for each person! I was very surprised to come to the table and see a whole fish on my plate, complete with bones, the tail, the head, and even the eyes! While everybody took their seats, I contemplated how I would go about eating the fish using chopsticks.

Before the meal began, everyone put their hands together as if they were going to pray and said, “Itadakemas”. This is done by every person before every meal in Japan, even in schools, as a way of showing thanks to the person who prepared the food. (It's also what people in Japan say instead of "cheese" before taking a picture!) Once we said “itadakemas”, everyone began to eat. During dinner, the Kondos asked me questions about life in the United States and I asked them questions about life in Japan. I could tell that they were still not clear as to where Philadelphia is and if it is a city or a state. I asked them if they knew the movie “Rocky”. They were very familiar with the movie and Hanai started humming the theme song while Mrs. Kondo yelled, “Adrienne!” Right away Mrs. Kondo realized that I was from the same city where Rocky is set. For the rest of the meal we discussed which Rocky movie we thought was the best and which one we thought was the worst. Hanai and I also discussed music. She loves Colby Caillat and KT Tunstall. I told her that I thought she should check out Jack Johnson.

After dinner we watched some of the Japanese World Series between the Yomiuri Giants and the Seibu Lions, and then it was time to get ready for bed. Part of getting ready for bed in Japan involves taking a bath. In Japan, most people don’t take showers like we do in the United States. The bath and the toilet are in two separate rooms. The room that has the bath is like one big shower, with a drain in the middle of the floor. First, the person taking the bath sits on a stool and washes their body and hair under a faucet in an area next to the tub. Once they are completely clean, they soak in a tub filled with hot water and relax. After ten minutes or so, the person climbs out of the tub, dries off, and covers the tub to keep the water warm for the next person. I was very nervous about taking a bath this way, but really, it was very relaxing. I was so relaxed, in fact, that I went straight to bed and had the best sleep I think I’ve had since I got to Japan.

My good night’s sleep might have been a result of the relaxing bath or it might have been because of my comfortable bed. Rooms in Japan are measured by the number of tatami mats that fit in the room. The room I slept in was an 8 tatami mat room. When I first saw the room, I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to sleep. The only furniture in the room was a TV on a stand, a low coffee table, and two chairs without legs that rested on the floor. When it came time to get ready for bed, Mrs. Kondo and Hanai slid open the doors that made up one side of the room and pulled out a mattress (called a futon in Japanese), sheets, blankets, and a pillow. We moved the table and chairs to the side of the room and made up the bed on the tatami mat floor. It was very, very comfortable!

I had such a great first day with my host family that I couldn’t wait to see what the next day would bring. For now, I can tell you that Sunday was just as exciting as Saturday, but I’ll save those adventures for tomorrow’s entry!

Saving the Best for Last...Takeo Junior High School

I'm sure I don't need to tell you that today was my favorite school visit in Taeko. I was so excited to see a Japanese Middle School! To be honest, it really wasn't all that different from William Penn! There are about the same number of students in both of our schools, but in Takeo Junior High School the grades are equivalent to our 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. They even have a field day just like ours, but they are divided into three teams instead of two. The Middle School also has a strict dress code. The sign on the right reminds girls to dress neatly, tie their bows properly, and to make sure their socks aren't slouchy and their hair isn't dyed or permed. It also reminds them that they are not allowed to shave their eyebrows (something that seems to be a popular trend among Japanese girls).

The Middle School students' day starts out with homeroom, and then today, in honor of our visit, the school had a special assembly to welcome us. I like to think that if we had special visitors to William Penn, our students would sit as nicely and quietly and be as well behaved in an assembly as the students at Takeo Junior High School were today.

In the Junior High School, as in the High School, the students switch classrooms for each subject. The first class we observed was a first year math class. What made this class different from any other class in the school was that the students were divided into two groups, so there were only 20 students in each class instead of 40. This is only done for 7th grade math. When we entered the room, there were four students at the board solving problems, just like Mr. Garretson has students do at William Penn!

Next, we observed a 7th grade Science class, where the students were conducting a flame experiment. If I'm not mistaken, the 8th grade students at William Penn will have the opportunity to conduct a very similar experiment in their science classes later this year. Mrs. Blackshire will also be happy to know that even in Japanese schools, seating is an issue in Science classes. Only this time, instead of three students sharing each long black table, there were four students per table!

It probably goes without saying that I was very excited to see Social Studies classes. In 7th grade the students were studying the Middle Ages, just like we study the Middle Ages at William Penn in 7th grade. In this class, instead of studying Europe in the Middle Ages, these students were studying the history of Japan in the Middle Ages and learning about samurai and shogun. In 9th grade they were learning about the Japanese Constitution and Human Rights. I think it would be really interesting to compare the United States Constitution and our ideas about Human Rights with the Japanese Constitution and their students' ideas about Human Rights!

The one things I did notice is that the Japanese textbooks were much thinner than our textbooks and they didn't have as much content. Otherwise, our books were pretty similar, complete with guiding questions and primary sources. They even used graphic organizers to help them take notes, just like we do! At the end of the day, I had the opportunity to talk with the Junior High School Social Studies teacher (with the help of a translator) and learn more about how she conducts her classes. We found out that we have a lot of the same ideas about teaching Social Studies!

Takeo Junior High School has all of the same special area subjects that we have, but the students get to choose which classes they would like to take within each discipline. For instance, instead of just having one art class, the students can choose between crafts and drawing. In crafts, the students were constructing paper lampshades. It looked like a very complex process! In drawing, the students were making "imagination pictures", which were very abstract, colorful paintings that involved many steps to create the final product. The teacher and students in that class were very friendly and invited us to join them and help with their paintings.


The other special area classes we were able to visit were the instrumental music classes. In these classes, the students learn to play traditional Japanese instruments, such as taiko drums (the type of drumming from the festivals we saw in Takeo) and koto. The teachers in each of these classes also arranged for us to pair up with students who taught how to play these traditional instruments.

In the drumming class, the students sit at their desk and practice on a drum pad, while the teacher demonstrates on real drums in the front of the room. Japanese drumming starts out soft and slow and the beat gradually gets faster and louder, then it ends softly and slowly again. When playing the taiko drums, the students used western musical notation. Since I used to play an instrument when I was in middle school, I could follow along with the beat and keep up with rest of the class. The teacher did have a lot of corrections for me to make on my posture. Real taiko drumming uses a very athletic stance and takes every muscle in the body (as you could see from the pictures and videos from the festivals earlier in the week!).

Playing the koto seemed kind of like playing a harp, but it was also very different. There were so many ways you could manipulate the strings to make different sounds. With the help of a very patient and talented student, I was able to play some notes on the koto, but the musical notation was so different from western style music that there was no way I could decipher it. The entire class performed a song for us on the koto and traditional Japanese drums. I below is a short video clip of the performance. The sound did not come out very well on the video recording, but I think you will get a good idea of how the koto is played from watching:



After 4th period, the students went back to their homerooms to eat lunch. Lunch in the Middle School is served much like the lunch in the elementary school. The individual desks are pushed together in groups of 6 and covered with tablecloths and the food is brought in pots to the classroom. Members of the group take turns acting as the server for each table. Once everyone has their food and the class has thanked the people who prepared the food, a teacher comes on the loud speaker and announces what song will be played that day. Then, while the students are eating, classical music is played through the PA system. When the students are finished with their lunches, everyone clears their plates and rearranges the tables for the next class. I should mention that Japanese schools (and Japanese society in general) are very conscientious about recycling. The schools do not use disposable dishes, trays, or silverware, and each student unfolds their milk carton to make it flat, rinses it off, and recycles it. This is an area where William Penn could really learn something from Japanese schools. By this point, I bet you can guess what the students did once they were finished lunch. You got it...they CLEANED THE SCHOOL! Even though this was the third time I saw it happen, the concept still amazes me! What a great idea!
After school is over at 3:40 pm, the students either go home or go to their club activities like they do at the High School. Many of the clubs they have in Middle School are the same clubs as in the High School. Some of the most popular clubs are volleyball, baseball, soccer, tennis, judo, and kendo. (To find out what judo and kendo are, go back to yesterday's blog and find those words highlighted in my entry. Click on them and it will take you to links that explain each sport.) Unfortunately, we did not get to observe the Sumo club because they were away from school at a meet that afternoon. We did, however, get to see volleyball, kendo, and judo.
After clubs and activities were done for the day, I took advantage of the nice weather to hike up to the top of one of the bigger hills in Takeo to watch the sunset. It was very beautiful and peaceful. I know today's post was a bit longer than usual, but it was such an exciting day and I learned so many things that I just had to share! Tomorrow morning I meet my host family and I will stay with them until Sunday evening. On Sunday they will drop me off at a traditional Japanese Inn where I will stay until we fly back to Tokyo on Monday. I think it's a pretty safe bet that I won't have access to email until I am back in Tokyo Monday night. I'm sure I will have a lot to tell you when I get back, and I still haven't even told you how we are ordering food without a menu or the use of language. I'll give you a hint: we have to be very creative in how we communicate with the servers. I can't wait to hear what you would do! To help you think, I'll leave you with a picture of the menu from dinner tonight and the food I ended up getting after I ordered dinner at that restaurant: