Questions for Kazuko's English Village

We're looking forward to the answers!

1. What's your favorite food?
2. What's your favorite fashion?
3. How do you cuss in Japanese? (You can censor this one!)
4. Are there hot springs near your town?
5. What are some traditional events in Japan?
6. What kind of dancing to the Japanese do?
7. What kind of food do Japanese people eat?
8. Are you allowed to bring music from home to school and listen to it?
9. When is your New Year and how do you celebrate it?
10. What kind of music is hot in Japan?
11. What are the top video games in Japan?
12. How is life in Japan?
13. Do they listen to rap music?
14. How do they do the wedding celebration?
15. How is your grading system?

Harajuku Girls!

I am thinking of Violet, the very genki student in my Japanese elective class, who loves Harajuku. I visited that fun section of Tokyo -- my guide book says it is for the spendy and trendy -- and took many photos. For now, however, I must resort to some found through Google images as I am using a 100 yen per 15 minutes machine in the hotel lobby in Yokohama. Whoops. I can't understand the kanji on this computer to know how to upload a photo. Mata ne?

What Kind of Hairstyles Do You Like?

That's a question Cesar of Media Academy had for Japanese teenagers. So far in Ena, I've noticed that the boys take great care in their hair, sometimes adding clips! These two boys at Ena High School had some of the more fashionable hair. I am sure to see some crazy hair when I go to Harajuku (Violet's favorite part of Tokyo!).

Hey Mickey! Hey Mickey!

Japanese schools are not all work. Above are students in one homeroom class at Ena High, the area's most academic school, practicing for their school festival, which will be held right before classes start again in September. Another homeroom was preparing for a drama by painting sets on the day I visited. Each homeroom contributes some sort of cultural activity to the festival.

Media Academy: What if we tried this with our advisories?

Can You Use Cell Phones in Class?

I visited Ena High School today through the help of my host, Mr. Murai, and his connections at the school. Here Madako, a third year student (senior), answers my questions about cell phones in class. Her homeroom class had just finished preparing for the school festival and was getting ready to do school cleaning before the end of the day.

Do you like school uniforms?

Students from Media Academy gave me an array of questions to ask Japanese teenagers during my trip. One of Emely's questions was "Do you like to wear school uniforms?"

So far, every student I have asked has said "Yes." They tell me that they think their uniforms are cute, it's easy to get dressed in the morning and they like wearing what their friends wear.

One boy, Ryohei of Ena, said he liked to wear uniforms in the winter but that they are too hot in the summer. It's been close to 100 degrees recently and the humidity is like none I've ever experienced in America, even in the Midwest. If you want to say "it's hot" in Japanese, say "atsui desu." And "it's hot and humid" is "mushi atsui desu."

Japanese Juku Students Learn About Oakland Teens

Students who showed up for their cram school (juku) class tonight with Kazuko Sensei had no idea they'd be getting a special lesson in Oakland teen culture. Saki, Akane, Yukina, Kota and Ryohei at first seemed quite reluctant/shy to meet the surprise foreign guest (me), but soon started talking a lot when I opened up the Media Academy yearbook for them to see. They were very surprised about many things they saw, but most particularly they were shocked to learn about grills through a yearbook page featuring Media mouth bling. They pointed to students at Media who look like people they know in Japan; they thought Coach Knight looked like a gangster in his spirit week 80s costume; they said that the seniors looked like they were going to the Academy Awards in their senior photos. And one student thought Aiden looked like Orlando Bloom.

Oakland teens would be equally surprised to know that even though these students are in the first week of their one-month summer break, they still go to cram school three times a week and don't finish their classes until 9:30 p.m.

I showed the students video of Media students who had recorded special questions for me to ask Japanese teenagers during my trip. The questions were on topics ranging from hairstyles and school uniforms to samurai swords and Japanese culture. The juku students gave answers to almost all the Media questions while their teacher videotaped them. I'm excited to show Media students the answers to their questions and also look forward to setting up some penpals between Media Academy students and these Ena teens.

For now, here's a little aisatsu from three of the students to Media Academy students:

Fremont Tiger fans, check this out!

One of the biggest sports events of the year in Japan is not professional, not collegiate, but high school. The Japanese national high school baseball tournament is underway and there are now just four teams left in each ken (prefecture). And as you can see from the video above, the fans go nuts -- at least when their team is at bat. Strict rules allow the fans for the team at bat to stand up, dance and yell out chants for their team, while the other fans may only clap their megaphones together politely while sitting with their mouths shut. At the end of the game, the losing team bows to the winning team and each team then bows to its fans. The tournament gets huge play on Japanese televsion and professional scouts are out and about, looking for the next Ichiro.

I got to experience the tournament first hand today, traveling to Gifu City with my hosts to see Toki Commercial High School fans cheer their team on to 6-3 victory. My host, Mr. Murai, was the principal of TCHS until April of this year when he retired. (Murai is famous in Gifu Ken for being the first college player to dunk a basketball!)

Making Beats Japanese Style

These are taiko players I saw at a school festival in Kamakura, outside of Tokyo. School let out on Saturday for Japanese students, but their summer vacation is a short break and does not mark the end of the school year. The school year in Japan starts in April.