Never Ending Birthday in Japan

Even the grocery store signs have gentle, sweet slogans – (notice the dropping of the article), “We always contribute your healthy and beautiful life.” I know I am a little starry eyed and the truth be known sleep deprived, however I can honestly say that this slogan has held true to most of my encounters in Japan. I began my birthday with a thought that drifted into my head, …..it is better to give than to receive. My friend Alexa told me when I woke her with a coffee that the Lakota person will spend her birthday giving presents rather than receiving them. I like this tradition. However, my Japanese birthday was a day where gifts were showered upon me from all directions, and somehow the gifts keep coming and it is many days past.
We traveled to the Town Hall in Miyagi to a meeting with parents. Over fifty mothers and fathers welcomed us off the bus with clapping. For many of my colleagues here, Teacher Honoring is not as strong a tradition in the United States. (I, however, can report that my own parent community shows their appreciation with panache, offering most excellent potluck breakfasts). The discussion with 4 parents showcased the diversity in parent views regarding the hopes and dreams for their children in the educational system in Japan. We listened to an older father, by the name of Yonekichi Tetsumoto, who by his appearance, looked like a salary man. I expected him to adhere to the old school of “discipline, perseverance and rigor” as the key to student success. However, instead he lamented that children no longer have the opportunity to play and be creative and that this loss was manifesting itself in the decline of student achievement. Tetsumoto-san believes that parents are too busy working and don’t have time to talk with their children. He believes children are being raised by machines (read TV, Computers, internet) and that it is therefore difficult to raise children to have a warm heart. A young working mother of three clearly valued the cram schools called Yukus as a way to keep the kids competitive and learning the important basics so that later the student will be prepared to be creative and independent. She believed that more rigor was necessary for student achievement.
We spent the rest of my birthday sight seeing. We traveled up into the mountains past a reservoir and glimpsed areas where clearly the recent earthquake had moved some of the mountain. The dam was still completely intact but some of the surrounding hillsides had cascaded down – the roads however had already been cleared. I read that volcanic ash makes up the surface here and is therefore fairly loose and unconsolidated, making it easier for the land to slide. We then visited the Kokeshi Doll Museum, The Naruko hot springs, ate lunch at a ski resort, and visited the Ichinokura Sake Factory. Back in Miyagi, I ate a green tea ice cream cone outside a lovely green tea shop, and then was treated to Guinness in the Nam bar decorated with cowboy hats and beagles – yes I said Beagles not Beatles (the Japanese idols) and no this is not a transliteration. The final “piece de resistance” was a stroll back to the hotel room under the shine of the full moon. Domo Arigato Gozaimas.