Domo Arrigato (and not Mr. Roboto)

Well, after staying up and traveling for about 27 hours, I have landed safely back in the Nation's Capital with just a few hardships along the way. The flight back seemed a lot easier than the last flight, maybe because I knew I could survive 12 hours on a plane from Tokyo to Chicago. The woman next to me did keep putting her feet on top of mine, which was totally weird, but I finally got her to stop. The bags were left in Chicago and finally returned this morning fully intact, thank goodness! And now it looks like the entire country of Japan and its souvenir stores exploded in my living room.

Hopefully by the end of today I will have the photos posted up on this blog in addition to a recap of my trip.

Thank you so much for reading my blog! I hope you enjoyed it. I really enjoyed creating it! :)

Keio Schools and University

In Tokyo, I got a chance to visit Keio Girls and Boys school and Keio University. Keio is the school that we have an exchange with from NCS and St Albans. My host was Akiko, one of the 3 girls that was on the exchange to NCS back in March. Keio, like NCS, is a private school in Tokyo and is expensive for Japanese standards, about $17000/year. In Japan in the main cities, like Tokyo, private schools are becoming more competitive and popular as the quality of public schools are becoming not as good as they had been and as they are in the more rural areas. Entrance exams are specific to the private schools you apply to and also specific to the Universities you apply to. Like STA and NCS, the Keio Girls and Keio Boys schools are seperated, and are actually on totally different campuses. There are 2 boys schools, 1 girls and 1 coed in the Keio name. And then the University, which also has 4 campuses.

Keio Founder Yukichi Fukuzawa (1835-1901)

Born during the sakoku period of Japan's isolation from the West, he was passionately devoted to educating his juniors, and wrote several treatises on the value of human rights, equality, and freedom, ushering in a new age in Japanese thought. Fukuzawa's portrait has been used on Japan's largest denomination bill since 1984. This new ten-thousand yen note was denoted to the University by the Bank of Japan in November 2004. He remains to be one of the most popular historical figures in Japan. Interesting that someone who is the founder of modern education in Japan is considered a hero!

Keio Girls and Boys Schools

The Keio Girls and Boys schools, as I said before, are on seperate campuses. The Keio system starts at 1st grade, but most students enter in at the Junior High or High school times, as public Elementary schools remain well maintained. Something I have observed about all the schools I have visited is that the facilities themselves are in need of "sprucing up". They all seem to have been built in the 50s after the war and having been restored since. The Girls school is the only one that is in downtown Tokyo. It was built on the grounds of a former Shogun residance. There isn't much to the school, It is one building and the tennis and basketball courts are on the roof. It does have a lovely garden however. The Boys school, of course, has a ton of space and many different athletic buildings, including Japanese fencing which I got to witness! They use bamboo swords! Very neat.

Something that is interesting about the schools is that they are tied to Keio University. So you are guaranteed entrance into Keio when you attend the Boys/Girls/Coed school. However, you must apply to what program you want to be in, and if there isn't enough room in that program you can't attend that year. So for instance, if you wanted to apply to Med School, you would have to get a space. There are also program specific exams at each university. So there is no SAT and no Common App! People don't tend to apply to so many Univesities as they do in the States because that means many different tests!

Also, students in the High School and University take about 8-10 classes instead of 4-6 like at NCS and Universities. So, if you take Biology, you only have 1 or 2 times a week for a couple of hours each time. But you also take many levels of Biology, so you probably take it in 10th and 11th. And come exam time, you will take about 8 exams! I have to say, this is the one main thing that I don't like about the school system. This I guess is in line with what I like, where concepts are taught deeply. However, there is something to be said about having a class multiple times a week instead of once.

Keio University, one of the best in Japan, seemed like any other US University, except for the fact of taking 8-10 classes. There were lecture halls, places to eat, and places to hang out. The main difference was that students in Japanese Universities tend not to live at the University but at their house. Keio to my knowledge, and to my host's knowledge, didn't have dorms. Part of that is the importance of family and living with one's family. It is not uncommon for people to live with their parents until marriage, and even after that many grandparents and parents live together and help raise the children.

All in all, I learned a lot about the school system, and I am sure I have forgotten to write something, but your questions will help me remember! Hope this was enjoyable!

Cultural Differences and Benefits of living in Japan

Hi All-

This is my second to last day in Tokyo. Here is a posting about the main cultural differences and benefits of living in Japan as I have seen. Tomorrow I will post about Keio school and University! Very cool! (Read on for why there is a toilet above!)

Cultural Differences (as I see it!):

1. People here take great pride in their work, regardless of what they do. For instance, the people at the Post Office are extremely kind and helpful. I don't think I have had someone help me at the PO in the states since, well, ever. That might be why I still have a pile of packages I want to send to people in my house.

2. The country on the whole seems very educated. I have not had one instance of someone giving me the incorrect change. They do the math extremly fast and accurately! Hooray! I think this also relates to the education system here and more specifically what I observed about the math program. The math from 1-12 does not cover as much material in each grade level. However, it does cover small amounts deeply. The math books rarely spiral back because the skills are already available to the students. I think this is a really interesting way to teach math. I would love to do that in my classroom, but unfortuntaely I think I would not be helping my students as culturally in the US we learn a 600 page book of math each grade level year. But I wonder what would happen if we started to change that. I know that the LS Math team has really focused on what skills we teach in grades 4-6 and how deep we go with each skill. It is an interesting idea.

Also, with education, when you enter Upper School you tend to have a good idea of what you want to do with your life. If you have been successful in school before and have done well in your exams, you will move on to one of the stronger schools. If you have struggled on both of these, you will mvoe onto a technical school where you can gain skills that will apply directly to jobs that you will have when you graduate. Education at any level here is very important and regarded highly. I don't know the drop out rate, but I imagine it is extremely low.

3. The trains. They are AMAZING! They are comfortable, fast and ALWAYS on time. If the schedule says 11:34 am, it actually gets there and leaves by 11:34 am. I think the last time I had an on time Amtrak was, well, never...I think it would be amazing if we had more high speed trains in the US. Also, the interesting thing here is that the trains are not just one company. I think there are 4 companies that run the trains. So there is competition, but to tell you the truth, you really don't know that they are different companies because they all leave from the same tracks and use the same trains. I wonder if Amtrak had competition if they would improve service. Unfortunately, I don't think any companies in the states would want to get into the train industry.

4. Even the metro and buses are on time. I have now been to 6 cities and been on 5 different bus/metro systems and have had to wait for a train or bus once...and it was only 1 minute late. Also, even though I don't read Kana, I can still figure out the buses in all the cities I have been in...I still get on the wrong bus in DC because I can't figure out the schedule...

5. Japan is extremely blind friendly. Everywhere you walk there are these yellow raised bumps on the floor to direct blind people down the street or down the halls of the metro. At crosswalks, there are bumps there to let you know that you have hit a crosswalk. The other day on Japanese television I saw a new device being demonstrated that attaches to the person's cane and reads the bumps for you and tells you what they mean, like if it means there are stairs approaching or you are at an intersection. So cool! I have seen a lot of blind people walking around and I don't know if that is because it is so blind friendly or if it is just because there are indeed a lot of blind in Japan.

6. The cell phones. They are amazing. There is a new cell phone here that lets you flip the screen so that it becomes widescreen. Then you can watch Direct TV on it...are you serious? I can barely get a smiley face on my screen when I text. People all have amazing cell phones. And cell phone charms are huge here...but more about that later.

7. Health care here is free. I am not going to really say more about that.

8. The food here is of course amazing. Things that are huge here that you can expect are things like sushi, noodles (especially ramen) and tempura (especially with cold soba noodles...yum yum yum). Things that I didn't know were big are things like takoyaki (octopus balls), okonomyaki (japanese pancakes), and yakitori (grilled meat on sticks...but weird meat like chicken hearts and "rump"). I have probably gained about 20 pounds...so good.

9. This is the cleanest country ever...especially when you NEVER see trashcans. Apparently, people carry around bags to just put trash in. However, whenever you see a trashcan there is always recycling. Always. No matter where you are in the country they recycle. How amazing is that? And I don't mean in the house, I mean in subway stations, in parks, anywhere. I think it is awesome!

Some funny things about Japan...

1. The TV here is so weird. There are shows within shows all the time. You think you are watching a travel show and all of a sudden it is a game show. Plus, I have watched the same children's show now twice because it teaches toddlers English. I think I will have the "Happy Happy Happy Happy Head Head Head" song in my head for a long time.

2. This one is mainly for my dad because his main views of Japan come from a Simpsons episode. The toilets here are hilarious. In hotels/homes/even some public bathrooms all the toilets have a built in spray and bidet. In public restrooms a lot of the toilets have a built in "noise" feature that simulates the sound of flushing to mask sounds you might be making. The only thing that I really don't like is Japanese style bathrooms in public bathrooms. I have not figured out to use them and probably won't!

3. The "junk food" here is really funny. First off, you can't buy a jumbo bag of chips. I don't think that exists. There aren't really jumbo anything here. Secondly you can get things like chips, pocky sticks, rice crackers, but people also eat dried octopus and squid....ew.

Ok, I have written a lot of things...and sure I forgot some. But I hope this gives you an interesting view of Japan!

Teaching in Japan

Here are some more things I have learned more about being a teacher in Japan and less about going to school here.

In Japan, teachers are regarded as an honorable profession. When you tell people you are a teacher here they are very impressed. While I would say that is true in the US, outside of the NCS community when I tell people that I am a teacher (especially 5th grade) I get a lot of sympathetic replies. I think that the NCS community regards teachers highly, but not the US on a whole. Current salary scales for teachers would reflect that!

Since the schedule is very dense in Japan, there aren't many times that you can take vacations. Currently most schools are starting a 2-4 week vacation where they don't have school. However, this is the longest break they get! I think that would be a hard change.

Also, every Junior High and High school has a Language Assistant just for English. These are usually students from the US, GB, or Australia who have just finished college and are looking for a fun experience. That is what my friend Dan has been doing here since her graduated last year. These teachers are a direct resource for grammar, spoken and written word, and also culture. Wouldn't it be interesting if we had students who were just out of college in our schools to serve that purpose? I think that is a wonderful idea.

Off to the Imperial Palace and Osaka for the day...rain rain rain. Going back to Tokyo tomorrow to visit Keio school and University.

One last comment. Last night we went to one of Kyoto's themed restaurants...it was called the Lock Up and it was a jail theme. Apparently themed restaurants are huge here. Although not one for this kind of restaurant, Dan and his girlfriend Isabel said it would be really funny. And it was! Anyway, half way through the time we were there they cut the lights and had black lights and an escaped convict was prowling the restaurant. Then they had to "catch him" not before he came into our "cell" and tickled us...quite a scary escaped convict, huh? Anyway, the best part was that they played Thriller the whole time, and I thought of my 5A class from 2 years ago who loved doing the Thriller dance! :)

Any more questions about culture or schools? Keep 'em coming! Tomorrorw I am going to post about the advantages of living in Japan and the main cultural differences...but I have to log off now!

Himeji Castle and Kyoto (part 2)

Today we took the Shinkansen from Nara to Himeji early in the morning to arrive at Himeiji castle, one of the largest castles in Japan. It is called the white heron because it just sort of rises out of the middle of the landscape. It was huge! You walk around the grounds and can walk up all 6 stories of the castle, which is actually quite difficult to do! The stairs were super high!

Here is something from the Castle internet site that gives some history of the castle:

Special Features of Himeji Castle
Himeji Castle is nicknamed "White Heron" Castle because of its white walls which are covered with white plaster. The reason for using white plaster is that it is fireproof. Like other surviving Japanese castles, Himeji Castle is built of wood, not stones, and so fire prevention is very important. As well as the fact that white plaster has fireproofing capabilities, it is also considered to be a strong reinforcement. Therefore it covers both walls and almost every outside structure from eaves to pillars. The castle is built on the top of a hill called Himeyama, which is 45.6 meters above sea level. The main tower, which is the center and the symbol of the castle, is 46.4 meters high; namely, it stands 92 meters above sea level. Himeji Castle is famous for not only this huge main tower but also the highly effective and complicated defensive design, which is just like a maze. Even today, with the route clearly marked, many visitors are easily lost. You, too, may be lost in the labyrinth of this virtual tour.

History
The history of the castle began by the construction of a fort by Norimura Akamatsu, the ruler of Harima District (Himeji region) in 1333. Later in 1581, a three-storied castle was built by Hideyoshi Toyotomi when the country was in a state of continual conflict. In 1601 Terumasa Ikeda, son-in -law of the Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa, started rebuilding the castle into a five storied main tower with three small towers since Himeji was a very important defensive position for the Tokugawa shogunate government. It took Ikeda eight years to complete the reconstruction. Fortunately, Himeji Castle has never been damaged by warfare, even during the Second World War. That is one of the reasons why Himeji Castle has kept its original form for nearly 400 years. In 1993, Himeji Castle was registered on UNESCO's World Heritage list, because it is a wooden castle structure of incomparable worth in the world and because the whole structure including towers, stone ramparts, and earthen walls are extremely well preserved.

Just returned back to Kyoto and this afternoon and tonight I am meeting with 2 teachers in Kyoto to learn more about the education system. They are both Americans and one of them (Dan Rainer) is my mom's godson! So they will have good perspective on the similarities and differences between American and Japanese schools.

The Ancient City of Nara

Today, I took a side trip to the Ancient City of Nara, which is about 30 minutes away from Kyoto. The city has two main attractions here. 1. Deer. 2. The Todai-ji temple.

Finally the rain let up and the humidity has broken a bit. I don't think I mentioned but the rain was so bad here that there were mudslides so bad that the train from Nagano to Kyoto was cancelled, so we took the train to Tokyo and then down to Kyoto. An acute angle instead of a staight line. Oh well. On the way to the Todai-ji temple you pass through the deer park with hundreds of deer who are about as tame as our cats...maybe even more tame. That Jack is quite skiddish. Anyway, you pay 150 yen to buy cookies to feed the deer. Not being a fool, I did not choose to feed the deer but instead watch people feed them and run away screaming when about 10 deer approach them wanting food. As you can imagine, the deer follow you wherever you go as long as you have food for them. I witnessed quite a few women in high heels squealing because of these deer!!!

Todai-ji temple is the largest wooden building in the world!!! It was quite the sight! Inside the Todai-ji is a Buddha who is 16 m tall (how many yards is that math fans?). The Buddha is absolutely amazing. It was cast in bronze in 746 AD. Behind the Buddha is a wooden column that has a hole in it. The legend goes that if you can get your body through the hole (which is the exact size of the bronze Buddha's nostril) you will have eternal enlightenment. Well, I guess I am still in the dark because I didn't chance the almost certain public humiliation.

I have wonderful photos that I will upload once I get back to Kyoto!

Photos!

Higashi Elementary School

Today I visited Higashi Elementary School in Ueda, Nagano Prefecture. I had an amazing time and learned so much. Here is a summary of my day.

Overview of the school/school system+

When you arrive to the school, you take your shoes off and switch into indoor shoes so not to track dirt. They are very serious about this. All students and teachers have indoor shoes that they keep in cubbies at the school. Once a week, students are required to take home shoes and clean them!

The Country of Japan tells the prefectures (like states) how many hours of each subject they must teach in a year. Nagano prides itself on being very educated and always exceeds the minimum amount. The main subjects are History, Japanese, Math, and Science. After that they have music and art about twice a week, PE about 3 times, and then some smaller classes like health, moral development, and maybe a language like English. The PE is determined by the government as well. Just before I came was bike traffic safety classes and when I was there was swimming. However, heavy rains and flooding meant no swimming today. :(

In the school I was in they had 619 students from 1st-6th. Up until 5th grade there is one classroom for each grade. An average class is about 30 students. When a class is between 30-35 students they are required to hire an assistant teacher. After 35 they must split the class into two classes. Needless to say, the classes were very large and I was surprised at how noisy they were! Noisy in a good way--they children were learning but having a lot of fun.

I met with the Principal (Kocho sensei) and Head of Teachers (Kyouto sensei) for about 1.5 hours discussing the school and the system and asking and answering questions about differences between schools. Mrs. Kinoshita helped me greatly with the translations. Also, the secretary at the school had been a personal guide to the American speed skating mens team during the 1998 Nagano Olympics, so she was quite good (and funny! She told me how cute and single the skaters were!!). From this discussion I learned about the culutre of the schools and how students prepare for later levels. In Lower School, the students do not tend to do much after school besides some music lessons and maybe some sports. Starting in Middle School, students start to focus their outside activities and become more intense in a sport of instrument of their choice. Satowa's cousin who is in 8th grade is very into the trumpet and also has been taking English lessons once a week after school. She goes to trumpet lessons and brass ensembles after school most days until 7pm! A lot of students in the higher grades will attend tutoring classes for a few hours after school. Many people attribute Japan's educational success to this extra time and not the schools. But I have to say I think the schools were great. Middle school runs from 7th-9th grade, and in 9th grade they must take exams to determine which High school they will attend. In Ueda (where I was) there is sort of an unspoken ranking of the schools, 1,2,3,4 and then more techinical schools for students who are not planning on going to University. The exam and the teachers help determine which school they will attend. In 11th grade it is the same thing, although this time for university. These exams are very hard and very competitive. Teachers it seems are evaluated the same way they are in the States. They must write their goals for the year and give them to the head of school. At the end of the year, they sit for an interview to review how they attained their goals. These then get reported to the Education Board.

Are you still reading this? Wow! I am impressed!

I visited 3 math classes, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. I have to say the 3rd grade class was my favorite. The teacher was very animated and had good hands on activities. Actually, all the teachers had good hands on activities. The teacher in 3rd grade was teaching regrouping when subtracting whole numbers. She used base ten blocks on paper that she put on the board and then cut them when borrowing. I have　video that I can show anyone who is interested. Then the students worked independently in their workbooks, which were so cool! They are fun and colorful and very thin compared to ours. They go much deeper into the concepts. The books contained much more geometry concepts and a lot of measurement. After they reviewed the concepts together. And since it was raining, PE was cancelled...so what do you do? DO a dance for the foreigner! HA! It was really cute. The girls had a dance club that they started and danced for me. I also have video.

5th grade was divided by ability, but not based on grades. It was actually based on what each student wanted to do. If they felt they were ready for a challenge they could choose the highest level. I wonder if this would ever work at NCS? I found that really interesting. I visited all 4 levels of math. The teachers, again, had many hands on activities. In 3 of the 4 classrooms students were working on angle measurements in triangles and quadrangles. They were exploring figuring out strange polygons by dividing them into triangles. And they were actually drawing them on paper and cutting them into triangles--something I would do! In the highest class, they were learning division of decimals by doing this awesome path maze. I copied it down and would try to explain it but I think it wouldn't translate well into words. When I get home I will scan it and put it on this site...I will also give a snickers bar to anyone who is still reading this. (Holly?) Also in the 5th grade classrooms were their artwork from class displayed (some neat watercolor and pen drawings of their backpacks) and their hopes and dreams for the year...yea! Again something I do!

4th grade was my final class that I visited and this class was also learning about angles of a triangle by estimating first and then measuring. The teacher (sensei) had large triangles that she put on the board and asked the students to estimate the angle measurements. Then she put up a trapezoid and had them estimate. She helped them to learn the concept of complimentary and vertical angles, but without using the jargon...just by having them discover those concepts. After they had to do a problem in their workbook that I found very hard with estimating and measuring the angles! Then came the embarassment...I was asked to introduce myself...not easy...or very pretty. It came out really broken and I needed help! Then the students asked me questions...anyone want to guess what the first question was?

You are correct...How tall are you??? Well, it turns out (since they had a chart with famous people's heights) that I am as tall as the famed baseball player Ichiro who now plays for the Seattle Mariners...that was a kick!

Some other tidbits about the school. The students have lunch at school and they all bring the lunch to the classroom and serve their classmates and then clean up. The have turns for doing this. The servers wear aprons, chef hats, and they all wear surgical masks when getting their food and then obviously take them off when they are eating. Today was very western, like a broccoli soup and hamburgers! But normally it is things like soba noodles, rice, and always a soup. All the students have small desks where they keep their notebooks, although there are not many of them. They also all have elaborate pencil cases...just like NCS girls! But maybe not as many sharpee markers!:) I found that the teachers were very interactive--I guess I was expecting more "old school" instruction...stand in front of the room and stay there. They wandered during classes and were very encouraging and complimentary of their students. I have read that many studies attribute Japanese success to the amount of praise given by teachers...I know it can't hurt!　Most of the classrooms sat in desks of 2 by 2, alternating boy/girl. One class had them in pods...my arrangement of choice for group work. Students were very motivated to do well and to answer questions. When asked for possible solutions during the estimating, most of them came up with great ways to get to 180 degrees like 48 + 59 + 73 or 84 + 68 + 28. I was impressed!

Ok, wow...you made it to the bottom. Maybe two snickers bars. But only if you have read everything. I know some of you are skimming!:)

All in all, I loved the Elementary school and was so pleased to be there. I also got a chance to visit the Buddist temple in Ueda which is considered a National treasure because it is the only standing octagonal pagoda in the country. It was made of cedar and no nails!

Ok, any questions about the school?