Mystery Solved!!

Ladies and gentlemen, please take a good look at this odd item. Do you recognize it? I for one had never seen it until I came to Japan.

During breaks or periods of boredom at school, I like to explore around the supply room for things that I might be able to use. While pawing around the stock, I also rearrange and organize the boxes for the other teachers. That was when I found this odd piece. I had no idea what to do with it and where to put it.  Can you figure out the riddle? I'll give you some hints.

1. It is something that is usually found among office supplies.

2. It is no longer than a person's thumb.

3. It is made of a light metal, so it is rather light.

Did you think of it yet?

Any ideas?

Give up yet?

Alright. If you insist, I'll tell you.....

Its a pencil cap!

Japanese students carry around pencil cases from the time they are in elementary school to well into college and grad school. While they can be very cheap, these are usually kept as long as possible and can be made from a hard plastic, metal, cloth, or a mixture of the three. In order to keep the inside of the pencil cases (which also hold pens, post-its, and other small items) clean, these pencil caps were invented. They also keep the sharpened pencils from being chipped or breaking at the tip. Not sure who or which country thought of them first, but my generation in the US aren't familiar with them. It honestly took me two years to figure out why my school had these odd, little items. I showed this to my kids and they were shocked to find out that we didn't use them when I was younger. Being the neat-freak that I am, I know that I'd have all of my pencils capped, but hindsight is 20-20.

Not my most exciting post, everyone, but I thought you might like to see something new, or possibly even familiar, that is used frequently in Japan.

My Middle Schools and Teachers: a Vague Discription

Getting used to my life in Japan was more than just finding where to shop, where to go for fun, and how to organize my apartment. I also had to keep all of my schools sorted. All six of them. I alternate and go to a different school every day. There is a pattern, but sometime the pattern changes due to testing or what the BOE desires. Each school is at least 20 minutes from my home, so if I go to the wrong school on the wrong day, I'd have to make a mad dash to the correct one before first period! And each grade in each school has a unique personality, expectations, requirements, and skill level. The same goes for the teachers and staff.

To save anyone from too much embarrassment (and protect the innocent), I will refer to the schools and personel by nicknames. This should also help for those readers who would be lost with all the Japanese.

Western School

My western school is a little odd. The students aren't too interested in studying it seems. The third graders don't know as much as the second graders seem to and the first grade could care less about lessons or class. As soon as they set foot in school, all life seems to drain from them. There are some lively kids, but usually I only see them in their full spirits after school during club activities or running around during lunch time.

At this school, I'm allowed to use Japanese outside of the school building, but not inside. However, the students know that I speak Japanese, so they can express themselves that way, but receive an English answer. The first years seem to be the only ones who realize I speak Japanese there. The second and third years haven't figured it out so much, and I'm in no rush to tell them. But that is for another blog.

I have a few teacher friends at that school. My main English teacher is a very soft spoken, grandmotherly, kind lady who can not seem to get control of the kids whatsoever. She came from a smaller school where all the students were perfectly behaved and so far she can't seem to realize that her old tactiques won't work here. The Japanese language teacher speaks fairly good English too and is always smiling and showing me new things. The vice-principal may be the hardest working person at the school! He (and all the other vice-principals) seem to be in charge of everything and he definitely has the respect of the students. One look from him and they all snap to attention! He gives us cream puffs, taiyaki, tea, and other treats quite frequently! There will be mochi or cookies from him sitting in the staff break room, and I'm always invited to help myself. Thank you, Mr. VP! My principal there is very sweet and calm. He enjoys walking and is always checking on me to make sure I'm okay and not too overwhelmed. He doesn't do much. Like, ever. But I'm sure that he has work.

Southern School

My southern school is my smallest, with only 49 students in all three grades. They are my smartest school, however, and my best behaved on top of that! I love this school, but only go once a week.

The students there have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA that I speak Japanese. They don't know I can read it, write it, understand it, nor speak it. To that effect, they must speak and communicate with me only in English and pantomime. Usually the second graders give me personality quizzes and one of the third year girls has taken to writing me notes and speaking with me during lunch time. I make sure to watch their club practices, but since they only have 4 clubs, that isn't too hard.

My English teacher there is on top of his game! He knows all the ins and outs of English and not only teaches them to his students, but makes sure they they know what they are saying, why they are saying it, and how to say it. These kids have a major boon in having him as a teacher. The nurse and one of the school cleaning ladies sit next to me, so we talk quite a bit. They tell me about  their power stones, take me to see the inari shrine nearby, give me candies, and even helped me find my air conditioning unit. If I have any question about daily life or Japanese words, they are sure to help me. My principal is a very Piglet (from Winnie the Pooh) grandpa. My little sister would understand this perfectly, but I may have to expand on this explanation for everyone else. He is quite small in size and stature, quiet, smiles and nods, but rarely speaks, and when he does speak he "ne"s everything. He is very old and speaks like an old man, which means he slurs much of what he says together and speaks softly with a lots of grunts and "eeeehhh"s as well. All in all, super adorable! I don't really associate with the other teachers there (the other 11 of them). However, if you have seen my facebook statuses about the teacher-who-talkes-to-themselves-out-loud, he is a teacher at this school. My own special friend. So very special...

Eastern School

My easter school is my largest middle school. These kids are the typical Japanese student: shy, studious, polite, and focused. There are a few troublemakers/emotional kids, but they are all sweet and are just trying to play with me, not harass me. Except the third grade B class. I still haven't figured out their game entirely.

They know I speak Japanese, but seem to forget sometimes. That is fine by me and allows me to use it somewhat in class time. Mostly I speak to them after school. I try to watch all the club practices, but there are so many to see that I still haven't been to all of them yet.

I have two English teachers here. The older one was so hard for me to understand at first (not in terms of language, but in how to adjust what I was doing to her style of teaching), but now we work very well together and I actually enjoy being paired with her. She is very thorough in her explanations and has all of her chalkboard notes color coded for the kids to better understand. She does each class almost the exact same way, which I thought was really dull at first, but is reassuring to the kids because they know what to expect and can focus on the material and content rather than the presentation. The younger English teacher is very kind, but seems nervous, stressed, and busy all the time. Even the other Japanese teachers said that she was far too busy. She gives me free reign of her classes, but then steps in to help translate and control the class, which I appreciate. The vice-principal at that school is quite lively and is always scuttling about helping and informing the other teachers and me. I can never seem to go a week without having a problem with the school computer and printer, and he is right there to save me. The principal at that school is also adorable! He is running around so much they they have a spinner "Where is the principal?" that shows where you can find him. He loves making wooden crafts, caring for plants, and fixing things in the school. He makes many obvious fake advances on me (a style of joke that many old men here do) but because he has a daughter about my age, he goes out of his way to help me with any projects I'm doing. He tries to complete my worksheets to practice his English and his catch-phrases are "I am carpenter" and "You are beautiful, yes." Always laughing and active, I really enjoy chatting with him. The other teachers at that school take turns talking to me, it seems. I have made friends with most of them but it would be hard to describe them all here. Maybe another time.


I'll tell you more about my elementary schools another day. Til then!

Ise Shrimp Festival in Hamajima

What I look forward to about Japan is the chance to experience its culture and traditions. The more unique, the more locally based, the more obscure, the better! Recently I was able to take part in one such event: The Ise Shrimp Festival!

Now, they may be called "shrimp" but they are actually lobster. It is a Lobster Fest! It entails lobster decorations, lobster themed dances, lobster hats (more like antenna hats), floats, Shinto lobster blessings, and fireworks (of course). People talked about it for weeks before it happened, I saw decorations, flags, and flyers go up everywhere in town. The shrimp anticipation was killing me! From all of the pictures and the posters, it was obvious that this was the biggest festival in this area, and I was definitely going to get in on the action! 

Luckily for me, my Western middle school and its elementary school are in the town that hosts the Shrimp Festival. I made sure to join one of their dancing groups for the day's parade. At first I was worried that I would have to pick between going to the Sports Day of my Eastern middle school and the festival, but the timing worked out perfectly and I was easily able to attend both events even though they fell on the same day. After the Sport's Day ended, I dashed home, changed into my dancing team's 1980's-themed happi and a shrimp hat before going to meet up with the other teachers. They were impressed with my eagerness to perform, but we had met at 4 and weren't going to start dancing until around 7. I got quite a few looks of surprise as we walked through town, but luckily, I was with celebrities. The teachers are known and loved (well, at least respected) by everyone in town, so even my weird foreign self was immediately accepted since I was surrounded by the teacher-posse. On top of that, the young math teacher's wife had given birth just the day before, so all his current and former students swarmed him for pictures of the baby! In a small town, everyone knows everything, but even he was surprised that so many people knew in under 24 hours.


To kill time we went to one of the other teacher's houses for a major feast. I mean a huge feast! I mean the kind of feast the Tolkien would have written for his hobbits. Fish and rice and vegetables, more sake, beer, noodles, potato salad, sushi, more fish, more rice, desserts and rice crackers, everything by the boatload! I had no idea where it was all coming from, but it seemed endless. This particular teacher was not to join our dance group, but was with another set of performers with extravagant face paint and lots of decorations their costumes. I later found a photo of him on someone's blog (see left). Not only our group and his group, but many of his friends happened to come by for some food and drink. I munched away happily at my end of the table just listening to everyone else talk about who knew who, where they came from, "oh, you're so and so's daughter! I thought that you looked familiar." All the typical chatter that I've been missing since coming here. After the bounty that was our dinner, the other teachers changed into their outfits and we wondered down to the meeting place.

Not going to lie, when we got to the bridge, I was a little concerned that it was just going to be me and the teachers dancing along the road. Not that it would be a bad thing, but for five of us to be jumping about seemed odd to me. I was just about to voice this when along came some of my students, dressed in the same 80's happi and super surprised to see me! As we waited and took out place in line, more of them came, each with their weekend festival hairstyles and decorations. Some boys were sporting sunglasses and masks, others had colored and gelled hair for the day (something they are definitely not allowed to do during the school week) and were trying to wear their happi in interesting ways (rolled sleeves, off one shoulder) to look as cool as possible. The girls had done their hair in curls and fancy styles and some had stickers on their checks. You could tell who got ready with whom based on their accessories, but somehow we all ended up with glow sticks. Cool with me! I added mine to my Shrimp hat so that it glowed in my hair.

Waiting was the worst part, so I went around to the neighboring groups and took pictures or talked with them. Some people would sneak pictures of me when I wan't noticing and some people were considerate enough to ask me to pose first, but just in case I tried to stand straight and smile at all times. The students helped me learn the dance steps as we were waiting, but no one really wanted to stand by me at first, so I just jumped to the front of the group. The elementary schoolers and teachers were behind out group, so we were asked to jump as high as possible and be super energetic to set a good example for the younger ones. My kids were taking lots of pictures of themselves too, and some where trying to do the power shock picture that is so popular now, but the person who was helping them was too slow at snapping the shutter and couldn't get the timing for the jump right. I stepped in and took the photo with someone's iphone, getting much praise from the students (props for me!).

As we starte getting formed and lined up, I kept hearing them call out for the "Lottery Club". Hmm, that is strange. Why would there be such a thing like that? I wondered. But there were a lot of members! That club must be really rich if they all won the lottery! I thought. Wrong. It was the Rotary Club. Ooohhhh, I get it now. Another thing I was unsure about was why certain members of the students had slightly different outfits. Later I found out that it was because they were in the band and were going to perform at the end for the grand finale (which they did wonderfully in, might I add).

Once the music started, we still couldn't move forward until the was enough space in front of our group. The festival officials were there to give us the okay, but by that point I was so anxious to get started that I had already begun dancing in place and practicing my shrimp jumps. As we reached a certain point, the groups would pause for a rally. Most would cheer about how they'd be the loudest and most energetic, and some hand gestures or group movements that they performed. Of course, our students wanted to have a rally too, so we gathered all together, but no one wanted to lead. I guess this wasn't discussed about before hand, so no one had anything prepared to say or yell. Being myself, I jumped in the middle after letting them argue and decline for a while. Not thinking of anything cool to say at the moment, I decided to use my ultimate trump card: English. I screamed out silly sentences like "This is a pen!!!" and "Are you ready??!" and "Let's go!" for a while.  After every call I made, the students would scream out "Oooii!" or "Eeeehh!" and wait for me to give the final cry (which I did while doing a fist pump so that they would realize I was done). They really enjoyed getting to be the only group that could have a rally chant in English and got pumped up after our session. However, everyone had jumped the gun. We had all started cheering too early because the parade had been held up just a bit. So after everyone had gotten the proper spacing, and we all started to move again, the kids wanted another rally. Oh, boy. They all asked if I'd hop in again, which I was glad to do. I was so excited to get this party started that I let all my energy out in the yells. This time I had the students do a kamehameha at the end of it! They loved their new cheer and being the center of attention because of me. We started off our dancing with a lot of energy and started off just as the sun was setting.

As we marched, danced, and jumped along, we would periodically see other students standing on the sidelines. What?! Bystanders?! Not this time, kiddos. We allowed a few of the students to break formation to pull in their classmates into the dance. The kids we found were the one who were too cool to wear happi, too cool for shrimp hats, too cool for dances, but since we had made such a fuss about bringing them into the parade, and since we were all looking goofy together, they joined without any complaint.

We also had a shy camera boy follow us for the first third of our parade route. He had graduated from our middle school, but I wasn't sure if he was in high school or college yet. He kept taking picture after pictures of us, but he only pointed the camera at the front of the line, where myself and the sign leader were. It was a touch creepy, but it made me really focus on dancing properly. As the night grew darker and the crowd got thicker, he faded away, but others were sure to take his place.

As I danced, I'd hear to my right "Look, its a foreigner!" and hear the click-click of cameras going off. The older folks were quite confused and talked about me a bit, so I made sure to jump extra high and smile extra big for anyone who noticed me. Likewise, as I was scanning the crowd, I noticed some foreigners of my own: three boys in ghetto hats standing on the side of the road. One was bent over his camera, but I recognized him and another one right away as the ALTs from Toba (Facebook stalking has its perks). I broke formation this time to run over to them. "Hi, I'm Alexandra, the ALT in this area. Welcome to Hamajima! This is my group. Bye!" and dashed back again. They tried to get me to meet up with them later, but I didn't my Japanese phone with me and I wasn't sure what my teachers had planned for that evening. I didn't see them for the rest of the day, but we had already agreed on meeting up the next day for an international education event, so I wasn't too concerned about it.

After the dancers crossed the finish line, we were handed some tea, and gathered behind the main stage. We were told to go in order up on stage, split in two groups, then go down the stage to the pit area in front. I wasn't sure what was going on, but for some reason I was still the leader. Luckily, the girl behind me would tug on my sleeve to let me know where to go or if I was going too fast. Everyone was gearing up for the last batch of dancing as the group of us down in the pit grew larger and larger. We spiraled around the ground until everyone backstage was in our crowd and were then told to move to sides of the area. That is when the shrimps came out! The girl shrimp and boy shrimp danced around the area, bobbing and rocking as if they were alive, until they were finally placed on stands and we were allowed to join in the dance again. The problem was that in the very final dance segment, no one wanted to move because we were too interested in the hip-hop performers on stage. So we all bopped about and cheered until Pow Boom!!! Fireworks started exploding over the waters behind the stage. Everyone moved down to the beach to get a better view and visit the food stalls one last time. I became separated from my teachers, but I had the school's sign, so they found me again soon enough. We were required to make rounds around the festival and tell all the middle school students we found to go home before curfew. As we walked, most former students stopped to talk to my teachers and catch up on what had happened, so patrol took quite a while. One of my teachers was nice enough to buy me a snowcone. I must have really impressed them because for the next month, people mentioned that they had seen me performing on the local news and that of anyone from the Western school, I was the most excited to dance. I'd have to agree there. After the performance, I felt like I could have danced for another 2 hours, but everyone else was dead tired. I hope that I'll be around for other exciting festivals!

Look for my video footage on the blog. Things take awhile to work with youtube, but I'll get it online eventually.

Here are some of the pictures my friend Eric (one of the ALTs I spotted in the crowd) took at the time.

"The Japanese are an ocean culture and this traditional Ise-ebi (Lobster Festival) art reflects that. Photo: Kin Kimoto/surfdayz.jp" 

Interested in all things Ise Shrimp? Take your time by looking up the following links.

http://www.iseebi-onsen.com/iseebi/53newspape.htm

http://www.iseebi-onsen.com/iseebi/2011/51sam.htm

http://www.iseebi-onsen.com/iseebi/
Great photos on this blog.

This is a news report about the festival.
This is the city's summary of the event.

給食 School Lunch - Chopsticks and Mystery Meat

Something that I was actually really looking forward to in Japan was the school lunch. For just $45 a month, you can have school lunch everyday. All the students in elementary school and middle school are required to eat school lunch. Once you enter high school or if you have a very particular allergy, you bring a lunch from home, but before that, teachers and students all eat the same thing. It is actually a very important system. Here are some pictures of my school lunches. The ones with green backgrounds and pink trays were at my fastest school and the ones with gray backgrounds and green trays were at my smallest school.

Starting in elementary school, Japanese students are expected to take a larger part of the school day responsibilities. This works well on several levels. On the first, it reminds the students that they aren't babies anymore. They aren't at day care anymore and need to start taking care of themselves, each others, and their own belongings. Students begin to take part in cleaning the school, announcing the transitions between classes, leading the summary speeches before and after school, and in paring out the school lunches for their classmates.

The food is all prepared on an off campus location and then distributed to the local schools in large containers with one set of containers for each grade and class. For example  the third years may be split into A and B class, so 3A and 3B each have their own containers. Why is that? Because there is no cafeteria; each class eats in their classroom. Everyday, a group of students is chosen to serve the lunch to everyone else. They gather the materials, set up a lunch line, and dish out the foods from the containers into plates as the other students file through and take the food onto their trays.

This teaches that to give out fair portions, how to be safe and clean around food (face masks, aprons, washing your hands, and keeping utensils sanitary), to wait your turn, and to be part of a team. The students then wait until everyone is seated before giving a chorus call of「いっただきます」or a sort of "We humbly receive this (food)." Only after all of that are any extra milks, pieces of bread, or seconds of anything else distributed. 

Who gets these extras? Whoever wants them raises their hands and the remainder is evenly divided amongst them. But in the case of milk or bread or something that is only available in one unit, they settle the matter in the most fair manner possible. Leave it up to fate: rock, paper, scissors. Winner takes the bounty. Easily solved.

The school lunches are well balanced, but contrary to stereotype, there is not always rice. if there is bread or another carbohydrate, the rice is not used. The school milk is sometimes also replaced by coffee milk, for which the students have a field day! They love coffee milk, or at least the idea of something new and different. To make their little days, I always give mine away and let another rock, paper, scissors winner have the prize. Sometimes there is even a dessert item; a cold jelly or mochi wrapped in leaves celebrates a special day or season.

With all of this delicious-ness, though, comes a cost. A cost that Shima-city doesn't think that we can afford any longer. Currently there are multiple school lunch centers that make and distribute the food to the schools. Depending on where I am teaching, I will be on a different meal schedule because the meal centers can make whatever they want whenever they want. The city has decided that instead of operating all of these small centers, a larger "central center" in Ugata would be better. That way every single student in the whole of Shima city will be eating the same thing.

What does this mean for me? I'm not entirely sure. It may mean that there will be less flavor, it may mean that the food is cold by the time lunch comes, it may mean that there is less variety, it may mean less fresh fruits and veggies, but we won't find out until September when all of the other centers will shut down. I do know that the current centers' part time workers will be let go and only the full time employees will be kept to work at the Ugata center. Besides that, it is only a shot in the dark.

Until then, I have all summer to enjoy the delicious school lunches and try to get the students to talk to me during that time. Usually I can get by with "Is this fish? What sport do you like?" and so on, but I'm torn between keeping up the conversation and eating up my lunch. Oh tasty food, why do you taunt me so?



p.s. If you can't tell what kind of meat it is, don't fret or worry - it is probably just tofu ;)

Preparations for New Students and Opening Week

*Due to Interac policy, I am not at liberty to mention the names of schools, teachers, or students at my work locations on social network sites or blogs. Instead, I will try to think of a nickname system, but I have 3 middle and 3 elementary schools, so things might get a little confusing. To keep things sorted, I'll try to also keep the stories well sorted, but please bear with me.*

Interac gave us a week to situate our basic needs and gather items for our apartments. We were also taken to all of our middle schools and met with the principals and English teachers the Friday before school started. This was helpful in feeling more comfortable with the lunch plans for the first week and also ensured that we had been to the school at least once (don't want to get lost and be late on the first day). During my first working week here, I was not actually "working". No classes, no lesson plans, and no worksheets. Instead, I spoke with the teachers, organized my desk, and.....well, was pretty bored! I wanted to explore the school more, so I made a point of asking for a map, but the vice principal or another teacher usually offered to escort me around and explain the kanji written above each classroom. Besides that, though, I was left to sit in the teachers' room and help myself to the all-you-can-drink-coffee/tea corner. Soooooo bored!!

Why couldn't I teach or go into the classes? Because there were no classes. The older students at the middle schools were getting prepared for the new students! The 6th graders had just graduated elementary school and were coming for the entrance ceremony soon (now as big and important 1st years). There were halls and rooms to clean, boards to decorate, signs to paint, and the gym to ready for the ceremony. Students were busy getting ready for their new friends.

Most schools had planters full of flowers in the entrance area to protect them from the stormy winds that were coming that week. There were also special flower arrangements brought in to decorate the gym (later we used those flowers in the school entrance and teachers' room). Helping with some of the decorating was a good way for me to get out from behind the desk, but the teachers insisted that I sit back and relax and have more tea. So much tea (>.<)

Opening Ceremony!!

For the actual opening ceremony, I was scheduled to be at my largest and most serious middle school. Pomp and circumstance might bore some people, but I love the organization and precision of it all. When it comes to kids in ceremonies, few people understand how difficult that sort of event is to pull off. The Japanese are even more strict about proper decorum at these sort of functions, so I was excited to see how the students would do. I was told before going to Japan not to wear black because it was too formal and serious, but I brought a few black things just in case. Lucky thing that I did because this school asked that I wear ALL black to the ceremony. They also asked that I prepare a brief self introduction in English and Japanese as all the teachers would be introducing themselves to the first years and their parents at that time. It all went over well, and people were relieved when I got to the Japanese portion of my intro. Most of the students think that I had just memorized it for that day, but some started to think that maybe I knew more than I was letting on. I think that the first years were so preoccupied with knowing when to stand, when to bow, how to walk, and when to respond that they weren't paying much attention to us. They were so nervous that it was adorable! Some of them had to make special speeches at the microphone, and you could see them talking themselves through the steps on how to properly walk up to the microphone and whom to bow to before beginning. One of the boys received a present on behalf of his class from the PTA president, but he was so nervous about leaving that he forgot it under his chair! One of the other boys grabbed it for him, though. Nice teamwork, first years!

The rest of the day was spent getting to know the other members of their class and their homeroom teachers. We all had special bento lunch boxes, too! They were delicious, but contained some particularly Japanese food. The other teachers kept watching to see if I could use chopsticks (but I had brought my own, so that put them at ease) and if I could eat all the different foods (I polished off everything except the pickled plum seed). Surprising as it may seem, finishing one's lunch is actually a point of concern in elementary schools. During parent-teacher conferences, teachers will report on whether a student was able to eat everything. Elementary children take pride in saying things like 「好きじゃないものがない」 or "There isn't anything that I don't like."

One of the teachers made three different cakes for us. I loved the
chocolate one the most. It was almost like American cake!

Double negative. Take a minute to think if you need to, but try not to hurt yourself.

So after I finished my lunch, the teachers spent about 40 minutes praising my ability to finish it in enough time and to eat so many types of food. A little much? Maybe, but they were trying to make conversation and make me feel special, so I happily but modestly accepted their compliments.

For the rest of the week after the entrance ceremony, there were many announcements and assemblies so that everyone could learn or be reminded of school policy and club activities, and have meet-and-greets. My smallest middle school assembled all 49 of their students in the gym so that the sport teams could introduce themselves to the 10 new students. There were 4 clubs at that school (as compared to the nearly 10 clubs at my largest school) and the table tennis club only had 2 members. So cute :) But even though there were so few people, they were still nervous to speak in front of the crowd. Afterwords, they organized a dodgeball match to welcome the new kids. The entire school split into two teams, with different grades on both teams. They reviewed the rules, set up boundaries  and then commenced the most organized and polite game of dodgeball that I have ever witnessed. It was quite the spectacle, but they seemed to love it, so mission accomplished. The only time the rules were broken was when the first year special ed boy was hit. To keep him from getting upset and let him still throw the ball (his favorite thing), the third year boys told him to stay in the game and they went out instead. AAAWWWWW!!! So sweet!!

Sorry, but I don't use my camera much outside of the teacher's room, so I don't have photos of the school or students. Just use your imagination! Or come visit me :)

音巴: The ICU Wadaiko Spring/Graduation Concert of 2013

I really need to write this all down now before I forget!

Right before the Californian's semester aborad was over,
We all gathered fora group picture and presents. The
OYR rangers received color specific watches and towels.
Go, Wadaiko, Go!

Two years ago, when I was here for study abroad, I joined the most intense club in my life: the ICU Wadaiko Club. They held practice all year, 18 hours a week usually, with two major concerts a year, and summer camp. I feel like I wrote a lot about them in my last blog, so feel free to check that out for some background information. At the end of my study abroad time (which wasn't supposed to be the end in reality, but that is how life worked out), our major spring concert was cancelled! There is a whole sob story there, but for the next two years I felt cheated because I never got to perform that final concert and show the seniors that everything they had taught us and worked for could be so wonderful in the end. While I was still in Wyoming, I met up with Shunyo, the club president during my Tokyo time to catch up and apologize and watch the concert dvd from last year (when he was a senior). He says that his arms are a bit smaller now that he doesn't play taiko as much as he used to, but he's still the loud, joyful, courteous Shunyo I knew from before! Seeing him made me really miss the camaraderie that I felt with the Wadaiko group back then.

The poster for the show this year.
The title 音巴 (Otonoha) is an artistic
reference to the sound of the drums.
"Oto" is sound or music and "noha" or
"tomoe" is the large comma pater popular
in Japanese traditional symbols and flags.

After I was hired with interac, they said that they wanted us to come early to train before going out to our assignments. Luckily, all my paperwork filled nicely and my passport arrived about a week before a week BEFORE training, so I was able to arrive extra early to Tokyo and lurk around my old stomping grounds. Those of you who know about Japan from my blogs may remember that universities tend to have all of March off as Spring Break. If the school was out of session and the students mostly gone on holiday, then my trip might seem worthless. Why arrive so early to Tokyo? To see the Wadaiko kids perform their spring concert of course!! Everyone else may be on break, but not my club members! The students I met as sophomores were seniors now, so this would be their swan song as Wadaiko members! One of the seniors from my time was also playing in the concert because she was unable to do so during her year. I wanted to cheer them on, but ended up crying during the first song....and the second and third song....and the encoure. They were so good! I just wanted to bust seeing how much they had all developed since I was gone. They were leading the pack now.

Surprisingly enough  though, none of them knew I was coming, which helped lend some excitement to my arrival, but I guess because I didn't reserve a ticket ahead of time, they thought I was just liking the event, not committing to it.

Ma-kun, San-chan, Miki, Mao, Myself, and Kai after the
noon concert in Asakusa! Mao still has her bachi sticks
in her apron pocket.

Afterward the concert, I got some surprises, too. I saw big and burly Kai (a student from Wittenberg who told me to come to ICU) out in the lobby, but when I went over to talk to him who else was standing to his left than SATOSHI!! My Spring Concert Leader! My hero and the one who introduced me to Thai fisherman's pants!! The super stoic and ever cool Satoshi! And Kai, too. It might not have been 100% kosher, but I gave Satoshi a massive hug - I owed this guy so much of my Wadaiko training. He was very much the Yoda/Mr. Miyagi of our club at the time, or at least in my mind, and when he was angry or upset with us, I woud silently cry over my car tire during practice. He was that powerful. 

Ma-kun leading the converstion and making jokes?!
He has totally grown up since I saw him last. Besides that,
he will be studying chemical engineering of pastics in university soon!

San-chan (who is in his 30's, but who I will always speak informally with and see as Winnie the Pooh from the club's night out one Halloween) was also tucked away in the crowd, and some of the other OB and OG (Old Boys and Old Girls - former club members)! Miki's mother, aunt, and cousin were there too!! At first, I couldn't exactly remember why, but I pointed out Miki's mom to Rei and said, "Isn't she really familiar? She doesn't belong to ICU, but I swear that I know her from my time here." When we walked back to the front row, I realized it was her; mommas always cheer their kids on from the front! She recognized me right away and we chatted in Japanese, talking about Miki, my job, her visiting from Kamakura just to see the shows (I think she stayed for both performances), and it felt so good to see her there! *Side Note* The night that I left Tokyo, Miki called her mother and told her I was going, and Momma-san told me to be careful and to remember that I could always come visit them. AAAWWWW!!! *End Side Note* Finally, the performers were all out and about, but needed to be rushed off and set up for the next show. As they all scurried away to prepare, Kai and I wondered around the streets of Asakusa, but that can have its own story later.

This was made by Kaoru for the graduating 2013 students in the club.
The top reads "Wadaiko Squadron Otonoha 13!!!"
From left to right: Ocho, Anna, Rieko, Takami, Miki, Eri, Koji, Rei-chan, Hasshi, Ma-kun

Reunited Roommates!

Anna is trying to guess the new boyfriend of
one of the younger girl. She just found out that they were
even dating that night! 

I thought that show would be the end of my time with the Taiko-ers, but as I was sitting at a hanami (familiar word, right?) with Rei, Miki showed up on her bike with Mao (my drumming partner for hanamori two years prior) and invite me to the Wadaiko party that night. How great is that?! Phenomenal! Except, I forgot what time we were supposed to meet. And where. And I didn't have their phone numbers. Or a Japanese phone. So I dashed off to Kichijoji and waited in a Starbucks (free wifi!) and facebooked them until I finally got the info. The food and drink was great, as expected, but the best part was sitting with all of the members again, being filled in on the news ("So and so has a boyfriend?! Rei-chan is going to be a policeman?! You got into grad school?!"), seeing how much they had grown up (especially Ma-kun!!). Looking at their photos was nice, but I felt like a ghost who could see, but never be with, the group. That night I was there! Fully aware of what was going on, as if that was the review party for my concert. The seniors were given photos, notebooks filled with messages, and another present, too, I think. They all gave 10-15 minute speeches during which, (can you guess?) I cried. 三橋先生 laughed at some of the comments; she has watched us all and the club grow over the past 20 years. She makes me think that just like Budo, this could be something that doesn't really end for me. I can come back to it ask long as I keep that same drive to create a powerful, beautiful, meaningful sound.

Sensei with some of the newer girls.

My evening with the Wadaiko Club was cut short, but maybe I wasn't supposed to stay the whole way through. It wasn't my party, it was their's. All the effort that they put forth for this performance, they deserved the time with each other. I'm thankful that they welcomed me back in so quickly and warmly, but after next year, none of them will really know who I am. It won't be my group anymore.

If anyone is interested, here is their Facebook site for the concert this year.