Excentric Japanese tastes... take 3; the Design Festa again

Ah yes, this is now take three for us at the bi-annual Tokyo Design Fest. Just a reminder from previous blogs, this is a HUGE craft fair targeted towards what is eccentric and unique in Japan. It is like any Christmas craft fair you go to... only on steroids, with wackier, stranger, more unique and just plain more of anything that you may have experienced. To add to the experience there are 100,000 people who drop by each day! Every year we are amazed by the novelty and the eccentric offerings so here are some of our discoveries this year:

So lets start our journey by the main entrance performances to set the tone:

Here is the "Draft Beer" song and dance; yes each one of those hats is a "glass of draft beer"!

Ah yes, the "Chicken dance" perhaps because this is the year of the chicken... and are these chickens? 

Products ranged from the HUGE paintings being painted in front of our eyes:

Beautiful sand portraits being created as we watched:

(the model is standing in front of the booth)

To the tiny... pencils in a jar; and yes they write!

The tiny characters bundled up for winter carved out of wood:

Made as fridge magnets...

From the seemingly edible:

Pancake and strawberry eclair plastic pins for your hair...

Actual bread loaves wired for lighting....

And dry pasta presented in a glass case as an art piece.

There was the religious (Mother Mary out of pink wax with gold stars to melt down):

The religious/morbid with caskets for dolls:

And skeletal dolls that fit in the caskets:

Then of course there was the full on morbid and strange:

Every year there is a whole series of stalls selling things you never knew you needed for your bathroom starting with a unique and special sticker... of a toilet;

Special toilet paper roll characters featured on hand-bags and t-shirts:

A toilet paper "porch" (more likely a pouch????)

And last but definitely not least, the perfect toilet paper roll cover which features a unique toilet paper character... ah yes; I bet YOU don't have one of these!

This is just a small sampling of the huge range of things at this Festa. 

To finish off I also want to celebrate the creative people at this event who add that extra touch of character... and hopefully are the ones buying these things!

Once again, greetings from Design Festa number 3 for us, here in Tokyo!

Japanese Quaker Yearly Meeting

Shelley and I have had the pleasure of attending Quaker meetings in several countries around the world, but little did we expect to find Quakers here in Japan.

As we found out last year, there is quite an active (though small) Quaker presence in Japan that has been here for over 100 years.

The whole Quaker movement started in Japan with a various impressive man: Inazo Nitobe. During a long and varied life he wrote the well-known book "Bushido, the soul of Japan", taguht in both Japan and in the US, was part of founding several Universities in Tokyo and was part of founding the Friends school here in Tokyo. Click here to find out more about him.

As it turns out, he was instrumental in working with Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to establish an agriculture program in Tsuchiura, North of Tokyo over 100 years ago. This evolved into what is now the Tsuchiura Monthly Meeting where Japan Yearly Meeting was held in a newly up-graded meeting house with a guest house as part of the compound. 

Shelley in front of the Meeting with Misatto, our Young Friends coordinator who sat next to us and helped us with what was going on:

We spent the weekend surrounded by lovely Friends involved passionately in issues around the world and working on issues right locally as well.

We enjoyed the positive energy of Sachiko, from Tokyo who is the clerk of JYM:

Conversations were all in Japanese, but also included Korean as we had three visitors from Seoul Monthly Meeting (who spoke some Japanese but no English) and us who speak some Japanese and no Korean. This Friend is a banker retired in farming outside of Seoul:

And this Friend is active in Korean alternative film making for youth. Behind him is Paul, our English translator and in front is Megumi who translated into Korean; quite complex!

When our brains got too full and we were no longer able to follow the thread of conversations we did some visiting of the area. Our Tokyo Friend who works with the mentally challenged and volunteers with the homeless took us to the local peace museum which commemorated the young men who died as Kamikaze pilots. 

Shelley and I also wandered the alleys around our Meeting house and found some striking old buildings tucked behind the concrete towers: 

The on-going challenge of abandoned buildings:

Some beautifully redone buildings (this one belongs to a Friend):

Some lovely smiles in the different shops:

And beautiful Bonsai trees tucked in back-yards:

As we explored we also got a kick out of the various signs on stores and buildings showing their "international flair" using English and French... of a fashion. We chuckle about this with respect knowing full well that if we tried writing signs in Japanese for our home... it would be just as problematic!

How about this clothes store for women called "Chubby" ?

Or the Hair studio called "Switch"?

Or this lovely apartment by the creek:

And then, just for the "Je ne sais quoi" factor, a French store name that means..."Climb reason"?

And just to make sure that all passersby get what they need, there was the beer vending machine on the side of the road with all sizes of beer. Yes there is a drinking age limit of 20 here. Just to make sure you are legal you have to swipe your ID card proving you are of age before you can pay for your beer. Would that work in BC???

Once again we returned to the throbbing world of Tokyo at the end of the weekend to return to our regular lives, impressed by the depth and richness of Quaker heritage in Japan. 

Celebration at work...

Because we are a BC Offshore school, supported by and sponsored by the BC Ministry of Education, we are required to meet the standards set for BC curriculum and BC teaching methodology. Every year we are inspected by an inspector who is sent in from the Ministry of Education to review our school.

It is a very thorough and exhaustive process and the first time I have been through this as the principal of a functioning BC Offshore school. Margaret Compo, my BC Offshore Ministry Rep whom I work with all year, spent two weeks here along with her husband Carl. This time was invaluable time spent reviewing our documentation and getting us prepared for the inspection. Though I was proud of the work we have done and felt quite confident about the process, this inspection is a pretty high-stakes affair. If a school does not meet standards it can be decertified by the inspector... with serious consequences for all.

So we spent hours and hours in the office, with our Japanese colleagues, with our staff getting prepared. Everything is inspected: the finances, the application process, the assessment methods, the teaching methods, the safety procedures for students, the building inspection records etc. etc..

We were pleased to have Henry Contant as our inspector, a man who has done inspections for BC Offshore schools in China, in Korea and other places around the world.

He interviewed teachers, administration, visited our classes, checked our lesson plans and spent three days reviewing everything we do here at BSCIS. Though it was a busy time, it was also affirming to have outside eyes to share some of the exciting things we are doing here at BSCIS.

As it turned out, at that same time, we also had a visit from the BC International Trade and Investment Office (click here for the link) representatives who were presenting to our students about the opportunities provided by leading an international life. 

The final result was that our school passed the inspection with flying colours. The hard work here was acknowledged and celebrated. We passed with no extra requirements (meaning areas of concern) and we have some mutually agreed on goals for next year. I am grateful for all of the hard work of our team here, both our BC and our Japanese team members, for the excellent work they do here everyday. Some of the team members:

This is also supported by a very positive and consistent administrative team that has worked hard at supporting and promoting our program. 

We also enjoyed sharing some of the cool traditional clubs happening at the school; clubs that celebrate the traditional Japanese culture along with the BC culture we are bringing in with the DD program. This is always a "must-see" for our visitors.

Once the inspection was complete and signed off, we had the opportunity to take Henry on a tour of some nooks and crannies in Tokyo, ending up with a lovely evening at the Gate Hotel, looking over the Skytree Tower and the Asakusa temple.

We look forward to next year's inspection... an annual tradition at the BC Offshore schools.