Kamaishi Elementary School

I’m not entirely sure I’ve done the country of Japan justice in my descriptions yet. I have to say that with the visits and activities that we have participated in thus far, I am most overwhelmed by the devastation of the earthquake and tsunami, and the response of the communities afterwards. I should also share the beauty of Japan- it’s tree-covered mountains and the bay areas. I think I will see more of this as we leave the coast tomorrow, but today, we explored the city of Kamaishi a bit more. First stop, Kamaishi Elementary School.

We arrived at the school, put on our slippers, and headed into the principal’s office for a 30-minute presentation about the school and the evacuation of students on March 11^th, 2011. In Kamaishi, people were ready. About five years ago, the city hired a consultant to prepare evacuation plans for the people, and they had been practicing the plans. According to the principal, the entire community had practiced the plans well, with all of the evacuation locations on higher grounds assigned to different people and organizations. Team leaders had also been assigned, with jobs etc. In fact, each year, the students review the evacuation plans at school, and then are required to walk around the city to identify safe places and dangerous areas around the city that they should avoid. They create large maps of the city, labeling areas such as “has much traffic, so can be very congested during evacuation” or “beware of bears” (which can come down from the mountains). Even information such as “large sign seems loose and could fall” is identified and labeled on the map.

The principal explained that the system worked for two reasons- they had learned and practiced it many times, and as a community, they knew the system would only work if they trusted one another. They had to trust that all members knew the plan, knew the evacuation and relocation spots, and that they would meet one another at those locations rather than try to find one another in the midst of any type of evacuation event. The school was able to evacuate quickly that day, as it was an early release day and only about fifty students were in the school for after-school activities. After three days, everyone was accounted for.

We visited the classrooms after our presentation by the principal, watching third grade students play dodgeball in gym class, some fifth graders learning math, and a writing class for a student receiving special education services. 

When I asked the principal about what they were doing to help kids develop the skills necessary to be successful in a global economy in the future, he shared that they are increasing their rigor in math. This is the only subject in which students are broken into smaller groups, though the groups are NOT based on ability level.

When our school visits Futabakai Japanese School, we also see the kids ride unicycles at recess.

We finished our day with a lunch of rice, miso soup, a bean salad, and tuna fish, eating with a fifth grade class. Communicating was tricky, but I learned that these girls love the color pink, rabbits, and they love to draw and listen to music- Lady Gaga!