Thursday

Betsy Sio, the art teacher at Ichinoseki High, and Nancy Walkup


Excellent student

This post is out of order, but I can't figure out how to go back and insert it. Anyway, Thursday we spent at Iwate Prefecture Ichinoseki Daini High School. The students were preparing for exams so we didn't get to see as many classes as we hoped. A highlight was the hands-on calligraphy lesson and meeting some of the art students and their teacher. The plaster casts in the artroom had suffered some damage from the earthquake.

On our way to Ichinoseki, on the bus the day before, Meg tried to teach us to introduce ourselves in Japanese. My introduction is:
"Watashi wa Texas no Denton kara kamishita Nancy Walkup des" or "I am Nancy Walkup from Denton, Texas." We could then go on to say "Watashi wa shogakko de zuko wo oshiete imasu" or "I teach art at an elementary school."

Friday

Calligraphy lesson


Toothbrushes and cups


School lunch

Today we visited Hagisho Elementary School in Ichinoseki City. The eco-friendly and beautifully designed school was matched in grace by its principal. teachers, and students. One of our most enjoyable experiences was joining students for lunch in their classrooms as they served and cleaned up for themselves, a regular practice here. The lunch was also tasty and healthful.

Wednesday

Ichinoseki City Junior High School


Shoe cupboard


Art teachers Nancy Walkup, Kazusige Otomo, and Betsy Sio

Today was our first school visit, to Ichinoseki City Junior High. We spent the entire day there, beginning with a meeting with the principal and vice principal in the library, then observing classes on our own as we wished. I set in on two art classes, one with just special education students and the other with regular students. Mr. Otomo was the art teacher and he was very welcoming. The special education students were making monoprints from collages they had made earlier and the regular students worked on a collage design based on Japanese history and culture from the area. I also participated in a music class where the students taught us how to play the koto, a traditional Japanese stringed instrument.

After lunch, the students presented an unbelievable program they had planned for us. We were seated in front of the entire school in the gym. The program included speeches, the school band, the entire school singing, Kancho daiko drums, and cheerleaders (or yell leaders). Laura, the music teacher with us, was invited to lead the band (which consisted only of girls. The level of professionalism for every event was far beyond what our schools can do. The Japanese schools obviously have high expectations for every student and place a strong focus on student effort. Everyone seemed very glad for us to be there.

Near the end of the day we got to see the students as they cleaned the entire school. Apparently this practice helps keep the school clean. Wearing different shoes for inside and outside definitely helps as well.

We all felt very welcomed and honored. This is why we are here - to experience Japanese schools and to be reminded how similar we all are.

Tuesday

Apparently there was a fairly strong earthquake here last night but I somehow managed to sleep through it (it woke everyone else up). The breakfast room was full of relief workers this morning. Today we met with some parents at the Ichinoseki Cultural Center and had a beautiful traditional meal at the Sekinoichi Saki factory, then visited Sasaki Seika, a factory that makes "hand-grilled wheat crackers" and two Buddhist temples, Motsuji and Chusonji.

Monday

Rice paddy behind the hotel in Ichinoseki City


Iwate prefecture is the dark green area on the main island of Japan.

Today we spent the morning at Iwate University, talking with teachers and students at the college. They were mostly very shy but friendly. They certainly spoke English better than we spoke Japanese.

In the afternoon we traveled north to Ichinoseki City, the site of the recent earthquake, where we met with the mayor and the superintendent of schools. Our hotel is right off the highway, a businessmen's hotel that looks very new. The view outside my window is of a rice paddy. It comes right up to the parking lot of the hotel and an apartment building.

Sunday

Today was just a travel day. Our Ichinoseki group of 16 and our coordinator took the bullet train to Morioka in Iwate and spent the night at a hotel there. Since Iwate prefecture suffered a severe earthquake on Saturday, we were happy to discover our plans were unchanged. We walked around town and looked at the famous cherry tree there that split a stone as it grew (remember, cherry trees are very important here!). Morioka is the capital of Iwate and was very cosmopolitan. I was glad to discover the city buses are decorated with student artwork.

We had dinner at a soba noodle restaurant with most of the group. Afterwards I found a grocery store to buy some green tea. I took the photograph above in the grocery store. The packages looked like big bags of chips but they had pictures of lobsters on the front. Looking at the back, I could read that they actually contained shrimp chips from Thailand! In the back of the store they had a Mexican section complete with Old El Paso brands.

Free Saturday

Up at 4:00 to catch a 6:00 train to Kyoto. We took a taxi to the station to save time and make life easier, only to discover that the taxi dropped us off at the wrong station. After frantically looking for a solution and with the help of a number of nice Japanese people, we took a local train to Tokyo station and just barely made the bullet train. Riding the bullet train is a bit different that the regular train. When it comes into a station, it only stops for one or two minutes. You have to be lined up for the correct car and ready to get on as soon as the train stops. Fortunately, the signage is in both Japanese and English. Riding the subway and train here is great, partly because they are so clean. The Japanese do not usually eat or drink on the street or on the subway, so there is no litter anywhere I have seen. Cell phones cannot be used on the train or subway so the cars are very quiet.

Our luck improved, though, because we could see Mt. Fuji from the train (not always visible, apparently). We had a morning tour in Kyoto that took us to a Buddhist temple, Nijo-jo Castle, and the Golden Pavilion or Rokuon-Ji Temple. We spent some time at the Kyoto Craft Center, then visited on our own the Philosopher’s Walk and the Silver Pavilion at Ginkakuji Temple,and the famous Rock Garden at Daisen-In Temple. That was my favorite place of the day, even though it is under renovation and we couldn't take pictures inside. The garden was made about 490 years ago by Kogaku-Zenji to express the spirit of Zen through the media of only rocks and sand. You can look at some of the sites we visited at http://www.oclandscape.com/ocblog/gardens/2006/02/.

Afterwards we went back to the train station for a long wait for our return train; finally back at the hotel about midnight.