Music Festival & Cards

Hello!

Another week gone past in Japan.

Students at school are busy preparing for the music festival - this will happen in mid-November. Each elementary grade (1st through 6th grade) learns music throughout the school year. I think they have music class at least once, maybe twice a week.

For 1st and 2nd grade students, it seems that the regular classroom teachers teach music. Although sometimes one of the school's "substitute" teachers comes in to lead the lesson. The school has one regular music teacher who teaches lessons to 3rd through 6th grade.

First and second grade students play the keyboard, xylophone and some basic percussion instruments. Older students are similar, but they also have groups of students that play accordions, a grand piano, the marimba and other larger percussion instruments like a snare and bass drum.

As I mentioned last year around this time, I am surprised by the difficulty of the music the students play at young ages here. The music involves "resting" and coordination among various different instruments.

It seems like most woman classroom teachers can play the piano and lead the music lessons. I have not seen a male classroom teacher yet able to lead a music lesson yet. One of the woman 2nd grade teachers practices music with all of the 2nd grade classes (the other two teachers of that grade are male).

While Japan generally maintains strong gender roles, there are also ways in which it does not. It is popular for women in Japan to play baseball, for instance. I think they even have a professional women's baseball league - but I do not know much about it.

At school, there are also cases of blurred genders within the students. For some older students, it can be hard to tell whether they are male or female. One time, with regards to a 6th grade student, I asked another student whether that particular person is a boy or a girl and the student said they did not know. The student was a mystery to them.

And, even in Japan, there appear to be cases of students who were born as one gender but who wish to be treated as another.

Outside of school, I recently applied for Japanese debit and credit cards. Up until now, I have not had a card outside of my ATM card that I could use to access my local Japanese yen funds. Japan is still very cash centric, and I have mainly paid for everything with cash, even large purchases.

For certain kinds of purchases, you can make them online and then pay for them at a convenience store. I think that I have bought some bus tickets this way before - you put the order in via the internet and then go to any local convenience store to pay the bill.

I also pay my gas and electricity bill by taking it to the convenience store. You had the clerk the bill that you received in the mail, they scan it and then you pay the bill right there.

I have included photos this week from around Kobe, click on the photo below.

Until next time,

Photos from this week!

​