A Little About This Blog and Me

When people are given the opportunity to travel, they are also given the chance to be exposed to a different culture, sometimes a different language, even a different lifestyle. I was blessed to have dedicated and hardworking parents who wanted me to be immersed into their cultures, going as far as to teach me their languages: Japanese and German. I had the opportunity to visit Germany twice over my lifetime and go to school there for a day learning a little about the German culture and education. More often so, I went to Japan to visit my mother’s family and attend school there from pre-school to high school over many summers. Their school year began in April, so I was usually there well into the school year. Japanese schools also don’t have kindergarten. Elementary school is from first to sixth grade, middle school was from seventh to ninth, and high school is from tenth to twelfth. Whether it was attending school for a week or attending school for a month, each time I learned fascinating aspects of the Japanese culture that isn’t always found in textbooks. The first question I get asked a lot by my peers in the US is, “Japan has school during summer break?” Unlike the US, Japan has summer break beginning in the end of July to the end of August. In the US, summer breaks are usually from around the beginning-mid June to the mid-end of August depending on where you live in the US. This gave me about a 2-month window to attend school throughout the years. Overall, Japanese students stay in school more often than American schools. The next question that follows is, “Did you have to wear uniforms?” In public preschools and elementary schools, no. In public middle schools and high schools, yes. There are basic questions like these that I get asked time and time again. However, if you dive a little deeper there are subtle cultural and societal aspects that may be common knowledge or taboo. I remember vividly getting ready for first grade with my little bucket hat and my bright red randoseru (a firm-sided backpack made of leather) that almost every kid had. Besides the randoseru the next item every kid had was this little device called a buzzer that was meant to protect kids from being kidnapped or hurt. Almost all kids walked to school, which is most likely the reason for this device. If the child felt endangered, they would pull a trigger on the device that would set off this loud, high pitch, scream-like sound that made everyone aware in the area you were in danger. This device could be comparable to mace in the US. It is interesting though how almost every kid had such device, but in the U.S., there isn’t such a thing as a buzzer. This doesn’t necessarily prevent a child from being completely safe, but as a child small differences like this made me wonder why certain concepts or items were in one country and not the other. Although they may seem insignificant, these differences are reflections of what societal values countries find relevant in contrast to others.