On Blogging, Travelling, School Lunches and Religious Freedom

From now on I do hope to post a bit more frequently...although it must be understood that 10 months in, I've settled in for quite a while now, those initial new 'Japan discoveries' have now become the norm.

And life has become pretty regular, except for the occasional travels - well, I say occasional, but actually I just realised I've been travelling pretty much every month since the JET-ing began..

- August - well, arrived Tokyo and setting foot in
- September - Sendai Jazz Festival in Sendai, Miyagi
- October - Lots of festivals around Fukushima; shopping trip in Tokyo; and the Gifu & Toyama Bus Tour
- November - Okutama JCF Retreat; Nikko, Tochigi; Tokyo DisneySea
- December - Hong Kong
- January - Sapporo, Hokkaido
- February - Aizu, Fukushima
- March - Tokyo; Nagano JCF Retreat; Osaka
- April - Kobe; Kyoto; Tokyo (yes, again)
- May - Okinawa


On a different note, when I saw what was served for lunch at school today, my first thought was that the guys who decided today's main dish, side dish, carbs and dessert obviously didn't talk to each other today...

We get school lunches delivered to school everyday by a school catering company. Usually the school lunch consists of: Milk, Main dish or soup, side dish, the carbs and dessert (erm actually the term 'dessert' is debatable as we sometimes get cheese or a packet of nuts & small dried fishies...so probably the term 'after-lunch snack' would be more appropriate..?)

Anyway, TODAY'S lunch consisted of: Milk, soft noodles, soupy Japanese curry, 2 takoyakis ('octopus balls') and yogurt. It's as if they picked each item out of many in catagorised hats. The school lunch company made absolutely no effort in giving thought to the combination whatsoever. Don't get me wrong - I wasn't mad, not at all. It was just really amusing. Although sometimes we do get some truly indigestible matter. A friend once commented on how school lunch soups are probably made: write down a bunch of foods on pieces of paper, put them in a hat, pick 3 or 4 out, then serve it in your own urine. I myself probably wouldn't've put it in such a way, although it does make you think...

....that I should be grateful that I have lunch at all.

I had also recently just realised, after being in Japan for nearly 10 months and teaching for 9 of those, that Japanese public schools don't have religious education. I shared my revelation with the trainee intern teacher sitting next to me, and she said it was because the government is not allowed to intervene in terms of anything religious, because religion is a sensitive issue, and people have the freedom to make their own choice.

I see it, however, not as freedom, but as a great limitation to freedom. It seems people are deprived of information to be free to make a rational choice based on facts. They are bound by a shallow 'religious' culture that surrounds them - on the surface all the festivals and shrines and temples make Japan seem deeply rooted in Buddhism and Shintoism, but underneath that superficial culturally colourful coat the real religion is of materialism, of keeping one's face (or dignity), of advancement and constant renewal, but also of a strong herd-culture. On the other hand, "many long-held traditional beliefs and values seem to be crumbling. Never, in Japan's recent history, have there been so many brutal crimes being committed as now. It is also reported that over 30,000 people commit suicide annually." (RBC Ministries)

I haven't really talked to any of the kids about religion, or how much they know about different belief systems. I don't expect them to know a lot. Even the reasons behind religious public holidays in Japan are not taught to children "because if they say so it will be interpreted as having to do with a particular denomination". I'm not saying indoctrinate the kids with certain religion(s), but there's not even a gateway for exploration and investigation, or even just a window to expand their worldviews and open up their minds to other cultures and beliefs and mindsets.

I sometimes feel the kids here are so bound up in chains of all sorts. They need freedom!