Forking time...

Stick a fork in me. I'm (just about) done. :)

Once again, I've let a few days slip by without an update (I know you've all been holding your collective breath in great anticipation of my return. Sorry if any of you have actually turned blue...) :)

So let's see...

On Friday, we went to visit Yasunishi Elementary School in Hiroshima. It was pretty much everything I expected it would be. Upon our arrival, the children performed for us in the gym (quite touching. It made me think of my own students back home, and nearly made me burst into tears. Luckily, I think I managed to hold everything back...ugly, red-eyed, sobbing American me would have certainly frightened the children. :p) After that, we were allowed to observe the classes freely. What struck me most was the lack of direction that the children needed in order to accomplish a task. For the most part, teachers provided basic instructions, then set the kids free to work. The kids would collaborate from time to time, but rarely got too far off task. It is often said that Japanese kids are not provided with the opportunity to be creative. I've not found this to be true...they have TONS of classes in the Arts; however, I will concede that they are rarely encouraged to be innovative. As the teachers walked around and observed the students working, attention was NEVER called to any one specific student. Makes me wonder why a child would ever work to accomplish more than just "enough"...

Also widely divergent from my own experience was the freedom offered the children during recess (and sometimes even instructional) times. Students were allowed to leave the classrooms and run about entirely unsupervised. They played in the puddles and mud, wrestled and threw balls at each other, all without the slightest blink from any of the teaching staff. I NEVER saw a child run crying to the teacher that another student had hit, pinched, poked or otherwise offended (and all of those things happened.) It's all just acceptable as "kid" behavior. Pretty remarkable.

SO...on Saturday, I was picked up by my host family for the homestay visit. The mother, Mika, and her son, Yusei, were super nice and great fun! Mika spoke amazingly good English, and we chatted about everything from politics to Desperate Housewives. :) In the afternoon, we all walked down to the river, and Yusei and I managed to team up to catch a turtle (he had several turtles already back at the house.) The evening was relaxing, and we had some wonderful home-cooked food for dinner. On Sunday, we drove to Mika's parents' house and picked up her dad. Together we visited the Kintai Bridge, and ate lunch at a local sushi place (no raw fish for me, but I did taste test the local favorite...a kind of squished square sushi.) All in all, I think we were perfectly matched.

(Skipping ahead now...too much in between and I don't want to bore you all...)

Well, today is Tuesday. We went to visit the Kindergarten here in Tokyo (oh yeah...did I mention we came back to Tokyo? :) ) And Nadine and I went exploring this evening. A little later tonight, we'll be rehearsing for our presentation (one of the reasons I have to hurry right now!) Anyways, just one more day left! I can't believe it's time to go (despite the fact that it has seemed like a ridiculous amount of time that I've been gone.)

So let's just say...I'm mostly ready. Maybe just one last trip to the Oriental Bazaar... :)

Ummm....It's an awkward age...

Today we visited Kabe Junior High School. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Japanese students are not the automatons that I had once assumed they might be. Although well-trained on school procedures (they actually serve lunch, and clean the classrooms, hallways and bathrooms every day...quite impressive), they laughed and joked and possessed every bit of the youthful enthusiasm that you might expect from a 13 or 14 year old child.

The discipline (or difference in discipline) was a little unexpected. The Japanese culture requires a group mentality. The success of the whole depends on the actions of the individuals within the group. As a result, individual students are rarely, if ever, called out for discipline issues. The teachers instead rely upon the group to correct poor behavior and encourage continuous and appropriate participation in school activities. Sometimes this works. Sometimes not. At Kabe, they had a chart that gauged compliance with school dress code. Classes competed against one another to gain the most points each day. It was explained to us that students who failed to come to school in full dress code caused their classes to lose points. The thought here was that other students in the class would encourage the nonconformist students to comply so that the group as a whole could benefit. Very interesting! I suppose we do this to some extent in the U.S., but I simply can't imagine allowing students to behave badly when I could say something that might correct the undesirable behavior and put the child back on track. Maybe that's just me...

I think I could definitely get used to the treatment we had after school, however. As our bus was pulling out of the school, students (who were not forced to be there by the teachers, but CHOSE to be there) waved and yelled their goodbyes. And as we drove down the street, students who had already departed the school campus waved when they saw us...some even ran along side the bus! :) SO CRAZY!

They say that tomorrow (the visit to the elementary school) will be the best day of all...I'm pretty sure it'll be my favorite. I just can't wait to see all the littles! :)

John Lennon would be proud...

Okonomiyaki (hereafter known as Yoko-Ono-miyaki :) ) I am officially an expert on its preparation, and I have the certificate to prove it. :p

(More on that in a minute...)

We started out the day today at Honkawa Elementary, the school closest to the hypocenter when the a-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima (turns out the other one we went to see wasn't the closest, but it WAS important because the survivors used its rooms as a triage unit, and its walls as a primitive message board to locate family members after the a-bomb hit.) At Honkawa, the daughter of a Hiroshima Hibakusha (survivor) spoke to us about her mother's experience, and described the devastation that the bombing caused. By the end of her presentation, we were all literally too stunned to speak. As we exited the building to return to the bus, we were spotted by some elementary school students who waved and shouted (in amazingly good English), "Welcome to Hiroshima! We're pleased to met you!" :) Something about their smiles seemed to make things look a lot brighter. :)

After leaving the museum, we proceeded to the City Municipal Building, where we were addressed by the Mayor and met with three members of the Board of Education. Not surprisingly, the message conveyed to us was one of peace. Seems to be the underlying message of this entire leg of the trip. And I have to admit, it's amazingly inspiring.

Before heading to meet the remaining members of the Board of Education, we were taken to an okonomiyake (Yoko-Ono-miyake) restaurant for lunch and a cooking lesson. In seeing all of the ingredients (batter, cabbage, soba noodles, corn, fish salt, seaweed sprinkles, egg and squid), I was a little skeptical. The okonomiyake master demonstrated proper preparation techniques, then set us all loose to prepare our own lunch. Despite the fact that flipping a pile of cabbage and corn wasn't exactly easy, my okonomiyake lunch turned out to be quite tasty...especially once I smothered it in yummy okonomiyake sauce. :) Since we accomplished our task without setting anything on fire or permanently scarring ourselves, the okonomiyake chef presented each of us with an official okonomiyake diploma. Can't wait to add that credential to my resume. :p

From the restaurant, we headed back to the Municipal Building to attend a Q&A session with the rest of the Board of Education. It was quite interesting (especially in terms of gender equity...seems Japan still has a ways to go in that regard.)

And tonight? You'll never believe...I went and did laundry (such an exciting night, no lie! :p) Oh well, I still have a few days left here, and now I can finish out the trip with a lovely Tide-fresh smell hovering around me. :p

A tongue-twisting good time...

If I begin with a nice little smiley, will you all forgive me for taking so long to get back to this? (Gonna try it...here goes...)

:)

(Hoping that worked.)

Well, as you might have guessed, the last few days have been ridiculously busy. So let's see...over the past three days, I've seen:

- One Tokyo Okeyo-e Museum (try saying that five times
fast :p)
- One Harajuku Bazaar
- One Caligraphy master (assisted by three calligraphy
helpers)
- One rather unusual Tokyo jazz bar (Sam's)
- One gigantic water sculpture (O-torii Gate)
- One Shinto shrine (Itsukushima)
- One Buddist temple (Daishoin)
- One enormous pagoda (Five-storied Pagoda)
- One Japanese garden (Shukkeien)
- One Japanese University (Hiroshima University)
- Two a-bomb related museums (Fukuro-machi and Hiroshima Peace)
- Three a-bomb related landmarks (Hypocenter, A-bomb Dome, Children's Memorial)
- Seven momiji-manju cakes (yum)
- Bunches of crazy Harajuku kids
AND
- More tourist-loving deer than can be counted

Can you even imagine that I've had some time in between to sleep? :)

It has been a great few days. Lots of stories to tell...some rather surprising ($35 dinner consisting of 10 olives, 5 mushrooms and water) , some rather heart-warming (sharing momiji-manju cakes on the Miyajima Ferry; watching school children present paper cranes at the Children's Peace Memorial; observing the devastating after-effects of the atomic bomb through exhibits at the Peace Museum), and some enlightening (meeting with professors and students at Hiroshima University.) What an amazing time! :)

Oh the adventures that tomorrow is sure to bring! (Be on the lookout for the photo of me in a Samurai costume...that will let you know that I accomplished my goal!) Hiroshima Castle, here I come! :)

When you wish upon a Buddist prayer board...

(And just when we thought it was safe to leave the hotel room!) :p

Another super busy day today. I'm still struggling a little with the whole jet lag thing (and by "a little" I mean "a whole super duper bunch.") I tucked myself into bed last night at roughly 10:00 (20:00 for all of you on military time), and figured that since I was SO exhausted, I'd fall straight to sleep (O.K., true enough) and stay that way for at least 6 or 8 hours (not even close to accurate.) I took it as a good sign that I was able to go back to sleep pretty quickly each time I awoke, however, once the clock struck 2:30 a.m., there was officially no more sleepy time for me. I laid in bed for about an hour, then finally gave in and tried to get up and be productive. The end result? Now I'm REALLY exhausted! :p Oh well. Guess that'll work in my favor tomorrow morning when I head off to the fish market.

My day today consisted of a bunch of informational seminars. First, we heard Tsutomu Kimura, President of the National Institution for Academic Degrees, speak about the Japanese educational system. Next was Takahiro Miyao (a.k.a. "Take a hero, meow"), Professor at the International University of Japan, who spoke about Japan's economy. After lunch, two members of the House of Representatives, Yuji Tsushima and Kuniko Inoguchi, spoke about the Japanese Government. All in all, I'd say it was a fairly interesting day. But the best part? I was finally able to sit down and think through my plans for our day off! :) I'm excited to say that I'll be staying in Tokyo, and visiting several museums here (my favorite of which...at least at the moment, and in theory...is the Ghibli Animation Museum.) Nadine, Amy and I will also be attending a Calligraphy class....and maybe (just maybe) doing a bit of shopping in Ginza. :) I have to say, I'm really looking forward to just being mindless for a while. This whole thinking thing is exhausting. :p

Keeping my fingers crossed that you all are well, (and of course, getting a bit more sleep than I am...)

Can you say "Jet Lag"?

What a day, what a day! :) They warned me it would happen, and sure enough, it did. Officially, I hit the sack last night at around 11:15 p.m. (not too shabby considering I'd been up with essentially no sleep since 7:30 a.m. on Monday morning.) After just over 5 hours sleep, I woke up fully refreshed and ready to go. "Ha HA!" I thought to myself, "I've got this traveling thing mastered. Absolutely NO jet lag." I went through most of the day today feeling fine...bright eyes, bushy tail...but once we finished up our last session of the afternoon at around 5:00 p.m., I scarcely made it back to my room before I figured it out: When fighting a battle with Father Time (or in this case, 父の時間) I will pretty much NEVER be the victor. What's it they say? Never get involved with a Sicilian when death is on the line? I say never underestimate Father Time when your stay in Tokyo is on the line. :) So I suppose all this is just to admit...WOW! I'm tired!

Today, we made it out to do a bit of organized sight-seeing. After boarding the bus at 9:00 a.m., we went by the Detached Palace, and saw the Supreme Court. Our first official stop was The Diet building (which is a little like our House of Representatives.) We took a quick tour and caught all of the building's highlights...but the best part of The Diet was getting to see all of the Japanese school-children on field trips there! They were all SO excited to see us, and clamored for photos whenever a camera was raised. Walking back to the bus, they asked us all sorts of questions (one child in particular was extremely enthusiastic about soccer. But the most impressive part was that he spoke fluent enough English that I was able to understand most of what he was trying to convey. :) )

After leaving The Diet, we went by the Imperial Palace, then on to Asakusa for lunch (scrumptious tempura that I ate with chopsticks! I only dropped one piece in my lap! YAY ME! :) ) Unfortunately, our stop at Asakusa was fairly brief. I had just enough time after eating to pop in to the paper store (which doesn't sound super exciting, but totally was), and run by the temples and shrines. Of course, I zig-zagged my way through the marketplace on my way from landmark to landmark. Hey...you're only in Tokyo once, right? :p

We returned to the hotel in time to change for the Kyogen performance. It was interesting, but also a little foreign (which makes some sense, 'cause, duh? It IS foreign. :) ) The dialogue between characters, although translated into English, was performed with the musicality and rhythm of the Japanese language, so...it sounded strange at first, but I got used to it pretty quickly and, overall, greatly enjoyed the performance.

After a brief period to rest and check email, we gathered together for our official "Welcome to Japan" reception. As has become the norm for this trip, there were a number of dignitaries there who offered us their congratulations and best wishes. And of course, there was more yummy food. :)

So what's on the agenda for tomorrow? Well...I guess you'll just have to wait and see...but it's certain to be another amazing day in Japan! ;)

Chat back at you soon!

Ja mata! :)

Seats, seats and more seats!

Holy cow! Talk about a long flight (and just as I suspected, it was a bit cramped.) I was feeling hopeful when I initially checked in at the San Francisco airport (19E...sounds pretty decent. I immediately began going over in my head the many seat combinations that could possibly occur: There was the 2-3-3...good for an E seat. Then maybe a 3-2-3...also good for an E seat. A 2-2-2...yeah, that'll work for E.) So when I got on the plane and found a 2-5-2 combination (pause while you, dear reader, work out the E seat on that one), I found myself DEAD CENTER. Ugh. Oh well. Guess I can't complain too much considering this trip is fully funded (that and the fact that they gave us about 20 meals while we were in flight. :) Food nearly always makes me feel a bit more optimistic about things.)

During the flight, I was able to watch three movies, read two magazines, listen to music, eat many, many snacks and close my eyes just long enough to catch a brief snooze (which was nearly always abruptly ended by someone slamming the overhead compartment, or a flight attendant coming by with another snack, drink, hot towel or etc.) After deplaning, I rushed to pick up my bags, go through customs and take a pitstop, only to discover that it was practically dark outside! So, on the way to the hotel, I was able to see lots of pretty lights. Hopefully, tomorrow will bring with it a view of the landmarks behind them. :)

Of course, there's much more to tell...but it's been a long day, so I'm gonna go use the fancy heated-seat toilet (hee hee), and head off to bed. Miss you all! :)

Ja mata! :)