Tag - matter-of-course

 
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April 20, 2024
 

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MATTER OF COURSE

LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Dec 16, 2004
Reflections on rich learnings we all shared
When I began writing this column, I thought it would be a one-year gig. My editors thought so too. But things went well, and for nearly four years now I've reported in this space about my children's experiences in Japanese school.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Nov 18, 2004
The right way to teach values in school
How do you teach a child right from wrong? I certainly don't have all the answers. In our home, we're still working on why you can't hit your brother, even when he's being deliberately annoying -- as he has been all this week, answering any direct question with nonsense ("What do you want for dinner?" "Patio furniture!"). I felt like socking him too.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Oct 21, 2004
Disabled children at regular schools: inclusion isn't easy
When we moved to Japan and enrolled our sons in local schools, both they and I had a lot to learn. Every day was a challenge, and I was so focused on the basics that I missed a lot of things that should have been obvious. Like the fact that there was a disabled child in my son's kindergarten.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Sep 16, 2004
Reading-out-loud renaissance falls upon deaf ears
I'm a fan of "Doraemon," the long-running children's television show about a blue robot cat from the future, who lives with an average family on the outskirts of Tokyo. The Japanese is relatively easy to understand, and I love Doraemon's magic pocket, from which he pulls amazing tools like the dokodemo door, which leads to wherever you want to go, and honyaku konnyaku -- have someone who doesn't know Japanese eat this and he will immediately speak it fluently! So I got a little excited when I heard that the woman who does one of the voices on the show would be visiting the Japanese elementary school my younger son attends.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Aug 19, 2004
City kids bring diversity to countryside schools
I was a little nervous when we went to pick up my son, who was returning from an extended stay in the Japanese countryside. He's 13, an age when kids go through tremendous physical and emotional changes. There have been days when he was a different person at dinner than he was at breakfast. And when he left, he was in one of those adolescent moods that seemed to say he'd rather be anywhere than with his family. What would he be like after two weeks away?
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jul 15, 2004
Japan's kindergartens could serve families better
Procreation just ain't what it used to be.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jun 17, 2004
When the summer vacation is just too long
Just try to find something for foreign kids to do in Japan in the summer. There aren't many options, even if your children speak Japanese, as mine do. The most difficult period of all is the five or six weeks after international schools close down but Japanese schools are still in session.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
May 20, 2004
Schools sounding false alarms over child safety
A few weeks ago my younger son came home from school all excited. "Mom! Guess what?" he shouted from the entranceway as he kicked off his shoes. "The ku gave us a gohan buza!" I had been hard at work on an article and was a little slow making the transition to his eclectic mix of languages. Why would the ward give us a "rice buzzer?," I wondered. I've already got a timer on my automatic rice cooker.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Apr 15, 2004
When foreign children run afoul of the law
My kids generally don't mind it when I write about them in this column, although on occasion my older son has accused me of exploiting him for professional gain. It happened again when he heard the topic for today's column. "You're writing about foreign kids who get in trouble with the police?" He rolled his eyes. "And I suppose you want me to get myself arrested so you can write all about it!"
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Mar 18, 2004
Wartime stories of schoolkids on the move
I recently stumbled across a war story I knew nothing about. I was at the library looking for books to keep my older son reading in Japanese, now that he no longer attends Japanese school. Since he had just made a trip to Hiroshima with his international school, I chose books about Japanese children's wartime experiences. My son was interested, but I was the one who got hooked. What caught my attention was the gakudo sokai (pupil evacuation), a government program in which more than half a million children were sent in school groups to the countryside.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Feb 19, 2004
Schools step in to teach kids table manners
Why is it so difficult to teach children table manners? My kids are quick learners. My oldest only needs to hear a Weird Al song once and he's got the lyrics memorized. His little brother can recite the specs for every fighter plane ever built. So why can't they master the trick of getting their napkins on their laps?
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jan 15, 2004
Meiji schoolhouse offers lessons in history
"You want us to go to school on our day off?" my 9-year-old cried in disbelief. "Zettai iyada! (Absolutely no way!)" He's been in Japan since he was 5 and tends to speak in Japanese when he's riled. "Yeah, leave it to our mother to come up with a cockamamie scheme like going to school while we're on a trip," seconded his older brother, who is equally mouthy whether speaking in English or Japanese.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Dec 18, 2003
Colorblind schoolkids can see clearly now
Red. Green. Red. Green. A simple pattern. Or so I thought, until I spent an hour at the Japanese elementary school my son attends. I had come in to do holiday crafts, and was showing the kids how to make a paper chain in Christmas colors. I told them to take a strip of red paper and bend it into a circle. Then take a strip of green paper and loop it through the red circle to start off a chain. Red. Green. Red. Green.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Nov 20, 2003
Empty school buildings: reuse or recycle?
Not far from where I live, there's an elementary school with just 36 students. It's not a private school. It doesn't have a special curriculum. It's a regular public school designed to serve several hundred students. But the neighborhood has changed into a business district, and the few residents who remain are mostly older people with no children. Enrollment at the local elementary school has fallen so much there are only three children each in the second and fifth grades.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Oct 16, 2003
Lessons in the field yield unexpected harvests
Call me a coward, but I get nervous when surrounded by rowdy youths carrying sharp blades.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Sep 25, 2003
When the grass is greener on the other side
I was starting a load of laundry, my son's dirty trousers in hand, when I sensed something was wrong. I couldn't put my finger on what was troubling me. I held up my kid's khakis, looking for a clue. It wasn't that his pants were filthy. They are always filthy. It wasn't that they were full of holes. That's normal, too. Then it dawned on me: no grass stains.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jul 31, 2003
Guest teachers build barrier-free minds
My 8-year-old wanted to use my computer. "I need to search the Internet for a picture of a kurumaisu," he said, in his usual blend of English and Japanese. Never mind that both his parents are American; he's lived in Japan since he was 5 and attends a Japanese elementary school. This qualifies him as a chanpon meijin (expert at mixing up the languages).
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jul 3, 2003
Learning firsthand about rice cultivation
I have new respect for the rainy season. I used to hate tsuyu, these dreary weeks of drizzle. But now that I'm a farmer, I see the value of so much rain. I'm farming a bucket of rice on my balcony and can't keep up with the watering.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jun 5, 2003
National hygiene begins in the classroom
I always like to hear from readers, but it's especially nice when they provide ideas for my column. Several wrote in recently about severe acute respiratory syndrome.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
May 8, 2003
More breathing space in the classroom
Last month, just before the new school year started in Japan, I ran into a neighbor at the supermarket. She's a bit high-strung and gets worked up over school matters, so I try to avoid her. But she collared me by the cabbages and dropped her voice to a dramatic whisper. "Have you heard? The Suzukis were transferred to Sendai! If any more kids move away, we won't have enough sixth-graders this year!"
No link to Nankai Trough quake seen after temblor in Shikoku
Satoshi Harada from the Meteorological Agency explains about the magnitude 6.6 earthquake during a news conference early Thursday.
Tehran signals no retaliation against Israel after drones attack Iran
A reported strike against Iran by Israel on Friday came against the backdrop of Iran's support for the Palestinian Hamas militant group, whose assault into Israel on Oct. 7 triggered Israel's invasion of Gaza.
In a first, Japan doctors sue Google over negative reviews on firm's map app
One of the lawyers representing a group of doctors suing Google told a news conference that the main purpose of the lawsuit is not to seek compensation but instead to raise awareness over various problems with the Google Maps system.
Former No. 1 Kento Momota retires from international badminton at 29
Badminton star Kento Momota leaves a news conference after announcing his retirement from Japan's national team, in Tokyo on Thursday.
Thousands evacuated as Indonesia volcano erupts
Indonesia's Mount Ruang spews hot lava and smoke as seen from Sitaro, North Sulawesi, on Wednesday.
'House of the Owl' brings Hollywood values to Japanese TV
In the new Disney+ series “House of the Owl,” Min Tanaka (left) plays a powerful political fixer, or “kuromaku,” who has a troubled relationship with his adult children, particularly his idealistic son, played by Mackenyu.
Benefits and risks: AUKUS looks to take gamble on Japan
U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British leader Rishi Sunak deliver remarks on the AUKUS partnership, after a trilateral meeting, at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego in March last year.
Kyoto’s demon night parade lives to haunt another day
In a Kyoto long past, the "hyakki yagyō" (100 demon night parade) haunted a sleepy corner of Kyoto. Now, one enterprising monster enthusiast has won a small batttle to keep the march alive.
U.S. deploys midrange missile system in Indo-Pacific for first time
A U.S. Army Mid-Range Capability (MRC) Launcher arrives as part of the capability’s first deployment into theater on Northern Luzon, Philippines, April 8.
Unpacking the chaotic by-election in a scandal-hit Tokyo district
People listen to a campaign speech in Tokyo's Koto Ward on Tuesday.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on
By Lance Henderstein

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