Shizuoka Salesio Exchange 2019

On Saturday May 18, as Australia was voting in the Federal election, and Europe was voting for Eurovision, Shizuoka Salesio held their annual St Mary`s Festival. The whole school gathered in the Marian Hall for a ceremony to mark this important day in the school calendar.

It was a formal and reverent ceremony involving the presentation of flowers by representatives of every class from K-12, musical presentations from the Elementary School Band, a short play by the Middle School, an address from the Principal, Mr Koji Sueyoshi, and some inspiring singing from the entire school body.

This St. Bernard has been jumping out at me on my morning walk. He has a ferocious bark, but seems quite gentle apart from that. I call him Tomic.

At the Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, there is a Rodin Wing, which includes his most famous sculptures, The Thinker, and The Gates of Hell. The figure of The Thinker was originally included in The Gates of Hell, which features more than 200 figures and weighs over 7 tons. There were 21 castings of The Thinker made. The whole exhibition is astonishing, with 28 pieces by Rodin, housed in a specially designed space. And only a short walk from the school.

The Japanese people are adept at space. They have an extraordinary ability to arrange it, use it, maintain it, ration it and somehow, they make whatever space they have, work.

Their population, over 120 million, occupy 378,000 km2 compared to our measly 24.6 million, spread over 7.693 million km2. I am constantly reminded of how efficient this use of space is as I go about my daily business here in Shizuoka. Some images follow to exemplify.

The staffroom I work from houses 11 people in a space Australians would consider tiny. Cafés are designed to sit single people in close proximity, with discrete barriers at head level, even though they are barely centimetres apart. Hotel rooms are compact, especially in Tokyo where space is at a premium. The Honda NBox is a car that also wastes not an inch. Many people have these cute but practical vehicles. Contemporary design in urban houses is the opposite of the McMansions phenomena found in most cities in Australia. Gardens are exquisite examples of the tasteful and the minimal. Trees are kept tightly lopped. Even in the afterlife, space is a consideration. Live is lived with an awareness of and a respect for, space.

 

On Sunday set out for the town of Fuji to capture photos of the glorious mountain. Unfortunately, clouds obscured the top, so decided to await another opportunity. Continued on to Atami, a resort town on the coast an hour away. Discovered the Kinomiya temple, which features a tree reputed to be over 900 years old. Legend has it, if you walk around the trunk once, it will add a year onto your life. This I did so consider the journey well worth the price of the ticket.

On the way back on the train, saw a man continually nodding off, not a rare thing to witness on a train, but this man was doing it standing up.

Near the beach in Shizuoka there is the following sign.

Right beside this is the following:

On Saturday I took the local train on Shizuoka, two stops, and spent several hours trying to get lost, but google maps prevented this from happening. Found the Toro Museum, with a replica of a village from the Yoyoi people, who lived 2000 years ago in this area. The village has several building and a recreation of the rice paddy field that supported it. Shizuoka is a bustling city with a large concert hall which I intend to find out more about

My accommodation is in the Salesian Residence on site. I am the single occupant of the entire second floor and have a choice of 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 4 toilets, a spacious sitting room, laundry and food preparation area. Local shops are close by with a great selection of boxed Japanese delicacies. For the first time in my working life, I go home for lunch. I am definitely in danger of returning somewhat more corpulent than when I left.

On Friday, there was an emergency drill, not dissimilar to those held at Dominic, but the main threat in this case was earthquake, not fire. At a warning signal, students sat under their desks and covered their heads, Sound effects of buildings crumbling and windows breaking were played over loud speakers. Eventually, students were directed outside into the main quadrangle. All students wore a quilted cover over their heads, about the size of a pillow case. These drills are held every term.

Later in the day, a full scale school evacuation was enacted. Parents arrived at the school mid-afternoon and picked their children up under emergency conditions. This is an annual drill, Both exercises were carried out with controlled precision and were taken very seriously by everyone involved. It was slightly scary, but also reassuring.

The first week was hectic. Have now taught 9 classes and observed several others. Lessons I am taking are timetabled as English Speaking classes. I am presenting introduction to Drama lessons, in English. Students are responding well and enjoying a different way of learning. I am in the Middle School, Years 5-8. The school day begins at 7.55am and goes until 6pm. Classes are held Monday to Saturday, with and early 12pm finish on Saturday.