Stories from Sendai, Issue #10, June 17, 2002

Hi everyone!  This will be our last newsletter for the school year - we are taking a summer break.  Summer school begins tomorrow, and then we will be visiting the U.S. for about a month.  We will probably send out the next letter in late August.

Just before the last newsletter went out, on May 21st, TIS presented a Spring Concert.  It was the first time for the elementary kids to put on two shows in one year.  Barbara felt they could handle it - hey, she's used to doing 4-7 shows in a year!  The program was a Music K-8 magazine review called "From the Inside Out."  The whole message of the concert was that we have the power to make our own choices and to change the world by starting with ourselves.  Getting the details worked out for the show was so easy!  We rented a hall nearby, inside the Asahigaoka Bunka Center, right across the street from the Asahigaoka subway station.  We were able to rent the hall all afternoon and evening, so the children could rehearse in the same place where they would sing in the evening.  And despite having some pretty tricky words to sing (5-6 year olds singing lyrics like "discipline, justice, honesty, respect") the kids did a great job.  Some of the teachers (including the two of us) sang a little introduction to the final song, "It Starts With Me."  If you have a broadband connection, and time on your hands, pop over to the Lagana's website, parents of a kindergartener.  They took a video of the program, and converted it to streaming Quicktime format.

For our postponed 10th Wedding Anniversary, we traveled the highways of the Tohoku Region to Aizu-Wakamatsu, a small town southwest of Sendai in Fukushima Prefecture. The drive down to Aizu-Wakamatsu reminded both of us (at various intervals) of the German Autobahn in Bavaria, I-95 in Virginia, East Texas, and various sites in Wisconsin and Oregon. Gorgeous scenery was everywhere, needless to say. The highways were very easy to navigate, as many of the signs are in English/Romaji and Japanese. Each city we passed along the Tohoku Expressway (and we assume it is the same along other highways) has its own icon on a sign that welcomes the passing tourist. These icons make for  fun historical and geographical reflections.  In Aizu-Wakamatsu we stayed at a ryokan -- or traditional Japanese hotel. We were treated to a traditional dinner and breakfast, which consisted of some exotic local specialties. 

Aizu-Wakamatsu is especially famous for Tsuruga Castle (Tsuruga-jo), which was the seat of power for the Aizu clan during the Edo Period of Japanese history. The castle was at one time a 7-story structure. But after the 1611 earthquake damaged it, the castle was made into only a 5-story affair. It came under attack in 1868, because the family who occupied it was loyal to the old Tokugawa Shogunate. The same year as the castle was first besieged, a group of young samurai -- known as the "Byakkotai" or "White Tigers" -- saw the castle being attacked and feared it had fallen. In true samurai fashion, they committed hara-kiri (or the samurai's ritual suicide). None of them was older than 17. The castle was eventually demolished by Restorationist forces in 1874. Though the outside structure was still intact, the castle was remodeled in 1965 to make a museum dedicated to the area's history. We spent our site-seeing day visiting the castle, the byakkotai memorial, and a restored samurai village. Those who have watched the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" - this samurai complex is reminiscent of the sets for that movie.  And you'd also be looking over your shoulder for the elusive ninjas.  Oh yes...servants' quarters in the samurai village consisted of a one-tatami living space. In other words -- only enough room to sleep. Nothing more.

Another fun thing we got to do this month was drive up into the hills around Sendai, past a huge dam (Okura dam), and have a barbecue with some families from school.  We got there a little later, because Todd had to do some school business first.  It was held at a fishing place, next to a good-sized pond, which was filled with trout.  A customer pays to fish in the pond, and then what ever you catch can be grilled and eaten, right then!  Japanese ingenuity, I tell ya!  Everyone had already caught the fish by the time we got there, but we got to eat it, along with some great gyu-tan (grilled beef tongue - a specialty here in Sendai), pork and veggies.

As Todd may have alluded to in a past issue, his students undertook a tremendous year-long project, in which they designed and built their own model city. In October and November, the students were led through a series of lessons intended to get them to plan a city from scratch. They had to select one site (from five possible sites) and determine the basic residential, commercial and industrial zones. They also had to develop probable businesses and civic services, and determine where they would best benefit the city's residents. Creating the city's history was a series of creative writing assignments. In December, the city model was begun using the students' plan as a guidepost. The city model was completed in mid-May, and put on display in the Sendai Central Post Office for the community to see. For pictures of Maple City, please click on the link.  

At TIS we don't have a Field Day. But our school-wide outing to Nanakita Park in Izumi-chuo could well be called "Field Day-Plus." The two campuses meld into one large student body during the morning, and participate in a number of heart-pumping, physically active games. The teachers organize these games, and students from one campus are joined with students from the other campus to form mixed-age, mixed-talent teams. Though the competition element is there, all the teams play for enjoyment rather than a big prize. Well -- maybe the prize (if it can be called that) is the lunch that gets eaten after the morning of hard play! Tarps and blankets are spread, and our students and parents enjoy one last "together time" before summer break begins. Our Komatsushima campus awards ceremony was conducted that afternoon. The Izumi campus awards were done separately. 

Before we go, we want to tell you of a case of Only in Japan.  (We swear, we need to get another small digital camera to carry around at all times to capture these things!)  This last weekend, we were eating at a Milky Way family restaurant, part of the Big Boy chain.  Suddenly, we hear the sound of an electronic toy playing "Happy Birthday."  Curious, we turned our heads to see that a child across the room had a Big Boy figurine sitting on the table right next to him/her.  The stunning part was - a live fireworks sparkler was burning away next to the figurine - not two feet from the child's face!  On the table!  Inside the restaurant, next to flammable napkins and such!  Fireworks here are very popular - they are called hanabi (fire flowers). In fact, at one of Barbara's four-year-old's birthday parties, the guest gift was a whole pack of the things!  Sparklers and other small fireworks can be bought everywhere all summer long, even at convenience stores.

Have a great summer, everyone, and a festive 4th of July!

Todd and Barbara

PICTURES:

Four teachers singing "Oh, I know it starts with me..." with 50 students waiting behind.

Tsuruga-jo, the renovated castle in Aizu Wakamatsu. Do you see Barbara?

There she is! On the top floor!

The samurai village had many displays depicting life in feudal times.

This Tohoku High School student sang a beautiful Japanese folk song at TIS's graduation ceremony.

Everyone enjoying games at the end-of-year picnic at Nanakita Park!  The cute one in the white and yellow dress is one of Barbara's students.