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Urayasu Friendship Doll
Exchange Association
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I met with 12 members of the Urayasu Friendship
Doll Exchange Association on November 26 for lunch at the Oriental Hotel in
Urayasu City. This group started its activities in 1995, and since then the
members have made about 20 dolls by hand and given them to elementary and
junior high schools in America and Canada. Most of the dolls have gone to
schools in and around Orlando, Florida, the sister city of Urayasu. Japan's
Disneyland is located in Urayasu, so it is natural for Urayasu to be a sister
city with Orlando, the home of Disney World.
The members of the Urayasu Friendship Doll
Exchange Association were quite happy to tell me about their activities. They
make by hand the dolls given to schools, and a small group of members will
usually travel to the schools in order to give the dolls to the children in
person. They had planned a trip to visit Florida schools in December of this
year, but they reluctantly decided to postpone it because of the recent
terrorist incidents.
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The members work together to make one doll. Some people make the face, hands,
feet, and body. Others sew the kimono and the jiban (underwear for the
kimono). Another person will work on the obi (belt for the kimono). Still
others will make by hand such items as the doll's passport, otedama
(Japanese-style beanbags), hairbrush, and stand. Members and other Urayasu
citizens contribute silk kimonos to be used in making the doll kimonos. Other
individuals and groups provide financial support for the Urayasu Friendship Doll
Exchange Association. Some people have much experience and talent that they use
in making the doll's kimono, face, or hair, while other members learn skills
from the more experienced members as they together make a new doll. The making
of one doll to be sent to an overseas school is truly an excellent example of
teamwork among many individuals.
During the luncheon meeting I met one woman from
Yamagata Prefecture and another woman from Miyagi Prefecture. They both were
very excited to see photos of the Japanese Friendship Dolls named after those
prefectures. My brother had visited the Maine State Museum this past summer and
took some photos of Miss Yamagata, so the woman from Yamagata was quite happy
when I gave her a couple of copies. I only had a digital copy of the Miss Miyagi
photo, but I promised to send a printed photo copy to the woman from Miyagi as
soon as I could get one from the owner of this doll.
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Business Card
Saigo Elementary School's Principal
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I showed the group some
photos and other items from my visits to 13 Japanese schools in the previous
three weeks. The members seemed most excited when I showed them the business
card of the principal of Saigo Elementary School in Toyohashi City. His
business card has a photo of the school's doll named Koneta. Several women wanted to try to make a similar business card with a photo of one or
two of the dolls made by the group.
We exchanged some materials related to the
Friendship Dolls. The group gave me a pamphlet published for its five-year
anniversary. This pamphlet contained photos of the Japanese dolls sent to other
countries, photos of the dolls received in Japan as a return present,
information on each of the dolls, and a section where each of the members wrote
what the group meant to them. The members also gave me several cute handmade
items. One woman showed me handmade hina dolls constructed from clam shells. She
said she grew up in a poor family, so these were the types of dolls
she had as a child.
November 26 was my last day in Japan, so I brought my
luggage with me so I could go directly from the Oriental Hotel in Urayasu to
Narita Airport. I started out to Urayasu about 8 a.m. from Kawasaki, a large
city next to Tokyo. When I looked at the packed trains headed toward Tokyo's
Shinjuku Station, Japan's busiest train station, I realized it was going to be
a very, very difficult journey with all of my luggage. After waiting in line
for a few minutes, I boarded a train. More and more (and even more) people
pushed into the train car, and I felt like I was going to be crushed as I stood
(at a tilt), but somehow I managed to keep my bags more or less around me. The
best moment of my three-week stay in Japan was when this 30-minute train trip
ended. During this short train trip I learned the true meaning of the Japanese
word sushizume ("packed together like sushi," which means
"packed together like sardines"). Also, I now understand why many
Japanese people use a delivery company to send their bags to the airport rather
than trying to carry them in the trains.
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