These elementary school students don't have a school janitor as they take their shoes off as soon as they enter the school and change into 'indoor shoes.' They also clean after themselves regularly. They make and distribute their own lunches and compost what is not eaten, any recyclable juice or milk containers are put into the recycling and the food is eaten on real china which the students wash after eating. This is no special case scenario, this is their everyday. Oh yes, and I should also mention that is one of Ikeda's 'less funded' schools in comparison to other institutions which may be considered more 'high class.'
Perhaps ‘life’ in the title of this blog post is an exaggeration, in fact, it is just that. However, after just ten days of living with my host family, the Tsuji family, back in 2008, I felt as though I had lived as a local in Penticton’s sister city, Ikeda. With a delegation of over twenty members from the city of Penticton, I traveled to Japan and experienced big city life in Tokyo as a tourist but the best was yet to come. Absolutely everyone I met was incredibly accomodating and nice in Ikeda, Japan. My host family went out of their way every moment of everyday to ensure my stay was nothing short of an amazing experience. I quickly grasped onto and fell in love with Japanese culture and strongly believe that the rest of the world could learn alot of valuable lessons from Japan. The nation’s honour system is just incredible; I heard a fact while there that something like over 90% of the crimes in Japan are committed by ‘foreigners.’ This didn’t surprise me as in the largest and busiest shopping centres in Tokyo, I would see people leaving their bikes unlocked outside of a store and coming back to seeing them there. It was the same case with Umbrellas which are frequently used and left in special ‘Umbrella’ holders outside of shops. Thankfully Ikeda was not directly affected by the recent earthquake in Japan but my heart goes out those who were and to Japan as a whole.
Completely agree with you on how the world could learn a little from the japanese way of life. They create quality and quality, together which is why i consider it a powerhouse. On top of that the service and standards are kept at a high, if not your sacked, fired or backrupt. I spent a few months in japan myself, immersed myself and fell in love with their culture.
How long were you there? Did you learn japanese?
Posted by Kevin Khor | May 27, 2011, 3:03 pmKevin,
Thanks for visiting and reading my blog and for contributing to it! A powerhouse it is, the Japanese population seem to have efficiency down to a science… literally. haha As for service and standards, I couldn’t agree more. A few months in Japan, wow. Where abouts were you? I was just there for two weeks and that was enough for me to fall in love with it! I did pick up a small Japanese vocabulary while I was there and would love to go back and learn more. Did you learn Japanese?!
Thanks again for dropping by!
N.
Posted by nee2garcha | May 31, 2011, 10:56 pmI was in Tokyo with the 20+ millions of people, riding the subways was like a deathwish. It got so crowded in the mornings that I remember helping a kid from suffocating. Yeah i went down to learn Japanese, I used to be a big anime-geek or “Otaku”. I would like to go back aswell, but to work and work on my japanese. If you ever do go back, I have friends in Tokyo who could show you around the backstreets. My friend took me to a restaurant which only sold the spare parts… that was exciting at the time. the next day when i thought about what i ate it was a one way ticket to the bathroom.
Posted by Kevin Khor | June 6, 2011, 12:24 pmWow, sounds like you had quite the experience and one that was very different from mine! I do agree though that it was overwhelmingly crowded! Were very lucky in Canada –there is a lot of land for not many people. As for anime, I didn’t know much about it before going to Japan but it’s hard not to at least like anime when you’re there, it’s like a culture. I think its importance to people there can be compared to the Canucks in Vancouver. I’d love to turn my mini vocabulary of Japanese into a decent understanding or perhaps one day even fluency in the language. Ha! Thanks for the heads up about restaurants that only sell spare parts as well as local Japanese connections!
Posted by nee2garcha | June 9, 2011, 3:25 pmThe only difference is i dont think riots will happen due to anime. Did you see the news?
http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Chaos+erupts+Vancouver+after+Canucks+loss/4953607/story.html
Posted by Kevin Khor | June 15, 2011, 10:13 pmhah! No kidding. I’m assuming you’re talking about the riots post Vancouver Canucks loss? I saw it while in Holland watching a DUTCH news broadcast! It definitely has gotten worldwide attention.
Posted by nee2garcha | June 19, 2011, 12:42 pmwoah! what were you doing in holland!? i was just in vegas when i heard about the turmoil. no offense but after watching that the bruins definitely deserved it, what person in his right mind would destroy his own city! because of hockey. its retarded.
Posted by Kevin Khor | June 28, 2011, 12:08 pm