TIS Director's Blog

OIS strongly believes in having our students experience Japanese culture. Setsubun is celebrated in Japan every February 3 as a division between Daikon (greater cold) and Risshun (beginning of spring). The traditional Japanese calendar has 72 “microseasons” in a year and Daikon and Risshun are two of the 24 major subdivisions of this calendar.

Setsubun was previously thought of as sort of a New Year’s Eve, and so it is still today marked by a special ritual to cleanse away the bad spirits of the former year. The mamemaki ritual of throwing beans at the Oni representing bad spirits, cleanses the participants to they are good and healthy for the rest of the year.

The kindergarten students loved throwing beans and had a memorable experience because they were active and it was emotional. The IB philosophy of learning by doing is on display on an activity like this. OIS students learn the culture and language of Japan through their Japanese classes.

 

A delegation of OIS students and teachers marched in protest yesterday in downtown Osaka. Marches were taking place all over the world to protest the racist and sexist statements, policies and actions of US president Donald Trump. The goal of the marches were to raise awareness of women’s and minorities’ rights.

In a Japan Times article about the event in Osaka, OIS student Manon Raby was quoted,

Manon Raby, a student at an international high school in Osaka who participated in the event, said there wasn’t really a lot of talk among her Japanese friends publicly about Trump and the past year.

“People seem to talk politics around the dinner table, but not really participate in marches like this,” she said.

Our mission statement challenges us to “contribute to the global community”. The OIS teachers and students demonstrating activism certainly were fulfilling this goal. The mission statement of the IB is to create a better and more peaceful world. Peaceful activism and standing up for what they believe are necessary for democracy.

We plan to continue the conversation on women’s rights on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2018. We are planning events on this day, including a roundtable discussion and lessons raising awareness.

 

 

Three OIS students were recently thrilled to learn that they appeared in a video gone “viral”. OIS elementary students Emily, Kia and Moa performed the Disney classic song, “Let It Go” in the lip sync contest at the International Fair. Emily’s cousin posted a video of the performance on her Twitter feed. The video was instantly shared on other social media platforms around Asia and the world.

The Twitter post had 188,000 likes, 89,000 re-tweets and generated 160 comments. When they put the video on YouTube, as of Friday, it had 88,170 views. The video was picked up by traditional media sites also and appeared on television shows in Hong Kong and here in Japan. It was also featured on a Korean website.

In speaking with the girls, they never thought that their performance would be seen by so many people. During a recess on the field, Emily was describing the dance she was preparing for the contest, sponsored by the International Fair committee. Kia suggested using her white sweater as snow, like the character does in the Disney film Frozen. They started laughing about it, but it eventually became part of the performance, with confetti spray being the ice and snow. It was a creative way of recreating Queen Elsa’s ability of shooting ice and snow from her hands.

The girls learned a lot from the experience, including, once something is put on social media and the internet, they lose control of it. For this time, it was for a good reason. Emily laughed when a Senri International School high school student recognized her from the video in the cafeteria. She felt a bit like a celebrity.

The experience showed me the power of creativity and the potential of the internet. 10 years ago, a performance like this would have been seen only by our community, but with social media, people from literally around the world, could see it. The girls original performance was recognized by the outside world for its excellence. Emily, Kia and Moa really lived up to our mission statement of, “contributing to a global community” and demonstrating creativity. Congratulations to them!