5 Months to Go!

It's scary to realize that I have only five months left for my fieldwork. What I should do in the next couple of months is to organize my data from survey, interview, and participant observation, so that by the end of my fieldwork I will be ready to conduct comprehensive data analysis.

I also need to rethink my relationship with my parents. They have been extremely helpful to me. I would like to appreciate fully my limited time with them.

The Importance of Being Earnest

Yesterday I went to see the Art Festival at the elementary school. Students in different grades performed musicals and plays. Some of the performances looked pretty good for the performers' ages. But what struck me most was the students' seriousness, their endeavor to do their best. Since I have been conducting fieldwork at the school, I saw how much their practiced for the Festival. Of course, almost none of the students aspire to become professional performers; however, I hope they have learned the importance of making a best effort through their preparation for the Festival.

People of Japan: Not Japanese

I finally realized that "Japanese" and "people of Japan" may have different meanings for younger kids--younger than 7 years old. When I ask 5- and 6-year-olds "Have you seen a Japanese?" most of them say "no." But those kids understand "Japan" and recognize a Japanese national flag. So, maybe they could understand a "person of Japan" if not a "Japanese." I should have realized this earlier because I knew that 2nd graders often use the expression a "person of Japan" to refer to a Japanese. Perhaps, kids develop a concept of the place called "Japan" first. Then, they associate the place with certain people, essentializing their relationship. Eveventually, the concept of a "person of Japan" develops into that of a "Japanese"...?

Promise

When I am at the kindergarten, I tend to make promises that I can't keep. "Play with me!" "Hold me!" "Sit at our table during lunch!" Different kids make multiple demands on me simultaneously. Accordingly, I say "yes" to incommensurable demands (e.g., due to time conflict). I am a little afraid that, watching me, these kids will grow up to believe that it is okay not to keep promises....

Food for Thought

There are problems with Japanese children's diet. One of them is that children tend to dislike vegetables. But why do they dislike vegetables? Do their parents cook vegetables right? Do their parents recognize the importance of vegetables? Not eating well seems to affect children's cognitive and affective growth negatively.

Moral Education in Everyday Life

At Japanese elementary and junior high schools, Morality is supposed to be taught once a week; however, moral education permeates Japanese school life. When teachers speak in front of students at morning and afternoon homeroom meetings, they almost always manage to connect quaotidian things (e.g., homework) and events (e.g., some students forgot to bring their homework) to moral lessons on "character"--who the good person is, how students should aspire to become one, and so on.

I should discourse-analyze those teachers' speech if they are okay with being audiotaped. Although I don't have a comparative perspective on this, the morally saturated speech by teachers may be somewhat peculiar to Japan....

Homeliness of Homeland

Usually people feel "at home" in their "homelands." But what is the nature of this at-home-ness or at-ease-ness? How does this feeling develop psychologically?

Lectures at the driving school are not very interesting. I mean, lecturers keep speaking without giving us time to ask questions. And like every Japanese elementary, junior high, or high school, we have to stand up and bow to lecturers at the beginning and end of class.

Semiotics and Psychology

I took two classes on traffic regulations today. (I am now learning to drive at the driving school near my house.) While riding a bicycle to go home, I suddenly started noticing some signs and markers on and around the road as something intelligible/meaningful. Those traffic signs have become part of my own semiotic landscape for the first time in my life. With regard to children's cognitions of different nations, I hope to examine the relationship between semiotic landscapes and cognitive development.

Inside and Outside School

I just came back from teaching English to my mother's friend and her daughter. The latter started teaching at an elementary school in October. When I got to their home, she and her mother were working on props that schoolchildren will use at the Art Festival next Sunday. Unfortunately, they won't compensate monetarily these extra hours she spends at home preparing for classes and school events. I think Japanese teachers (especially at elementary and junior high schools) tend to spend way too many unpaid hours and we should correct the current system that puts such an unreasonable burden on them; however, one of the reasons the system is being somehow sustained seems to be that teachers don't think it's all about money.

Rebel without a Cause

Right now I am watching the live-debating TV program "the Future of Japan." Today's theme is the Japanese youth. To tell the truth, I dislike a few of the young participants who disagree with and reject opinions expressed by older participants without ever explaining coherently their disagreement/rejection. Indeed, they sound like merely complaining. (Of course, I don't expect them to suggest alternative ways of reorganizing Japanese society... which is extremely difficult.) Again, I see a failure of Japanese schooling to produce people who can engage in discussion.

Daddy!

There are some preschoolers who try to cling to me. Today one 4-year-old girl was particularly tenacious. She kept clinging to my body by calling me "Daddy! Daddy!" even when her kindergarten teacher told her to go back to her seat. I wondered whether her father spent enough time with her.

Be Careful not to Step on Their Toes

As my rapport with students increases, some students try to use me as a means to be distracted from lessons. Mostly a few almost-but-not-quite delinquent boys use this tactic--to side-talk to me--in classses that young female teachers are teaching. (Yes, unfortunately, many young female teachers are victimized by bad boys.) I always tell them to go back to their work, but they always resist. This happened again today, and I felt sorry for the teacher. So I really need to strike a balance between my own research and the teachers' interests/responsibilities.

School Events

The elementary school is now busy with preparation for the Art Festival at the end of the month. 2nd and 6th graders whom I've been observing are going to perform plays at the Festival. A chunk of regular class time is now used for practicing plays. It's interesting to see how different "subject-elements" exist in the preparation process: (1) Japanese in terms of reading scripts and understanding characters; (2) Music in terms of singing songs; (3) Manual Arts in terms of making props; (4) Moral Education in terms of working together in harmony.

In fact, what is probably most emphasized at school events is "solidarity of the class," "harmony of the class," etc. I've been wondering how this might be related to the production of a certain Japanese subject(ivity).

Mr. Prime Minister...

I just heard the news that Koizumi visited Yasukuni Shrine. Right-leaning people tend to support Koizumi on this point and argue that China and North and South Koreas have been interfering Japan's sovereignty by telling the prime minister not to visit the Shrine.

But I think Koizumi's "determination" is wrong-headed. If he really means to show that Japan--in his own image--is not ready to back down from pressures from other countries, why doesn't he impose economic sanctions on North Korea, which could make them take more seriously the so-called abduction problem, rather than visit the Shrine to complicate Japan's diplomatic relations with China and Korea? Does Koizumi really think about Japan's long-term national interests?

The Autumn Festival

I met with my friend in Nagoya this morning. He is currently working for a consulting company and starting up his own NPO. Over coffee he updated me with what he has been doing and what he is planning to do. His determination, thoughtfulness, enthusiasm, and dedication impressed me greatly. Our reunion meeting was brief, but I got a lot out of it.

Before noon I took a train back to my home, for I was supposed to carry a portable shrine with elementary school kids in my neighborhood. Today a local shrine was holding its annual festival and the tradition is that elementary school kids in neighborhoods surrounding the shrine carry portable shrines (called mikoshi in Japanese), walk around the neighborhoods, and collect donations. I ended up carrying a portable shrine most of the time, for there weren't many kids from my neighborhood. Although the number of houses in my hometown seems to be increasing, that of children seems to have been decreasing.

I don't think it's a bad idea to change the tradition and ask junior high schoolers to join the portable-shrine thing. I think it's good for both elementary and junior high school kids to have a chance to meet and work with older or younger kids in their own neighborhoods.

Can't Beat Mothers

Recently, I feel being exploited by preschoolers! While I am at the kindergarten, they relentlessly ask me to participate in physically demanding plays, such as tag, piggybag, etc. This surely faciliates my rapport with them, but it's kind of inefficient to collect data at the kindergarten because I can ask the kids my questions only when I am taking a break from playing with them. 4-year-olds are my "worst" enemy, for they keep making demands on me, even though they can't answer my questions. Besides, all the kids forget my existence as soon as their parents--mostly mothers--come pick them up.

It is indeed the family that is the most important for kids not only emotionally but also cognitively; for instance, they tend to essentialize the parent-child relationship in making inferences about a person's attributes and behaviors.

Practice Teachers

Gosh, I can't believe that I've been sick for two weeks now...

This morning I asked three practice teachers at F Junior High to participate in my survey. After that, I went to a different junior high school affiliated with a local teachers' college. The principal of this junior high, who is my cousin's former adviser at the college, kindly granted my request to give surveys to 37 practice teachers at his school. In return, I've been asked to come to his seminar at the college and have discussion with his students. I am planning to discuss with them about the Japanese educational system in light of what I have learned so far from my fieldwork in Japan. I hope I will be able to learn something interesting from those future teachers.

Sports, Language, Emotion, and Nation

I just watched the NHK special program on the 80-year history of TV broadcasting of sports in Japan. It was sort of a Japanese historiography of the 80 years in terms of news of famous sports events, such as Olympics, sumo tournaments, high-school baseball tournaments, etc. Tears welled up in my eyes when I watched some of the news where Japanese athletes triumphed and newscasters exclaimed with joy and excitement. I have cried many times by watching foreign films (subtitled in English). But I wonder whether I could cry when I watch sports news in other languages than Japanese--my so-called "mother tongue." Hmm, probably I could if there were players whom I was familiar and sympathetic with.

I've been wondering about the relationship between familiarity and favoritism.

The 3-page Rejection Letter

I received a rejection letter from a certain sociological-theory journal. Since my adviser who is one of the editors of the journal had already alerted me to the rejection, I wasn't upset. But I was surprised to see the single-spaced 3-page rejection letter from the editors, along with comments from 3 different reviewers. I mean, it's not usually for any editors to write as long as three pages to explain rejection... Well, the letter I received actually contained a lot of useful suggestions to make my manuscript better. So, I was pleasantly surprised.

I don't mind rejection, for I will write many better papers in the future!

From Observer to Participant

One of the kindergarten teachers told me that the principal was pleased with my "progress" regarding my interaction with kids. The principal and other teachers thought that I was somewhat awkward with the kids at the beginning--back in August. But now I have come so far as to participate in games with kids and get involved with them more physically (e.g., holding them and carrying them in my arms). I hope this greater familiarity between me and the kids will facilitate my data collection at the kindergarten.

Hold me in Your Arms!

There is one 5-year-old preschooler who asks me to hold her in my arms every time I visit the Kindergarten. Today I asked her whether her mother holds her in her arms. Without looking up at me, the girl said, "No, my mom doesn't hold me in her arms." (I wanted to ask her what about her father, but I didn't because I feared maybe she didn't have one.) Perhaps her mother has been pregnant. Or maybe she is a little cold to her child.

I completed the first half of my survey with about 20 preschoolers today. I will carry out the second half tomorrow.

The so-called Moral Dilemma

On Wednesdays mothers come to every classroom of the elementary school and spend 20 minutes reading books to students. Today I was in one of the 2nd-grade classes where the homeroom teacher had been sick since Monday. Perhaps because of her absence, students in the class were restless while a mother was reading books. One boy was obnixious in particular. He kept walking around, whispering to boys around him, and disturbing others who were listening to the story. Although the mother tried to stop his behavior gently, he didn't stop and his obnoxiousness escalated as a few other boys joined him. Their behaviors made me angry. I really wanted to scold them. But I am not a schoolteacher but merely a doctoral student who is permitted to conudct observation at the school. So I decided to keep taking notes, for I judged I was not authorized to instruct students. I was very frustrated.

Anyway, I want to know about parents of those outrageous kids. What the fuck are they? The fact is that there are more and more parents who can't bring up their children properly.

Global Standards

Last week there was a figure skating competition in Tokyo (?). I saw the NHK sports news that two Japanese female skaters won the 2nd and the 3rd places at the competition. Some Russian skater won the first. They showed video clips from recorded performances of these Japanese skaters. Although I was anticipating to witness the Russian skater's performance as well, they didn't show any of it. In front of TV, I shouted "Why not?" My father watching TV next to me said, "Because this is Japanese sports news." I replied, "But why don't they show the winner's performance? It doesn't matter whether she is Japanese or not. I just want to watch the best performance!" "Well," said my father, "I think it's natural that Japanese viewers want to watch Japanese players."

I hereby hypothesize that one of the reasons Japanese don't compete successfully in many sports at the international level is that they grow up by watching pathetic Japanese players and missing world-class performances by people who are usually not Japanese...?

Brazil

I've been sick for the last few days, so I couldn't update my blog. This is the first time I got sick after I began my fieldwork in Japan.

There is one junior high school girl whose nationality eludes me. Some students say she is Japanese-Brazilian. And it is true that she was born and spent the first couple of years in Brazil. But when I interviewed her, she sort of avoided talking about Brazil. I should have asked her a more straightforward question about her national identity, but I couldn't bring myself to do it because I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. After all, many junior high schoolers, including her, are going through the so-called puberty. (So I will try to ask her questions about her identity as I win greater trust from her over the course of my fieldwork.)

I wish I could speak Portuguese.... Well, better late than never, they say. Okay, I will start learning the language.