arriving in mishima

we left on monday for mishima by bullet train. I'm pretty sure that the bullet train is the fastest method of land transportation. every time I've ridden on one my ears pop from going so fast. we were greeted at the station in mishima by host families, members of the pta, and mr. suzuki, the principal of saka elementary. they took us to saka where we had a school lunch in the library and were then escorted to our separate classes. since I would be attending another school, the first day at saka elementary I ended up going to the 6th grade class with sara.




figuring out the japanese custom of indoor/outdoor shoes


the guy holding the camera is the father of daichi, a saka student who came to raleigh in march. the father volunteered a lot for the pta, and helped us out a lot in mishima. he was a super awesome guy, and I had a few chances to have conversations with him. even though I'm still learning japanese, he was always eager to talk with me. he drove us around, helped us get settled, and was simply there whenever you needed him. there were a ton of people at saka and in japan like this, and we're really indebted to them!

in particular, I was very impressed with the principals of every school I went to in japan. mr. suzuki (principal of saka), the assistant principal of saka, and the principal of nishikida-chū were all super friendly, and all went way out of their way to help us. mr. suzuki and I were pretty close already because he stayed at my house for a week in March, and the principal of nishikida was the principal of Saka when I came to mishima 6 years ago. I was called down to the principlals office atnishikida during class one day, which in an american school would be a pretty bad thing. We ended up drinking green-tea, talking about japanese culture, and looking at photos from my previous trip. he showed me pictures of all the students from saka from 6 years ago, and then told me what high school they went to now and what they were up to.

I think that american principals should take a nod from the japanese (though not all american principles need this, obviously) and actually interact with students! in the 5 years dr. cochran has been my principal (2 at ligon, 3 at enloe) I've never spoken to her, I've only actually seen her a handful of times, and I'm positive she has no idea who I am. the only time she's communicated with me has been through automated phone calls home and mass-letters sent out to every student. being treated so well in mishima was truly a luxury for me and something I won't ever forget.