Under the Cherry Blossom Tree

It has been about 6 months since the last entry, numerous life events, festivals, traditions and funny moments, here are a few...

Backtracking to right before the winter holiday vacation, the boys were in their first traditional Japanese school play. The costumes were fantastic, as the chorus dancers they were dressed as fish and ocean life. I only wish I had video to post- the dancing and music were awesome.

After the holidays we returned to Japan and the boys completed Kindergarten at their school. The Japanese school year is finished at the end of March and the new school year begins the first week in April. Graduation from kindergarten and entry into First grade is a really big deal here, quite a ceremony is given to each. The parents wear suits and some of the mothers wear traditional Kimonos.

The traditional kimono is extremely elaborate and beautiful, they are mostly handmade and custom ordered, not to be confused with a yukata, a casual kimono looking robe, worn anywhere. The kimono is only worn for special events as they take forever to put on and are quite uncomfortable and limiting. It was a real treat to watch some of the mothers get dressed in the traditional garb. They don't look quite real, and makes you feel like you are dropping into an ancient culture, so disparate from my own.

The entry into First grade is honored with the "Opening Ceremony". Again many mothers don their Kimonos, while everyone else wears a suit. In public school (where the boys now attend- all Japanese- no english) during opening ceremony the little boys wear suits (with shorts) and get to put on their backpack for the first time.

The backpack is another thing that blew our minds. They are mandatory for all schoolchildren and are made of a hard leather, like luggage, meant to last for the kids' school career, they weigh a TON, and the poor children need to shlep them back and forth laden with 50 lbs. of books daily. They cost a fortune starting at $100 up to $400.
Back to the ceremony, the upper grades greet and welcome the new first graders with song and with dance. The second graders wear festival gear and do a dance, it very cool.

The days are long for the kids. They begin school at 8:15AM then after school go next door for intermediate day care before their English program begins at 4:00PM. After their English "school" they take the bus home and arrive at the bus stop at 7:00PM.

Spring begins and we have many festivals here. Last week was the sakura festivals. Sakura is cherry blossom. During this week the Cherry Blossom trees bloom out of nowhere and the entire country is covered in the most gorgeous bloomed cherry blossoms, everywhere you look this lasts a week and then is over as quickly as it started. We went to a fun festival in downtown Sendai full of people picnicking and hanging out under the sakura.

We, the only 4 Jews in Sendai, celebrated Passover which coincides with the Japanese festivals- due to springtime. I conducted a tradtional seder with some un-traditional things like using wasabi for horseradish (bitter herbs) It's hard to be such an outsider sometimes, so isolated, yet, it was especially rewarding and wonderful to see how involved and excited the kids were to celebrate their own culture and rich traditions, after living among those who deeply appreciate culture and tradition.

The Winter was cold and long- making me long for CA or FLA, but the skiing is terrific and boys were ecstatic learning to ski and sledding all the time. Now that the weather has gotten warmer I will be out and about with more posts and pics more frequently...