Question About High School

Somebody asked a very good question about the high school system in Japan. So good in fact, I want to devote a little space to answer it.

I was surprised by the high school system in Japan. It is very teacher-centered. By that I mean there is very little engagement with students. It is strictly lecture-based. This is the opposite of what we feel is best practice in the United States. We have been taught that engagement of our students is the best way to enhance learning.

I think that the structure and goals are so different that it is tough to compare. For example, the Japanese high school is college preparatory. If you are not college-bound, you go to a different training school. You may go to the agriculture school, or the technology school.

The Japanese high school is also based on a "sink or swim" philosophy. You either get it or you don't. There are no supports for students that struggle. There is no differentiated instruction to reach multiple learning styles. The only style that matters is the teacher's style of instruction. I would say that this is typical at all levels K-12. We saw students off-task or sleeping and the teacher ignored them. It is my belief that the teacher feels that it is solely up to the student to pass or fail. As I stated, there are no supports for students.

I have some good classroom pictures to show, but there are strict laws in Japan regarding posting pictures of students on the Internet. We were allowed to take pictures and we can use them in presentations. We are not allowed, however, to post them on the Internet unless the child can not be easily identified. You will see a lot of pictures of the back of student's heads.

School Visits

Wow, I have a lot to share and not a lot of time/space to do it. The last three days have been a whirlwind as we have spent all day in one of the schools within the Minamisoma's school district. In all of the schools, it was immediately evident that there are many students in each classroom. They range from 25 in primary to 40 in high school classrooms. Teacher's aides are not common with the exception of severe special needs students.

Our first day was in the junior high school. Junior high students are as rambunctious as they are in the US. They were eager to "show off" for us, I think. They take classes typical to what our students are taking. They show various levels of interest, just like our students. Like in the US, school is compulsory until the age of 16. Things change drastically, when students enter high school. I will touch on that in a bit.

Our second day was spent with an elementary school. These students were very excited to see us. They had taken time to learn how to greet us previously and many students wanted to communicate with us...in Japanese. Some of the younger students kept trying to talk to us although we couldn't say much in return. We quickly learned that limited speaking ability can be made up for by effort and pictures! I was particularly impressed that the students were training for a prefecture-sponsored 2K race. The students trained very hard for this. As young as first grade, they ran a few laps during the PE and recess time.

Our last day was with the high school. It is much more serious as it is no longer compulsory (mandatory). The parents have to pay for books, fees, etc to attend. They also must pass a test to get into high school as well as a test to get into college. It is very high stakes and the environment shows it. The lessons are all teacher-centered lectures, which they feel best prepare the children for the university. There is much less freedom at the high school.

I will try and post more as the week goes on, but I will be without Internet for quite a while so posting may be sporadic. Also, I wrote a story for the Beulah Beacon which you can expect in the next edition.

Volleyball, National FFA and the Coal Bowl

As they say, good news travels fast, so of course I have heard that we knocked off the Hazen Bison in volleyball. I am very proud of the progress that I have seen in the volleyball team throughout this year. If you continue to work hard and improve nobody will want to play the Miners in the upcoming tournaments.

Good luck to Ethan as he competes in Indianapolis for National FFA!

Although I am halfway across the world, I am anxiously awaiting hearing news about the Coal Bowl. I have been very excited about how well the football team has been playing over the last couple of weeks. Keep it up today when you beat the Bison!

Great job to all of our players and coaches. Go Miners!

A Quick Q & A

Thanks again for the questions. I will quickly try and answer some before I leave for the Junior High School in Hiramachi.

Are Electronics Cheaper?
I am not sure I haven't been down to the electronics district in Tokyo yet. However, based on other experiences, I would say that it would be similar. Also, certain things are regionalized, like DVD players. What this means is that if you purchase a DVD player in Japan it may only play DVDs with that same region code. I will look some more and see if I notice any differences.

10,000 Yen Bill
The 10,000 Yen bill is the largest I have seen. Possibly there are higher denominations, but the US only has a bill up to $100 in circulation.

McDonalds
McDonalds tastes very similar to me. The menu is a little different, but I had a bacon and lettuce hamburger and it tasted good. I have heard from some of my group mates that the Big Mac was the same. Some of the different menus items that I can remember are a shrimp burger, bacon potato pie, and a teriyaki burger.

Flame of Hiroshima
There was a question about the Hiroshima Flame. The flame is hooked up to a gas to keep it going. The relevance is that it has been a continuous flame.

Tuition
Is tuition for school higher than in the US? I would say that outside of the special fee for new students that it is close to most public universities in ND. We pay per credit hour and they pay for a year, but it would be similar.

Translation
A question was asked about the seminars I have attended and if they are done in English or Japanese. It has been both ways since I have been here. In Tokyo almost all of our seminars were conducted in English. Outside of Tokyo, they have all been in Japanese. We travel with two separate translators, one of which is our group coordinator. Speaking with a translator can be tedious. We are used to speaking much faster than that. When I gave my speech, I had to wait after every sentence for translation.

Economy
A great question was asked about the economy. We visited with economists and legislators around the time of the bailout. They are extremely concerned that this tactic didn't work because it directly effects the Japanese economy. The value of the Yen is dropping in the worldwide market too. It is certainly effecting their daily life and it will continue to for the near future. As a side note, I noticed on the bullet train that gas was equivalent to $6.00 per gallon.

As I said in an earlier post, I will try and post some pictures after the Junior High visit, or at least after the elementary visit.

Fukushima University

Today, we toured the Fukushima University. It was interesting to view higher education in Japan and visit with the University President, various Deans, and even some students. I was lucky enough to give the welcome speech to the Dean and faculty members. I have posted a picture above. That is our interpreter, Marikyo, on my left. Also posted is a picture of our group visiting in small groups (Science, Special Education, Music and Fine Arts, and Language).

I attend the special education group and was fascinated to learn that nationally only 6% of students are categorized as special education. That compares to a 13% average in the United States. I was shocked to hear that our host city of Minamisoma has only 80 students listed as special needs. The total student enrollment is 8,100. That is around 1%! According to a teacher and professor, the Japanese have only introduced Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) in the past two years. These have been the standard document in the US since the institution of IDEA.

In response to Mrs. Wold's question about funding for Fukushima University, according to my rough calculations Fukushima has 38% of its revenue determined by tuition/fees. It would cost a freshman roughly 7,500 Yen per year (that includes a one time 2,500 Yen fee for incoming students). A sophomore and beyond would pay 5,000 Yen. The remaining 62% is federally subsidized in one way or another.

The tuition amounts are set by the national government. As I mentioned in my previous post, the educational system is very centalized. The public universities are told a range they can set their tuition in that is very limiting.

I am starting to realize that in the United States we are looking at our system and only seeing the negative. On the flip side, we look at other countries and only see their test scores or other data. I have started to realize that Japan is looking at the United States to determine what is best practice in education. They seem to realize, what we are seeming to take for granted. We have the best educational system in the world. Surely, we have things to fix and issues to address, but we, at times, are trying to fix a system that others are trying to emulate.

We are touring one of the Middle Schools tomorrow, so I hopefully will have some pictures to post and more to visit. I apologize for not getting to more questions. I will try to answer more as the week goes on. I think I will have a little more free time over the next couple of days.

Feel free to ask more questions. I am very glad that people are paying attention to it. Although it is vicariously, you are all hear with me.

The Flame of Hiroshima

We decided to take a detour on our way back from the Tokyo National Museum into a flea market and park. It was very intersting and we were able to see a handful of street performers that were tremendous. We also found another Shinto temple that we decided to visit.

In walking to the temple, we found a hidden away landmark called "The Flame of Hiroshima". The picture is posted above and the accompanying sign said that this flame was originally found on a building after the US dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. A man, in looking over the devastation, found a building that was still slightly enflamed. He took the flame and kept it burning until he got home. He kept this flame burning in his house for many years until he donated it to this landmark. I am not sure of the significance of the wreaths hanging on the shrine, but I am sure they represent family members lost to the devastation at Hiroshima.

Although I chose to attend a different session on mathematics education in Japan, I heard the seminar on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was very powerful. I ordered a DVD of the talk and I will provide it to any staff member or student that is interested.

Toto, We Aren't in Tokyo Anymore!

Today we left the comfortable confines of Tokyo and are in Fukushima. Tomorrow, I have been asked to represent our group in the introduction to the Dean at Fukushima University. Students and other faculty will also be present. I am honored to be the one doing this.

To get to Fukushima, we got to ride on the bullet train. It was fast, but we were continuously going through different cities, so I don't think it was at full throttle. Riding the bullet was one of the things that I wanted to do in Japan, so I can check that off of my list now!

We are now longer with the rest of the groups. We will meet up again in about a week. As of now, I am with only 15 other Americans, our translator, and group leader.

We knew that coming to Fukushima would be different than Tokyo, but I didn't have any idea it would be so vastly different. In Tokyo, nobody would give you a second glance. They saw Americans all the time. You could stop anybody in the street and ask directions and they likely spoke English. This is not the case in Fukushima.

When we walked down the street in Fukushima, it was obvious that they are not used to foreigners. There was a lot of staring and pointing today. It is certainly a change from Tokyo.

I will try and blog tomorrow about the trip to Fukushima University. Mrs. Wold, I believe that the University system is funded similarly to those in the United States. I believe that they are partially funded by large endowments and tuition, but that they are mostly funded by the government.

One item that I will touch on more later is the centralization of the Japanese educational system. We love our local control back in the United States, but there are surely pros and cons for both centralization and local control.

National Museum and General Thoughts on Japan

I visited the Japanese National Museum today, which I would have to say is similar, in size and scope, to the Smithsonian Museum(s). It seems like I have said this often, but this was a great experience. I posted two pictures, one was of a bow, arrows, and quiver used by samurai and the other is the face of a statue in the museum. I believe it is of a samurai.

Some of the questions asked were in regards to transportation. No, I have not seen any muscle cars or anything of that nature. In fact, many Japanese, at least those in Tokyo, use public transportation (subway), and ride bikes, scooters, mopeds, etc. It is not unusual to see a man in a suit riding a bike to or from work.

I do not see nearly the amount of cars as I would see in New York City. However, there are still plenty of cars. They just are not American cars. I have yet to see a Chevy, Ford, Dodge. All of the vehicles I have seen are compact cars. There are not many SUVs and I don't believe I have even seen a pickup.

The Japanese are very green and environmental conscious. All of the garbage cans that you see are divided into recyclable categories. I have a picture of one posted above.

Somebody had also asked a question about McDonalds. They do have McDonalds, although I haven't eaten there yet. I took this picture earlier today. The menu is similar, but they have different products. Potatoes and bacon are extremely popular in Japan, which may be a reason for this creation.

Another question was asked about English. Most of the Japanese that I have visited with speak very good Japanese. I know that this will change tomorrow when I travel to Minamisoma, though. In may ways Tokyo feels like a US city. People are very comfortable around Americans and speak well. Outside of Tokyo, though, things will be different. More people will not speak English and they may not be as comfortable around foreigners. I will keep you all updated.

A Night Out in Tokyo

Last night, we had an amazing time in Tokyo. We discovered a festival/parade and also had another traditional Japanese dinner, in which I ate (and enjoyed) a dish that I would never have even considered before I came here.

The fesitval was a parade from one smaller Shinto temple to the main Shinto temple in the area. The Japanese have many festivals per year and we sort of stumbled onto this one.

There was a lot of chanting, which we were allowed to observe in the first temple. Following that, a large group of Japanese people started down the streets with quite a bit of fanfare, chanting and beating drums in rythem. The beat was set by the blowing of whistles or by dinging bells. It was amazing to see hundreds of people doing this together. There were usually two distinct beats happening at the same time. In addition, some of the people in the parade were carrying large decorative poles and bouncing them up and down so that it looked like it was pulsing. The poles must have been very heavy, as they switched people every so often.

Each group of people wore different colors, and we were told that they each represented a neighborhood/community. There were 20 "floats" in all and while each was the same it was an amazing site to see. I did not see any other Americans there, so we feel very blessed to have seen it.

An earlier comment posted asked something to the effect of "what have you eaten so far that you wouldn't have even thought of before this trip?". While a few days ago, I would have said sashime, that seems fairly tame after last night. In fact, I have had sashime a few times since my first night here and I love it.

Last night we decided to try a Japanese delicacy called sakura. When we ordered it, even the Japanese waiter was a little surprised. It is raw horse meat. While I don't know if I would have it again, I have to admit that it tasted pretty good. From what I understand, it is illegal in the United States.

Pictures Added

I am on my free day, so I have decided to update quite a bit on the blog and add pictures. If you would like, please take the chance to review some of the old posts and check out pictures.

The picture on this post is one that I took of Tokyo Tower. It is a Japanese copy of the Eiffel Tower. I went to the top and it is an amazing site. You can see pretty much all of Japan from the top.

What is Wrong with the Japanese Diet?

As I had mentioned previously, I was going to blog about the Japanese Diet. If anybody figured it out, we are not talking about what they eat, but rather their system of government. The equivalent of the US legislative branch is called the Diet. The picture in this post is me in front of the Japanese Diet building here in Tokyo.

The system itself is actually quite similar to that in the United Kingdom. The Japan's House of Representative, or "lower house", has the power to select the Prime Minister. This would compare to the UK's House of Lords. The Prime Minister, who could be considered comparable to the US President, has the power to dissolve the House of Representatives at any time. While this is not particularly common, it is going to happen in the next couple of weeks. They say the Prime Minister could call for a new election before the end of November, at the latest.

The Japanese people are extremely anxious and frustrated by the perceived problems in the educational system as well as the obvious problems in the economy.

We spoke with Representative Yuji Tsushima, who was very candid about many things. He used to hold a position similar to our Secretary of the Treasury and has strong concerns about the global economy. He stated that the idea of the economic bailout in the US came from a similar plan that he instituted in Japan. He is concerned that it has not strengthened the economy, as he was confident that it would.

Rep. Tsushima also discussed that his house is much stronger than the House of Counselors, or "upper house", and they are not as comparable to the US Senate and House. The lower house selects the Prime Minister and sets the budget.

Rep. Tsushima talked for a few hours and I could write on his comments for just as long. However, I will leave this post with the listing of Rep. Tsushima's major issues with the Japanese people. They are not in any particular order.

Do these sound familiar?

1) Budget Deficit
2) Political Turmoil
3) Concern over the Long-Term Plan for the Japanese Social Security System
4) Likely Change in Political Establishment
5) Concern for Perception of the Educational System
6) Failing Economy

Economic Comparison - Japan and US

The question was asked in an earlier comment if the Japanese economy was doing as poorly as the American economy right now. The answer is that there are many direct links between the failing economy of the US and Japan. The lows of the American economyu have been mirrored each step of the way. Record lows on the stock market are matched here in Japan.

Overall, however, the American dollar is getting weaker every day. When I first came here the exchange rate was 100.05 to 1. If you remember that 100 Yen is equivalent to $1. Essentially it was an even exchange. Two weeks before I left, the ratio was 105:1. When I exchanged for Yen two days ago, it was 95:1 and it is now somewhere around 93:1.

The pictures that I have posted are examples of Japanese Yen. To keep it simple, take the decimal on any bill/coin and move it two spaces to the left. So, a 100 Yen coin is worth $1.00. A 10000 Yen bill is worth $100.00.

I really enjoy seeing the currency for other countries. It is much more colorful than ours.

Great Comments!

Wow! Thank you for all of the great questions. I just woke up (around 6:00 am) and I will try and answer as many of your questions as I can.

Food
The food is extremely expensive here in Japan in some cases, but in others it is very cheap. Sushi, for example, is fairly expensive depending on where you get it. At the fish market, you can get a sushi breakfast which will cost you about $25. We were also told that in some restaurants, if there are not prices on the menus that means it could cost you around $30,000 Yen ($300). The other side is soba (noodles) you can get noodles for very cheap and they are also very good. Just like in America, it depends on what you want to eat.

I had sushi at the Consul General's house for the first time. I thought it was the best Japanese dish I have had thus far. There I also had unagi (eel), which was also extremely good. I would order that again too. On the flip side, when we were out with Habe-san, I ate what would be similar to a sardine that was grilled. I did not like that at all, but Habe-san finished the remainder for me!

It is defintely a different feeling eating the sashimi, which is the raw fish. Some of the fish was better than others. I liked the tuna, but I didn't care for the salmon. There was another type of fish called hamachi that was the best, in my opinion.

One thing that is misleading about the prices of food, and anything else in Japan, is that there is no tipping. Taxes and tipping are both built into the cost of the food/item that you are purchasing. I like that a lot. It is much easier.

Temperature
The temperature has been pretty muggy since we have been here. When the sun is out it gets fairly warm. I will be traveling to Minamisoma in the Fukushima prefecture in a few days. That is north of Tokyo and thus will be a little cooler. They say in Fukushima it will be between 52 and 62 degrees the entire stay, unless it rains.

Politics
While we were doing of briefing in San Francisco, Dr. Satterwhite, the head of the program told us that in a poll conducted the Japanese have actually rated as more interested in our political election than Americans.

The Japanese are going through some political turmoil right now also, but I will touch on that more in a future post.

Variety of Food
You can get everything from a hamburger to sushi here. On our way back from our sessions yesterday, we saw a Subway and McDonalds. I want to eat at one of them just to compare.

English
Many Japanese speak English, at least in Tokyo. Tokyo is the leader of education in Japan. They are currently moving to mandate that English is taught at the elementary level. It is currently taught at Junior High and High School. I have not met a Japanese person thus far that doesn't speak English. This will likely change when I get to Minamisoma, though.

Picture of the Room
I was actually going to post many pictures of my room. There are many things that are common in the US, but things that are different too. I will make sure to remember to post pictures later.

Rules and Regulations in Schools
The majority of schools have dress codes, but (Surprise!) the kids hate it. There are a few schools, very high performing as I was told yesterday, that no longer have dress codes. I will post pictures of an example of the uniforms when I get one.

The hours of going to school are shorter in Japan, but as I listed in a previous post, the school year is longer. If you make an apple-to-apple comparison the Japanese go to school a week or two longer than we do.

Garden
There is a beautiful Japanese garden in the courtyard of the hotel. I will also try and take pictures and post them as soon as I can.

Plane Ride
The plane ride was difficult because we were sitting for so long. It was a big plan, although I can't remember the type off the top of my head. The seats, however, were not made for tall people. It was uncomfortable after a couple of hours. Once we reached a cruising altitude (38,000 feet) I was able to walk and stand around. We watched four movies, although I didn't care for three of them and tried to sleep or read.

I need to get down to breakfast, so I had better go. Thanks again for the questions and I will try and sneak back up during a break to post some pictures.

Experience in Tokyo

Hello,

I am happy that I could finally find some time to blog. Things have been extremely busy thus far. Also, I logged in to blog earlier and my blog defaulted to Japanese, which made things a little difficult to navigate. Now that I have the language back to English, it will be a lot easier.

Our flight was around 15 hours with the 1 hour we waited on the tarmac before take off. Obviously, it got to be a very long time to sit in a chair. Immediately upon our arrival we were bused from Narita Airport to our hotel in Tokyo. It is an amazing building. I attached the link below
http://www.newotani.co.jp/en/group/company/tokyo.html

We had around 10 minutes to bring our luggage to our rooms before we had our first responsibilities. We met our former Fulbright Scholars and discussed the current state of Japan. My small group met with Mr. Habe. When we address him here in Japan we refer to him as Habe-san (Hah bay-sahn) to show proper respect. We had a tremendous time with Habe-san as he took as to an authentic Japanese restuarant and ate with us. He thought it was very funny that I could not use chopsticks and he taught me the "proper way". I wouldn't say I am a master, but I am getting better.

With Habe-san, we had a chance to dine on numerous Japanese dishes. For the most part, it was delicious. Sashime is a perfect example of a dish I had on my first night that I would never had even considered had I not come to Tokyo. Sashime is very fresh raw fresh that is sliced into pieces 1 inch thick and serve with Wasabi and a radish-type vegetable called a daikon. Our plate had pieces of tuna, salmon, and a few other varieties of fish. While I wasn't so sure about them, it was very good and something that I would eat again. **UPDATE** The picture added above is the sashime.

At 4:00 am the next morning, I woke up to get ready for the Tsukiji Fish Market. It was an amazing experience to see these fish auctioned off. We were lucky enough to be able to enter the tuna auction. This was only recently opened back up to They put on quite a show. On our way back, we got to experience the Tokyo subway system. It was an intricate system that is similar, in many ways, to the Washington D.C system. **UPDATE** The other pictures above are from the Fish Market. They are of the tuna laying out and being auctioned off.

I will try and blog more on my day today (it is 11:00 pm here in Tokyo) when I wake up or this afternoon. I will also download my pictures and add some more comments.

I will also touch on why the Japanese Diet is so unpopular right now. If anybody has a clue, post it in the commets. *Clue - why is Diet a proper noun?

Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) #1

Mrs. Benz agreed to partner with me and provide questions that I could answer while I was in Japan. I thought the students did such a nice job that I felt I should provide responses as soon as possible. It is my hope that these questions will lead our students, staff and community members into even more complex and relevant questions. I will post these questions in stages and I would entertain even more questions in the comments sections. I will do my best to find answers as quickly and accurately as possible.

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What is the Japanese school system like?

Their school system is very much like ours. The Japanese school is set up in a 6-3-3 format. They have an elementary school for six years, middle school for three years, and high school for three years. Compulsory (i.e. mandatory) education is for nine years, so students can drop out after 9 years although nearly all students attend high school. Students start at age six. These are all very similar to our educational system.

In the United States, we have the Department of Education that governs education at the federal (national) level and the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) that does it at the state level. In Japan, they have the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) that governs education.

However, there are also some ways in which our systems differ. For example, when you enter the first year of middle school (what we would call 7th grade) is called the 1st grade of Middle School. 10th grade is the 1st grade of High School. The school year is also structured somewhat differently.

The Japanese have three terms: 1st Term goes from April through late July, 2nd Term is September through late December, and 3rd Term runs from January through late March.

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I will add more on schools (i.e. curriculum, technology, etc.) as I get to Tokyo and Miniamisoma and have a chance to tour and visit with educators and students. As I stated previously, if you have specific questions, please leave them in the comments section.

JFMF Process and Updates

As part of my responsibilities to the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund program, I am responsible for a follow-on plan to ensure accountability. This blog is part of that follow-on plan, as is my planned presentations to the school, and to professional organizations, both local and at the state level.

In the past few weeks, I have been actively trying to plan for being gone for three weeks. Not only will I be gone from the Beulah School, but from my family as well. As exciting as this experience is going to be, leaving the comforts of home and family are starting to cause some anxiety.

Packing is starting to become a concern too. How exactly do you fit three weeks of dress clothes, casual clothes, and all of the accessories into a large garment bag and one carry-on? We have a community website for JFMFers on Ning and there are many interesting ideas out there from washing clothes at the hotel and laundromats to throwing the non-essentials (i.e. undershirts and underwear) away and buying new ones when you need them. I'm pretty sure I will be trying search out some washing machines!

As I get closer to leaving on October 12, I will be posting some of the questions from Mrs. Benz's students and my corresponding answers. I created a FAQ document for Mrs. Benz and her students that has hopefully laid the foundation for the interactivity of this blog while I am in Tokyo and Minamisoma. It is my hope that I will be able to post pictures and a narrative as well as answer questions or comments from students in the comments sections.

Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund

Hi! My name is Rob Lech and I currently serve as the Superintendent of Schools for the Beulah Public School District in Beulah, ND.

In October I will be departing on a Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund educator's scholarship to travel to Japan. While there I will be studying the educational system of Japan along with others from across the nation. We will be touring schools, exploring Japan, and experiencing the culture.

Our first stop will be in San Francisco for a briefing and introductions. We will then fly to Tokyo as a group. In Tokyo we will tour schools, meet teachers, administrators, and government officials. I will then travel to Minamisoma in the prefecture of Fukushima, visit more schools and stay with a host family.

I am very excited and feel very fortunate to be a part of this program. I will be keeping this blog so my family, friends, and as well as the staff and students of the Beulah Public Schools can share in this experience.

I would like to thank the Beulah Board of Education for allowing me to take three weeks out of the school year to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.