Cooking Class

Cooking Class may be one way to battle the epidemic of obesity and poor nutrition that is raging through our American culture. Perhaps by teaching about the full cycle of how our food is grown, prepared and cooked we can instill in our children the understanding that “ We are What We Eat”. Many children in the United States no longer have the experience of growing and harvesting food, cooking at a parent or grandparent’s side or sitting down to a meal that is lovingly prepared. Many children even lack the traditions of proper meal etiquette. America has become a fast food nation and her people have lost the pleasures and the community building that home cooked meals provide. Learning about the ingredients in food, how to prepare and share a meal may be some of the lost skills we need to help change the downward spiral of poor physical and mental health that plague people in the United States.

In the Japanese schools that I visited, cooking class was not an elective but a required class for both boys and girls in high school and jr. high. At Tajiri Jr. High, students learned the proper procedures and dangers of cooking with gas, and simply learned how to boil water for tea. In Furukawa High, students had much more responsibility and prepared an entire meal from start to finish. Homework from the night before was to copy the recipe and step by step instructions into their workbook. The teacher began the class by reading the instructions that were written on the board. Over 40 students quietly (and hopefully) listened, though it was apparent later that not all absorbed every step. Once instructions were delivered, students broke into their groups, gathered the utensils (very sharp knives!) and ingredients. The steps in the recipe were quite simple but had many ingredients and all were fresh and many locally grown. The complexity of the recipe became apparent when the students began to prepare each ingredient quite differently. The recipe called for two different kinds of seaweed, one needed to be soaked and then chopped, while the other was shredded and added later in the recipe. One boy, who had not paid close enough attention and dawdled, was unlucky enough to try to carry his soaked seaweed over to his counter while everyone else waited for him. He got nervous with all eyes on him and he dropped the slippery seaweed onto the floor. The whole class and all the visiting teachers laughed while the poor boy sheepishly retrieved his seaweed from the floor. Cucumber needed to be sliced so thinly that one boy took the entire period to finish the job. Raw chicken was cut up, rice was boiled, eggs were beaten and cooked in a bonito broth, soy sauce and oils measured. Finally when everything was ready, the students served up the meal and sat down to eat. Before eating the students say “ Itadamase“ which means thank you for the food I am about to eat. Evidence of green living was found in the compost container placed in the sink for vegetable wastes. The text books for class had sections explaining product logos such as energy star, environmentally friendly, cell phone recycling, Ni-Cd battery recycling. The product logos were a collection from different countries including New Zealand, Germany, EU, and Norway.

Sustainable School Food - A Full Circle
Osaki City boasts two school food centers that supply student lunches with food grown and prepared locally, with plans to add another food center in southern part of the city. To promote their food centers, Osaki City invites visitors from other school districts to observe how healthy and nourishing food can be prepared and delivered at a low cost to the students. The Tajiri Jr. High School Food Center tries to use locally grown food whenever possible; over 50 % of the vegetables including Japanese radish, mushrooms, spinach and lettuce are grown locally and 100 % of the rice is harvested from nearby fields. A JFMF teacher asked our hosts if “ a student looked out the window at the rice fields and wondered “ Am I eating rice that has been grown in that field?” the answer would be yes! In addition, the local food shed provides ham sausages, miso, soy sauce, and tofu.

All the food at Tajiri is prepared on site in a large facility, where food service workers use state of the art machinery to chop, cook and clean. For example, a computerized thermometer is used to check for food temperature in the large vats of Miso soup. However, the human touch is not forsaken; industrial sized ladles are hand stirred to mix the ingredients and the head chef meticulously tastes each step in the food’s preparation where she carefully adjusts the flavors.

Choice of menu is not an option for Tajiri Jr. High school students as everyone eats the same thing. Twice each year, students get to choose their dessert from two options. The only exception to this uniformity is for students with allergies. At Tajiri Jr. High, thirteen students have been diagnosed with an allergy and these students claiming allergies must have a doctor’s note to verify it. The allergies seen in the Tajiri district include allergies to egg, milk and kiwi fruit. Traditionally in the Japanese culture, food substitutions and preferences are not a common practice.

The waste from the food preparation does not end up at the landfill. Instead, the wastes get recycled into compost. The amount is so large that the waste is collected and then transported to a composting facility, which is managed and operated by local farmers, not the municipality. Some of the composted material is then returned to the schools and used in the school’s flower and vegetable gardens.

All students pay for lunch – there are no free lunch programs. According to the authorities, there is no need for free lunches as all families can afford to pay.
The cost for a school lunch each day at Tajiri Jr. High is 299 yen, which roughly equates to $2.99. The cost is slightly less at the elementary school 242 yen and the Kindergarten program 221 yen. Once the food is prepared and ready to be eaten, the students leave their classrooms, don their clean white frocks and hats and come to the food center to retrieve their lunch. Each portion of the lunch is carried in large communal vats. The students carry the heavy food containers back to their classroom where the students take turns serving themselves efficiently from a line. Students eat at their desks with their teacher. The atmosphere is loud and jovial and the students joke and laugh with the teacher. After everyone has eaten the students proceed to clean up the dishes; nothing is made from disposable materials save for the milk cartons which are carefully folded and compacted before being put in the small plastic garbage bag. The students scrape their plates into the compost bucket. Students bring their own chopsticks from home and the rest of the dishes are sent back to the kitchen to be cleaned for the next day. The lunch that I shared with the Tajiri Jr. High school students was both delicious and filling. Obesity and malnutrition do not exist at this Japanese school.

Religious Mix

Please remember that what I write here are my impressions and should NOT be construed as authoritative.
Evidence of how comfortably the Japanese people straddle three of the world’s major religions abounds in the shrines, temples and churches scattered throughout the cities and country side. Shintoism, an ancient worship with deep roots in Japanese soil, appears in both small and large shrines often nestled in amongst the larger more impressive Buddhist Temples. Reverence for the natural world permeates the Shinto belief system where both animate and inanimate objects have souls. Often cars and homes are blessed to protect them against bad luck and misfortune. When Buddhism came to Japan via Korea and China, the Japanese embraced a religion that focuses on the individual’s spiritual enlightment of the soul. As far as I understand, Buddhism did not negate the beliefs embedded within Shintoism and therefore these religions still co-exist today. Christianity arrived late sometime in the 15th century and again the Japanese managed to adapt the tenants of Christian morality to their eastern cultural identity. Although less than 1% of Japanese today consider themselves to be Christian, a very large number of brides and grooms include a western, Christian aspect to their wedding. A typical Japanese wedding will have many changes of costumes, one of which is the White Wedding gown that marks a Christian ceremony. Today when the Japanese are polled and asked what religion they practice, the total percent exceeds 100. Apparent in these statistics, Japanese people identify themselves with more than one religion. From these statistics also, one would assume that the Japanese are considerably religious people, yet according to my guides, religion in Japan is practiced more for its traditional influence rather than for its strict adherence to dogmatic practice.

Time Lag

I have gotten behind in my writing. Go Figure - each day has been so packed and I am trying so hard to keep up but....I am not as young as I used be. I plan on continuing writing my experiences when I get home - I leave tomorrow for NM - so even though there will be a time lag in my postings, you can still access this blog in the coming days to learn more about environmental education in Japan, my home stay, the Kananko Sensory museum (the best museum I have ever experienced - and not to toot my own horn but I have visited museums all over the world), sustainable food practices in the schools and much more..... So much to tell you.

Photo: Karen at the Recycling Museum - another fabulous story.

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.

Tea Perks You Up!

The Tea Ceremony came to Japan from China via Zen Buddhism. Our teacher and guide Nitta-san explained that the main occupation of the Buddhist monk is to meditate, which often would make the practicioners very sleepy. So the monks drank green tea to perk them up as it is loaded with caffeine. However, the tea was expensive so traditionally, only the monks drank it. Eventually the tea was prescribed to restore the health as it contains many vitamins such as vitamin A and C. As more people began to drink green tea, the tea developed a social and entertainment value. Tea drinking became so fashionable that feudal lords built elaborate tearooms to show their prestige. As with many aspects of Japanese culture, tea drinking was formalized into a ceremony to express the beauty and reverence of nature and the appreciation for the gift of tea. It is said that it takes 10 years to master the art. If you look closely, you will see that the tea ceremony is carried out in one stream of continuous motion. Nitta-san says, “ Learning the tea ceremony takes a long time and is difficult to master…..but it is easy to drink tea!” Green tea is bitter and not sweetened, so the start of the ceremony is begun with a sweet. After one enters the tearoom and quietly kneels on the tatami mat, one is presented with a sweet bean paste curd decorated with a small candy that is shaped depending on the season. Our shape was a green maple leaf. After savoring the sweet, the foamy deep green tea is brought out in a slightly larger than fist sized ceramic bowl, each bowl uniquely decorated. Mine had lovely flowers both inside and outside the rim. As the bowl is placed in front of you, you bow deeply with both hands folded together on the mat. You then pick up the bowl, with both hands, the left hand carefully cradling the bottom. Remember the tea itself is valuable, but the bowls can also set you back a few yen. The mamasan of the tea ceremony explained that some bowls can cost over a million yen! So don’t drop it. The bowl has been placed in front of you so that you can see the beautiful design. You then rotate the bowl to the right twice in your palm. As you bring the bowl close to your face, you bow again in thanks. The tea is hot and in winter the bowl is shaped more narrowly to keep the tea warm, in summer the bowl has a wider mouth to release the heat. The taste for a devoted tea drinker is heavenly. The mamasan asked if anyone would like a second bowl and I of course raised my hand.

NO More Nagasaki, NO More Hiroshima

From the Teaching of Buddha - DHAMMAPADA
Hatreds never cease by hatreds in this world. By love alone they cease. This is an ancient Law. (5)

Only a few weeks after the bombing of Nagasaki, Senator Fulbright initiated a program of exchange to promote peace and understanding of the people of the world. Since the inception of the Fulbright program, 275,000 people have directly participated in this ideal. As an offshoot of the Fulbright Scholarship program, the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund gives teachers from the United States an opportunity through the Peace Education Session to learn first hand from survivors of the atom bomb, (HIBAKSHU), about forgiveness and the ideal that love alone can conquer the hatreds of this world. Susumu Ishitani, a survivor of Hiroshima began his story with an apology. Imagine if you can, witnessing the complete destruction of everything you know and love in the blink of an eye and then moving forward through this rubble and reaching out to humanity by asking forgiveness.
The experience of annihilation did not end for Ishitani on August 6th 1946. He and the other survivors lived through the feeling of guilt for having survived while so many others died as well as through recrimination and fear. Survivors were believed to be contagious, which made it difficult to find mates, friends and jobs. If the Hibakshas had children, they lived with the fear that they would pass on the genetic destruction caused by the radiation. Even if they survived the initial blast, many faced a slower death through cancer. By 1950, only 53 % of the people who had experienced the explosion first hand were still alive.
Susumu Ishitani believes that in order to create peace someone must take the initiative and that is why he begins his story with an apology. He believes that people are people wherever we go and that we must learn from the past to make the world a more peaceful place. Susumu and others like him are helping to promote peace by telling their stories. Tomoko Yanagi – a child of a survivor, told us of peace education efforts throughout Japan and the world. You can access these efforts at the websites listed to the right. One of these efforts is a Children’s Peace Summit held on August 6th where two children are selected to deliver to their own Commitment to Peace.