lots of pictures

more pictures that were not blogged about, from the homestay. left to right, my homestay family, me, sue, keiko and yoshi, me and my host mom walking, mean in the old senjokaku temple, and a little girl at a wedding at the itsukushima shrine, and then deer, all on miyajima island

some pictures from senior high and elementary school, respectively

the schools

so. this might be my last post. and I'm a week behind. time to get moving

last tuesday we went to an elementary school, which was one of the most invigorating experiences ever. the amount of play going on there was unbelievable. music and art are compulsory throughout all education, and there were first graders singing it's a small world after all in japanese when we walked in. people started crying. the energy there was unreal. out on the playground, they were running all over the place, 500 kids, with about 2 teachers passively supervising. when we asked what would happen if a kid got hurt, they responded "learn not to do it again"

during their 10 minute recess, they spent 5 minutes running around wherever they wanted and 5 minutes mandatory jumprope time

they served themselves lunch and scrubbed and cleaned the building afterwards. I participated in their english lessons, and the first question they asked me was "how tall are you?" the second question they asked me was "have you ever met anyone taller than you?"

admittedly, there was something different in the way, during the music class, they transitioned from activity to activity, song to song so fluidly, at the systematic prompting of the changing music. the music was more for team building, and even nation building than it was for individual expression

after one brave kid started to rub my beard, a slew of them came over and rubbed my face. like a chia pet. we just had so much fun

facts about elementary school:
1) grades 1-6
2) all teachers must be able to swim and play the piano
3) there are no buses (this is for all schools), just local schools. all students walk to school, and parents volunteer to play traffic guard
4) students learn english starting in grade 5 (this is very new)


the junior high we visited on the second day could not have been more opposite. nestled high in the mountains, shrouded in mist, with open-air corridors, somehow, the atmosphere was oppressive. during the welcome assembly, when asked to stand, for five minutes straight, the students scuffed their feet and made squeaking noises -- a subversive activity that is impossible to catch, which is the hallmark of rebellion under oppression. where there was energy and excitement in the english class in the elementary school, this english class went like this:
in a monotonous voice, the teacher said "fff fff fish. fff fff fishing. fff fff fat, now repeat after me" after going through the letters f-j, she had them write each of those words 5 times. then she asked them if they knew what the words meant. there was no interaction, no way for her to check if kids were following along, bunches of kids with their heads down, sleeping. it was teacher as fount of knowledge and students as receptacle. I had to leave. it was one of the most upsetting things I've seen, actively watching students be brainwashed

you know how in the us, we hold japan up as the gold standard of education? we try to replicate things that they do, to get such high scores on international tests. well, they are trying to replicate what we do in that we produce independent thinkers, capable of critical thought. their students do not ask questions and do not express their opinions. to an extreme, creepy extent

the one room that I walked into that was good was the calligraphy room. it had a palpable sense of energy -- students hard at work, admittedly, practicing the same thing, over and over again, but with care and diligence. fascinating to watch

during the 10 minute passing of class, the students were allowed to run all over the place, go crazy, let off steam from being pent up. but then the bell rings and they file back into their rooms

junior high is from 7-9. junior high is the end of compulsory education. I played a gym teacher in pingpong and beat him

last of the school visits was the senior high school, an arts high school. I knew I was going to like the school when the principal gave us postcards with student artwork on it, and a lit mag, which were far better than anything I'd ever seen a high school student produce. we went for a tour of their school and saw more artwork that just blew me away. the building was magnificent, overlooking an ancient japanese castle. the principal then spoke of their emblem being a phoenix, because they conceived of each of their students as a baby phoenix who would eventually grow into a full-fledged impassioned bird of fire. then we sat in a music class and learned (or in my case, tried to learn) how to play the bamboo flute. then we went to a calligraphy class and made (or in my case, butchered) some calligraphy, with students as our teachers

then we went into the classrooms which stunned me with more instances of rote memorization and fount/receptacle teaching. students slept, the teacher talked, he asked them to repeat after him. there was no reflection and no engagement. maybe once in the 50 minute class did the teacher ask a question. just terrible stuff, enough to kill anyone's spirit. it was at such odds with what I had heard and seen. such passion and expertise in the art. expression aching to burst out

then I met an american guy who was teaching english in japan and I invited him out with us for drinks and I got a really fascinating perspective on this stuff


this is actually a good place to end. then I had my host stay, which was unremarkable (sat-sun) back to tokyo on sunday, and lectures yesterday and today (one on environmental education, ben) which were interesting, but not really worth blogging about. tomorrow we have presentations, and I was elected to talk because I overslept today and then thursday I take off. I have millions more to say, without the time (or truthfully, the energy to say it) and you have all temporarily been spared my philosophical musings on the society, the culture, the economy, the education and the experience over here. you will all doubtlessly be treated to that when I return. also, when I get home, I'll probably throw some pictures up as I wade through my 2,000+ pictures, so keep checking occasionally. thank you all for being interested enough to read my ramblings

see you all on the flip side. of the pacific ocean, that is

atomic bomb dome and peace memorial

so, what did we do in hiroshima?

our first day there, monday (I can't believe that was a week ago) we did sightseeing around hiroshima. we saw the atomic bomb dome, which they left in the same state it was in when the bomb exploded on august 6th 1945 at 8:15 am. the building was one of several concrete structures that survived the blast and the ensuing fire (remember, 4,000 degrees celcius, which is about 8,000 degree f). that's the picture with the skeleton of a dome on top of a building. then we walked through peace park, which was the thriving downtown when the bomb hit and was just completely leveled. instead of rebuilding it, the japanese constructed a park there, with the peace museum and the children's statue. on top of the statue is sadako, holding a crane

if you never read the book sakado and a thousand paper cranes stop reading this blog right now and go to your local library and check it out. but to fill you in, sadako was 2 years old when the bomb exploded in hiroshima. she recovered from her injuries, but about 10 years later, she began to get sick. she was diagnosed with leukemia and checked into a hospital. there is a japanese tradition that if you fold a thousand paper cranes, any wish you make will come true. so she fiercely set about folding anything she could get her hands on -- chewing gum wrappers, origami paper, tissues, medicine wrappers. she got up somewhere around 900 and then she died. since then, children from around the world have folded paper cranes and sent them to hiroshima as a call for peace and in remembrance of the innocent children who died in the bombing, and in all wars

these pictures are chains of paper cranes on the left, and paper cranes arranged to spell out the word peace and set up the whole scene. it was very powerful. while we were there, a school group was visiting and they group tons of chains of paper cranes and stood up and sang a song in front of the statue (the picture with the students in the yellow hats). the entire experience was really incredible

while we were there, a woman walked by with her husband, and in a deep southern drawl said "wow, she folded a thousand cranes and she still died? she must've been really bad." that was very upsetting. with a mindset like that, why come?

then we walked further down and came to the memorial monument for the bombing

on the left is the english version of the inscription -- it is in about 10 different languages on different plaques, explaining what the memorial is, that in the middle is a register of the deceased, which they update every year on august 6th as they identify for of the ashes held as city call, and the powerful inscription "let all the souls here rest in peace for we shall not repeat the evil"

then it was a remembrance hall where the theme was water, in memory of all the people who died begging for water, and drowned in the rivers as they staggered off to them dazed and dying from their burns

after that we went to the peace museum which was as powerful a call for peace and the eradication of nuclear weapons as you could imagine. it also repositioned the city and the experience we had all just had as tragic of course, but tragedy with a purpose -- and that is to educate the rest of the world of the suffering caused by war and nuclear weapons and to push for the end of them both. tragic, absolutely. but how much more tragic if we do not learn from it

with this as our backdrop, we were ready to go visit schools. and that update will have to wait until tomorrow

hi friends

I have returned to tokyo after galavanting around the japanese countryside. I have to pay 12 bucks a day for internet here, so this might be my last full day of internet usage. I might get it tomorrow too. we'll see

however, it's rather late, so let's get to business. first, a few pictures

off to a homestay

hi friends. so basically, I still have to post about my entire stay in hiroshima. however, my stay in hiroshima is drawing to a close. I have a homestay and then a traditional japanese inn; I will be out of internet range for a while. I hope I catch up eventually. I miss you all and I'll be back in less than a week

some pictures of toriis in kamakura and of miyajima