Terakoya (Kamei Academy): My New Challenge for the New Millennium
My Dreams
I want to establish a community center in which people in Matsusaka and the rest of the world will be able to gather in harmony. (Click on Matsusaka to see my hometown's official homepage. It has an English page, so scroll donw and find "English online" on the page below.)
My biggest dream has been for me to do something to make Japan a little more lovable country by not only Japanese but also foreigners than before. The community center was an idea to achieve the dream... To study at graduate school in the United States was one of the ways I had chosen to get there. Certainly it expanded my visions and deepened my skills and knowledge. However, it also has played a little bit different role than I expected.
It has made myself quite a stranger in Japan and It made me miss more than ever the United States, which I regard as my second home since my homestay in 1988 academic year as an exchange student in high school in Texas.
Therefore, my endeavors, having started already, for the new millennium has become not only to do something for this country and people (even if it is a very very very very small step) but also for myself to reevaluate myself and my country. And I choose to do it with my little friends... children in the community. That's what I want to do with the new school - Terakoya Kamei -I am going to open in March...
What is different between Japan and the United States?
First of all, it is the freedom you feel. It is not freedom in terms of choices or chances as you may think of from the United States at first. But it is the freedom from the ideas of stereotypes or commonness... sameness...you name it. I do not know if these words make sense, but in Japan, there are too many things under the name of "equality" that would force others to do against their wishes or without letting them have chances to notice their desire because of the "equality" of our own forced in some sense or to keep the harmony of trivials. It is not the equality but it is just a sameness if there is a word for it.
Not too long ago, on TV, I saw the interviews to the youngstars in Japan with a question o f when they felt comfortable. The majority of them answered "to be the same as others."
I now teach English and other subjects to students at the ages of 13-18 and the seniors of high school I teach this year once raised a question: "One of my friends said she had been studying 8 hours a day besides the school hours. Do I have to study that long to pass the entrance exams? How long did you study when you were a senior?" There are lots of answers and questions come out from the students, saying, "My friends do,too," "Because my friends do," "I am not the only one who..."
"Do you kill yourself, if your friends do?" is one of the answers I always give them to those questions... (Am I too aggressive?? For me studying for 8 hours itself seemed to be a suicidal deed... I had never studied more than 2 hours at home until I entered graduate school...)
I believe there are lots of ways for them to take as some of the youngstars, particularly in cities, seemingly try to express themselves by their "outrageous" fashion... (I think my American friends, Pete and Keith would understand what kind of fashion I mean.. ) And I want to help them expand their choices. And notice every one of them is very precious at the moment they were born here and know what they can do. I know it is hard to be unique in this country, but I felt twice as much pleasure and joy by being unique. "UNIQUENESS" seems to have been taken differently in Japan and the States... Uniqueness usually seems to be a good word in the States, but in Japan, it is sometimes used "ironically."
I donot know if my sentences make sense, as it is written late at night. But I hope they do...
I also want my little friends to know that going abroad or speaking English are not the goals to be an internationalized or globalized individual. We become real global citizens when we accept the differences and respect others with those differences. You can be internationalized or globalized even if you stay where you are... only if you become open-minded.
Acquanting myself with many people with many cultures made me realize not only the differences but also give me the clues of my true values and my culture... It is a dual experience when you get to know other cultures or other languages... you get to know the new cultures and also realize your own.
with my favorite friends:
My favorite twins on the left and my favorite couple on the right:)
Other pictures will be posted later, too. I do not have scanner right now so I am using a little bit old pictures in Pittsburgh.
On Society:
My hometown, Matsusaka, is a relatively small town in the Japanese standard... I know it has as big a population as qualified as an urban area in the standard of the United States... My loving family is here and that is what I want to treasure most. I could create a family of my own anywhere but until then, this place is where I want to be.
Matsusaka is a town of history, great foods, and great people, even though they are sometimes too conservative and too narrowly minded, or very lazy. But I think this town has a great quality of life in terms of the people's heart. I do not want them to lose it and hope that we can hand them down to the next generation.
What I do not like of Matsusaka:
On life:
still thinking...
And .... About Hobbies:
Sewing:
I started to learn how to sew in June last year from my sister. My sister is a professional of sewing and making something out of clothes... I do not have those talents as she does, but I started to learn this time... My mom weaves traditional cotton cloth of Matsusaka Momen (Matsusaka Cotton, sales of which built the base for the Mitsukoshi Department Store now... by Takatoshi Mitsui from our town.) And my sister usually make something out of the cloth my mom weaves... so I decided to join them.. Here is the sample of my pieces..: You can buy it at my sister's shop, "PRIMAVERA," which means spring in Portuguese and Italian, named after my sister's name HARUHI... My sister always completes my piece with her professional skills... so it becomes a good product. : )
Watching Movies
Besides sewing I enjoy watching movies at home. I have seen many of relatively old movies as well as ones relatively new. I could not see many movies when I was younger, so I am making up for them now..
Reading Books:
My favorite writer in Japan has been ENDO SHUSAKU (sorry this page only has a Japanese version). He died a few years ago, but I have not yet finished reading all of his books, so I am now trying to finish up. My library of his books are getting bigger and bigger year by year.
I graduated from a Catholic Missionary Junior and Senior high school, even though my family is Buddist. I regard the Buddist preach and Shintonist morals with me are my ethical and moral base but I believe in God of some kind. His books seem to have helped me understand something beyond us and the world more than the teaching I got in the schools. His books are sometimes depressing, but I rather try to read them when I am in depression, and I can see the hope he seems to show us... I do not know if this makes sense, though.
People, his books have been translated into many languages and I recomend you to read them, especially"Silence" and "Deep River." Also, people in Japan, his historical books on the Civil War Era in Japan are great, too.
I fell in love with NOBUNAGA ODA, one of the warrior leaders of that time through one of his novels. I read a lot of historical novels. I like the stories onCivil War Era in Japan as well as the stories in the Middle Age in Europe.
Homepages of my friends in English
Chiharu Kondo Homepage of my best Japanese friend I ever had in Pittsburgh. She is not only caring and charming but also funny, humorous and ... cute!
Kathia Monard Homepage of minha Latina Americana amiga, the best friend of my best friend, that means my favorite friend... haha. She is a very charming intelligent caring happy person. Chiharu, I forgot the word "intelligent" for you. Sorry.:)
Kurt Nagano Homepage of my Hawaiian friend... He was the biggest fan of my homepage at Pitt. I got to know him through my homepage two summers ago.. and he has been one of the most caring friends of mine in the world.
J. Paul Narkunas His page on Japan will be one of the useful resourses for my classes. Resourses on Japan
My favorite Friends in Japan
My dearest dog at his favorite spot on the left and my best friends in college on the right. Pictures from a few years ago.
News:
CNN Do I have to explain about this page?
My home:
Matsusaka: my hometown's page created by the city government
Mie: my home prefectural page created by the local government
Japanese Government:
Prime Minister: An English page of Prime Minister OBUCHI and his office. It covers from policy announcements to kids' pages and public surveys.
Official Pages of Ministry of Education, Agency of Cultural Affairs, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Japan Information Network: Introducing Japan in English from many aspects..
Sports:
E-cards:
All of my friends would know that I am such a letter and mail writer. I use a lot of these ecard pages but these two above are my favorites. Others are: Electric Greeting Cards, Xenus Postcard, 1001 Postcards, All-Yours Free Digital Postcards, Attitude Postcards,Tess' Castle,Egreeting Com, Message Mates, and Postcard Today (This has a Japanese version). If you know good ones, please let me know.
