SMILE Vol.2 April9, 2017 (H29)

Welcome to an Exciting New Schoolyear !

Our new schoolyear has begun. Start with new class room, new textbook, new teacher and friends. The beginning of new schoolyear should be an exciting time, but it can be stressful for students in many reasons.
Although every student moved up one grade, April is just a beginning. We have a tendency to students suppose behave better than last school year. All students have a whole year for grow up to be who they supposed to. Please be patient and support your child become comfortable in the new grade. 続きを読む…

SMILE Vol.1 April1, 2017 (H29)

Congratulations! Welcome back!

The school is in a cheerful spirit for welcoming new students. I trust you had a great start of the year full of hope and motivation. The change of classrooms and teachers might make you feel uncomfortable, but the beginning of the year is a great opportunity to welcome change. I hope each of you takes steps at your own pace to meet new people, learn new things, and share new experiences. 続きを読む…

SMILE Vol.38 Mar. 11, 2017 (H29)

Let’s Choose a Right Path for Your Better Future!

Congratulations to our graduating students!

Congratulations to everyone completing his/her grade of the fiscal year 2016!

This school year is coming to an end and new year is about to begin. In this context, you may miss the days when you were together with your friends. Sometimes you may wish you could go back in time. However, I would like you to look for a way to build up your brand new class and school year on your own and change the great atmosphere even further better with everyone, rather than looking back the past. “Making use of your past experience” is not achievable by just missing those days. Let’s move forward by taking advantage of your previous valuable experience.
I strongly feel you should choose a right way, which is not an easy way, needing some additional effort. In this way, there will be a bright future waiting for you. 続きを読む…

SMILE Vol.37 Mar. 05, 2017 (H29)

Be a Strong and Flexible as bamboo tree

The graduation ceremony will be held next Saturday, March 11. The school year is coming to an end. Do you remember the fun and tough times and the unforgettable moments of school activities in your daily life? These events can be compared to bamboo nodes on the stem. If a bamboo doesn’t have nodes, it will fall down quickly. Because of nodes, a bamboo stem is able to stand strong and flexible under snowy and windy days. Your experiences that has been overcome are the bamboo nodes. The more nodes you have, the stronger of a person you are able to grow into and take in deep consideration, right judgement and right action. 続きを読む…

SMILE Vol.36 Feb. 25, 2017 (H29)

Completing one thing now, Another mountain to go over

Let me share a poem called “One Thing” by Kihaku Saito.
“Completing one thing now, another mountain to go over. Wind crossing the field, A song blending in my mind, Mulberry tree filling up and clouds shining, People follow and a road never ends, A road far away and a road far away, Find a mountain to go over tomorrow, Completing one thing now”
The poem expresses the joy to accomplish one thing -climbed a mountain, and the eagerness to go over a higher mountain next. We used to sing the song at a graduation ceremony. A graduation day is approaching. I hope students have found time they spent at school valuable – the time they studied together, played together, and shared together. There are only two school days left before graduation. Let’s cherish every moment with all of your friends. 続きを読む…

SMILE Vol.35 Feb. 18, 2017 (H29)

When you observe the character 人間:human…

Humans are sociable. People interact with one another to thrive. This interaction forms one’s happiness and purpose in their lives.
When you observe the character; “人間 (human)”, its meaning deeply touches my heart that people bearing one another to carry on their lives and a person can truly become a person among this interaction of people. Great respect in the wisdom of our predecessors for creating these characters.(extracting from “Kodomoeno manazashi by Masami Sasaki) 続きを読む…

SMILE Vol.34 Feb. 11, 2017 (H29)

Looking yourself through others’ view

As children become teens, they start feeling self-conscious about their looks and check themselves out in the mirror more than ever. They are not only focused on how they look on the outside, but also their inner selves. With peer pressure to fit into the teen culture can be more important than anything else. Mirrors reflect on the outside appearance, but friends reactions impact their inner self image.
(Kodomono manazashi by Masami Sasaki) 続きを読む…

SMILE Vol.32 Jan. 28, 2017 (H29)

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…

SMILE Vol.31 Jan. 21, 2017 (H29)

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…