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With Class at Shintoku
Kindergarten
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I made my first visit to Shintoku Kindergarten in Kofu City in November
2001. Since then I have kept in touch with Kyoko Sakurai, Kindergarten
Director, through e-mails and letters, so my wife Noriko and I decided to
visit again. Mrs. Sakurai told me last year that her husband now works as
Vice Principal at Kofu City's Aikawa Elementary School, which also has an
American Blue-eyed Doll from 1927. I gladly accepted Aikawa Elementary's
invitation to visit on the day before my visit to Shintoku Kindergarten and
to talk to the students about the history of the Friendship Dolls. Mrs.
Sakurai also sent me a note earlier this year to say that the passport of
Evangeline, Shintoku's Blue-eyed Doll, had been found when the teachers were
rearranging some boxes and papers in preparation for renovation of a couple
of the school's wooden buildings.
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Mrs. Sakurai Tells About
Finding of Doll's Passport and Letter
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At the morning assembly of the kindergarten's 200
students, Ms. Sakurai showed Evangeline and explained the history of the doll.
She told the children how Evangeline's passport, steamship
ticket, and attached
letter from her sender had been found recently. Before the assembly I had
translated the letter hurriedly from English to Japanese so I could read it to
the children. After the assembly, Noriko and I gave individual presentation to
5 groups of students (3 groups of 5-year-olds and 1 group each for 3- and
4-year-olds).
Noriko presented a children's book titled Don't Laugh at Me, which
teaches children to respect differences in people. She also used a Minnie Mouse
puppet to capture the children's attention. Noriko asked a teacher in each
group to read in Japanese as Noriko read in English. Noriko then talked with
them about the story, and a few children responded that some parts sounded sad.
During my presentation, I showed the children how to shake hands and then
talked about holidays that are popular with American children. Some 3-year-olds
seemed afraid of the pumpkin Halloween mask I showed them, so I mentioned to
Mrs. Sakurai afterward that I did not mean to scare anyone.
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With Children at Shintoku
Kindergarten
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Noriko and I went to lunch with Mrs. Sakurai, and
Mr. Tatsuhide Sakano accompanied us. He had read the article in the Yamanashi
Nichinichi Shimbun about my visit to Aikawa Elementary School the previous
day. He called Mrs. Sakurai in the morning of my visit to see if he could meet
me for lunch. He and his wife had visited Rochester, New York, in 1979 with
about 15 or 20 Blue-eyed Dolls from Yamanashi, Gunma, and other prefectures.
He showed us photos from the visit, and we also read a couple of pages about the
trip from a Friendship Doll
book.
Just like my initial visit, Mrs. Sakurai was a wonderful host. We went with
her and her husband to a sushi restaurant on the night of our arrival in Kofu
City. The dishes of sushi and other food went around on a rotating belt, and
we could choose what we wanted as it passed our table. They explained our
schedules in detail for the next two days at Aikawa Elementary School and
Shintoku Kindergarten. We ate lunch on Monday (May 26) at Mrs. Sakurai's home,
right behind Shintoku Kindergarten. We joked about her commuting time of three
seconds to work, but she explained that every day, including weekends, work
needed to be done.
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Mrs. Sakurai With Friend
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Mrs. Sakurai told us how exciting it has been to
make new friends through the Blue-eyed Doll Evangeline at her kindergarten. For
example, a couple of years ago she went to a hot springs resort, and she was
surprised to meet the director of another kindergarten (Seishin Kindergarten in
Gunma Prefecture) that has a Blue-eyed Doll from 1927 and a New Blue-eyed Doll
from Mr. Sidney Gulick, 3d. Mrs. Sakurai and the director from Seishin continue
to correspond about the Friendship Dolls and other issues.
The high level of energy Mrs. Sakurai always exhibited impressed Noriko and
me. Noriko also was interested to hear that Mrs. Sakurai has been studying
about gender-free educational programs with some other people such as a local
professor doing research on women's studies. Mrs. Sakurai's enthusiasm,
friendliness, and energy showed us how she positively influences the lives of
the children at her kindergarten.
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Class Photo
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