Today has been a very long day of traveling. I left Tokyo at 10:45AM Sunday morning and arrived at 8:25AM also Sunday morning in Chicago. It’s been a long Sunday.

I was sad to say goodbye to Japan this morning. All of the people I have met and the Fulbright program have been amazing.

“Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” – John F. Kennedy

I have been thinking about the above quote throughout my time in Japan. Spending two weeks there with other educators reminds me how much larger the world is than what we work in day to day. However, more importantly I was moved by how true it is that we all value our children’s future. There are certainly numerous differences in our education systems in the U.S. and Japan. There are many things we can learn from them and they can learn from us. I will expand on some of those ideas for Kipling in future posts as we move closer to the school year. However, more than anything I am reminded on this trip of how much we have in common. Mainly a care about our children’s future and making this world a better place for future generations.

John Whitehead said “Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see” Programs like this Fulbright exchange help to ensure that the messages we send are ones of cooperation and understanding.

While I was sad to be saying goodbye to my new friends in Japan I was also extremely excited about getting back home to see my family.

This has been an amazing journey and I am excited to continue sharing my learnings in future posts and conversations with our school community in the future.

Today was our final day of the joint conference. This morning we all presented our work from the past few days and the ideas we have for joint projects between the United States and Japan. It was very sad saying goodbye today as this was the conclusion of our journey as a whole group. The educators from the U.S. have gotten to know the Japanese teachers very well from our time with them in San Francisco and Tokyo. They are an amazing group of educators that are passionate about students and learning. It is also sad to be saying goodbye to my colleagues from the United States. When I met them in San Francisco I knew they would be great partners for the experience in Japan. We have been together day in day out for two weeks. Not only are all of the people in this program (from the U.S. as well as Japan) some of the smartest and interesting people I have met, they have also become good friends. I will miss everyone very much.

Pictures from the final meeting today.

June Ubukata (above) is the Director, General Affairs for the Japan U.S. Educational Commission (Fulbright Japan). She has traveled with us through this entire program and has been our liaison every step of the way. She has been incredible in making this experience memorable for all of us and I know I can speak for everyone when I say we cannot thank her enough. All of us have made many new friends in Japan but June has been especially wonderful to us.

Here are two other amazing gentlemen that have been with us from day 1. Kenji Matsui on the left and Masaaki Hatagami on the right have been our translators for our entire journey. They have never left our side. The success of this trip would not have been possible without them.

Pictured above from left to right are Saeko Fujimoto, Yuriko Yoneshima, Hiromi Fumoto, and Seigo Saito our new friends from ACCU the Asian Pacific Cultural Center. Their organization has been great. They have done many of the behind the scenes arrangements for us and have been right there for everything we needed.

After the joint conference today a couple of the Japanese teachers had offered to take a group of us to Kyoto. Kyoto is the former capital of Japan and visiting the city was a great way to spend our last day in Japan.

To get to Kyoto we took the Shinkansen. This was an experience in itself as these trains reach speeds of 200 miles per hour. It is about 300 miles from Tokyo to Kyoto but it can be done in just over an hour on the Shinkansen.

Our trains to and from Kyoto.

The route from Tokyo to Kyoto.

Kyoto did not disappoint. We only have the day there but it was incredibly easy to get around (thanks to our Japanese friends) and there were many sights to see.

In Kyoto we visited Fushimi Inari Shrine.

We also visited Arashiyama bamboo grove.

A major treat of the trip was going to make traditional beads. One of the Japanese teachers had organized this experience for us with a friend of his that is a master of this kind of bead making. He makes the beads for several of the temples around Kyoto.

Finally we had a great yakitoti dinner in Gion. Gion is an older district of Kyoto and was the setting for Arthur Golden’s novel Memoirs of a Geisha. We did not get to spend much time there because we had to catch the train home but what we saw of the area was very neat.

After dinner we headed back to the station to catch the Shinkansen back to Tokyo and said goodbye to our friends from Japan.

My plane back to Chicago leaves at 10:30am. With any luck I’ll be back in Chicago by 9AM on Sunday. I can’t wait to see my family and get back to Deerfield. There will be one more post coming in this adventure. Stay tuned.

Today was a work day session for the Japanese and American educators. Our purpose today was to plan joint projects that schools in the United States and Japan could coordinate on together. We grouped by projects that would be of like interest. Some groups are doing projects on water quality, some are mapping cultural heritage, and my group is focusing on recycling.

My Group.

Next year, Kipling Elementary will participate in a joint recycling project with a school in Missouri, a school in Colorado, and a school in Omuta, Japan. This project will have our students looking at ways to reduce waste through recycling.

Some Pictures from the joint conference today.

Tonight we had a wonderful reception with the Japanese and American educators celebrating the journey that all of us have been on over the past several months.

With Mr. Yoshio Yamawaki, the Director-General for International Affairs at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology here in Japan.

With Matthew Sussman, Executive Director of Fullbright Japan and my friend Toshiaki Nakamura.

With Professor Katsuhide Kusahara. He has been with us throughout this program.

Tomorrow morning we are going to present our projects to each other. This will be the final task of the joint conference. After our presentations in the morning we are free for independent research. Some of the Japanese teachers are taking a group of us to Kyoto by the Shinkansen tomorrow. I can’t wait to see Kyoto and ride the bullet train. Stay tuned.

Today we met back up with our Japanese counterparts to begin the joint conference here in Tokyo. This is the same group of educators from Japan that we met with in San Francisco for three days at the beginning of May when their visit to the United States was concluding. It was great to see them again. Especially now that we have been able to experience their country and culture for the last week and a half. The main outcome for these two days is for us to discuss our two systems and plan some joint projects that can be done cooperatively between our schools in the United States and Japan.

Our day started with a welcome from Matthew Sussman, the Executive Director of Fulbright Japan. Matthew has lived in Japan for the past 20 years and this is his first year as the director of Fulbright Japan. Matthew reiterated to us that although we may have noticed many differences there are also many similarities between our two countries which is why our bond is strong.

Matthew Sussman, Executive Director of Fulbright Japan welcomes everyone to the joint conference.

Next up we were welcomed by Jeff Adler, the Deputy Public Affairs Officer at the US Embassy here in Japan. Mr. Adler emphasized the importance of this type of study in keeping the bond between Japan and the United States strong. He told us that it is a priority of Ambassador Kennedy to emphasize and support exchanges for study and research between the United States and Japan.

Jeff Adler welcoming us to the joint conference.

Finally we were welcomed by Mr. Kojiro Kakimoto, Senior Specialist for Personnel Exchange – International Affairs Division at MEXT the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. He told us of Japan’s active involvement in promoting Education for Sustainable Development. He told us that the bilateral relationship between our two countries is important as no one can solve all of the problems alone.

We then had a lecture from Professor Osamu Abe from Rikkyo University. He founded the first ever Japanese research center for ESD and is the president of the Japanese Society of Environmental Education. He said many interesting things but one of the main takeaways I had was that in the past environmental education has focused mainly on the relationship between nature and humans. For instance, what impact do our activities have on the environment? However, he said that it is also necessary to change human to human relations as well.

Professor Abe speaking to us about ESD.

All of the US teachers did a joint presentation on our journey so far in Japan. We focused primarily on our experience in Omuta where we have spent the past 6 days.

This afternoon we heard from some program alumni from Japan that presented about their joint projects with their US counterparts.

Tonight was an great time as some of us traveled out to experience professional baseball in Japan. The Tokyo Dome is an amazing place.

The Tokyo Dome as we were walking from the train station.

A nearly sold out game.

Check the Tokyo Dome off of the list.

Tomorrow is a work session for the US and Japanese teachers to plan some exciting activities for all of our students. Stay tuned.

We just got back to Tokyo tonight after spending almost a week in Khyshu and Omuta City. I cannot thank the teachers, administrators, and board of education enough for the hospitality they have shown to us over the last several days. Our final day on Khyshu was another great one doing what is my favorite thing here in Japan – visiting schools. Today we visited two schools. The first was Ariake Shinsei High School in Omuta and the second was Fukuoka University Kurume Junior High School.

First we started at Ariake Shinsei High School. High schools in Japan are much like selective high schools in Chicago. However, in Japan all high schools are like that. High school is not mandatory in Japan and to gain entrance students must take a test to qualify to attend the school. Ariake Shinsei high school has approximately 700 students and offers over 160 courses to their students. We were warmly received at the school.

We were welcomed by several teachers and staff that introduced their school.

Classes at Ariake Shinsei High School

At every school we have visited we have seen a caligraphy class. I have realized that more than this being artwork for the students it is also powerful vocabulary instruction. Each character represents a word or idea. In class not only are students writing the characters they are discussing the characters meaning.

In the computer lab writing code.

Next we visited Kurume Junior High School. This visit was a lot of fun as the students had been preparing for our visit for some time. We entered the gym to students clapping for us and each of us was escorted to a group of students that did a multimedia presentation about their city and school. We also met with small groups of students and of course we participated in the cleaning.

A selfie with my new friends.

Students made their favorite calligraphy character for me and we dicuss their meaning. We also asked each other questions about our schools and countries.

Here is the work they made for me. It was a real priviledge to talk with these students.

Afterwards I was invited back to their homeroom for the end of the day meeting and of course clean up. Everyone in Japan jumps in to keep the school clean – even me.

At the end of the day students have a homeroom meeting completely run by them where they discuss class business. They also sing a song to close out the day. Everyone sings enthusiastically as you can see. I double checked to make sure this wasn’t just for the visit. The teacher assured me that they sing every day.

And a special treat to end the day we got to fly back to Tokyo on ANA and the Boeing Dreamliner. What a cool airplane.

I am beginning to form what I consider some perspectives on the education system here and applications for us in the United States. I will summarize my thoughts in a final post in this series on my way home. For now, I am excited to get back together with the Japanese teachers in Tokyo for the next three days to discuss our education systems and coordinate some joint projects. Stay tuned.