To have a friend is to be one!

At this time of the new semester, new grades, new teachers and new classmates, the key is to make new friends and get to know each other early on.

To have a fun school year, it is very important to have close friends. They will comfort you not only in happiness, but also help you get through the difficult times. It is said that friends who are there for you in trying times will become lifelong friends. It is important to have a few close friends but on the other hand it is also important to get as many friends as possible and broaden the sum of friendship.

British critic Emerson’s wrote “The only way to have a friend is to be one.” Furthermore, he says, “People become acquaintances by meeting, become friends by spending time and become companions by helping each other.” Both are meaningful expressions. 続きを読む…

Bringing up thoughtfulness, kindness and geniality of the heart

If our kids are growing without a nice and thoughtful heart, that is pretty sad. If that happened, it might be because they were growing up without a chance to meet people who have a thoughtful mind. This is also a sad situation for our society because we might be losing our kindness of human nature. And unfortunately, these chain reactions show up on weak people like kids as a negative chain.
By the way, I think we have both ‘egoism’ and ‘altruistic’ in our mind, and I would say that ‘altruistic’ means having wide vision and being able to make the right decisions. And you can also say that’s a thought that ‘good for others’, so it’s easier to get somebody else’s help. Furthermore, people who have this sort of mind think of others and even live for others, so they can find a purpose in their lives and can feel comfortable in their heart.
I think ‘thoughtfulness’, ‘kindness’, ‘geniality’… these words have in common with ‘altruistic’. So why do we start up with making a good environment to bring up the kids’ hearts at school and home? 続きを読む…

At Daikan, spring is still far away, and snow forecast worries us

January 20 is called “Daikan” in Japan and is considered to be the coldest day of the year. It also means that once it is over, the spring is near. However, there has been a lot of snow in Japan recently, and spring still seems far away.
If you look around the world, we see a lot of abnormal weather like heat waves in south western parts of the U.S. and India, heavy rain in southern part of Thailand and Chinese Yangze River, and cold waves in central Europe through western Russia. They were thought to be caused by global economic activities, El Nino (where the sea-surface temperatures rise), and La Nina (sea-surface temperatures decrease).
For our school, snow fall and snow accumulations are enemies to our academic activities. In fact, since the year end, there have been snow forecast three times in a row, with two of them actually causing moderate snow fall and snow accumulations, forcing us to adjust our schedule. I have heard that these were just the beginning winter activities and the snow here is much heavier.
Looking at the sky reproachfully, we are so looking forward to the spring. 続きを読む…

Sagicho, Dondo-yaki, Dondon-yaki

Our culture is filled with many traditions, especially around New Year’s. In Japan, all the items related to toshigami such as the New Year Decorations or the lucky charms are never thrown away but are collected at shrines and burned at the beginning of January, in a ritual fire. Households with children decorate Bamboo grass with colorful strip of paper. They burn Bamboo around their community from the evening of Jan. 14th through the morning of Jan. 15th. They make Adzuki-Bean gruel with Bamboo charcoal and eat　it to wish a safe and healthy new year. Please take some time to talk with your children about New Year Traditions and fun games of your hometown. 続きを読む…