I'm ok. R U ok?
Mood:  lyrical
Our first week back at school, and we have a shortened schedule all week (40 minute classes). I finally got around to asking why. Here's the reason i was given:

At the beginning of each term (after a break away from school) the teachers schedule an after-school meeting with every student to check in with her/him one-on-one to see how his/her vacation went. Are there any problems, concerns? It's a chance for each student to talk with her/his homeroom teacher quietly alone. Can you imagine us doing this in the U.S.? The things the kids would tell us!

Coming of Age Day
Mood:  bright
Here's another amazing national holiday in Japan. This one honors the 20 year olds. Every man and woman who will turn 20 this year has the opportunity to dress up, for the women, in gorgeous kimono and, for the men, in cool black suits. Actually, i saw one guy all decked up in kimono as well. All day long i watched them present themselves at the shrines, and i'm guessing that they pray for their future careers and lives. As we walked around town i think that there is another dynamic at work. It looked to me like the guys and gals were checking out the eligible bachelors and bachelor-ettes in their finest attire. It's hard to imagine the US having a special holiday to celebrate our youth "Coming of Age." Maybe it would be a good idea instead of celebrating dead presidents! (No offense to our beloved presidents, but sometimes it seems that we could do a bit of formally recognizing our kids and telling them that they are important too!)

Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu
Mood:  cheeky
Now Playing: Happy New Year
I've discovered a new group! We met in Kyoto at Yasaka Shrine. These eager Japanese English language students showed us some of the Japanese New Year's traditions today. It is very popular to visit a shrine in the first days of the New Year. Many people offer money and pray for a prosperous New Year. They showed us how to rinse our hands and mouths at the spring fed fountain before praying at the shrine. How to bow and throw some coins and pray. We did a walking tour through the Gion District and spied a few Maiko, young girls in training to be Geisha. We ended the afternoon in a wonderful upstairs room tasting osechi-ryori, traditional New Year's fare. A small sampling consisted of burdock root for good health, lotus root (it's hollow) for a bright future, sweet sardines for a good harvest, black soybeans (they represent hardships) but they are eaten for good health, yellow tail (buri) for a successful continuation of family lines. Great day shared with lovely Japanese folks as well as guests from all over the world.

By the way:
I just found this clipping from the San Francisco Chronicle that i brought back to Japan with me:

"Dead Editor: First flashes of the earthquake's cataclysmic devastation in that quadrant of the world (Indonesia) may begin to put into perspsective the puny conceptions of 'security' for which this nation puts its Constitution at risk.
May we rejoin the world in 2005 in united humility, generosity, poise and with tempered leadership."

Well said.

Peace Please
Mood:  on fire
I just bought a calender about the Dalai Lama so i will be quoting him once a month.

"Peace starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share that peace with neighboring communities, and so on. Respponsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job."

from the "Policy of Kindness," the Dalai Lama

Happy New Year
Mood:  special
Happy New Year and may peace reign in your heart.
I've just returned from a nice visit to the states. I arrived on Xmas Eve in San Francisco and rented a car to drive for about 2 hours north to visit my parents, relatives and friends. It was a great visit but i'm very glad to be back in my cozy apartment.
more later.

Zero Population Growth
Mood:  incredulous
Here's an interesting article from the Daily Yomiuri, Dec.22nd, 2004:

The (Japanese) government will set numerical targets for companies and local governments to create an environment that will halt the decline in the birthrate, according to a new program addressing the issue.
The program will be approved Friday at a government panel halting the decline in the birthrate.
The program is an action plan based on an outline approved by the Cabinet in June for dealing with a society with a declining birthrate.
The program has four major goals:
-- To help children grow up to be independent and healthy.
-- To help parents manage work at the office and at home and to review the work environment.
-- To teach young people the value of life and the role of the family.
-- To encourage further cooperation in child-rearing.
The government will work on these goals from fiscal 2005 to fiscal 2009.
Targets for companies include encouraging employees to take at least 55 percent of paid holidays every year; establishing a system of child-care leave in all companies; and cutting the number of employees who work more than 60 hours a week by at least 10 percent.
On average, employees took only 47 percent of paid holidays in fiscal 2003, while 61 percent of companies introduced child-care leave systems in 2002.

(Bold and underscore are my additions)

Kobe Luminaria
Mood:  amorous
I'll be visiting this place on Wed. night but just discovered this incredible website. Check it out.
These are Italian designed round globe lights. It is dedicated to the people of this area in remembrance of the horrible Hanshin/Awaji earthquake. The 10th anniversary of this earthquake will be in January.
KOBE LUMINARIA

Runningu
Mood:  cool
Running a marathon in under five hours seems like a daunting undertaking. I've been a bit discouraged with my times but today i gained a bit of hope when i ran a fairly easy 4 miles in 40 minutes. I think i can!

Sunday, Dec. 12th
Saki and Takarazuka Review

Saki is one of my first "favorite" students who i met after arriving in Japan. She is mature beyond her 14 years. We practiced endlessly together last year for her first try at the All Nishinomiya Speech and Recitation Contest. She did a recitation about Landmines that i felt was very good, but then i must admit a bit of a bias. Anyway, she didn't win last year. She came back as a 3rd grader and won 1st place this year. We are so very proud of her. Her speech this year was her dream of becoming a ballerina. I knew that she was enthralled with this dance troupe in Takarazuka (near Nishinomiya) so i asked her if she could get us tickets to see this spectacle and voila...Sunday we met and had a marvelous lunch together. We browsed through all the shops displaying endless photos, stickers and related paraphernalia on every single woman in these shows! And we got to experience the full Takarazuka Review which was 3 hours long.

This troupe is celebrating its 90th year. The first performance of the Takarazuka was in 1914. "Mon Paris", staged in 1927, heralded the arrival of the revue era. The all-female company has been offering delightful combinations of song, dance and drama while performing both male and female roles in contemporary and traditional productions. The troupe changed its name to The Takarazuka Revue Company in 1940, and divided into separate groups called "Flower", "Moon", "Snow", "Star", and "Special Course" which have performed predominantly at the home stage in Osaka at the Takarazuka Grand Theater.

We watched the Snow troupe perform a drama called "In Quest of the Blue Bird." It opens on the top floor of a New York skyscraper. A party is being held to announce an engagement of the actress Brenda Burton to Jake, the son and heir of the president of El Grande, the number one underwear manufacturer in the US. It is going to be a marriage of convenience only. She is a model and greedy for his big bucks, and he wants only to keep her as a "model" wife (great for press photos). A brother, Vincent, arrives who has denounced Jake's inhumane way of management. Vince has quit the business and is working as an Alpine rescuer. The plot thickens and there's something about a nun who has donated an organ to one of the men. The bluebird speaks to Jake and tells him that his fate lies in another woman named Gina who he spends most of the rest of the show trying to find. Good grief, it's a bit difficult to follow in all Japanese but the acting, costuming, dance and music are great. The story is so convoluted that it's pretty funny, i think.

The second half of the show is a Japanese version of a Las Vegas dance review including the requisite chorus line of long legged can-can girls. The women are fantastic in both male and female roles. The costuming is out of this world. The music ranges from Japanese classic to some tunes that sound vaguely familiar to some wild, electronic, jazz, fusion, heavy metal blends. The stage is more incredible than anything that i have ever seen - much more intricate than Cats or Les Miz. The rotating platform that takes up most of the stage includes at least 3 trap doors where performers can rise from below the stage on different levels. The sets are spectacular and razzle-dazzle. It was thoroughly enjoyable even though i couldn't understand a word that was said or sung. Check it out on the web:

Takurazuka Review

Photos to come later on my web page.

Am i in Heaven?
Mood:  energetic
i'm running 9 miles this morning. The autumn breeze is cooling my face and hot bod. The sun is shining, but it's lost it's power to create much heat this time of the year. Multi-colored leaves are falling like rain from the sky. Life is good.

Unsupervised youth
Mood:  incredulous
Can you imagine taking 13 and 14 year olds to Seattle and letting them go on their own tours of the city? Each group of about 40 kids has a GPS. The teachers are in an Internet cafe somewhere in the city monitoring each group's progress online. That's what happened with our 2nd graders last week. Two hundred students all clambered onto buses on Friday morning and headed for Kyoto. All the 2nd grade teachers accompanied them on the bus. The week before, the kids researched what they wanted to see in Kyoto and mapped out their own personally designed tour. Then each group leader got a GPS cell phone and off they went. The teachers received a printout map of their trip from the GPS company. The biggest issue is that some of the students made plans to eat in a restaurant instead of eating their packed bento box lunches. They didn't lose a single kid and no one got hurt. No parents were upset and no one got sued. Amazing.