And the seasons come and go...

Here we are in our third fall in Japan. Like the spring cherry blossom season, fall colours is a BIG celebration for the Japanese. It is a time to bask in the beauty of nature as the seasons change... along with thousands of others also enjoying the same thing. Just to make sure you don't miss THE spots to go and observe the colours, there is a web-site that tracks the fall colours and tells you where the "best" viewing spots are in Japan. Click here if you want to find out more about the best spots and the best time to view the colours so you too can join those crowds.

Shelley and I have been doing a little exploring during this time to enjoy these fall colours.

We started out at Meiji Park in the center of Tokyo with throngs and throngs of others who had been dropped off by tour buses. We tried bicycling through but it was so dense we had to walk our bikes. Everywhere you looked people were thrilled by the colours and took many pictures from all angles.

I wished we could have captured all the careful set-up and posed pictures of leaves being thrown in the air, of couples hugging, but I can leave that to your imagination. 

This last weekend we took the Kaslo approach to fall colours which was to find a beautiful and relatively isolated river canyon in the Okutama area, to scramble over rocks and find little used trails along the river to glory in as much nature and fall colours as we could in the afternoon. 

Subtle clues did help us realize we were NOT in Kaslo:

Tunnels and trains on both sides of the river (see the fall colours on the other side?)

Along the theme of public infrastructure, an amazing number of pedestrian bridges over the river; about one every kilometer or so:

A 300 hundred year old "sake" brewery that has a tasting room and beautiful outside tables set up along the walk way. Here is the link to their site. 

A funky art gallery/cafe perched high on a cliff over-looking the Tama River gorge:

The view was dramatic though I kept thinking I would not want to be there during an earthquake!

And then, of course, tucked behind bolders and hidden in the trees there were the mysterious moss stairs going up to shrines and small temples...

As well as the shrines themselves reminding us of the spiritual aspect of the beauty of nature. 

Happy fall and season change to all of you out there, our friends sprinkled around the world. 

On the work front...News Flash!

Last week we had the very interesting opportunity to be inspected by the Japanese Ministry of Education. A team of 4 people came to observe our classes and find out more about the BC curriculum, how we structure our classes and how we split credits with the JP MOE and the BC MOE. To put this in context, over the 45 year existence of the main school here, they have never had an inspection team before!

Though our students are used to being observed, a team of 4 men in black suits and the BSCIS principal and VP all observing all of the classes was a little above the usual level of observation.

Once again, the students were great! They remained focused on the class and the teacher, they engaged in the task at hand and were relaxed enough to engage in interesting one-on-one conversations with the observers when they were approached. . 

Like so many countries in the world, Japan is also re-thinking its' education system. Here is an opinion piece on the latest changes. We were quite honoured that at the end of their visit they said that our school was identified by the JP MOE as an experimental education site to learn from for other schools because they have been impressed by the results we are seeing from the work we do. They plan to engage us in future conversations about educational change in Japan. 

This is a real honour for our team to be acknowledged by the Japanese Ministry of Education in this way!

On the work front year 3

Since our time here is not ALL about travel and adventures because I am here to work I thought I would share some "Miles-stones" of this time of year, now my third year as principal of BSCIS. 

The school is quite a vibrant center of learning for our students with a whole range of learning styles and environments. We had balloon powered cars in Physics 11...

We studied about and responded to Residential schools in Socials 11...

We integrated aboriginal concepts and visuals in most of our subject matter...

And we also continue to celebrate the bi-cultural education that we provide here for our students. This is the grade 12 students taking their tea ceremony class, the "final exam" being a tea ceremony for their parents. 

We also continue to invite a series of presenters to share their lives and inspire our students as to what is possible. This is Ambassador Ishikawa, who was the Japanese ambassador to Canada, to Egypt, who represented Japan in G8 negotiations and who graduated from Ecole Nationale in Paris.

He had a very powerful message about the most important skills in his life was to learn to be flexible, to work with opportunities as they arose and to celebrate all cultures... not just Japan. 

We were thrilled to have Akiko Kuno come to do a workshop with the grade 11 English class. She wrote a book about her great-grandmother who was sent by the Meiji emperor to study in the US at the age of 12. She lived there for 10 years then returned to Japan to marry a great war hero and Minister of War and to educate Japan about ways in the West. Students were mesmerized by her stories. 

Here are pictures of her great-grand-mother in full Western outfits. 

Our grade 10 students honed their presentation skills by presenting to the entire 200 grade 9 students about their summer in BC.

Mid-October is also our annual inspection time. This is the time that the BC Ministry of Education sends an inspector to our school to review every aspect of the function of our school including finances, curriculum, contracts, teaching methodology, assessment methods etc. It is a busy time before the inspection with lots of ground work to prepare and then an intense week when both the MOE inspector and my supervisor from MOE are with us.

Ed, our inspector this year, had the chance to visit many areas of our school.

He met with our team at various points. Here is part of the team at the morning meeting. 

At the end of the inspection our school for the third time in a row received an excellent report with only commendations and no requirements!

Ah yes... three excellent inspection reports in three years; yeah!

And then, of course, Halloween hits us like a storm... even here in Japan. Students had a great time:

While we enjoyed having some of our Japanese and BC staff get into the spirit as well:

Most recently we are participating in a promotional film by the BC MOE about Offshore schools where they had professional cinematographers film both interviews with our students and some of our parents. 

I continue to have amazing opportunities to connect with people from around the world, this time hosted at the Canadian embassy (again) for the Study in Canada Fair. Here again, in the main hall maybe 500 people.

The honoured guests at this event were the JP Minister of Education and the Assistant Minister.

In the beautiful gardens I had the opportunity to meet the Minster and to talk about our school.

It is a beautiful setting in Tokyo and the garden spread was striking. 

Inside the residence it was fun to meet up with a young Pole representative. 

And to enjoy the view of downtown Tokyo from the top floor. 

As I bicycled the 12 km back to our home I picked the specific route through the fall colours to really enjoy this season here in Tokyo. I also reflected on the wonderful opportunities I have had in my work here and how much I have enjoyed my time as principal of BSCIS.