My Walk Home Today

This afternoon, after I finished the English class at the church with only church members I helped Emiko hand out fliers for a piano concert they are having next Sunday afternoon. Then we took the train home as always, but her stop is before mine so I go the last part by myself. When I got off my stop I wasn't sure, but I thought I saw one of my junior high students. I'm glad I was pretty curious and didn't just think, no just another Japanese person, because it was Misako. She is a really sweet and fun girl. She was on her way home from some martial art practice she does on the weekends. I can't remember the name of it, but it's similar to tae kwan do I think...So we walked together to my house and then she took her bike home. It was nice to bump into her like that. And she got a little extra practice with English, and I got some Japanese practice in too. I hope I get more chances like that with some other people I know. It's nice to spend some time with people outside of class. I don't get much of that other than with Sudo Sensei, Emiko, and the Arita's.

And I thought I'd mention that the lives of junior high students here in Japan are extremely busy and really difficult, academically that is mostly. Well, the lives of Japanese children in general are very demanding. Abe Sensei's wife Keiko was telling me about on Friday when she took me to Shinjuku for lunch at a Mexican restuarant. She told me that most mothers/parents are very concerned about their childrens' futures. Even getting into prep elementary schools are competitive. Normally in the States we might have to compete to get into a certain private school and in colleges/universities. But in Japan you must compete to get into a good elementary school, a good junior high, then especially getting into a good high school and university are most important. So junior high and high school students attend a preparatory school after regular school and on holidays. Today was the university entrance exam day. In two weeks will be the high school entrance exam day. Clubs and sports are canceled about two weeks in advance before those tests so that the students can spend their time studying.

Keiko told me that a third up to even half of an average Japanese salary goes to the children's education. If I haven't already mentioned it either, the priorities in Japan start with the company or business first. Bosses expect their workers to put the company before even their families and certain before their private lives. So religion gets moved down to a lower priority. Keiko also told me that it was one of her testimonies to mothers to that God will take care of the way of their children, they don't need to worry about it. As you can imagine, this kind of life is extremely stressful for everyone. She and her husband decided not to force their kids to do prep school.

And one last thing, in Japan the families miss out on the presence of their fathers. Since their jobs are so demanding and it takes so long to get to the job on train (maybe 1 1/2 hours or even two) fathers leave early in the morning and get home late. They don't eat dinner together as a family and the fathers don't get much chance to spend time and talk with their children or even wives. It is a tired exhausting life. Though Christians have different standards, it is still difficult for them to change this situation depending on where they work unless God provides them with a more flexible, close job.