Wednesday, October 18, 2006 3:45 p.m.

Konnichi wa!

It is 1:45 a.m. in Tulsa! I don't know how I'll ever adjust to the time change again. I may have to take a week off...just kidding!

We just had our last meeting and presentations and tonight we have a final reception. I leave for the airport at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. It will be a loooong day of travel.

It has been a wonderful trip, more than I ever imagined it could be. Remember, teachers, this trip is offered to educators in all 50 states so if you are interested in applying, let me know and I'll give you the information. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

I'll try and post some final photos after I get home, so check the blog again in a couple of days.

Sayonara!

Painting of a monkey at the National Museum.

Samurai armor at the National Museum

The public bath. You put a wooden stool over by a faucet. Spray yourself, soap up and rinse. Then soak in the tub.

Breakfast at the ryokan.

The whole Joyo group at the ryokan in Uji.

The ancient-style kiln in Uji.

The river in Uji.

I’m drinking green tea at the shrine. We were taught the correct way to turn the tea bowl and wipe it. You never drink the tea from the front of the bowl. You humble yourself and turn the bowl two times to the left before you take a sip. Then you wipe your lip mark off the bowl.

This Buddha was in the cemetery at the shrine.

This shrine was built for the man who brought sweet potatoes to this part of Japan. Our hero.

One of the teachers asked for a flag. The city officials had to search for a few days, but found some in a city warehouse, and our guide, Moko gave us each one.

This is a street in the oldest part of Kyoto. It is very narrow and lined with tearooms and restaurants.

This is the slipper sanitizer in my host father’s dentist office. You push a button and clean slippers pop out the bottom. You wear these while you’re in the office. When you leave, you put the slippers in the top and they drop down and are sanitized for the next person.

Tables are hung with very thick “skirts” in the winter. A heater is placed under the table and then your feet and legs are tucked under the skirt and kept warm in the winter. This is a very common practice and my host family told me they use a table skirt. This picture was taken in department store and lots of these skirts were on display.

The Hippo Family Club meeting. The meeting room was very big and covered with tatami mats. The “windows” were rice paper in wood frames

Bamboo grows everywhere here. The roots spread everywhere and I was told they survive earthquakes very well.

My bedroom at my host family. The futon was laid out on the floor, and the “sheets” were sort of like terry towels, and then a big comforter covered the whole thing. It was actually very comfortable and I slept really well.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 10:00 p.m.

I’m back in Tokyo, but I’ll try to catch up on the last couple of days.

Monday morning we met with a group of parents in Joyo and discussed some education issues. There is a big concern here over the decline in population. Every school we visited had many empty classrooms. The parents said a major concern is that the majority of the population is aging and the young people will not be able to care for the older people.

We discovered that the public schools here are not free. Parents pay from $70.00 to $110.00 a month for elementary and junior high school. Senior high school is not mandatory so parents pay much more, around $1000.00 a month. They also pay for the required uniforms and any extra activities. The parents guessed that about 20% of families get state assistance. And many students go to “cram” schools, juku, on weekends and evenings to learn more and get ready for the very difficult exams the students take. High exam scores are required for students to get into good high schools and universities, and these schools also cost a lot.

The parents seemed satisfied with the large class sizes and want their students to become productive members of society.
We discovered that parents and teachers on the other side of the world have many of the same concerns as we do here in America.

Monday afternoon we had a brief tour of Joyo and visited some temples. We were served green tea and sweet potato cakes at one shrine. It was beautiful.

Late in the afternoon we went to a ryokan, a traditional Japanese hotel. The floors were covered with tatami mats and we ate very traditional food. We were also served sake and beer with our dinner, and we slept on futons. Green tea is grown in this part of Japan so we have had green tea to drink, greet tea cookies, shampoo, soap, candy, you name it.

The ryokan was in Uji, an ancient town up in the mountains. Before dinner, a group of us went for a long walk up the mountain to a pottery school. We watched some people make pottery and then the owner took us up a hill behind the studio to see a very old fashioned kiln made of pressed mud and straw. It is heated with wood and it takes days to fire it up to make the pottery. It was huge and fascinating. This way of making pottery is probably 1000 years old, so it was wonderful to see the kiln. And, of course, I bought a few things.

The ryokan was right on the river so we slept with the windows open and listened to the river all night long. It was great, but in the morning most of us wished we could have Cheerios and milk instead of fish, rice, unrecognizable vegetables and … green tea.

We took the bullet train back to Tokyo and a few of us went to the National Museum of Japan. I saw beautiful kimono, paintings on rice paper and silk, and samurai armor and swords. Wow!! After seeing these things only in books, this was an amazing sight. And, of course, I did a little shopping.

And I admit we found an Italian restaurant and had pizza for dinner.

Tomorrow morning, each group makes a presentation of their prefecture visit. I am introducing our presentation. Then in the evening we have a final reception, and I leave for home early Thursday morning. I hope to post another message before I come home, but I may not have time.

What an amazing trip this has been!

Sayonara!

This is my host family, the Murakami's.
Standing in back are Motoki and Tomotaka. They are both university students studying to be dentists.
In front are Kazutaka, a dentist, Masako a house wife, and Noriko, a senior in high school.
Noriko lived in England last year with a family and went to school there. Her English was perfect (with a British accent).

Saturday October 14, 2006 8:30 p.m.

It is Saturday evening. I’m at my host family’s house in Joyo city. I’ll try and catch up with the last few days.
I spent yesterday at an elementary school. It was a very busy place. Almost every class had 35 – 40 students, even the 1st grade, and 1st grade was the only class with an aide. There was no small goup instruction, anywhere, two special education groups, with 5 or 6 kids. There was no pull-out for reading or any other special classes.

The entire education system is controlled by the central government in Japan (with an emphasis on the word “control”). Every class in every grade level was doing exactly the same thing at the same time, all day, so, for example, when you walked down the hall and passed 3 third grade rooms, every teacher was doing exactly the same thing.

We also saw no disciplining of students except in the most gentle way. Things like running in the hallway (there was a lot of that), general rough-housing, and talking while the teacher was giving a lesson, were almost completely tolerated and ignored. When we met with a few teachers and administrators after school, we asked about that. They said that it is expected that the parents are teaching the children what behaviors are acceptable in society, so the school does almost no disciplining. However, later when I talked to the 17year old daughter in my host family, she said teachers are always yelling at the kids to be quiet and settle down. So I’m not quite sure what really goes on. We definitely saw and heard many contradictions during our school visits. But even with the large class sizes, lack of individual attention and noisy atmosphere, when the teacher gave a specific direction, every student responded.

I was very impressed with the positive attitude of the teachers and the happy atmosphere of the school. There was lots of energy and the kids were enthusiastic and very friendly. They were very eager to answer questions, tell us what was going on and correct our mistakes. Of course, they spoke almost no English and we spoke no Japanese, but we still communicated very well. It was a great day.

(The teachers in my group have had many lively discussions about the huge differences we see in the school structure, behavior, lessons, etc. I would love to discuss these differences with teachers at home to hear more opinions. Other topics for discussion that have come out of this trip - intrinsic vs. extrinsic rewards, instilling self-motivation, boys’ behavior, the purpose of testing – to rank students or as a diagnostic tool for individual needs and strengths assessment.)

Classes I observed – Reading, home technology, music, calligraphy, science, computer, math. Art, PE. I ate lunch with the 1st grade. They made lots of origami and gave it to me as gifts.

It was a long day, but I found a bit more energy to go into Kyoto for a few hours.

This morning my host family picked me up at 10 a.m. We visited at their house for a while, then walked to the grocery, toured the back garden, had udon noodles for lunch. I took a quick nap because I was so exhausted, and then we went to the Hippo Family Club meeting. 20 people from toddlers to middle age adults gather in a community meeting room in Uji (right next to Joyo) to practice learning about other languages and cultures. My family has been a part of the group for over 10 years. We went around the circle and introduced ourselves in English, for my benefit, and then for 2 hours we listened to tapes of songs, which we danced to, and conversations in Japanese, Spanish, English, German and Russian. The organization is in Japan and Korea, and they sponsor study abroad and other cross-cultural activities. It was amazing. I’ll have to look them up in the Internet and see what I can find out.

We had Japanese curried chicken for dinner with salad and fresh fruit, a soccer game on TV, a Japanese-style shower, and early bed for me. My bedroom was an 8 tatami mat room with a futon in the middle of the floor and one low table. The”curtains” are sliding wood-frame doors with rice paper. Beautiful.
Oyasumi nasai.

It’s now Sunday morning. I slept over 11 hours! I hope to take lots of photos of the house this morning because so many things are so different.

After returning to our hotel, a group of us went into Kyoto for a few hours. Lots of walking and talking and eventually a Spanish restaurant where I gat a cheese pizza! It tasted really, really good after all the Japanese food.

It’s now after midnight and I need to get some sleep.

I don’t know when I’ll have a chance to post again because of our travels, but I will as soon as I can.

Oyasumi nasai.

The kids were very happy to pose for pictures and they always give the peace sign.

The map of the world has Japan at the center, just like our maps have the U.S. at the center.

The schedule is posted on the board daily. (I think.)

The boys all take judo as part of the PE program. The girls will also start taking judo classes soon.

The music class seemed very chaotic until the teacher asked the kids to sing. They all stood up and sang a beautiful song.

None of the schools have grass on the playgrounds or around the buildings. The houses do not have yards either.

Rubbing your lunch tray on your hair to get static electricity seems to be a favorite activity.

The kids take turns serving lunch in their classrooms. It was very organized. We had rice with deep fried vegetable and shrimp patties, chicken and vegetable soup and some other vegetables.
When everyone finished, they cleaned their bowls, stacked them in carriers, and put their milk bottles and paper in recycle bags. Nothing is wasted and very little is thrown away. No one here uses napkins, so we have to be very neat. I was given chopsticks, but the kids all had their own set that they wash and use every day.

The kids eat lunch in their classrooms. Right before they begin to eat, the teacher calls everyone to order and they fold their hands, say a few words and then begin to eat. I'm not sure what it meant but I'll try and find out.

These kids are in a mechanical arts class, what we used to call shop. They are making wooden boxes. It was very interesting and a little different from what I would see in a class here.

The kids did not ask any questions. They did not ask the teacher for help or for approval. But they did not wear safety goggles, or gloves or use any special safety measures. That part was a little scary.

At the end of the day the kids have clubs, sort of like elective classes, but they don't have to participate. There are lots of sports clubs and a few culture clubs. I went to hear the brass band. They were great. They played American songs for us. The conductor is a musician himself, but he teaches math at school.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006 10:00 p.m.

Today we visited a senior high school. We met with students and teachers, visited classes, ate lunch and had a tour. It was very interesting. The students were great, happy to try our their English with us.

The first thing we did was visit a calligraphy classroom. We made our own signature blocks. First, we chose a word, (I chose hana, which means flower.) and copied the kanji character for it onto a small block. Then we carved it out, covered it with red ink and printed it. Japanese artists create these blocks with their signatures on them and then use them to stamp their names on their artwork. It was difficult, but fun. The instructor and some of his students helped us.

I had two conversations with students who are studying English. First I spoke with two boys who were supposed to interview me for a newspaper article. They really didn’t know much English, so we had a hard time communicating. They used their translator, which looks like a little electronic dictionary. They type in a word in Japanese and it comes up in English. We had a difficult time.

Later I talked with two girls. We had a better time. They asked lots of questions and they were able to answer most of my questions. I showed them pictures of Tulsa and my trip and we talked about the photos. We wrote words in English because they had an easier time reading than speaking.

After we left the school, we stopped by a soccer park. Joyo has a professional team that has won its regional competition and is going to compete for the national title. One of the guys on our tour bought one of their professional jerseys. It’s purple with Japanese writing on the front and back. It’s really nice, but it cost over $100.00.

This evening I took a quick trip into Kyoto and walked around a bit. It was a beautiful night, but it’s been a very long day.

Sayonara

Here I am carving my signature block.

These are the two boys who interviewed me for a school newspaper in English. Can you see why we had a bit of a problem?

this is the lunch brought by one of the students - rice and vegetables.

This is the lunch we were served at school. It has vegetables, rice, tempura, fruit and lots of mystery foods.

Tsukie and Chizuru practiced their English with me.

This man was a teacher at the school and a karate champion. We called him "karate guy." He and another man demonstated a "fight" for us. It was pretty wild. Karate guy really hit the other man hard and knocked him down a few times. We oohed and aahed.

Our guide Moko is always smiling.

This is the mayor of Joyo. He's not sleeping, just looking down.

October 10, 2006 9:00 p.m.

Konnichi wa!
This morning we met the mayor of Joyo. It was all very official. We sat around a very big conference table in his office building, and he and a few other city officials came in. They were wearing dark business suits, of course, but he had a little red feather pinned to his lapel. I don’t know what that means, but I’ll try and find out. He made a speech, another man made a speech, and official gifts were exchanged. A special locally grown green tea was served to all of us and then he came up to each of us and bowed and offered us his business card. We each gave him one of our cards in exchange. This exchange of cards is a bid deal here, and it has to be done with the proper ceremony. And official photos were taken. I hope I get a copy.

Then he answered a few questions and left. A few other education officials came in and answered our questions about the school system in Joyo. It was all very official, and they all sounded a lot like politicians. I guess politicians sound the same in almost any country, in any language.

Then we went into Kyoto for lunch (Italian pasta and garlic bread!) and a visit to the Kyoto University of Education. We had a chance to hear from the president of the university and then we talked in small groups with the students. I spoke to a very nice young woman for over an hour. We asked each other lots of questions and talked about school, teaching, our families and our homes. It was great. I think we all learned a lot.

We came back to Joyo, and had dinner at a sushi train restaurant. Little plates of sushi, fruit, desserts and drinks sit on a moving conveyer belt and you just take off the plates you want as they pass by. (There is a sushi train restaurant in Tulsa, but this one is a little better.) Moko was with us so she could tell us all about the food as it passed by.

We ended the evening with a quick trip to a mall, yes, a mall, right down the street from the hotel.

Sayonara.

This is a typical house in Joyo. There are no yards, and the house are very close together. They are built right on the narrow streets with no sidewalks. The streets are one lane only, so the cars and buses are quite small.

The public library in Joyo looks a lot like our libraries.


Do you recognize any of these books?

Here I am digging sweet potatoes in Joyo.

This lady was partying in the sweet potato
field with a group of friends.

She offered us a cooked, salted potato.

Delicious!

These kids in their hapi coats and hachimaki are gtting ready to pull the shrine through the streets.
This ceremony is held in October every year to celebrate the harvest.

This is the dragon getting ready
to 'bite" someone's head, which
will give them long life.

This is the Shinto priest who
blessed all of us at the shrine.

The shinto priest leads the parade.
The drum is pulled at the front of the line.

The kids and adults pull the shrine through the streets.

This is the view from the top of the mountain in Fort Vancouver Park.

October 9, 2006 930 p.m.

We have had a very busy day. We started off the morning riding the bus into Joyo (pronounced joy-oh) to the Cultural Center. We passed lots of houses and fields. There are actually fields throughout the city! People here rarely use clothes dryers, so most people hang their laundry out on their balconies to dry. They also air out their futon during the day so we saw lots of them hanging off porch and balcony railings.

The first thing we saw in the Cultural Center was a museum that had artifacts from ancient burial grounds around Joyo. Important people were buried in giant mounds, bigger than a football field. Around the top of the mounds were really big clay pots, sort of like huge flowerpots. The people believed that evil spirits would enter the empty pots and then lleave the dead person alone. It was a way to protect them after death.

The Public Library was also in this building. It looked a lot like our libraries, but all the books were written in Japanese, of course. There was an ikebana contest (a flower-arranging contest) on the first floor of the Center. It reminded me of the competitions you see at the state fair. The arrangements were beautiful and original.

Then, probably the best part of the day, we went to a field and picked sweet potatoes. This area of Japan is famous for it’s sweet potatoes so we drove to a field, put on gloves and dug for potatoes. It was lots of fun. Lots of people of all ages were there picking the potatoes. This is an annual tradition and quite an event. People were sitting on blankets, roasting the potatoes and figs, another local crop, and eating them. One group was having such a good time, they offered us some of the potatoes they had cooked, so we had a chance to enjoy the real thing right there in the field. It was like a huge party in the field.

Then we went to a local Shinto shrine. We received a blessing from the Shinto priest and we were given sake and dried octopus as a purification rite. The kids loved the octopus. They grabbed it by the handful. It was amazing. Lots of people were there wearing hapi coats, a sort of short kimono. Kids and adults carried a Shinto shrine through the streets, played a drum and chanted. Everyone was laughing and having a great time. Two men were wearing costumes and dragon heads. The legend says that if the dragon bites you on the head, you will have a long life, so lots of people, especially kids, tipped their heads toward the dragon to get a bite. It was all a lot of fun.

Then we went to the Plum Garden restaurant in Fort Vancouver Park for lunch. Vancouver, Washington is Joyo’s sister city so the park is named after Vancouver.

The lunch was served in a traditional square lacquer box divided into sections. We had some very different food - smoked fish, pickled radish, miso soup, custard with mushrooms and chestnuts, seaweed, and tempura. And then more sweet potatoes, roasted, baked and sweetened like cookies.

Then we walked off our lunch with a hike up a mountain to see a view of Joyo and the area. Beautiful

Our last official stop of the day was another Shinto shrine. We walked around a bit and then back to the hotel.

My evening excitement was a trip to the coin Laundromat. Of course all the signs there were written in Japanese but my friend, Cheryl, and I figured it out with a little help from the ladies who worked there, and we are relieved to have some nice clean clothes to wear tomorrow.

And now I’m exhausted and I’m going to get some sleep.

Oyasumi nasai.
Good night.

On a clear day you can see Mt. Fuji from Tokyo. After the typhoon blew through, I could actually see it from my hotel window. This is a view of it from the train on the way to Kyoto.

The bullet train arriving in Tokyo Station.

Geisha and meiko on the street in the Gion district of Kyoto.

This woman is playing the koto, a very large stringed instrument that sits on the floor.

These musicians are playing traditional Japanese instruments. The music is very unique, and it does not sound anything like the music we listen to.

Two dancers performing a traditional dance.

The kyogen play.
The set is always a tree.

The bunraku puppet, the master puppeteer and another puppeteer. The Master puppeteer works the head and right hand, the other puppeteer works the left hand. The third puppeteer works the feet.

Monday, October 9, 2006 8:30 a.m.

Yesterday we left Tokyo on a bullet train and came to Kyoto. The ride was smooth and fast. Then we took a bus to our hotel in Joyo. Joyo has only been a city since 1973, so it is new. We’ll have a tour of it today.

After we settled into the hotel, we went back into Kyoto. Our official tour guide, Moko, went with us just to make sure we understood how to make all the connections on the bus and train. Almost all of the street signs here are in Japanese only, no English, so we needed some guidance on how to get around. Moko told us to carry a brochure from the hotel with us. That way if we get lost we can show it people and they can point us in the right direction. Everyone we have met has been very helpful and friendly.

Last night we went to the Gion district of Kyoto. That is where you can still see geisha and their maiko walking around. Geisha are women who are trained in traditional Japanese culture and art. They play classical Japanese music, dance, do the traditional tea ceremony, etc. The maiko are geisha-in-training. The geisha and maiko paint their faces white and wear traditional kimono. And, yes, we did see them walking around. It was like seeing walking works of art. Very cool.

Then we went to a theater called Gion Corner. We saw a show for tourists that has a little bit of lots of different traditional Japanese art. First a woman did a tea ceremony. It’s a way to make tea that is very elaborate. Each move she makes is planned and careful. Then two women played the koto. This is a very long stringed instrument that sits on the floor. Then another woman came out and put together some flowers in a special arrangement called ikebana. Each flower stem has to be trimmed to a special length and placed at a certain angle.
After that we heard court music played by a group of musicians. This music was played just for the emperor and his court for hundreds of years.
Then we saw a kyogen. This is a short funny play that is performed in between acts of longer more serious plays. Even though it was all in Japanese, we could tell what was going on, and we laughed a lot.
And the last performance was a bunraku puppet show. Each large, elaborate puppet is moved around by three puppeteers. Two of the puppeteers wear all black. They even have big black masks over their heads. The master puppeteer does not wear a mask. After a few minutes, you don’t even notice the puppeteers, you only see the puppet. The whole show was only an hour long, and the time flew by.
We had a long trip back to our hotel (a taxi, a train, and a bus) and then finally sleep. Another great day.

The shinto bride and groom

The Shinto wedding ceremony.

I'm checking out the fish market.

These eels are ready to be sold. Yum!

They examine the tuna very closely before making a bid.

He is dragging away a sold tuna after the fish auction.
The best tuna can go for over $5000.oo

Koji Ikeda is a survivor of Hiroshima.

The kids having a tug of war at Sports Day.

Jizos are kami, Shinto gods or
spirits who protect children.
These jizos are wearing bright
red hand-knit baby bibs.

We had lunch in a noodle shop
in Kamakura.
Here I am slurping away!

A priest at the Shinto shrine

Part of the Shinto wedding ceremony

Our Kamakura guide

The Great Buddha

Saturday evening, October 7, 2006 830 p.m.

Komban wa!

I need to catch up on all the events here.
We really did get hit here by lots of strong winds and torrential rain from the typhoon. Yesterday, Friday, it rained all day. Of course, when the day’s meetings were over, we all just went out into the rain with hats, coats and umbrellas. We were all pretty well soaked in just a few minutes. It was a wild weather day.

But let me begin with the beginning of the day. Friday morning I got up about 4:30 a.m. to go to the fish market. It is where the fish are brought in every morning and auctioned to restaurants, stores, canneries, etc. I saw the tuna auction. The fish are beheaded, gutted and flash frozen on the boats; they’re brought into the warehouse and laid out on the floor. The buyers walk around them, touch them, look at a slice of each fish to check the quality and sometimes even taste them, Then the bidding begins. It’s fast and sometimes wild.
Surrounding the warehouse are rows and rows of stalls filled with fresh fish, raw fish, cooked fish, and all kinds of seafood. And racing around the narrow aisles are motorized forklift type trucks moving all the seafood from place to place. The bigger trucks fill the streets surrounding the stalls. It’s a very busy place filled with commotion. But as always, everyone was friendly and happy to answer our questions. We stopped at one of the tiny restaurants there to have breakfast, fresh sushi, of course.

Our first meeting of the day was about peace education. We heard from a survivor of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima at the end of World War II. His story was vivid and moving. And his English was excellent. We also heard from the daughters of two other survivors. None of the speakers really talked about the need for peace or an end to atomic weapons. But at the same time their stories and messages were clearly about the need for peace.

Then I heard an art teacher talk about the need for the arts in schools. He talked about how the back-to-basics emphasis has left children without creative outlets. He believes that kids have lost the ability to communicate because of the amount of time they spend with computer games, TV and videos. He did not speak English so an interpreter translated everything. The best part was that he showed us how to make two paper toys. I’ll teach you when I get back to Tulsa.
(Activity – Keep a record of exactly how much time, (think hours and minutes ) you spend watching TV or playing electronic games each day. Write down all your time for one week.)

And my evening was spent out in the crazy rain, shopping at the 100-yen store and other places. By the end of the evening, the sidewalks were covered with broken umbrellas. The streets here are very narrow, many only have room for one car at a time, so walking in wild rain with umbrellas was a challenge.

Today, Saturday, was a day with no meetings so I went with a group to Kamakura. It’s a small, ancient city, about an hour south of Tokyo, filled with Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Some of the buildings are over 900 years old. I bought a special Japanese blank book (the pages open like a folded fan) at the first temple. An artist writes a blessing, a sort of good wish for your life, on a page with a bamboo brush and ink, then stamps the page with a personal signature stamp. Then at each temple you visit, another artist writes another blessing and stamps the next page. I’ll show you all the beautiful blessings when I get back. Right now I have no idea what they say, but I’ll find out before I leave Japan.
(Activity – Find Kamakura on a map. Look up Shinto and Buddhism.)

At one Shinto shrine we saw a traditional Shinto wedding ceremony. We couldn’t get too close, but I took lots of pictures. We also saw monks walking around in their robes, and lots of people worshipping and walking around. Each temple site is like a park with walkways, buildings, fountains, statues, trees and flowers. This area of Japan is very mountainous, so many of the sites had tall rock walls. People do talk and take photos, but no one runs around or makes loud noises.

At the first shrine there was a big sporting event for very young children, maybe 4 or 5 years old. They had a tug of war, sang songs and danced. It was great. We heard it was Sports Day in Japan, an official holiday, and so all the schools will be closed on Monday.

At one point we met an old Japanese man who befriended our group. He said he wanted to practice his English so he walked with us, gave us directions and told funny stories.

Our last stop in Kamakura was The Great Buddha. It was built in 1252.A.D. It weighs 121 tons. It’s over 13 meters high. (Activity - How high is that tin feet and inches?) It was pretty amazing. It seems like we walked miles up and down hills and all over this amazing city.

Tomorrow I travel to Joyo, Kyoto so I won’t write again until I’m settled into my new hotel.

Oyasumi nasai.

Konnichi wa!
Thanks for the great comments.
They go directly to my e-mail so no one can see them but me. But I do not get your e-mail addresses when you comment, so I can't write back to you.
If you would like a response to your comment, add your address.

I'll post more tonight.
This morning I met a survivor of Hiroshima and the daughters of two survivors. Very powerful.
Now I have to run to another meeting.

Arigato.
Sayonara

This series of photos shows a dancer putting on her make-up, wig, kimono, and then dancing.
She puts her hair up, then covers her face with a thin layer of wax so the make-up will not be absorbed into her skin.

She covers her neck, the top of her back and her face with white make-up.

She covers her whole face with white make-up.

She needs help putting on her kimono.

Putting on her wig.

Dancing with a fan.

Posing for the camera

This is a musician playing a shamisen.

This is an American, Don Kenny, who has lived in Japan for over 30 years. He is a Noh theater actor. He's holding up a Noh mask.

Thursday, October 5, 2006 1:30 p.m.

Konnichi wa!!!

(People here really do bow to each other all the time and lots of bows are deep and low, and it's usually 3 or 4 bows, not just one. And I've seen about 10 people wearing kimono, in the hotel and walking around outside. Really cool!)

This morning we went on a bus tour around Tokyo. We went past the Imperial Palace. It is only open to the public 2 days a year, on December 23, the Emperor’s birthday and New Year’s Day. On those 2 days the public is invited in to wish the Emperor good luck.
You can’t see the palace from the road. You can see only two of the seven gates, the moat and part of the stone wall.

We also went past a kabuki theater, and we went into the Japanese Diet building where the government meets. We had a short tour. That building was built in 1937 and it looked a lot like an American government building.

Next we went to the part of Tokyo called Asakusa. We saw the Asakusa Shrine. Before people go in to this Shinto Shrine they cleanse themselves by drinking water from a special fountain right outside.

Then we saw the Senso-ji Temple. This is a Buddhist Temple where you can buy a fortune. If it’s good you keep it. If it’s bad you quickly fold it and tie it to a wall so it will go away. My first one was bad, all about fire, so I tied it to the wall. I tried again and got one called a “regular fortune.” It said I would hunt with archery and get a big deer, I’d meet a wise man and follow his teachings, and my fame would grow as the years pass by. That all sounded pretty good, so I kept it.

We had lunch at a restaurant called Sansada. We took off our shoes before we entered the dining room. The floor was covered with thick, soft tatami mats. The tables were low and we sat on cushions. We had green tea, miso soup, salad, tempura vegetables and fish and a tangerine. It was all so delicious.

Right next to the restaurant was a paper store with all kinds of handmade paper things - wallets, kites, purses, books, etc. Of course, I did some shopping.

Our first afternoon meeting was all about politics. We heard from Kuniko Inoguchi. She was a cabinet member in Prime Minister Koizuki’s government. She worked for women’s rights. She was a great speaker.

Then we heard from Yuji Tsushima. He has been a member of the Japanese Diet for 30 years. He was also very good.


8:30 p.m.
I just came back from dinner, another great meal of salmon and tuna sushi. I went out with 2 other teachers from the group, one from California and one from Dallas. Our waiters spoke to us in Japanese and we spoke to them in English, but we all did fine. Again, we took off our shoes when we entered the restaurant.
A typhoon is heading this way so it has been really cloudy and raining all day. The restaurant had soft plastic umbrella holders right at the door so we could carry our umbrellas in those and not get water all over the beautiful wood floors. The tables were low and there were paper screens between most tables. It was very pretty.

Another busy, exhausting.

Words to look up:

Asakusa Buddha story
Shinto
moat
Japanese Diet
Buddhist
tatami
miso
tempura
Prime Minister
typhoon
Who is the new Prime Minister?
What time is it now in Tulsa?

Oyasumi nasai. Mata ashita.

These are views of Tokyo from my hotel and picures of the garden around the hotel.

Mel and Natziko and I having our first meal in Tokyo.




October 3, 2006 10:30 p.m. Tokyo

A long day. We had to arrive at the airport 3 hours before our flight because of the shuttle bus schedule. Then a half hour delay and a 10 and ½ hour flight. The plane was very cramped and crowded.

The ride to the hotel was good. Our guide told us a lot about the city and what we were seeing. We drove right by Tokyo Disney. I took a picture of the Ferris wheel. Cool. Then to the hotel, definitely a room with a view, on the 20th floor.

Student volunteers from 2 different Tokyo Universities escorted us to dinner. I was in a group of three. Natziko was our guide. She was very kind and a great help. We had dinner at Wata Minchi, a place she told us was popular with students. It was a few blocks from the hotel. We had lots of different dishes, sushi, skewered chicken, salad, rice, all excellent.

Answer – Cars drive on the left side of the road herel

The food on the menu is pictured outside all the restaurants.

October 3, 2006 10:30 p.m. Tokyo

A long day. We had to arrive at the airport 3 hours before our flight because of the shuttle bus schedule. Then a half hour delay and a 10 and ½ hour flight. The plane was very cramped and crowded.

The ride to the hotel was good. Our guide told us a lot about the city and what we were seeing. We drove right by Tokyo Disney. I took a picture of the Ferris wheel. Cool. Then to the hotel, definitely a room with a view, on the 20th floor.

Student volunteers from 2 different Tokyo Universities escorted us to dinner. I was in a group of three. Natziko was our guide. She was very kind and a great help. We had dinner at Wata Minchi, a place she told us was popular with students. It was a few blocks from the hotel. We had lots of different dishes, sushi, skewered chicken, salad, rice, all excellent.

Answer – Cars drive on the left side of the road herel

October 1, 2006 7:30 a.m.
I did not sleep much last night, thinking about the trip, and I got up very early, about 4:30, to get ready.
Right now I’m sitting on the plane flying from Tulsa to Denver. The sun has just come up and it’s a beautiful morning. We are flying just above some thin clouds so I can see the ground below, a patchwork of fields, some circles of irrigated land, roads, towns, houses and rivers.
I’ve been reading a travel book about Japan. It’s hard to imagine that I will be there in just a few days.

San Francisco 2:00
My flights were smooth and easy. I have met people from all across the country and heard about their cities and schools. The teachers are all different ages and teach all different subjects and grades. We have had lunch, and we received our schedules for the entire trip. Right now I’m going to our first official meeting to hear more details. It’s all very exciting.

11:00
It’s late. I’ve had a great day and it’s time to go to bed. I’ll write again from Japan!

Questions

A. Agriculture
1. What do they grow on their farms?
2. How big are their farms?
3. How do they grow rice?
B. Animals
1. Do lots of people have pets?
2. What is their favorite pet?
3. What kinds of animals live there?
4. Do they have zoos?
5. Do they have komodo dragons?
6. Do they have turtles?
C. Art/Music
1. What kinds of art do they make?
2. Who invented origami?
3. Do they make a lot of origami?
4. What is the most popular origami?
5. What musical instruments do they play?
6. What kinds of music do the kids listen to?
7. Do they make a lot of pottery?
D. Celebrations/Holidays
1. Do they celebrate Christmas?
2. Do they celebrate Halloween?
3. Do they have different holidays than we have?
4. Do the kids have birthday parties?
E. Cities
1. Are all the cities really big?
2. What is the biggest building in Tokyo and how tall is it?
3. Do their cities look like our cities in America?
4. What does Kyoto look like?
F. Economy
1. How do so many people find a job?
2. Are their jobs similar to American jobs?
3. What do they make (manufacture) there?
G. Food
1. Do they have lots of restaurants?
2. What is their favorite restaurant?
3. Do they have McDonalds or other fast food restaurants?
4. Do the kids get toys with their meals at restaurants?
5. Why do they have small portions of food at their meals?
6. Do they eat American food?
7. Why do they eat with chopsticks?
8. Do they like to eat rice?
9. What are their typical meals like?
10. What are their favorite foods?
11. What kinds of fish are used in sushi?
12. Why don’t you put soy sauce directly on rice?
13. Do they eat pizza?
14. What do they drink?
15. How often do they drink sake?
16. Do they prefer cooked or raw fish?
17. What do the noodles taste like?
18. Does the rice taste different than American rice?
19. Do they eat much candy?
20. What does the candy taste like?
H. Home life
1. What do the houses look like?
2. Are their beds like ours?
3. Do they have carpets or tatami mats?
4. Are their bathrooms like ours?
5. Do people really take baths together?
6. What kinds of decorations do they have on their walls?
7. What do they use to clean their houses?
I. Language
1. Do a lot of people speak English?
2. What is the Japanese alphabet like?
3. Why do they use syllables instead of sounds in their language?
4. How old are they when they learn to write?
5. Is it hard to learn to write?
6. Do they really use brushes and ink to write?
J. Nature/Geography
1. How tall are the mountains?
2. Are the volcanoes big?
3. Are there trees on the top of Mt. Fuji where the snow is?
4. Does it snow a lot in Japan?
5. What kinds of plants and trees grow there?
6. What kinds of underwater creatures live there?
7. What are the native animals?
8. Does the countryside look the same as it does here?
9. How many islands are there?
K. Politics
1. What does the emperor do?
2. Do they have a president?
3. Does every town have a mayor?
4. Do people vote?
L. Recreation/Sports
1. What kinds of things do they do for fun?
2. What kinds of movies do they like to watch?
3. Do they have drive-in movies?
4. What kinds of toys do they play with?
5. Do they go to the theater a lot?
6. Do they really have sumo wrestlers?
7. What sports do they have?
8. Do they have NASCAR?
9. Do they have American football?
10. Do they play soccer?
11. Do they have big parks?
12. What is Japanese TV like?
13. Do they have cable TV?
14. Do people use boats for fun?
15. What do their boats look like?
16. Do people fish for fun?
17. How do they fish?
18. Do they play chess?
M. Religion
1. Do they go to churches like ours?
2. Who is their God?
3. How many people are Christian?
4. What is the name of their religion?
5. Do they meditate in their religion?
N. School
1. Do their schools look like ours?
2. Do they have computers in school?
3. Do they have a lot of technology in school?
4. Do they study and write haiku?
5. How many days a week do they go to school?
6. Do they learn about American culture in school?
7. Do they learn English is school?
8. Do they study the same subjects in school that we do?
9. Do they have to wear special clothes for school?
10. Do they learn songs in school?
11. Do they have intercoms in school?
12. Do the kids have special classes, like gifted & talented?
13. Are their books different than our books?
14. Are there dance classes in school?
15. Do they have running tracks at their schools?
O. Style/Clothes
1. What kinds of clothes so they wear?
2. Do people dress like we do?
3. Do people still wear/own kimono?
4. Do they wear watches like ours?
5. How do they wear their hair?
6. How do they make the wooden shoes?
7. Do women wear make-up?
8. What is their jewelry like?
9. Where do they get the cloth for their clothes?
10. Do they wear hachimaki (headbands)?
P. Transportation
1. What do the cars look like?
2. How fast does the bullet train go?
3. How many bullet trains are there?
4. Do they drive on the left or the right?
Q. Miscellaneous
1. Do they still make bunraku puppets?
2. Do the kids do martial arts, like kung fu?
3. What do the museums look like?
4. What national symbols do they have?
5. How many Japanese people travel to the U.S every year?
6. How many people live there?

Background information:
I received a Fulbright Memorial Fund Grant to travel to Japan in October, 2006. This fund is set up to introduce American educators to Japanese life and culture. I will be traveling with 200 other educators from across the United States. We will begin the visit in Tokyo where we will meet with government officials and educators. I will then travel to Joyo, which is near Kyoto, with a group of 20. We will visit schools, cultural sites and industries and meet with teachers and students.

My students in Tulsa have helped me plan and organize for the trip. As part of their involvement, they have composed well over 100 questions for me to answer while I am in Japan. I have also received questions from students in other Tulsa schools. The questions are listed below. While I am gone, I will post answers, comments and photos on this site so that the students can "join" me on the trip.

When I return, my students and I will organize the questions and answers along with photographs, artifacts and anecdotes and put together a program to teach others about Japanese culture.