Mrs. Nanto in Tokyo

Friday, June 15, 2012

Sayonara for now...

Hello Russell Street! It's hard to believe that summer is here already! Time seems to have sped up this past month as the school year has ended.

Kaela went to prom....

And graduated from high school (it was a great day but we all missed Littleton!)

And Tommy graduated from 8th grade (there were 19 countries represented in his 8th grade class!)....

Then several "sayonara" parties as we said farewell to new friends whose time in Japan has ended...

Tommy and Noelle are already home in Littleton... enjoying being back with our dog Molly... and hearing English being spoken everywhere... grocery stores... Five Guys and Yangtze River... trees and birds!.... etc. Kaela and I stay here in Tokyo for a few more weeks for our jobs. We (Tommy, Mr. Nanto and myself) look forward to summer in the U.S. ... and then ONE more year in Tokyo.

Students and teachers at Russell Street, it's been fun to share some of our adventures with you this year! I have thought of you often and I have missed you. Perhaps I'll run into some of you around town or at Kimball's this summer:).

Love, Mrs. Nanto

Art with Noelle

Tokyo is a great art city, and because Noelle is a student at MassArt, we were tuned into art while she was visiting. One highlight was spending some time with Allan West, an important artist here in Japan. He's an American but he has brought back very traditional Japanese methods for painting large screens. He's considered a national treasure here and meeting him was a great opportunity for Noelle.

Earlier as a family we visited an exhibit of classic screens at the Nezu Museum.

And right in our neighborhood is a small shop called Blue and White, which endeavors to preserve and promote traditional Japanese textile (fabric) arts.

Take Your Daughters to Work Day

Not really.... but I did take Noelle and Kaela to my school for the morning.

In April (when the Japanese school year begins) I started a part-time job assisting two English teachers at Fukugawa High School. The teachers I work with have never lived in an English-speaking country, so they depend on native English speakers for help. It's a very fun job! Two of my classes are on an "English major" track in high school. They study English 2-3 hours a day at school.

The students were working on short book or movie reviews, so Noelle and Kaela demonstrated by reviewing Harry Potter and the Disney animated movie "Anastasia." Here students are practicing in pairs.

After class, lots of excitement!

Lunchtime! There is no cafeteria in the school - only a tiny snack counter. Students bring bento from home and they sit in the classrooms or out in the hallway in a common area. Can you imagine someone coming into the Russell Street School cafeteria and taking pictures of your food? :).

Heading back home on the trains... a really fun morning!

Friday, May 18, 2012

Children's Day

May 5th in Japan is a national holiday - Children's Day! That's right - an actual national holiday dedicated to honoring and celebrating children! Years ago it was called Boys Day, but has since been changed to include girls as well (and girls still get their own special holiday as well!).

Children's Day became a national holiday in 1948, shortly after the end of World War II. Why do you think that timing might be significant?

Photo by Nancy Ericson

Traditionally on Children's Day, carp-shaped flags are flown. When the flags are flying in the wind, they are supposed to resemble fish swimming upstream. There is an old Chinese legend that says a carp swimming upstream becomes a dragon. So these flags are symbols of courage.