March 28, 2007

• Questions from a student...

  Q:  I read about the over crowding in many of Japan's cities. How do you deal with this situation? Is the area you live in experiencing a problem with available space?

  A:  If there is a space problem, I imagine that much of it has to do with the fact that Japan is a mountainous country, and people tend to settle in the small plains here and there.  Imagine half of the United States living in the state of California and you begin to get an idea of the situation.

  Yes, the cities are crowded, but I suppose that we deal with it by getting used to it.  We pack ourselves into commuter trains like sardines and think nothing of it.  If we don't want to be involved in traffic jams we use the trains.  Besides the rush hour crowding, the public transportation system here is really very good. 

  As far as housing is concerned, there is space available, but it is prohibitively expensive, and becomes more so the closer on gets to an urban center.  A home with only 70 square meters of space is considered quite adequate to many people.  Rent can easily run $1000 a month for an apartment with a dining-kitchen and two small bedrooms. 

  Land is a precious commodity, and rather than sell and find a new house in another location, standard procedure is to tear down the old house and build another on the same property.  Houses depreciate enough in value to be considered as worthless after 30-40 years.  Some build a three story home with two rooms on each floor. 

  There is not much space for large American type furniture(forget washer-dryers!), and we must keep things well sorted out as there is not room to keep many things that one does not really need.  Traditionally, tatami mat rooms are multi-use.  We can use a room as a living - dining room and then pull out the futons at night for a bedroom.  Since apartments are small and rooms have multiple uses, there is less privacy in a Japanese city home.  Recently less tatami are being used as flooring is becoming common. 

  We live in a developing area, so compared to where we once lived in Central Tokyo, (Shinjuku) it is quite spacious.  In Shinjuku I used to love to ride my bicycle (another important means of transportation in the city) from Shibuya to Ikebukuro, but since the construction of a new subway began, the sidewalks were narrowed to the degree that is was too frustrating to navigate them because of all the human traffic.  We live in Inagi in Western Tokyo now where there is less population, and it is like a different country!  I can actually use my bicycle pedals more than my brakes.  You can check it all out on Google maps.  As I said, our area is developing.  We used to be able to see Mount Fuji on the way to the station when we moved here a few years ago, but the view has been blocked by small shopping malls, and another is going up as I write this.  We used to have pheasants and meadowlarks in abundance, and I hate to see the area being built up with urban sprawl already.

  Purchasing property is very expensive, and depending on the location, can easily run over half a million dollars for land and a small house.  There is no yard to speak of, and houses are packed together in quite compact neighborhoods.  There are many condominiums, which are a bit cheaper than buying a house.
  

  Q:  I also read that higher education is more competitive in Japan than in the states. Have you noticed any specific differences between the two education systems?

  School is free and compulsory through junior high school.  There are free public schools and private schools which one must of course pay to attend.  If one wishes further education, one must take an entrance examination to enter high school.  One must pay to attend either a public or private high school, but public high schools are much cheaper.  One must take an entrance examination to enter college, and again, a national university is much cheaper and prestigious than is a private university, although some private universities are prestigious as well. 

  To have a chance at entering a good university, one must attend a good high school, a good junior high school, a good elementary school and a good kindergarten, so it can become quite competitive at early levels.  Each family has its own respective goals and acts according to them.  Some financially advantaged families spend much time with preschool education to get their little ones into a kindergarten attached to some private university so that they have a better chance at getting into the attached school and eventually the university itself.  Other families send their children to free public schools so that they do not have to commute on the trains and so that they will have playmates in the neighborhood.

  Mothers are expected to take an active role at school, and to serve one year on some school committee for each child attending the school.  Having a job is not considered a good excuse not to serve, and I remember the silence and pressure of that good old first class parents meeting at the beginning of each school year when we had to choose class officers.

  Both of my children attended public schools up through junior high school.  My son went to a public high school and my daughter went to a private high school.  Both attended private colleges, Waseda and International Christian University.

  I have been out of the US for 30 years or so, so when comparing I can only go on the basis of my memory.  I would say that a Japanese classroom contains more children, about 40, and is well organized as a work unit.  The class is divided into groups that take responsibility for different classroom tasks.  The students clean their own school and depend less on a janitor than do American schools.  The students for the most part do not pass to classes.  The teacher passes to the classrooms.  Japanese schools have "ethics" or moral instruction.

  School clubs play a large role in Japan.  There are sports clubs, academic clubs and hobby clubs.  These all meet a few times during the week.  Sports clubs seem especially time consuming with daily practice and matches even during vacation times.  Teachers are assigned as advisors, but the students play a large role in running their clubs.

  In general I think that the schools have a larger say in what the students do after leaving the school grounds.  It is very common for a school to place some areas of town, such as gaming arcades, off limits to students.  Schools may also recommend the amount of time a child spends in front of TV or what time the students are to return home after neighborhood play.  All junior high schools have uniforms that the students are required to wear, as do most high schools.  At the private school where I teach, some of the rules include going straight home with no stops anywhere, no cell phones, no walkmen, no pierced ears, no dyed hair or permanent, no part time jobs. Schools make their rules clear, so if one does not like them one can choose to take an examination somewhere else.  Transferring between schools is very difficult.  School entrance is determined on the basis of an examination, and upon entering a school, one must pay a hefty, non refundable entrance fee that is forfeited if one chooses to try to attend somewhere else. 

  Q:  I found information concerning children of farmers moving to the city resulting in an elderly farming population. The book mentioned that the government was taking steps to reverse this trend, but was not specific on the methods. Do you know of any specific legislation or programs designed to bring the younger generations back to a farming lifestyle?

  A:  As the population becomes more educated, fewer are interested in following in their parent's footsteps as farmers.  Those men who do have trouble finding wives who are willing to put in the hard work that farming requires.  Farming also involves living with the husband's family, which many women are not willing to do.  Some men are even willing to take brides from foreign countries like the Philippines who are willing to come to Japan to work on a farm.  The aging countryside is certainly a problem, and I don't really know of any specific legislation or programs to slow the trend, although there may be some.

  There were many rice farmers where we lived in Izumo in Shimane Prefecture.  The work involved in raising rice is seasonal, planting in the spring and harvesting in the fall.  Most of the work was done during days that are vacation days on the calendar anyway.  Housework was not considered work, and a woman was expected to either work in the fields or at a job while the grandparents supervised the home and the children.

  I hope this answers some of your questions!
  
  
  

  • 05:44
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