Emails from Kirsten and Naoto
February 2005
Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 13:36:38 -0800 (PST)
Subject: National Sports Pride
We are back from Wichita. It's kind of anticlimactic to be back in Tokyo. Things are changing here as friends move away, Mia gets ready for Japanese kindergarten, and Maika can suddenly reach everything above knee level. (it sounds busy, but really, it's anticlimactic)
I am wondering what Maika and I will do with ourselves during Mia's school time. I am wondering if Naoto's job will get any better now that he's had training on a different product.
And I can't help also wondering if I am starting my last year in Tokyo. I will be cruising monster.com and other employment websites in the hopes of finding Naoto a job stateside.
National Sports Pride
So the saying "It's only a game" never really has been any good, has it? It's never only just a sport, is it?
Two instances of how wrong that well-meaning phrase can be have come to my attention in Japan recently.
First instance is an article (yet another article) bemoaning the influx of foriegners into the top levels of sumo. There hasn't been a Japanese grand champion in sumo for a few years. Even before that, there were foreigner grand champions alongside the Japanese ones.
Since Sumo is a traditional Japanese sport, the article makes the Russian, Mongolian, and Polynesian sumo success seem like an invasion of the mother islands.
I guess it would be like if suddenly there were lots of foreigner stars in the NBA. The U.S. would suddenly start wondering if the country as a whole is losing it's heritage, that our sacred culture was being taken over by outsiders who would never truly understand what it was to be American....
NOT.
Japan, get over it. You're a first world country. Your younger generations are soft, coddled products of rich parents and a consumer culture. Of course there aren't many young boys willing to undergo the rigorous training and hazing of sumo houses.
In fact, Japan should be grateful to the foreign grand champions for bringing publicity to a sport waning in popularity.
So there.
Instance two is the soccer match between North Korea and Japan (yesterday, in fact) to decide who is going on to the world cup. (Japan won, 2-1)
This is the first time since 1966 (according to Yahoo sports) that North Korea tried to field a team for the World Cup.
And, as everybody in the world outside the U.S. knows, the World Cup is the most exciting world sports event there is (not the olympics anymore)
Of course there is all kind of background here. Japan's invasions of Korea. North Korea's kidnapping of Japanese citizens.
So Naoto says to me on the train yesterday (he was seeing us off to Mia's music class in Kichijoji) "Koizumi (Prime Minister) should get on tv and tell everybody that this isn't political and it's a game and that all the Japanese fans should behave responsibly. That would be good"
Usually I agree with Naoto's opinions about the government.
But this time I looked at him and said:
"It's always political. Sports are political."
I was thinking of the cold war rivalry between the former USSR and the USA. I was hearing the soundtrack to the musical "Chess" in my mind.
I just hope North Korea doesn't decide that losing the match means it has to prove it's superiority by other, more violent means....
love and light,
kirsten
p.s. Here's a photo of Mia and Maika with their cousins in Wichita. Could the two sides of the family BE any different?
Hey there. I just put up a bunch of photos from winter tokyo and my trip to
my brother's in wichita. If you have time, see:
http://community.webshots.com/user/kblincolnsuzuki
(album's name is december2004/january 2005
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 17:31:59 -0800 (PST)
Subject: kindergarten prep
Dear Friends and Family
Well, the Kindergarten saga continues. As April gets closer and closer it is hard for me (I know its cliche, but true) to believe that Mia is school age already.
I've been sending out resumes on a lark this past week. Last year when I sent out over a 100 resumes, we barely got any nibbles from the U.S. This time, Naoto's already had a phone interview for a company in Kent, Washington.
Oh, decisions, decisions. I'm not ready to make life altering decisiosn about where to live yet!
Kindergarten Prep
I went to the "one day kindergarten attendance" thing last weekend with the entire family.
I, again, worried that Mia wouldn't want to be separated from Naoto and I, but she again proved how little I know her. When the teachers shooed us into the big hall for our parent indoctrination, she just waved goodbye and kept playing with the clay.
Naoto could see her through a window from where he was playing with Maika and he said she didn't cry or anything, just looked pensive from time to time.
Okay folks, repeat after me "pain in the neck." Yep, that's what Kindergarten preparation is. Let's see, I have to make three different bags. I have to put Mia's name, group, and special mark (mia's a heart, but the woman next to me got pineapple. Thank god I didn't get a pineapple) on EVERYTHING. I have to write those three pieces of information ON EVERY SINGLE INDIVIDUAL CRAYON she has along with all the pieces of her uniform clothing, chopsticks (both of course), glue, lunchbox, and the list goes on.
So, I am observing that the famous Japanese regimentation is beginning even earlier than I thought.
1) We are supposed to get our Children to poo before they come to school in the morning. (how do I control Mia's BMs? please tell me?)
2) The school does not allow you to send forks/spoons in their lunchboxes. They want only chopsticks.
3) They want us to start practicing correct greetings at home. Japanese culture seems to put a big emphasis on energetically spoken good mornings, hellos, goodbyes, and table grace.
(so I want to say, it's okay for your kid to run around like a hellion as long as he or she says good morning and good bye properly? But that would be my U.S. culture talking.)
What was interesting to me was that in all the speechifying during that day, the main message was about how to pay attention to your kids. One point the vice principal said was "to start turning off the tv during meal times "
(the assumption here being that everyone has the tv on. )
The vice principal at that point said something like "I know the father may want to watch sports or you may want to watch a serial drama, but maybe you could wait until after the program is done to eat dinner together. It's important to talk to your kids."
Another big topic the VP spent time on in this speech was the importance of early bedtimes so that children can get up and to school on time.
Mia has always gone to sleep about 1-3 hours before most of her compatriots. She recently has gotten to stay up until 8:30 because she would never see Naoto if she didn't. Many of Mia's playmates routinely stay up until 10 or 12. I think it must be necessary to do so to see the father at all. Also, nothing here opens until 10 A.M., so even if you're up, there's no place to go!
In some ways I felt a little patronized. In some ways I recognize that the school is trying its best to be helpful and give some guidance to young mothers (because we all know daddy isn't really a part of the equation)
Having never been to kindergarten in the states, I wonder if there is a similiar attitude towards parents there.
Japan has traditionally tolerated more institutional and governmental guidance to families. I go back and forth on this. In some ways, I think it would be a good idea for education and welfare to be run by state or federal mandates. It would even things out. However, in other ways, it is better to let the local people decide how to do things.
Unless the local people are like, child-abusing terrorists or whatever.
I was talking with my brother on the phone this morning. He lives in Kansas in a school district with extremely rich people who made sure their schools are extremely good. And I used to live in Alameda, California, very close to the terrible, underfunded and forgotten schools of inner Oakland.
It ain't fair, folks. One of the reasons Japan has (actually had, they just slipped this year) one of the highest literacy rates in the world is because of equal access to good education.
Wish the U.S. had that.
love and light,
kirsten
Click on picture
to enlarge.