Dazaifu, Day 18 - Job Experience with Student, Day 1

Today’s schedule shows “Job experience with student, “ and the dress is casual. Hmmm….

I get picked up at the usual time, but when we arrive at school, very few students are there, and those that are there have their gym uniforms on, rather than the regular school uniform. Ishii-san tells me that we will be going to several places this morning, checking on students.

It seems that this is the first of two ‘career’ days for all of the junior high school students. Schools, businesses and government and social agencies have agreed to host groups of these students for two days, to give them a chance to see what is involved in working in these places.

First-year (7^th grade) students spend their two days in various kindergartens and elementary schools, working with the youngest students. Second-year students are assigned to various businesses and a few public service agencies (such as the fire department). Third-year students work with agencies responsible for social work, such as senior citizen community centers. In each area, the students are assigned tasks that are part of the daily work load for that job.

Teachers do not stay with the students, but instead spend the day checking in at the various locations to ensure that the students are in attendance and working. For many of these students, this is their only chance to see what it is like to work in the 'real world' - and, for the 9th graders, a taste of what to expect if they do not pass their entrance exams for high school and university.

Our first stop is at a large public bath or spa located in the hills just above Dazaifu. This is a new building housing a Japanese-style bath with water from a hot spring located deep underneath the facility. We arrive and greet the facility manager and the mother of one of the students, who works here and is helping to supervise their activities. The students are cleaning and preparing for the start of the day – scrubbing floors and windows (hot springs are no different than hot tubs - if you don't keep the walls and floors scrubbed, mold will grow), folding clean towels and readying them for stacking in the mens’ and womens’ bathing areas, sweeping floors. It’s hard work, but the students seem to enjoy the break in their regular school routine. (We’ll see if they still feel that way after tomorrow afternoon – they will work two full days from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM.)

Next we go to the fire department of a neighboring city. We arrive in time to see the junior high students line up in front of the fire house, as two instructors bring rolls of fire hose to the students. This lesson looks very much like the training firefighting recruits must do (and, in fact, is a shortened version of that basic training). As we watch, the students are shown how to carry the hoses quickly from one place to another, and how to unroll them to prepare for connection to a water source. Some of them seem surprised to find out just how heavy an 18-inch roll of firehose can be, and how hard it is to 'snap' the hose to get it to fully unroll in a hurry.

(Fire hose is very heavy - my father used to work for a company that manufactured such hose, and he showed us children how it was put together to withstand the high water pressures. Add the heavy metal couplers that connect to the hydrants and you have a lot of weight packed into a very small space.)

While we are there, we also get to see an elementary school group on a more traditional field trip, learning about the firefighters' jobs and how they can fight fires safely. This scene is very much like those seen at firehouses all over the U.S. during the school year - students learning about fire safety and firefighting equipment.

Then we head for the large temple complex in Dazaifu. These students are working with the monks and accolytes at the counters near the main shrines, where blessing charms are sold. The students will also help with sweeping and keeping the public areas clean during the day. When we arrive, the students have just been sent back to the eating area to have their lunch; they seem to be excited to describe their morning to Ishii-san, so they must be enjoying the experience.

Later in the day, we drive to Fukuoka to see the Yamakasa displays. July 1 marks the start of the Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival, which runs for 15 days. The major attraction of this festival is the floats - huge stationary ones that are placed on display throughout the city, and smaller ones that are carried in an early morning race on July 15 by groups of men. The floats generally have two decorated sides, with figures representing various stories and legends from the region; sometimes both sides will depict traditional kabuki stories and characters, and sometimes one side will be decorated with modern or storybook tales.

Our other purpose for visiting Fukuoka is to attend an evening baseball game at the Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome, with the Fukuoka Hawks against the Sendai Eagles. We have special tickets - field box, row 17, just beyond third base - and our entry includes special hapi coats with Yamakasa and Hawks logos. I don my jacket, grab my noisemakers and prepare to enjoy myself at the game.

(It doesn't take the stadium camera crew long to discover the white-haired American in Hawks regalia - before the evening is over, we find ourselves on the giant screen in the dome, not once but twice! We cheer wildly both times...)

During the game, I am told about a tradition during the 7th inning, so I have my camera ready when we get to that point. Much as Americans sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," Japanese fans sing their teams' song, but they add another twist here. Large balloons are sold at the concession stands, and people blow them up during the first part of the 7th inning. At the end of the singing, everyone releases their balloons, and they fly up and over the crowds, whistling loudly - it's supposed to bring luck to the team. It must be working - the Hawks are in 1st place in the Pacific League.

And it's a good game tonight as well - the Hawks win it, 9-1.

We were planning to get some dinner after the game, but it turns out to be a much longer game than usual, and we have all had plenty to eat and drink at the ball park, anyway. All of us are tired, so we head for our homes and bed.