Life In Japan: A Peek Inside a Japanese Elementary School (1st-Grade)

https://www.youtube.com/embed/DRW0auOiqm4

When I watch the above video, Instruments of a Beating Heart, I’m tempted to think it’s all been staged for the cameras. But I have the luxury of a wife who teaches music to elementary students in just such a school and she tells me . . .

Yes, this is exactly what it’s like!

There are several things that truly stand out, at least for me.

The kids take the auditions so seriously, but their enthusiasm for getting the parts in the orchestra is shared. They’re very supportive of one another. Their focus is making their individual efforts contribute to the success of all of them in the shared enterprise. This “spirit of community” very much defines Japanese culture. It is why Japan is such a polite society, why there’s so much respect for the property of others, why the crime rate is so low, why kindness is the norm, why everything here seems to work so well.

The students show an awful lot of respect for their teachers. Of course, there are always exceptions. My wife tells me about the one or two or three kids in a class who are disruptive, even abusive to her and other students. Overall, however, Japanese students are attentive and polite.

THEY CLEAN THE SCHOOL! This includes the halls and the classrooms. Correct me if I’m wrong but I can’t imagine this being standard procedure in the U.S. and can imagine parents being outraged at the school using their kids as janitors. I think it’s phenomenal! It gives the kids a sense of ownership of and responsibility for the school, prompting them to keep the facility clean in the first place.

THEY HELP SERVE LUNCH! Again, I think this is great! It promotes a sense of service to others, gives them some practical experience doing something essential. Amazing! Do the elementary schools in America even serve freshly cooked, nutritionally balanced meals?

Lastly, I want to highlight the conversation among three of the students, discussing “What are we?” Meaning, how should they see themselves as individual contributors to the upcoming performance. This occurs at 21:18 of the video.

With a perceptiveness and intellects way beyond their years — they are only six-years-old — they decide together they all form a “beating heart”.

“We’re each a piece of a heart. If everyone is together, this is our shape.” And one girl makes a heart with her fingers. “If one of us is unbalanced, then the shape is broken. It’s no longer a heart.” Out of the mouths of babes, eh? But yes, that sums up the sense of community here in Japan, which I’ve written about before. It’s ingrained in every Japanese from birth, for better or worse.

I’m not preaching. Nor am I judging. Schools in each country — as do their societies as a whole — have their own ways of doing things and approved, accepted practices. What I am saying is that it’s important to look to other cultures to get fresh ideas and perspectives. That’s one sure way to improve on things. There are always opportunities to learn, re-think, break old habits, to innovate. It’s just a matter of looking around.

And what do you think?

By the way, there’s excellent video commentary on Instruments of a Beating Heart, presented by Professor Andrew Hartley. He looks at the fundamental cultural differences between Japan and the U.S., focusing on the contrasting ways we regard and raise our children. I highly recommend it.

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

Life In Japan: A Peek Inside a Japanese Elementary School (1st-Grade) | John Rachel

Life In Japan: Where Aging Is Valued

Yesterday was a national holiday here in Japan.

I didn’t give it much thought. Of course, I was extremely glad that Masumi, my wife, had time off from teaching school, and we could spend the entire day together. Moreover, a major typhoon was heading our way, so we were preoccupied with preparing the house and garden for a combative assault by Mother Nature.

Then the doorbell rang. I answered it and there stood a gentleman from my local village. He handed me the gift package pictured above. Then it hit me . . .

It’s Respect for the Aged Day!

As I’ve explained before, national holidays here in Japan are by Western standards rather unique. Overall they are not nationalistic. They are more cultural. But they’re not like Mother’s Day or Father’s in the West, which are more like National Cat Day or National Talk in An Elevator Day, which aren’t official holidays at all. These national holidays, which celebrate everything from coming of age (turning 20) to mountains and children, are official holidays! The banks, post offices and most businesses are closed.

Now get this! Because yesterday was Respect for the Aged Day, every person in my small city of about 50,000 people who was 75 or over, received a gift package from the city. Let that sink in!

The package consisted of Japanese tea, and various treats. There were a couple cakes that were scrumptious! But I admit that I find some snacks here a little odd. In this package, there were seaweed crackers, pancakes filled with red bean sauce, green tea flavored udon (noodles). What you see on the right is kelp candy. No, that’s not a typo. It’s chewy candy made from kelp, harvested from the sea. It’s like munching on licorice that has no flavor.

As they say, it’s the thought that counts. And the thought here is one of extraordinary generosity and kindness.

By the way, there was a special letter included in the box. It conveyed a charming message of appreciation. Paraphrasing, it said: “You’ve lived many years, faced difficult challenges in your life, struggled against adversity. The people of Tambasasayama want to thank you for your hard work and your dedication and service to others. May you continue in good health and live a long and happy life.”

As ‘racism’ is discrimination based on race, in the West, ‘ageism’ is discrimination based on age. Someone is elderly, thus they are not accorded the same rights and courtesies as someone younger. They are dismissed personally as less able, and socially as less worthy. But here in Japan, ‘ageism’ — if there is such a thing — has the opposite effect. Ageism here accords an elderly person greater respect, preferential treatment, additional courtesies and admiration based on their advanced age.

What a completely different, and for me at 76, awe-inspiring attitude! Getting older may be inevitable. But in Japan, it doesn’t equate to being “disappeared” or forced to live in the margins of someone else’s life. The kids here don’t shuttle mom and dad off to some convalescent home when they get old, then visit them once a month, if they’re not too busy. The kids here make a room for them in their own home and they all live together again as a family.

Let that sink in!

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

Life In Japan: Where Aging Is Valued | John Rachel

Life In Japan: Covid Care Package

40 kg (88 lbs) of aid from Tambasasayama to get through a 10 day lockdown!

Someone in our village tested positive for Covid-19 recently. The person didn’t get that sick and recovered fairly quickly. No one else in the family got ill.

However, the protocol here is that the family has to self-quarantine for ten days to keep from spreading infection. Japanese are very organized and prudent. At the same time, such a sudden lockdown can catch a family short on supplies.

Pictured at the top is what almost immediately arrived on their doorstep. It was a huge box, containing all sorts of food items, health and energy drinks, toilet and tissue paper, menstrual pads, disinfectant hand soap and alcohol, trash bags, tooth paste. I’m sure I’m leaving something out but you get the idea.

This comes as no surprise to me. The community spirit here, the thoughtfulness, sense of concern for others is what I’ve seen over and over. I’ve talked about this before.

It helps restore my faith in others. A better world is possible, if we take the time.

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

Life In Japan: Covid Care Package | John Rachel

Life In Japan: Rice Cakes

Rice cakes are edible hockey pucks which very popular here in Japan. Not surprisingly they are made out of rice.

Actually, the hockey puck allusion is misleading. Only the biggest rice cakes are that bulky. More commonly, a rice cake will comfortably fit in the palm of a hand.

A typical plain rice cake.

As to the similarity in taste, I wouldn’t know. While I’ve been hit in the face with a hockey puck, I’ve never tried to eat one.

One similarity is how hard a rice cake is . . . at least until it’s cooked. When a rice cake is subjected to heat, it basically melts, or swells up and melts.

Gooey and chewy!

Here is the same rice cake, after I baked it in an electric oven for about ten minutes. However a rice cake is cooked, it ends up GOOEY. Really gooey! Making it extremely fun to eat! My lovely wife, who just happens to be a genius in the kitchen, makes sweet red bean soup. The highlight is dropping in two rice cakes, which melt, thus every bite is covered in the delicious sweet sticky soup. It’s indescribably delicious!

It’s also impossible to describe the flavor of a rice cake by itself. Because basically there is none. If the outside is scorched by being in a fire or subjected to a blowtorch, the crust tastes like carbon or charcoal or incinerated newspaper. The true joy of eating a rice cake comes from what it’s immersed in, and just as importantly, it’s unique texture. Refer back to ‘gooey’.

Mind you, this whole article is about the simple, plain, white rice cake. I believe in starting with the basics. But the fact is there are more varieties of rice cakes than there are donuts at Krispy Kreme. Every color in the spectrum, too many flavors and variations to mention.

Before I forget, as it says in the top left panel above, the Japanese call a rice cake ‘mochi’ or ‘o-mochi’ — おもち. (‘O’ is often added as a prefix to show respect or reverence.)

Now at the risk of repeating myself, I’ll repeat myself by referencing an annual celebration in which the rice cake plays a feature role. Tondo Matsuri! Yes, it’s a wonderful occasion, saying farewell to the old year, welcoming the new. As I said a year ago, it’s a very laid-back affair. Here it’s just neighbors stamping their feet to stay warm, enjoying the warmth of a fire, lots of friendly smiles, and of course, gooey and chewy 餅 to launch us into 2022.

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

Life In Japan: Rice Cakes | John Rachel

Life In Japan: Working Together

My lovely wife just told me that our village has “work days” coming up, the 13th and 27th of June. When the weather is accommodating, one member from each household reports at 8:00 am for a work day — it’s always a Sunday — and we do whatever needs to be done to keep our village clean, attractive, and functional.

I can’t begin to tell you how cool I think this is! Despite living in a variety of different cities and towns in four of the fifty states in America, I’ve never encountered anything quite like community work days. The attitude there tends to be “let someone else take care of it” or “the government should do it, since we’re paying out all this money in taxes.” Well, Japanese pay taxes too, but there are still things that need to get done. The local citizens take pride in helping out.

Mind you, the only other country I’ve been in that’s as clean as Japan, is Switzerland. Trust me, it’s very unusual to ever see litter anywhere here, but on the off-chance that a candy wrapper or soda can should get left on the ground, that’s one possible work day assignment, collecting the rare cigarette butt or plastic bag lying around. Since there’s practically nothing to pick up, we usually apply ourselves to other more fruitful tasks.

We each get to take home one of these flower planters,
the rest will be distributed throughout the village,
along the more frequently traversed lanes.

On the 9th, we’ll be cutting and clearing weeds and bamboo from Noma Village’s shared property — that not owned by individuals — then planting flowers around the community center (photo at top of this article) where we meet for various activities. For example, see Annual Neighborhood Barbecue and Annual Neighborhood Curry and Bingo Party). Finally, more flower planting in portable boxes which will decorate the area.

On the 27th, we’ll be cleaning up the grounds for our local shrine. This will mostly consist of hacking away at weeds, clearing overgrown brush, cutting vines from the trees. Here I am last year with my neighbor Yamamoto-san doing exactly this.

The other big set of duties for work day get-togethers is maintenance of water irrigation ditches and pathways, vital for keeping our crops growing. 95% of what we grow is rice and soybeans, the other 5% is vegetables of different sorts.

I guess there might be naysayers and cynics out there who because they haven’t grown up in Japan, don’t understand this type of community spirit. But from what I’ve personally seen, the locals love it! Not only are we doing something useful and beneficial for ourselves and our neighbors, but it’s a chance to spend three or four hours together. The social aspect is just as important as its functional contribution.

Hey! If you happen to come visit me and it’s a work day, I’ll bring you along. You can see for yourself what it’s all about, make yourself useful, and as a bonus, get a free bottle of tea and a pastry when we take a short break at the halfway mark. It’s a win-win!

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

Life In Japan: Working Together | John Rachel

Life In Japan: Tondo Matsuri | John Rachel

Tondo Matsuri festivals are held all over Japan, the second weekend of the new year, at all levels. There are major festivals with thousands of people, as well as more modest local celebrations. The central feature of the Tondo Matsuri is a bonfire, much appreciated since it tends to be cold in January, thanks mostly to the sub-zero winds that blow our way from Siberia.

This year Tondo Matsuri was held on the same day as Coming of Age, a national holiday celebrating every person turning 20, a welcome to full adulthood. Thus most people had the day off from work, making attendance convenient. Of course, the coronavirus “crisis” is cautioning people across the globe against large gatherings, sneezing on one another, licking door handles and one another’s eating utensils, and the most notorious disease spreader of them all, French kissing.

My village of Noma here in Tambasasayama wasn’t daunted by the threat of viruses. We got together, and granted, our bonfire didn’t leap 20-30 meters into the sky, as is common practice the major festival sites, but we still managed some truly heartfelt camaraderie and warmed ourselves against the winter chill in splendid fashion. Our bonfire was next to Benten Shrine where many similar get-togethers take place.

Once the Tondo bonfire is going, there are two key rituals.

One is burning the decorations, talismans, rakes, arrows, amulets, wreaths, blessings, and other votive goods, from the previous year, to be replaced over the new year with new ones. Many of these are items bought from local shrines and temples to bring good fortune and health. They are tossed onto the fire. After they are incinerated, each family collects some of the ashes, which are then taken back home. These ashes are called shimenawa — しめ縄 — and are considered sources of good luck and positive developments for the coming year.

Very light paper banners, with sayings and wishes written in beautiful calligraphy, are thrown onto the fire as well. They instantly burst into flames, then are caught in the updraft of the bonfire, soaring heavenward as they turn to ash. This takes the messages they contain up up up, and makes them part of the invisible energy of the universe. While this probably is more just silly superstition than a serious spiritual exercise, it reminds me of the prayer wheels of Tibetan Buddhism, which in a parallel fashion send into the divine ether the thousands of prayers the wheels contain on scrolls hand-written by the monks, usually pleas for peace and harmony in the world.

Once the Tondo bonfire is going, there are two key rituals.

One is burning the decorations, talismans, rakes, arrows, amulets, wreaths, blessings, and other votive goods, from the previous year, to be replaced over the new year with new ones. Many of these are items bought from local shrines and temples to bring good fortune and health. They are tossed onto the fire. After they are incinerated, each family collects some of the ashes, which are then taken back home. These ashes are called shimenawa — しめ縄 — and are considered sources of good luck and positive developments for the coming year.

Very light paper banners, with sayings and wishes written in beautiful calligraphy, are thrown onto the fire as well. They instantly burst into flames, then are caught in the updraft of the bonfire, soaring heavenward as they turn to ash. This takes the messages they contain up up up, and makes them part of the invisible energy of the universe. While this probably is more just silly superstition than a serious spiritual exercise, it reminds me of the prayer wheels of Tibetan Buddhism, which in a parallel fashion send into the divine ether the thousands of prayers the wheels contain on scrolls hand-written by the monks, usually pleas for peace and harmony in the world.

The second ritual is cooking mochi — 餅 — by placing it near the fire. Mochi are rice cakes and there’s absolutely no equivalent to them in the West. When grilled, they are thick and gooey with a crispy exterior, and incredibly delicious, especially with sweet red bean soup or soy sauce.

Yes, the food is very unique here, for sure.

So . . . that was our Tondo Matsuri. There were no fireworks, parades, or 21-gun salutes. The Blue Angels aerial acrobatic team didn’t fly over. No sign of a marching band or baton twirling cheerleaders.

But we still had an outstanding time!

Did I mention? . . . I love Japan!

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

Life In Japan: Tondo Matsuri | John Rachel

Life In Japan: The Telephone Booth

Probably anyone under 25 living in the U.S. will not know what that is in the photo above. Or maybe they saw one in an old movie. You know . . . old . . . like 1987.

It’s a telephone booth. Inside is a pay telephone. A person can put a coin or two in it and make a phone call. If they put a lot of coins in it, they can make a long distance call, maybe say ‘hi’ to their grandmother in Heidelberg or Guadalajara.

The one pictured is in a fairly rural area about five minutes by bicycle from my house. Mind you, I live on the very edge of town, surrounded by bean and rice fields. This road is even further out but has houses on both sides of it, a small cluster of residences, forming one of the several villages which are the “neighborhoods” of Tambasasayama City*. Each village usually has regular meetings, puts on social functions — barbecues, holiday celebrations, bingo parties, etc — gets together to clean up and maintain the grounds and properties of the village. Most have a community center for hosting monthly meetings and various social gatherings. Some, like the one where I live, called Noma Village, have their own Shinto shrine, a valued but mostly symbolic feature — nobody goes there on a regular basis to worship, as they might a church or synagogue in America — visited on certain special holidays, e.g. New Years.

Back to the phone booth. Why is it there?

Well . . . someone just might need to make a call. And maybe their iPhone battery is down. Or they dropped their Samsung in a toilet and it’s not so waterproof after all. It’s there on the off chance someone needs it. Does this seem odd?

Actually, it reflects a typically Japanese level of forethought and consideration. Respect for redundancy. A willingness to leave some things in place — just in case.

Here’s another example: Everywhere you find a school or public building, they have what’s pictured here on the walkways.

What are they? They’re for blind people. Now I’ve been coming and going for 13 years. I’ve been up and down these streets. And I can honestly say that in all that time, I’VE NEVER SEEN A BLIND PERSON in this town. So why do they have these? Well . . . ya never know. A blind person could show up one day. And the city doesn’t want to leave them stumbling around, wandering into the street, getting hit by cars or tractors or rice harvesters.

If the city council decided that there was some reasonable possibility that space aliens could visit our town, I have no doubt they’d designate parking places for their space ships and provide electrical outlets for them to recharge. That’s just the way they think here.

Tambasasayama is far from being a rich town. In fact, some would say it’s a dying town. There are hardly any young adults. Most kids bolt once they graduate from high school, first stop university, next a nice job in the city. Very few return. Not much going on here and unless you want to be a farmer, there aren’t really many jobs.

Yet, it seems they are constantly working on improving things. Paving the roads, installing new or fixing the old curbs. Here’s a bridge they painted a few years ago. I remember this well because I was so astonished at how much care they lavished on this particular bridge, a pedestrian/bicycle bridge which I use almost every day. When the tiniest, nearly invisible signs of rust appeared, they sanded it and put FIVE COATS OF PAINT ON IT! Five! Seven years later and it still looks perfect. It could probably take a direct hit by a MOAB and survive.

We have one street which is rich with tradition, sometimes referred to as ‘merchant street’. It has many traditional shops, vegetable stands, restaurants, art galleries, ceramics stores. It’s charming in every respect but one. The electrical lines. They are now in the process of putting all of the power lines underground. Because most of the buildings have traditional architecture, when they’re done with this, this already charming street will look very much the way it did, say 200 years ago. There’s only one conclusion to be drawn seeing this sort of commitment of time, energy, and public funds to the town’s infrastructure: For the Japanese, aesthetics are an essential part of honoring history and community life.

Politicians in the U.S. are always bloviating about the need to repair the “infrastructure” there, which they all openly admit is crumbling, if not already in shambles. Then there will be another tax cut for the rich or another war or pandemic . . . or [ fill in the blank since any excuse will do ] . . . and nothing ever gets done.

Well, building and maintaining infrastructure to keep Tambasasayama safe and operable is not just a campaign slogan or bumper sticker here. It’s an integral part of daily life. We all do a little. But the government itself does the real heavy lifting.

To put it mildly, I’m awed.

One last note. Proof that the telephone booth at the beginning is not just a fluke, here is a photo I took less than 100 meters (300 feet) away, even closer to my house. Frankly, I had never noticed it before. Yes, it’s yet another phone booth, this one sitting adjacent to a truly funky old bus stop shelter. While you’re waiting for the bus, you can call your grandmother in Heidelberg or Guadalajara. How convenient!

* Note that in May 2020 the town officially changed its name from Sasayama — the name that appears in most of the articles in this series — to Tambasasayama.

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




Life In Japan: The Telephone Booth

Life In Japan: JA

JA stands for Japan Agriculture.

JA is a huge, sprawling organization, with hundreds of stores, facilities, and offices across the entire country. But . . .

It’s not a corporation.

It’s not a government facility, branch, or department.

It’s a cooperative — or more accurately, this from an article on Wikipedia, a “national group of 694 regional co-ops in Japan that supply members with input for production, undertake packaging, transportation, and marketing of agricultural products, and provide financial services.”

They of course have commercial outlets which make available local farm products. Here is our main store in town.

But because JA provides so many services within the hundreds of communities it serves, it also has numerous offices, some large and imposing complexes. The ‘JA’ logo adorns quite a few buildings right here in Tambasasayama.

Did I mention that JA is a cooperative? Of course I did!

Why is this important?

Because it’s set up as a cooperative, it’s not subject to government bureaucracy, political influences, or the whims and wishes of whoever is politically in power at any given time. Even more importantly, it doesn’t have to answer to a corporate board of directors, it isn’t beholden to shareholders, and doesn’t measure its success in terms of “profitability”.

JA is there exclusively to serve its members and the needs of the community.

What a concept!

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





Life In Japan: JA