When homeroom began, all of the students sat down and began 20 minutes of silent reading time. What was amazing about this was that no teachers were in the rooms, and no bells rang. The students just automatically paid attention to the clock and began reading as they do every day at that time. The teachers were all in their morning staff meeting. The principal later told me that he wants students to be self-directed, self-disciplined, and always time conscious.

Our visit began with a presentation of general information about their school. Each of the teachers introduced themselves in English, telling us what grade and subject they taught. We then introduced ourselves in Japanese*, and explained our roles in our respective schools around the United States. The teachers then went on to their classes, and the principal provided us with a detailed overview of Daisan Middle School.

We then walked around to each of the classes to observe. Most of the instruction was didactic, with the teacher standing in front of the class of students following along, taking notes, listening, sometimes underlining words in their textbooks, which, unlike the United States, the students all own themselves.

In Art class the students were painting. In chorus the students were singing. In science class the teacher brought groups of students up to see the effects of sound waves from a sounding fork when it was submerged in water--the exact same type of activity we do in our science classes at Mabry.

I spoke with Masa, one of the two 7th grade homeroom teachers about having his students participate in the 7th grade Japan blogging project with us at Mabry. Masa speaks English fluently. When I shot this picture of him, he made this crazy, "serious" pose to show his sense of humor. He teaches his 7th grade students the English language.

Probably in his early thirties, Masa participated in "Up with People" as a dancer traveling all over the world performing. He lived in Denver, Colorado, for one year, staying in about 10 different American families homes. His first career in Japan was that of an editor in Tokyo. He and his wife moved to Arao when he was assigned as a teacher at Daisan Middle School.

He asked if our students were really interested in learning about Japan, and I assured him that we are, as our 7th graders study Japan. He was eager for his students to participate in this learning project. At lunch time, I ate with his lunch class. All of the students in Japan eat in their homeroom classroom.

At lunch time he selected several students to introduced themselves and tell a little about themselves in English while I recorded them on the video iPod. I took a picture of each of the students who were brave enough to have their English introductions recorded and will include it as a podcast in a later post. Masa hopes that the school computers will be able to get to our blog. Japanese schools, like American schools, often restrict access to blogging sites.

That afternoon several teachers and I had the opportunity to speak with Masa about what it is like to be a teacher in Japan. We were all fascinated. The education profession in Japan is considerably different than that in the United States. But while significant differences exist, the students in Japan are very much like the students in the United States. People are pretty much the same everywhere. I'll include information about schools and other information about eduation in another post about teaching.

Perhaps most amazing to me was watching "cleaning time." For 30 minutes every day every single student cleans an assigned area of the school at every grade level (from first grade in elementary through the 3rd grade of secondary school [12th grade]!) And I must make sure you understand that the students take wash cloths and literally scrub every single inch of the floors and the bathrooms, fixtures and all! They weed the school grounds. They sweep. The teachers and even the principal join in daily cleaning time. Japanese schools generally do not have custodians. The Japanese are extremely conscious about cleanliness.

* "Ohayo gozaimasu. Watashiwa Georgia no, Tyson des."

(Click to visit the photo album)

The terrain as we approached Kumamoto by air was astounding. I didn't have my camera or I would certainly have shot pictures of it. The jagged, plantless mountainous areas on my left side really looked like the product of volcanic activity. Their eroded starkness made them very dramatic and beautiful.

Once we landed, we took another chartered bus to the hotel in Fukuoko. We passed by the rice fields. I will upload some pictures later. A small red machine was driving through one area harvesting the rice. As I had only seen pictures of rice fields (and those were mostly Vietnamese), they did not look as I imagined them. They are only flooded during the Spring. So these fields were very dry with a thick fabric of rice plants about knee high.

My room in Fukuoko is considerably smaller than what we enjoyed in Tokyo, just a bit larger than enough space for the standard bed and desk area with a very small TV. The floor in the bathroom area is almost a foot higher than the main room--quite the step up. And my room is near a busy train track. Periodically I faintly hear the slight click-i-dy clack of a passing train. To be as close as I am, I surprised it makes so little sound. No train horns thank goodness.

And now the fun begins: dinner on our own deep inside an infinitely smaller (than Tokyo) Japanese town. We were the only non-Japanese in town, and trust me, we stood out like a sore thumb!

We were given a map of the area immediately around the hotel. There were several types of restaurants from which to pick: an Izakaya (like a bar that serves some food), Rahman (that served noodle dishes), western (that didn't sound too good), and sushi (which could vary wildly in price). The people in my little group (9 of us) chose Rahman.

We walked a few blocks, not much more than a half mile I would guess, before finding the restaurant. Were it not for the map, I would have never known this was a restaurant. Inside was an amazing, deeply pervasive, acidic smell. Immediately, several people left the tiny restaurant saying that they couldn't eat in a place that had such a strong smell. However, a few moments later they had gathered their courage and returned.

We took up 2 tables, which, not considering a bar that wrapped around a large center pole with seats around it, accounted for about half of the restaurant. As is typical in Japan, the space was very small.

A young family was seated across from us. They seemed to enjoy posing for pictures by members of our group. Everyone in the restaurant was amused by us I'm sure. Including an older gentleman seated around the pole. He gently rocked back and forth with a big smile. It was obvious that he was trying to watch us in total amusement without appearing to be rude. He was indeed enjoying the "ordering spectacle."

Our group had two black ladies. The Japanese are not a multiethnic society. So, as I said earlier, we stood out. Everywhere we walked, people looked us over! In fact we were cautioned to always have our passports and JFMF identification tags with us in case we were stopped by the police.

Fortunately, one of the ladies at my table knows a little bit of Japanese. Since they had no picture menus, actually no menus at all, ordering would have been dreadfully challenging. Once I knew the egg was cooked, I ordered Rahman with a boiled egg. Our table also ordered something else, that was really very tasty, but I don't know what it was or how it was cooked.

My bowl of Rahmen arrive with a typical Japanese spoon in it. How ever was I to eat the noodles with this spoon? Not to worry, the table had a container of chopsticks--but noodles in soup are wet and slippery. I somehow managed to manipulate the chopsticks to eat the noodles and the whole boiled egg without creating an international incident.

Oh, one other important point: no napkins. Imagine trying to slurp in these long wet noodles. (Yes, it is customary and considered polite to slurp when eating in Japan, and I now know why! Doing otherwise is impossible!) Napkin required! One particularly difficult and long noodle did some amazing and bizarre squiggle dance thing before going into my mouth and splattered a drop of soup on my glasses. Thank goodness it was small!

After dinner, being the chocolate addict that I am, and having been in severe chocolate withdrawal now all this time, we walked across the street to a large shopping area that included a big store called You Me Store. Yes, the name was in English. It looked like a typical American store. At the entrance was a Starbucks, a donut shop named Mr. Donut, and a McDonalds, among other less known eateries.

We (3 of us at this point) split up. I also had a Diet Coke craving. They are impossible to find in Japan as the Japanese are so thin and prefer the regular Coke and Pepsi products which can be found everywhere. I went to the McDonalds.

As the young girl at the register saw me approaching, a look of horror came across her face until she located the giant picture menu which she plopped down in front of me with a big smile as she said something gesturing to the menu. I said "Diet Coke" and pointed to a picture of the Diet Coke logo on the sheet. She smiled and said in English, "Size?" I said, "Large." and the look of horror reappeared in her eyes. So I then gestured big,larger, and then montrous and said "Huge." She laughed and handed me what in the US would be a medium. The medium is large in Japan. The Japanese medium is the US small. The Japanese small is a tiny little cup we do not have in the US.

I was then off to the donut shop, where we were all meeting after the others got their Starbucks fix. Customers go down a line with a tray and pair of tongs and put the donuts they want on the tray. When I arrived at the cashier (there were 2 side by side) the young man said something in Japanese. I replied that I did not understand him. The young lady standing next to him ringing up another customer and he, without a word, just instantly switched positions as if someone had pressed a button.

Said said, "Eat in or out?" I told her I would be eating in, so she placed my donuts on a plate. She seemed pleasantly surprised that I understood their currency and paid with the correct amount. In fact, she had the look of an elementary school teacher who is very happy when her young student unexpectedly gets the right answer.

Words can not adequately express how good that chocolate donut (OK, OK, I confess to eating 2.) and "large" Diet Coke were!

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