Linking Maine and Japan

Today we had a day of lectures from education and government officials. We leaned about Japanese education and issues they are working on, as well as their view of their economic place in the world. The JFMF program booked really outstanding and important people for our seminars. Two members of their Diet (Congress) spoke with us, and answered our questions. Yuji Tsushima is the head of the LDP party, and spoke with us very eloquently in English. Kuniko Inoguchi is a woman member of their House of Representatives, and is so smart and frank. She got her PhD from Yale. Each of the 198 teachers was presented with two books by Japanese author Kenji Miyazawa. A representative from their publisher read excerpts from the books and spoke a bit about the author’s history and ideas.

Evening was dinner on our own in Tokyo, so I went out with 6 other teachers from our group to explore Tokyo. We saw the Japanese version of “Times Square”with a huge TV screen on a building. We visited their teen “high fashion” area, Harajuku. We found a two used kimono shops, and had fun examining the absolutely beautify fabrics in the traditional kimono and obi. We saw a calligraphy artist painting outdoors. We visited a Japanese “dollar store”, the 100 yen store. We found more than one store devoted to the holiday “Halloween.” We took a taxi and I was able to say a few words with the driver. We rode the subway. I learned that the cars drive on the left side of the street here, not the right like in the US. The cars have the steering wheel on the right side, not the left like us. I have only seen two people wearing kimonos, other that the actors in the play we saw. They are traditional and much-loved clothing, but are not worn everyday, only for special occasions. Tokyo is a very modern city and is very clean and everyone is very polite and courteous.

People ride their bicycles on the sidewalks here, not the streets. It is not at all scary, because they ride slowly and are very careful of the pedestrians. Tonight we visited a shrine, Zojo-ji, which dates from 1393 but has been rebuilt since then.

There are thousands of Jizo statues that my tour book calls mini-guardians of the remains of six shogun, that are buried here. Each statue has a red and white pinwheel standing beside it. We also walked beneath Tokyo Tower, and learned it has 4 floors of museums, shops, and restaurants in the bottom four levels.
I’ll try to attach a few photos.

Sayonara,
Mrs. Grumbling