A Little Sleep Does One Good

Ohayo gosaimasu! It's 6:00am and I've been up for an hour. Even though I went to sleep late last night, I woke up before the alarm today. I suppose it’s the excitement of being here. Also, the days are so full of prearranged activities, if I want any time to read, blog, walk around the hotel's garden or what not, I've got to squeeze it in early or late in the day.

Yesterday we listened to a lecture about the state of Japan's primary and secondary students and educational reform in the country. Government officials are concerned about the emotional as well as the academic wellbeing of their students. Japanese students are generally perceived as focused and high achieving in school. While that is often the case, but there are also a number of students who aren't happy at school and are having trouble doing well. Japanese officials are looking for ways to address these issues. They have created new programs such as specialized arts, vocational and remediation schools.
In addition to their concern over the academic achievement of their kids, education ministry officials are disturbed by the high incidents of bullying in middle school and, though low, a rising trend toward bullying in elementary schools. Tsutomu (Tom) Kimura, president of the National Institution for Academic Degrees, who gave this lecture, spoke of the lack of parental guidance and dissolution of strong community ties as probable causes for this situation.

So, our morning was spent pondering some pretty serious stuff, but the afternoon was quite a bit more entertaining. We were privileged to view presentations on the traditional Japanese dramatic arts of kyogen and kobuki. Both were really excellent. Surprisingly, the two experts who spoke on the topics were two Americans who have been living in Japan for decades. It seems most Japanese people view these traditional arts as “old stuff” and don’t follow it much these days.

I was mesmerized and intrigued by the spare, yet hardy humor of kyogen and over the top glamour of kabuki. Now, I really want to go and watch a full production, yesterday’s presentation was just an introduction to these things.

Okay, enough for now. I’ve got to go get ready for breakfast and then another full day. We are taking a bus tour of Tokyo, having lunch at a traditional restaurant and then listening to a lecture on Japan’s economy.