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Sixth Graders Singing
Original Song During Play
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My full day of activities at Daiju Elementary
School in Yamagata City began with a welcome ceremony attended by all of the
school's nearly 600 students. As I marched in with Mr. Nobutaka Takahashi,
the school's principal, and Mr. Yuji Suzuki, a leader for many years of
Yamagata City's activities related to the Blue-eyed Dolls, I was so surprised
to hear the band loudly playing and the children enthusiastically singing a
song of welcome. The highlight of the ceremony was an original play performed by one of
the sixth-grade classes. The play's title was "Helen's Story - Toward a
Peaceful Tomorrow."
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Watching Play on
Blue-eyed Dolls
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The drama put on by the sixth-grade class told
the entire story of the Friendship Dolls from the beginning in 1926 to early
2001, when Daiju Elementary School received a new Friendship Doll named Helen
from Mr. Sidney Gulick, 3d, and his wife. The play included two beautiful
songs with the lyrics and music written by several talented sixth-grade
students. The
class had spent about a month writing the script and rehearsing, and the 35
students performing the play showed enthusiasm and also got the audience to
laugh a few times, especially at some of the sound effects. The students
watched intently and listened quietly during the 20 or 30 minutes of the
play. I plan to translate the lyrics of the two original songs by the end of
this year and publish them on the Friendship Dolls web site. I also hope
to translate someday the script of the play into English.
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Group of Sixth Graders
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During the second and fourth class periods, I
visited the sixth-grade classes to talk and to answer questions about the
United States and the Friendship Dolls. The principal showed me the school and
let me observe several of the classes during the third period. A couple of
sixth-grade students had very difficult questions for me about terrorism and
the war in Afghanistan. Since the original purpose of the Friendship Dolls in
1927 was to try to establish world peace through children, I felt quite
uncomfortable explaining that I thought that the war in Afghanistan was
necessary and that we may need to kill Osama Bin Laden and the other leaders
of terrorism.
I explained that the terrorist leaders are
intent on killing Americans and their allies, so the only choice we had was to
try to capture or kill them. When I asked one of the students about her
thoughts on the war, she explained that it would be best to stop the war and
resolve the situation in another way. I plan to write to the students in
December to try to explain better my opinions regarding the war America is now
fighting, and I also hope the students will send me their thoughts on how best
we can approach the terrible situation that the world now faces in
Afghanistan, the Middle East, and other places.
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Amazed at Hand Size
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After lunch and after the students finished
cleaning the school, the older students spent the fifth class period in
"Challenge Activities" of their own choosing. The school has
about 15 different clubs, including drama, broadcasting, computer,
English, and music. I spent a long time observing the activities of the
sign language club, where the students practiced sign language with
various skits and songs. I enjoyed most seeing them use sign language to
the lyrics of one of my favorite Japanese songs, "Tomorrow" by
Mayo Okamoto.
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Group of Sixth Graders
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The principal Mr. Takahashi gave me a beautiful
book of photos of Yamagata Prefecture, which he had authored based on many
years of taking photos throughout Yamagata. When we visited the school's
library, he pointed out two other books of photos of Kenya and Turkey, which
he had created when he worked at the Japanese schools in these countries.
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With Helen
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Even though Daiju Elementary School did not
exist in 1927 when the original Friendship Dolls from America were
distributed throughout Japan, the school's principal, teachers, and
students showed great interest in studies and activities related to the
original doll exchange. They proudly displayed their new doll Helen,
received in March 2001, next to the school's trophy case outside the
principal's office.
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Enjoying Time with Mr. Suzuki
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In the evening I went to the sushi shop owned and
operated by Mr. Suzuki, who had been the other special guest at the morning's
ceremony. The sushi and sashimi tasted quite delicious. Although it seemed
quite busy on this Friday night, we talked together for a couple of hours
about many things, including his involvement with the Blue-eyed Dolls from
America. He served as chairman of the PTA of Yamagata City Daiichi Elementary
School and as chairman of the Blue-eyed Doll Festival Committee. Between 1989
and 1992 the Committee coordinated many activities in Yamagata City related to
the Blue-eyed Dolls. I met his son working at the sushi shop, who is the third
generation in the business. Mr. Suzuki gave me a copy of Eiko Takeda's
children's book entitled Friendship Dolls Across the Ocean (1997). This
book, which explains the Friendship Doll story in simple language for
children, turned out to be quite helpful on my visits to other Japanese
schools in the following two weeks.
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