I made this short video featuring my kids’ outdoors school digging potatoes. Digging potatoes in the Fall is part of the rhythm of life for Japanese kids, but I think this group does it with style. I’ve always liked the way they relate and work together, something that the teacher cultivates starting in preschool until they finish the outdoors school after the sixth grade. Years ago we saw a group of kids from the school playing together and noticed how the boys and girls were getting along so well. That really go our attention. I guess you’d have to see how Japanese kids play and relate to understand (e.g., groups of boys all sitting around each with his own Nintendo DS, groups of girls nearby checking cell phones for email). Anyway, you can click to watch in HD if your connection is fast enough. Leave a comment with your thoughts below.
Family
Japanese sports day picture gallery
Here are a few photos to give you the feel of being at a children’s sports day at a school in Japan. Well, they can’t really capture all the feelings of parents watching the events which range from pride and wonder to boredom and pain. I felt all of these today. When only Reia was participating we were always waiting and waiting for her next event. Today it seemed like our kids were constantly coming up next. They were all very proud of their dances, and Maika was selected for the relay (one of just a few girls in her grade). Mari is actually faster than Maika, but they were on different teams — and Mari happened to be on the team with most of the fastest 1st grade girls.
I haven’t posted any photos of my kids, because I like these shots better. Mostly I shot video of my kids with a scattering of photos in between events.
The highlights of sports days are often the running events. Even though they aren’t supposed to be very competitive, at least not in elementary school, it still works out that way. They also have fun relays, dances, and the older kids do “gymnastic exercises” (for lack of a better word in English). It’s a long day in the hot sun, and if you’ve seen one… But if you ever have a chance, I recommend attending one. They’re free. They’re happening all over the place at this time of year, and anyone can walk in.
Today on the last lap of the final relay a boy came from behind in 3rd place to win. It was amazing, because he made up more than 20 meters over such a short space. When the final score was announced the red and white teams had tied: 288 to 288.
What kinds of experiences will our kids call normal?
Reia and the henna tattoo guy in Indonesia
This morning I stepped out of McDonalds next to our local train station and took a deep breath. It was raining lightly, and the air was crisp and fresh. For a moment, I remembered the feeling of being at 10,000 feet at the crest of the Sandia Mountains outside Albuquerque. I remembered gathering with others on hard packed snow under perfectly blue sky waiting for a cross-country ski race to begin. The air up there on such a day is amazing.
Then I wondered if my kids are missing something growing up in Tokyo. They’ve never been at the top of such a high mountain. In my childhood we seemed to be on the move all the time, always enjoying the outdoors in new ways. What a rich life that was after all.
Later I realized, with some help from my wife, that our oldest daughter is only in the third grade. At that age, I had never been on top of a mountain. I had lived in three states, twice in small towns, and as a toddler I had lived on a military base in Japan. But overall life looked pretty mundane.
But our kids have been mountain biking and kayaking for two years. Our oldest has gone kayaking down river rapids, and we weren’t even there to see it. They have been camping many times with and without us. Our oldest has lived in two countries, and they have all traveled with us to three other countries in Asia. This year we’ll spend Christmas in Cambodia. With a start like that, what kinds of experiences will our kids call “normal” by the time they reach high school?
I guess they’re not deprived after all. It’s funny how I missed that (most likely because mountains are weighted so heavily on my own list). They are only in danger of being so active they won’t ever learn to settle down…
Reia playing piano
Maybe you remember we got a piano for Christmas. We finally Reia found a piano teacher in July, so this is the first progress report after six lessons. I was going to wait until she’d nailed the piece, but today she kept asking me to video her. I love watching her play. I never learned how to play anything well, so I really hope she becomes a natural.
Poor Maika has noticed Reia getting lots of attention for her piano playing today, so she’s been hammering out chopsticks over and over all evening. I love all my girls!
Got swine flu, but I got better
Peasant: She turned me into a newt!
Bedevere: A newt?
Peasant: … I got better.
We left for a long anticipated camping trip Tuesday, driving past Okutama and Mount Mitake to a beautiful expanse of forested wilderness on the northwestern edge of Tokyo. After 30 minutes of driving I asked Hitomi to take the wheel because my head didn’t feel right. I suspected a fever but thought I might just be tired and congested. Anway what better place to recover from a mild cold than a campsite with clean air, calm nature, and clear weather.
We arrived, set up camp, and started the barbecue grill. Then we ate a mountain of marinated beef and pork along with hot dogs and a few veggies to help it all down. Despite reports of good weather, we finished under a few drops of rain. We headed up to take showers, but after trudging up the hill I changed my mind. I was feeling the fever again, and I was afraid a shower might send me over the edge.
After some warm tea, we all crawled into the tent to sleep. We could hear our neighbors, a family, carrying on a low conversation. Of greater concern, the group of college students just twenty meters down the hill were talking and laughing loudly. I had spoken with them earlier that evening. They had all taken a liking to our girls, and they were friendly enough. Just college students.
Normally, I can sleep through such things, but for the next 2 hours I lay awake tossing and turning, unable to get comfortable in any position. I was always too hot or too cold, and my legs and back hurt terribly as if my nerves were being stretched tight. Meanwhile, the students became louder and louder. I confess, I fantasized about setting their tents on fire using the charcoal starter I’d brought. Don’t worry, it was only fantasy never a consideration. But, finally, driven by outrage and an overriding need to use the restroom, I unzipped the tent and walked out in the rain. I came upon three of them in the shelter just below us. One was standing on a table singing exuberantly into a broom handle to an audience of two hooting and smiling girls. I lurched into their view and with as much fury as I could convey, a lot at that moment (believe it or not), I said in Japanese, “I’m your neighbor, and none of us can sleep!” The singing guy lowered his broom and said, “Sumimasen!” (excuse me).
That might have been the end of it, but I did something out of character that I’ll blame on my fever (although maybe your character is precisely what comes out at such a time). I left them with a few choice words in English to let them know what I thought of “Sumimasen” and turned and walked away. Then I went to the restroom. I heard a couple of girls talking loudly in stalls, one of them nearly wailing. I imagine they were drunk. Due to the nature of Japanese restrooms, I could see the whole row of stalls. I put my head just inside the door and repeated what I’d said at the shelter, minus the last part. They hushed. I went to the bathroom, then returned to bed.
The noise mostly stopped after that, but I couldn’t sleep. All night my head was full of dark thoughts, guilt over getting so angry, and frustration at the pain that kept me awake. I heard the students finally go to sleep at 1:30am. I may have sleep a bit from 4:30 to 7am.
The rain started coming down hard just as we all woke up. We might have waited it out, but I didn’t want to spend another night like the one before. We packed up during a lull and drove straight home. The rest of the story isn’t that interesting. I went to the doctor. A nurse stuck a very thin Q-Tip extremely far up my nose. The test came back “Influenza Type A.” They didn’t specifically test for the H2N1 virus, but it’s the only “Type A” flu going around in Tokyo. So I started taking medicine. That was yesterday. Last night wasn’t great, but I feel much, much better now.
I’ll be working hard today and tomorrow, along with my wife, to get as much done as we can. Probably she and the kids will all be getting sick soon. At least they will be over it before school starts and before my next trip to Cambodia in two weeks. I can’t imagine having to leave with them all sick.
(I suspect I got infected during my trip to downtown Tokyo last week. It could have happened at the hip-hop festival or at “Kabab Box J” near Takeshitadori, where I had an incredibly tasty and highly recommended pita sandwhich. Mmmm, the spicy sauce… But more likely it happened on the train.)