Independent ESD research time in Tokyo

I have been trying to explore as much of Toyko as I can during my free time.  Below are some photos from various art galleries, museums and interesting scenes from just walking around the streets.

Ginza Graphic Gallery really cool projected videos. Lots of art playing with light, movement and shadow.

I am in front of the Mori Art Museum  in Robppongi Hills under Louise Bourgeois' Spider sculpture.
The Spider is an ode to my mother. She was my best friend. Like a spider, my mother was a weaver. My family was in the business of tapestry restoration, and my mother was in charge of the workshop. Like spiders, my mother was very clever. Spiders are friendly presences that eat mosquitoes. We know that mosquitoes spread diseases and are therefore unwanted. So, spiders are helpful and protective, just like my mother.
— Louise Bourgeois

Shibuya  crossing rumored to be the world's busiest, this intersection  in front of the Shibuya station is famously knows as 'The Scramble'. People come from all directions at once, sometimes over a 1,000 with every light change, yet manage to dodge each other with practiced nonchalant agility.

I must have walked by Hachiko Statue a few times as I was expecting it to be very large.

I searched all over Shibuya to find the Hachiko Statue erected at teh station plaza to celebrate the memory of  an Akita dog, who belonged to a professor who lived near Shibuya Station. The professor died in 1925 but the dog continued to show up and wait at the station for his master until his own death 10 years later.

Rarely does a neighborhood influence a fashion movement as distinctly, yet diversely, as does the Harajuku district of Tokyo. Often all mixed together, the elements of Harajuku style include manga-inspired baby-doll dresses and pigtails, goth makeup and platform shoes, and kimonos.

Having dinner in Ueno

Shiseido Gallery I saw an exhibition by Hong Kong-born artist Lee Kit, currently based in Taipei. Titled "The voice behind me"Lee’s keywords for this exhibition include concepts like “fear,” “solitude” and “breathing.” In the background, many of these reflect frustration with political and social inequalities, the stresses that accompany daily life, and inescapable solitude. Lee himself has felt such feelings during his sojourns in many different cities—Hong Kong, Taipei, London, Tokyo, among others—and while such feelings may often be construed as negatives, Lee remarks that “being pessimistic is optimistic.” This sort of flexible attitude is essential if one is to resist being beaten down by current conditions and to move forward with living.

I went to the Mori Art Museum which also includes the Tokyo City View an observatory on the 52nd floor and has some of  the best views in Tokyo.  The current exhibition at Mori Art Museum is a "Star Wars Vision", including art work of approximately 60 points of the world first public exhibition that artist whom Mr. George Lucas chose from all over the world produced, it is display with concept art and apparel, approximately 100 points including small tools that were really used by movie production of series 6 work. We introduce charm of Star Wars on theme called "vision".

Below are some random photos I took while exploring Tokyo today.  I really paid attention to the various  lines, shapes and patterns I discovered all around me. 

U.S. Japan Exchange Day 11: Joint Conference in Tokyo Continues

Today was our final day of the joint conference. This morning we all presented our work  from the past few days and the ideas we have going forward to build collaborate projects and communication between the  United States and Japan regarding ESD. It is sad saying goodbye today as this was the conclusion of our journey as a whole group. All of us educators from the U.S. have gotten to know the Japanese teachers very well from our time with them in San Francisco and Tokyo. They are an amazing group of educators that are passionate about students and learning. It is also sad to be saying goodbye to my colleagues from the United States. When I met them in San Francisco I knew they would be great partners for the experience in Japan. We traveled and worked together for the entire two weeks. All of the participants in the Japan-US Teacher exchange are some of the most innovative, creative and interesting people I have me and they have also become good friends. I will miss everyone very much.


Pictures from the final meeting today.

June Ubukata (above) is the Director, General Affairs for the Japan U.S. Educational Commission (Fulbright Japan). She traveled with us during  entire program and has been our liaison every step of the way. She made this experience memorable for all of us and I cannot thank her enough. All of us have made many new friends in Japan but June has been especially wonderful to us.

Here are two other amazing gentlemen that have been with us from day 1 in San Francisco. Kenji Matsui on the left and Masaaki Hatagami on the right have been our translators for our entire journey. I have worked with translators before and they are some of the best. They  never left our side and the success of this trip would not have been possible without them.

Pictured above from left to right are Saeko Fujimoto, Yuriko Yoneshima, Hiromi Fumoto, and Seigo Saito our new friends from ACCU the Asian Pacific Cultural Center. Their organization has been great. They have done many of the behind the scenes arrangements for us and have been right there for everything we needed.


Now time for some more independent research!

Japan US Exchange Day 9: Day 1 of Joint-Conference

Today we met back up with our Japanese counterparts to begin the joint conference here in Tokyo. This is the same group of educators from Japan that we met with in San Francisco for three days at the beginning of May when their visit to the United States was concluding. It was great to see them again. Especially now that we have been able to experience their country and culture for the last week and a half. The main outcome for these two days is for us to discuss our two systems and plan some joint projects that can be done cooperatively between our schools in the United States and Japan.
Our day started with a welcome from Matthew Sussman, the Executive Director of Fulbright Japan. Matthew has lived in Japan for the past 20 years and this is his first year as the director of Fulbright Japan. Matthew reiterated to us that although we may have noticed many differences there are also many similarities between our two countries which is why our bond is strong.

Matthew Sussman, Executive Director of Fulbright Japan welcomes everyone to the joint conference.

Next up we were welcomed by Jeff Adler, the Deputy Public Affairs Officer at the US Embassy here in Japan. Mr. Adler emphasized the importance of this type of study in keeping the bond between Japan and the United States strong. He told us that it is a priority of Ambassador Kennedy to emphasize and support exchanges for study and research between the United States and Japan.

Jeff Adler welcoming us to the joint conference.

Finally we were welcomed by Mr. Kojiro Kakimoto, Senior Specialist for Personnel Exchange – International Affairs Division at MEXT the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. He told us of Japan’s active involvement in promoting Education for Sustainable Development. He told us that the bilateral relationship between our two countries is important as no one can solve all of the problems alone.
We then had a lecture from Professor Osamu Abe from Rikkyo University. He founded the first ever Japanese research center for ESD and is the president of the Japanese Society of Environmental Education. He said many interesting things but one of the main takeaways I had was that in the past environmental education has focused mainly on the relationship between nature and humans. For instance, what impact do our activities have on the environment? However, he said that it is also necessary to change human to human relations as well.

Professor Abe speaking to us about ESD.

All of the US teachers did a joint presentation on our journey so far in Japan. We focused primarily on our experience in Omuta where we have spent the past 6 days.

This afternoon we heard from some program alumni from Japan that presented about their joint projects with their US counterparts.

US Japan Exchange Day 10

Today we had a work session to plan joint projects that schools in the United States and Japan can successfully collaborate on to achieve.  We grouped by projects that would be of like interest. Some groups are doing projects on water quality, some are mapping cultural heritage, and my group is focusing on recycling. 

My Group

Next year, Crest View  Elementary will participate in a joint recycling project with a school in Missouri, a school in Chicago, and a school in Omuta, Japan. This project will have our students looking at ways to reduce waste through recycling. 

Some Pictures from the joint conference today. 







Tonight we had a wonderful reception with the Japanese and American educators celebrating the journey that all of us have been on over the past several months.


Next stop karokoe...

ith Professor Katsuhide Kusahara. He has been with us throughout this program.
Tomorrow morning we are going to present our projects to each other. This will be the final task of the joint conference. After our presentations in the morning we are free for independent research.

Japan US Exchange Day 8: Fukuoka to Tokyo

We just got back to Tokyo tonight after spending almost a week in Kyushu and Omuta City. I cannot thank the teachers, administrators, and board of education enough for the hospitality they have shown to us over the last several days. Our final day on Kyushu we visited two schools. The first was Ariake Shinsei High School in Omuta and the second was Fukuoka University Kurume Junior High School.
First we started at Ariake Shinsei High School. High school is not mandatory in Japan and to gain entrance students must take a test to qualify to attend the school. Ariake Shinsei high school has approximately 700 students and offers over 160 courses to their students. We were warmly received at the school.

At every school we have visited we have seen a calligraphy class.  In addition to a form of being a form of artwork for the students it is used as a powerful vocabulary instruction. Each character represents a word or idea. In class not only are students writing the characters they are discussing the characters meaning. I finally got to see an art classroom!

Amazing art in the hallways

beautiful school grounds

Next we visited Kurume Junior High School. This visit was a lot of fun as the students had been preparing for our visit for some time. We entered the gym to students clapping for us and each of us was escorted to a group of students that did a multimedia presentation about their city and school. We also met with small groups of students and of course we participated in the cleaning.

Students made their favorite calligraphy character for me and we discuss their meaning. We also asked each other questions about our schools and countries.

At the end of the day students have a homeroom meeting completely run by them where they discuss class business. They also sing a song to close out the day. Everyone sings enthusiastically as you can see. I double checked to make sure this wasn’t just for the visit. The teacher assured me that they sing every day.

And a special treat to end the day we got to fly back to Tokyo on ANA and the Boeing Dreamliner. What a cool airplane and they have a Millennium Falcon among their fleet!

I am beginning to form what I consider some perspectives on the education system here and applications for us in the United States. I am excited to get back together with the Japanese teachers in Tokyo for the next three days to discuss our education systems and coordinate some joint projects.