Serving, Elementary School Style

I have no doubt that as Xavier continues attending Japanese elementary school we will come across many things that are different from what we are used to in the North American school system.  One of those differences occurred during the second week of classes.

I volunteered to help oversee the kids in Xavier's class as they learned  how to be lunch otouban, or lunch leaders.  This is not the line leaders most people think of when they think of first grade in North America.  The children are served lunch in their rooms, and it is the job of the otouban to serve the food to the rest of the class.  When I arrived, each of the otouban put on their white jackets, cap, and face mask.  Meanwhile, a long, low table was brought to the front of the room.  On it were set plates, bowls, and large containers of the lunch food.  The day I went it was rice, simmered vegetables and chicken, and mabodofu (spicy tofu and vegetable stew).  There also was some grapefruit for desert and a crate full of milk cartons.

Each of the otouban stationed themselves behind the table with the helping parents behind them to help where needed.  As the rest of the kids lined up with trays, the otouban would take a plate or a bowl, dish up a serving of food and then place it on the tray.  The last otouban was tasked with passing out milk.  The kids did a very good job of estimating what a good sized serving was, although at the end they almost ran out of rice and vegetables (this would not have been good since the teacher was the last to be served).

One thing I had worried about was that there would not be enough food for the otouban, but what I hadn't realized was that one student from the group where the otouban sat went up a second time to get the food for the otouban.  All in all, the kids did a great job of serving up the food for their classmates.

Serving lunch for your classmates is a daily job for the kids in Japanese school.  The students take turns being the otouban for one week (and at the end of the week they bring the hat and jacket home to be washed and brought in the next week for some other child).  I think it probably couldn't hurt for kids in North American schools to learn how to serve lunch to their classmates like this too. For Americans it seems unusual, but here in Japan it is a normal part of school life.

Nyugaku - Starting School

     This week, Xavier began Japanese elementary school. I think Christy and I were more nervous about him doing this than he was. Several months ago he wavered somewhat about whether he wanted to go to Japanese school or Christian Academy in Japan where his brothers go, but for the last month or two he has been quite excited about going to the local Japanese school. We decided to send him to Japanese school because CAJ is about a 1 hour commute each way, which would make for a very long day. The local elementary school is very close to our apartment. A typical day for the brothers at CAJ involves leaving home at 7:15 am and getting back around 4:45 pm. A typical day at Japanese elementary school has him leaving home around 8:15 am and returning around 2:45. Much easier on him.
      As the day approached, he watched his pile of equipment for school grow. His randoseru - the hard leather backpack all students use through elementary school; his pencil case full of writing equipment; his sportswear; his bosaizukin - the silver, padded head covering that hangs from the back of every student's desk in case of an earthquake, and so much more.
      April 8 was the entrance ceremony. This is a big event for families in Japan, so Christy, Xavier and I all dressed up neatly and headed over to the school. The first blessing for us came as we walked into the school. We were handed a sheet with the list of children in his class and were surprised to see that there was another child who was not Japanese. We soon met his parents. His father is an American from California and his mother is Japanese. The boy, J, speaks both English and Japanese, and Xavier and J hit it off almost immediately. Meeting J's parents was a blessing for us as well because one of our greatest worries is the amount of paperwork and announcements that will be coming from the school. Usually we need to bring our papers to one of the preschools to have them translate them. Now we have someone who is in Xavier's class who is willing to tell us of any important announcements that come from the school.
      The kids were all taken to their room to meet their teacher and prepare for the ceremony and we made our way into the auditorium for the ceremony. Soon the classes entered to auditorium each boy hand in hand with a girl. They entered with great pomp and ceremony. Once they were all settled into their seats the speeches began. Not just one speech, but many speeches by various important people from the school and from the district. Interspersed were various introductions of teachers and other dignitaries as well. Near the end the second grade students came in to greet the new students and perform some songs they had learned in music class last year. The whole ceremony was a few minutes shy of an hour long.

 
     Once the ceremony was over, it naturally was time for pictures. Each class came and were arranged with their parents for the obligatory group picture. Xavier ended up sitting front and center, right next to the principal. After the first picture was taken, we were somewhat alarmed to see one of the teachers on the side lines run up to Xavier and repeatedly say in English "Open your eyes! Open your eyes!" Xavier never did give us a satisfactory answers as to why he had his eyes closed during the photo session.
      Next it was time to return to Xavier's classroom. Each of the students were already sitting in their desks. The teacher called out attendance. Then she proceeded to explain some of the procedures for the class. She also had a large stack of papers for the parents to deal with at home. Each student also had a box full of supplies and a stack of books as well. At the end of the class, which lasted about 30 minutes, we piled all of the supplies into the large bag we had brought with us and hauled it home. Every item, right down to each individual pencil and eraser needed to be labeled with the student's name, grade and class. It took a while to finish, but we did manage to get everything labeled.
      The next day, Xavier didn't want me to come with him to the school He wanted to walk there by himself. I walked with him as far as the sidewalk to the school, but that was as far as he would let me take him. From there on he was on his own. He walked by himself all the way to school on his own (all 200 yards). And each day, after school, a teacher from the school walks groups of kids from the same apartment complex back to their homes.
      It has been a couple of days now that Xavier has been going to school. At the moment he is only going for a couple of hours at a time, but slowly they are making the days longer and longer. By the Beginning of the third week he will be up to the full length day from 8:30 to 2:30. But for now the short days are giving him a chance to get into the swing of things at a Japanese school while still giving him ample time to play with his friends from our apartment complex that he is making while he is at school.
      We plan on having Xavier go here for at least first grade before switching to CAJ, but already he is asking if he can go to the the school for second and third grade as well.

Near Perfect Sunday

　　Whenever we go to church on Sunday we take the train.  First we walk down our hill which takes about 15 minutes, and then we take a train for about 10 minutes.  The church is just a minute or two from the station.  Even when we get a ride home with someone from church it always seems like such a long distance to go.  It never occurred to us to try biking to church.  Willem recently did the biking merit badge with the boy scouts, so we decided we would give biking to church a try. When we checked the map on the internet we discovered it was only about 7 or 8 miles.

　　We first tried the ride about a month ago and were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was.  We live near the Tama river, which has a paved path for joggers and bikers along it.  Probably 3/4 of the ride to church follows this path.

　　Yesterday was a beautiful spring morning, so we decided to make the ride again. One thing we like about riding is that it is much less stressful.  Often we are rushing in the morning to catch our train to get to church on time.  We know we have to leave earlier when we bike, so we are all prepared to get up and get going in the morning.  The boys also are a little more cooperative in the morning when they know they get to ride their bikes.
　　The first time we went, Xavier made it about 2/3 of the way before we needed to lock his bike up at a park and put him in the seat behind Terence.  This time, however, he made the whole trip on his own.  We were very proud of him.
　　At church we had Sunday school followed by our regular service.  During the prayer time one of the prayer requests was for Mr. H.  He is a man who has recently joined our church.  He has been sick and the last we had seen him was at the end of last year. We knew he would be gone for a few weeks, but everyone was getting worried.  One of the people in our church had been trying for several weeks to get a hold of him and finally managed to call him this week.  He reported that indeed, Mr. H. had been sick.  Getting in touch with him was an answer to prayer, but an even greater one happened a few minutes later when Mr. H. walked through the door and joined us for the service.  We all were very happy to see him again.
　　After church we stayed with some others from the church to stuff Easter eggs with candy and make other preparations for Easter. For lunch we ran to a Pizza Hut near the church to pick up a pizza.  We don't have a Pizza Hut near our apartment, and when we told Willem we were having Pizza Hut he was ecstatic.  I think that really made his day.
　　When we finished at the church we made our way back home at a leisurely pace, stopping here and there to get a drink or check out a new store along the way.  We ended up coming home later than we planned, but the time spent together as a family was well worth it.

New Year's Traditions

Another New Years eve has come and gone. We can't watch the ball drop on TV out here in Japan (It happens the next morning for us anyway), but we have begun taking part in some of the Japanese traditions for the New Year. One tradition that we have made part of our family is watching the first sunrise of the new year.  The last two years the boys have really looked forward to our morning outings to see the sunrise. 

Christy had a hard time with deciding to do this tradition this year. It was the one year anniversary of her fathers death. In fact, it was while we were out for the sunrise last year that she found out her father had passed away.  The night before we decided to do it but choose another location.  Her dad, like a typical grandparent was always one for letting the boys do what they wanted to do, especially it it involved adventure. She could hear him say, "Aww Chris, don't be all emotional, just go." So this year it was even more of an adventure because we didn't have a specific destination. The next morning we all bundled up, got on our bikes and headed east, down a road we had never ridden before. We quickly found an overpass from which to watch the sunrise this year.  Then we rode our bikes to a restaurant that featured a breakfast buffet to warm up. We decided to  the long way home exploring as we went. 

The boys have even planned out what they want to do next year. As we rode home we passed a temple nestled in the woods on the side of the hill we live on. Some workers there invited us to come next New Years Eve so we could see the fireworks they shoot off. These are the fireworks Christy and Terence have seen from their bedroom window the last two years. So the boys have planned to go to bed at 5:00pm on New Years Eve, wake up at 11:00, go to the temple watch the fireworks and the bell ringing (temples ring their big bell 108 times at midnight on New Years Eve), go home for a nap or ride our bikes around until the sunrise, then go to the local public bath before we head home. Not sure if all of that is going to happen but it is fun to hear them plan.

Another New Years tradition is the eating of osechiryori.  New years is a 3 day celebration, when people spend time relaxing with family.  Since they do not want to cook, they prepare (or nowadays also buy) special lacquered boxes of prepared foods that last several days without refrigeration. This year on New Years Eve we had some Japanese and American friends over for an interesting fusion meal. We made turkey, dressing, and mashed potatoes and our Japanese friends brought osechiryori and special rice with beans.

On New Years day we enjoyed spending some time with some old friends.  The kids had fun playing together and making cookies.  

In Japan, our life is anything but traditional, however, we like the chance to choose our own, new traditions.

Worship in the Woods

It's not easy having a small church. But one advantage is that it isn't hard for the whole congregation to go on a trip together.

We had the chance to do this just 

this past weekend. We took a trip up to a mountain resort area called Kiyosato, about 3 hours north of Tokyo. The daughter of one of the families in the church works at a place called KEEP, the Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project. 

This is a facility that provides nature experiences for people of all ages. We stayed in a beautiful lodge and had the chance to go out for hikes in the woods, and made crafts from things we picked up. At night, the stars were more brilliant than I had ever seen before.

On Sunday we hiked into the woods to a fire pit. We lit a fire and as we sat around it to have our church service. On a nearby stump we set up our advent candles, and on another we built a small nativity scene with snow, leaves and branches.

The children performed a song on hand bells and we enjoyed a time of worship. After the service we ate lunch – cream stew, rice, cheese and sausages cooked over the fire. We also roasted marshmallows, mushrooms and dried squid.

The children had a great time playing in the snow. Everyone made snow angels and the older children pulled the younger ones on a sled.

It was a wonderful experience to worship surrounded by the beauty of God's creation.

Mochi Pounding

Petan, Petan, Petan. That is the sound of mochi pounding (as any Japanese from preschool age on could tell you). Mochi is pounded sweet rice, and is as much a part of the end of the year and new year in Japan as turkey is part of Thanksgiving in the US.

Most of the preschools we work at have mochi pounding events at this time of year. The school I was at yesterday brought out their big wood mortar and mallets so all the kids could have a swing at it.

After the principal and I had done the initial mashing and pounding of the steamed rice, each of the kids got to swing the mallet for a few times, which can be pretty hard as the mallets are heavy and the rice is very sticky. But all the kids had a great time watching and cheering on the teachers and classmates as they pounded.

Later, for lunch, the kids got to taste the results of their labor with mochi in a special winter soup called ozoni and mochi wrapped around sweet bean paste.

Throwing Beans and eating in silence.

Today, February 3, is Setsubun in Japan. It is also known as bean throwing day since traditionally families throw roasted soybeans at one family member dressed as an oni (demon) and shout "Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi," which means "Demons out, good luck in." This is a way to drive the bad luck out of your house and bring in the good luck. In addition to throwing the roasted

soybeans, each member of the family is supposed to eat one soy bean for each year of their age.

This is a popular festival and most temples will have special guests come to throw beans and small gifts to the crowds who come. This is also a popular celebration for children, and many children will make oni masks and origami boxes to hold their beans.

Recently, however, we learned about a new aspect to this festival. This is something that traditionally is done in western Japan, but recently has been making its way throughout the country (mostly thanks to heavy marketing by grocery and convenience stores). A special rolled sushi, called a Eho-maki is served on Setsubun. Each person is supposed to face toward a particular compass point, depending on the Chinese zodiac, make a wish, and eat the entire, uncut sushi roll in silence.

We got some sushi rolls from Xavier's preschool and decided to try it. Can you see how fun it looks? Our verdict- It definitely seems to be a tradition that would be promoted by a store that specializes in meals for the single person. I think the more exciting tradition is the bean throwing, which the children seem to enjoy.