Life In Japan: Excellence

Whether you like, love or hate classical music, please watch at least one of the videos below. I have things to say about them which I think will astonish you. So fasten your seat belts, sit back, and let the music flow through you like cannabis oil aroma therapy.

Okay. Ready? Here’s the scoop …

These are junior high school students, at a school in Fukushima. Yes, that Fukushima, where the massive earthquake in 2011 caused the nuclear reactors to melt down. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

Instead, let me get to what I want you good folks to wrap your heads around. First …

Being junior high school students, everyone except the conductor is 13-15 years old. Not seasoned adults. Not college graduates. Young adolescents! What talent, eh?

It gets better: This is not a special school for music or any other area of study. It’s not some private school for rich kids — yes, we have exclusive, private schools here in Japan just like practically every other developed country. This particular school is no such uppity institution. No folks . . . THIS IS A PUBLIC SCHOOL!

And here is, what in my mind is the most jaw-dropping aspect of this tale: Participating in this choral orchestra is not part of the official school curriculum. This is not a music class. The students are not getting any credit for this. Everything, the individual mastering of the instruments, the hours of practice, the orchestra and vocal rehearsals, the concert performance, is purely voluntary. It’s an AFTER-SCHOOL CLUB!

I recall my school had a French Club, Photography Club, a Glee Club, an Astronomy Club. It’s just like that. Only these junior high kids, as members of this club, are performing — at a sophisticated level — Mozart and Bach.

What do you think? Honestly? Aren’t you a bit impressed?

I have to admit: I’m awestruck! Almost at a loss for words . . . but not quite.

Here are my final thoughts: The world is going through some very strange and difficult times. Technology, political turmoil, economic crises, environmental crises, leadership crises. We can’t keep up with it all. Unfortunately, young people get totally blindsided by all of this. They’re dropped into a world not of their making, facing catastrophes that were in the works before they were in the womb. Supposedly, societies do what they can to bring the young up to speed and equip them to take the reins when their time comes.

U.S. schools are a more relaxed
educational environment.

Here are my final thoughts: The world is going through some very strange and difficult times. Technology, political turmoil, economic crises, environmental crises, leadership crises. We can’t keep up with it all. Unfortunately, young people get totally blindsided by all of this. They’re dropped into a world not of their making, facing catastrophes that were in the works before they were in the womb.

Supposedly, societies do what they can to bring the young up to speed and equip them to take the reins when their time comes. In the U.S., as with every highly-developed Western nation, it is the public education system which provides the basic skills and knowledge needed to function in the world.

Now, I’m hardly in a position to judge the current state of public schools in the U.S., which by far the majority of young people there attend for 12+ years at minimum. True, I went to public school for 6 years but that was around 200 years ago, give or take a few decades. Moreover, as you probably know, I haven’t lived in the U.S. for sixteen years. Meaning, I can’t overcome either the generational gap or the geographical gap. So I’ll let you folks be my eyes and ears on this.

Here’s a straightforward question for you American readers: How are things going there?

Is anything resembling what you see in the above videos occurring there?

I know I have trouble imagining it. But that’s just me.

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

Life In Japan: Excellence | John Rachel

Life In Japan: Western Arts – Pt 1

      Japanese Lady Gaga fans are slightly insane!

This is not going to be a formal or particularly thorough discussion of Western art forms here in Japan.  In fact, it'll be largely anecdotal but nevertheless I believe an accurate portrayal of the odd juxtaposition of the unambiguously Western art forms and styles on a culture with its own unique rich heritage, which not in the least resembles or had been influenced by Euro-America until Japan finally was "opened" to the West 165 years ago.  Significant Westernization occurred in two peak periods:  From 1868-1900 during the Meiji restoration, and from 1945 until the present following the Allied victory over Japan ending World War II.  This resulted in modern Japan, where Kibuki Theater and geishas co-exist with American-style pro wrestling and Japanese hip-hop.

My wife, Masumi, perfectly embodies the contradiction, though unlike most contradictions there are no discernible incompatibilities or anomalies.  'Contradiction' is really the wrong term.  Because all that is contradicted are my expectations.  I'll get to Masumi in Part 2, as she deserves an entire article of her own.

 

Long before I ever knew I'd be coming to and then settling in Japan, I received some early inklings about Japan's love affair with the West, meaning not just its superficial courtship of dress and hair styling, but its thorough embrace of both formal and pop arts.  

I was taking jazz dance classes at Debbie Reynolds Studios -- yes, that Debbie Reynolds -- in Los Angeles, and one summer a plane load of young Japanese jazz dancers (late teens, early twenties) packed the classes.  To put it mildly, I was amazed, stunned, awed!  Not only were they physically perfect as dancers -- slender; strong, sinewy muscles; elegant posture; each individually radiating grace and vigor, coupled with a charming shyness -- they could really dance!

I also wistfully recall one of my favorite dance teachers mentioning that he loved taking on guest teaching positions in Japan, because the students were so fiercely dedicated and disciplined.  When he'd return from such an assignment, he'd jokingly count off our dance routines in Japanese:  ichi, ni, san, yon!  While we thought that was pretty darn cute, I never gave it all that much thought.  Japan just wasn't on my radar screen back then.

At the same time, it was no secret that Western performers, in particular pop and rock acts -- everyone from the Beatles, Cindi Lauper, Santana, Carpenters, Michael Jackson, ABBA, Rolling Stones, and Avril Lavigne, to Ozzy Osborne and Bob Dylan -- loved playing Japan.  All reported that Japanese audiences were enthusiastic and they felt truly appreciated.

 

Get this:  Even jazz artists like Chick Corea, Art Blakey, Oscar Peterson, Sonny Clark, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Bill Evans, and John Coltrane had and often still have impressive fan bases in Japan.

Much more popular and widespread than jazz is classical music.  During my first full year in Japan, I was invited to attend a piano recital.  I don't know what that sounds like to you but I assumed it would be a bunch of cute kids fumbling their way through simple songs, their adoring parents taking videos for the grandparents.  Right.  Try concert-level Chopin, Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven.  And these were just high school students!  Turns out that studying piano from a very young age is pervasive here -- piano lessons with a focus on eventually mastering the legends, for example, those just mentioned.  Japan has, of course, already produced a number of widely-acclaimed, world-class musicians and composers, and believe it or not, Tokyo alone hosts "no fewer than eight full-size, full-time, fully professional orchestras, collectively providing more than 1,200 concerts a year."

Getting back to dance . . .

I've been a longstanding fan.  I saw my first ballet in high school.  Not only did I take some jazz classes for ten years starting in 1985, I even dabbled in both modern and ballet over the years.  The great ballet dancers like Baryshnikov, Nureyev, Fonteyn, Markova, have always fascinated me.

That being the case, about a year ago I became acquainted with a fellow who is not well known in the West, but in my opinion may be one of the best ballet dancers ever!  His name is Kumakawa Tetsuya.  Born in Hokkaido, Japan, he studied in England and became a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet, before returning to Japan to form his own ballet company.  Feast your eyes on a man who seems able to rewrite the laws of gravity . . .

. . . and make challenging moves breathtakingly beautiful and inhumanly effortless . . .

There are two Japanese ballerinas, who despite being in my opinion, among the best in the world, are not exactly741 household names in the West.

Kuranaga Misa . . .

. . . and Nakamura Shoko . . .

Pretty amazing, eh?

If there is an unspoken, but nonetheless dutifully-regarded and rigorously-observed rule in play governing just about every act, action, activity, ambition, and endeavor here, it's this:  Whatever the Japanese do, they do well.  They are maddening perfectionists.  Many would say this is why Japan was able to rebuild so quickly and totally after World War II, eventually becoming the world's third largest economy.  Others would attribute Japan's high suicide rate to the extreme pressures of high performance and achievement.

Both would be right.


[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



Life In Japan: Western Arts – Pt 1