So it’s been a few days since I’ve written. I’ve had even more amazing times. On Sunday I got up early to help a student with the speech contest. (It’s tomorrow! Wish her luck!) She was working on pronunciation and memorization. It really is difficult for Japanese people to say a lot of sounds we have in English. For example, in the word “thanking” they don’t have the “th” sounds in Japanese so often will say “sanking.” However, with a little practice she was doing very well. Below is the speech. It was written by my supervisor, me, and the student together.
“My Wishes for Beautiful Japan
Do you have a neighbor? Is your neighbor kind and powerful? Mine is. She sings for us every day and always gives us food. She gives life.
She brings fish for my father’s fishing nets in the steam of the summer and ice of the winter. Her waves carry a constant reminder of our source of food. Because of this, my family never wasted a bite of fish. “You should even eat the bones,” my father once said. So I ate the bones.
Recently, we had an Australian boy stay with our family. At dinner, he left food in his bowl. I wanted him to finish, even though his culture was different. “Please eat, because….” I felt sad when I saw food left in the bowl. Was it that he did not like our food? No. There was something deeper, but all I could think was that I always finished everything, even fish bones. I could not explain why I was uneasy.
I do remember my father telling me about the fish the sea provided. He said, “The fish give us their lives. We must not waste these precious lives.”
Maybe this was the answer. We must finish everything because it is a gift from nature. Before dinner we say Itadakimasu. This Japanese saying literally means, ‘’I am receiving this food with thanks.”
Who are we thanking? We are thanking our neighbor, the sea. We are thanking the nature and people who bring this food to us.
Families have less time to explain Itadakimasu because of their busy lives. In one study, most elementary school students drew themselves eating dinner without their families. We are forgetting our values which the old Japanese people worked hard to pass on. I am proud of Japan’s philosophy, but I am worried that we are forgetting.
Not everyone forgets. In a nearby school the teachers and students added more words to Itadakimasu that convey its deeper meaning. Now the children of that school understand this deep feeling of gratitude. My wish for Japan is that adults will pass down these strong values to the children of Japan. When I am older I wish to pass down these values as a teacher and parent.
I have one final wish for Japan. I wish that we can understand ourselves well enough to explain our culture to foreigners. If I had another chance to meet the Australian boy, I would tell him about our thanks to nature. I believe he would understand me, and would say, “I love Japan more than ever now. It is a beautiful country.”
Thank you.”
We are very proud of the speech and the student’s effort and hope she does well tomorrow!
Meanwhile, I’ve done some pottery! Sunday afternoon I went to find out about pottery classes at a place called “Parea Wakasa” ten minutes from my house. It’s a community center, with a library, gym (I’ll be using this in the winter!), theater, day care center, café, etc. It’s a nice modern building and has a good atmosphere. I think I will spend a lot of time here. The café even had bagels! I like the library a lot but unfortunately there are few books in English and you have to stumble across them. But there was a nice Japanese man there who spoke a bit of English who I think was telling me I could get books they don’t have through inter-library loan. So perhaps there is a free source of English books! I’ll have to check this out once I finish the ones in my apartment.
Anyway, there are also pottery classes offered there, and Paul and I took them. Paul did well! We were the only students that day and the teacher didn’t speak much English, but what a good way to expand my Japanese vocabulary! We made two pots each and they will be glazed for us (we chose the color) and sent to our schools. I’m going to keep going when I can and hopefully move up to a more advanced level.
Anyway, I have to go for now, but thanks for reading! My computer is still being repaired (they are waiting on ordering a part… I wonder what they are ordering…) so it may be awhile before I’m online again. Until then, take care everyone and call my cell phone!
Hugs,
Lisa
