A Tale of Two Breakfasts

Moshi, Moshi students,

This will be short. It is a contest. The first student to correctly match the desciption of a food item in the Japanese breakfast to the list on this entry will win a little gift from Japan when I return.

Look at the pictures closely. I know you can tell which is the the American breakfast even though there are some atypical items included. The other, of course, is Japanese. Here are the items (yes, I know 2 are covered---you will have to guess from the list as to what they could be):
1. miso soup
2. grilled fish
3. honeydew melon
4. pickled plum
5. green tea
6. taro pudding
7. mixed vegetable with mushrooms
8. salad
9. potato salad

Use the location to give me the answers. For example, the covered dish on the right has eggplant in it.

Now guess which one I ate.

gud-do rak! (good luck)

Haramachi Elementary

Hai, Hai,

Thank you for your comments! It is so nice to know y'all are reading my blog! I'm having a great time, but I am tired! And, I do miss you. I especially missed you today when we went to Haramachi Elementary School.

There are 347 students in this school in grades 1 through 6. They are called "Hibarikko" after the Japanese lark, called Hibariin Japanese, which is a very "lively" bird; the are hoping to become a lively child like the Hibari. School is from 8am to 4pm., 203 days a year. They are responsible for cleaning the school and serving their lunch, and cleaning the plates after lunch. They do not have a cafeteria, but eat in their classroom. They have 30 minutes of recess after lunch and two 10 minute breaks to run outside in the morning and in the afternoon. Here are some photos I think you will enjoy. We were asked not to put any up that would show their faces on the Internet, but I will show them to you when I get back to school.

They do not have a librarian, they know the term, but they don't have a clue as to what a school librarian, or library media specialist, which is the new correct title, should do. In fact, one of the Board of Education members asked me in yesterday's meeting how a library functions in a United States school. I think you will be surprised when you see the pictures of their library, and be glad that yours is different than it is. Books are checked out by students who are on the library committee; they do not have a computer for checkout, but write the book title and the student's name on a sheet of paper. The bigger of the two library rooms is about the size of two of our classrooms put together. The room with the short bookcases is the size of one of our regular classrooms. The only encyclopedia set they had on the shelves was copyrighted in 1980.

October 20, 2008: Meeting and Greeting

Konbanwa students!

It is 9:30 p.m. here and it is Oct.22nd. I've been having technical difficulties in accessing the Internet, but the technical support guy and our group translator were finally able to solve the problem. So I will try to do catch-up on the next few blogs.
Let's go back to Monday Oct20Th...
We left our hotel in Fukushima City headed for Fukushima University. It is the only University in Fukushima Prefecture! It would be as if I said that there was only the University of Louisville in Kentucky. I know that probably made some of the University of Kentucky fans angry, but think of what it would be like to have only one university in our state from which to choose for college.

We learned how they trained students wanting to become teachers. By the time you, as a student, would get to the university level you would have already decided that being a teacher was really, really, really what you wanted to do, because there is no changing of your college plan once you begin. So all Japanese teachers begin their teaching career in their early twenties with no opportunity to really make sure that is what they want to do. The Japanese believe that teachers are like "Holy Men"; that is the termed that they used, because they believe that being a teacher is a calling, just like being called to be a preacher. That is the reason that teachers receive a lot of respect in Japanese society.

After leaving the University, we traveled to Minamisoma, and a welcoming introduction by the mayor, school superintendent and Board of Education members

Fukushima City is 180 miles north of Tokyo, and Minamisoma is a little bit closer than that, because it is directly above Tokyo, and about a 2 hr. walk to the Pacific Ocean. It has a temperate climate, and all of Fukushima is known as Japan's fruit paradise for the quality of fruit that is produced here. They are known for the especially for passion fruit, tomatoes, apples, and persimmons.

After our meeting with the major we went on a tour of the city. It is also known all over Japan for its Fire festival held in July. More about that later.
Pictures: Departing Fukushima University with the President and English teacher(who teaches the English language) saying good-bye, an official and the Welcoming sign, with the mayor,and the superintendent of schools behind and next to Mareiko, our translator/interpreter. Our group picture was taken with the officials and we will be in both daily newspapers tomorrow.

Where am I?

Ohayo gozaimasu,

Yesterday afternoon we took the Shinakansen to Fukushima Prefecture. The Shinakansen is translated into English as "bullet train. The train took off exactly on time and arrived exactly on time 1.5 hrs. later. Most Japanese people eat a meal on the train. They can buy one before they depart, bring it from home, or buy on the train. We were provided with a box lunch; the only thing Japanese was the little thimble like container filled with fruit-flavored gelatin. The other things were Japanese versions of what they think Americans eat. And, unlike the Japanese meals I've already had, it didn't taste too good. I think my first clue to this was that I noticed we were given a fork instead of chopsticks; we were given a little wet towel, but it was not warm, of course. Fukushima is north of Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture, but not nearly as large; it is almost the same size as Kentucky---2,000,000,000 people. We arrived in Fukushima city, and were taken to the Prefectural Art Museum. They have some Japanese artists represented, but also Andrew Wyeth, as an American artist (we could not see his works because they were on a traveling exhibition), and some famous French artists like Monet and Chagall! I was pretty impressed since these artist's works cost millions of dollars to buy.

When we left the museum many people oohed and aahed over the scenery, saying how beautiful it is, and that they had never seen anything like it. I just said, "Oh it is beautiful; but it looks just like Home.

Here are some bullet trains (the seats swivel to face the other direction when the train is making the return trip), my box lunch( called bento boxes in Japan), Fukushima Prefectural Art Museum with the hills that remind me of my old Kentucky home.

Nishikigoi

Hai, Hai, readers,

Hai is the Japanese word "yes" and it is used often to let the other person know that you know they are there...a kind of recognition of them being with you and you being attentive to them.

I must say another word called Koi in the Hotel's garden pond. It seems as those they were eaten by Japanese rice farmers along time ago. We are in Japan, after all, and fish is abundant. But, more about that is future entries...we are not finished with the topic of "fish".

Koi is the word for carp, and they were kept for 2,500 years ago first by the Chinese. They were first kept in ponds for the viewing pleasure of Chinese nobility. You know carp as gold fish. They began exhibiting patches of color while being kept in China, but it wasn't until they came to Japan that they were bred for beauty. The Japanese are given credit for creating Nishikigoi which in translation means: Living Jewels.

A homophone of the word Koi means love, affection; koi are therefore symbols of love and friendship in Japan, and they are no longer eaten because of this status.

They have fascinated me every time I have visited the garden. Isn't the yellow one unique? I've never seen one that color before.

Kimono

Moshi, Moshi readers,

I have been interested in materials called textiles, and embroidery, for a long time now, so I was really hoping that I would see exquisite material and embroidery on the Japanese-style of clothing called kimono. I learned from several people on the plane that wearing kimono is not very common any more among the youth of Japan.

Kimono is actually the Japanese word for clothing, but now it has become a word that is used to describe traditional Japanese clothing. Kimonos came into begin during the Heian period (794-1192). It was during this period that Japanese clothing evolved from 2 separate pieces into one. Tailors devised a straight-line method of cutting material which took less time to fit and sew since they did not have to concern themselves with the shape of the wearer's body. Kimonos became popular because they were easy to fold, and were comfortable. In winter, they could be layered to keep the wearer warmer(remember, central heating is a new development in heating dwellings), and in summer they were made of material like linen, which was "breathable" and kept the wearer cool.

People began wearing seasonal colors, or colors which showed their political class, and the Japanese began paying attention to how different colors looked together. They developed a sensitivity to color which has been translated today into a heightened awareness of fashion sense and style.

During the Meiji period (1868-19120), The Emperor wanted everyone to dress in the Western style at his court, so this became the fashion. The Japanese now dress in modern Western style clothing most of the time, except for special days like weddings, funerals, or celebrations. However, I was fortunate enough to meet some women wearing kimonos. One you've already seen in the pictures from the subway.
One of the pictures is of kimonos in a shop window; they are very expensive. The white kimono has flying cranes as its embroidered motif; the blue is of chrysanthemums, an autumn flower. The other pieces of fancy material are for the sashes called obi, which shape the kimono to the body. Notice the purses. One is decorated in autumn leaves, carrying out the seasonal theme. The other pictures were taken of historical kimonos found at the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno. The last picture is of modern women wearing kimono.

Riding the rails

Konbanwa!

It is 7:30 p.m. Tokyo time, and I just got back from the Imperial Palace, Ueno, and Asakusa. I did, of necessity, spend part of the day riding the rails. There is so much to tell about not only today, but also other topics that I have wanted to cover, but haven't seemed a priority although they are unique to Japanese culture. So, instead of having a sequence here, I'm just going to write about what pops into my mind first.

There is nothing, I believe, that gets a traveler more in touch with a city than traveling to various parts of it throughout a day, or many days, by the subway. One just emerges from under the street and sees a new and different part of it. So, for all of my readers who need more visuals, here are more subway photos. These were taken early in the day for Tokyo (around 9:00 a.m.); this is definitely a late night city.