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Sharon (Feb. 2004)
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Sharon Gulick shares her great-grandfather's
enthusiasm for Japan. During her first visit to Japan with her family when
she was nine years old (1988), she visited several schools with Blue-eyed
Dolls from America. She says, "Everywhere we went we were greeted with
huge smiles and great hospitality."
Dr. Sidney Gulick, Sharon's
great-grandfather, organized an exchange of dolls between the U.S. and Japan
in 1927 to promote peace and good relations between the two countries.
American children sent to Japan over 12,000 dolls, which were distributed by
the Education Ministry to elementary schools and kindergartens throughout the
country. These dolls become known as the "Blue-eyed Dolls," named
after a popular Japanese song.
Sharon, now in her mid-20s
and a graduate student at the Yale University School of Forestry and
Environmental Studies, worked for two years in Japan from 1999 to 2001. She
served as an assistant English teacher in Takaoka City in Toyama Prefecture.
After completion of her two-year assignment, she spent about a month
traveling around Japan to visit elementary schools and kindergartens with
Blue-eyed Dolls. She again was amazed that the dolls were able to survive
since 1927 through the strength and conviction of many people.
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Sharon (far left) and family at Daiichi
Elementary School in Yamagata City (1991)
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Her travels in the summer of
2001 to see the Blue-eyed Dolls took her to many prefectures in Japan. In
Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, she received a very warm welcome
when she visited some schools she had first gone to as a nine-year-old girl.
The sixth graders at Watauchi Elementary School in Nagano City, who were doing
a year-long special study of the Blue-eyed Dolls, were excited when the
granddaughter of the originator of the 1927 doll exchange came to visit their
school. She made good friends with the teachers at Shintoku Kindergarten in
Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, but unfortunately she did not have a chance to
play with the children since they were out of school during the time of her
visit. She even stopped by for three nights at the Yamagata City sushi shop of
Yuji Suzuki, who coordinated the 1991 visit of her family when they attended
the unveiling ceremony at Daiichi Elementary School of a statue named
"Toward Tomorrow," dedicated to the ideals of peace and goodwill
represented by the Friendship Dolls.
Sidney Gulick, 3d, and his
wife Frances, Sharon's parents, have been actively involved in giving new
Blue-eyed Dolls to Japanese schools since 1986. During Sharon's time in Japan,
she was involved also in visiting several schools to which her parents recently
had given new dolls.
Since Sharon's first visit to
Japan in 1988, she has visited about forty schools in total. She hopes to
continue her involvement with the Friendship Dolls. Her wish for the children
of Japan and everywhere is for lasting curiosity about other people. She
strongly believes it is important for everyone to learn to appreciate people
from other countries: the way they dress, the color of their eyes, and the way
they do things.
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