Our first visit today was a meeting with the Mayor of Himeji, Toshikatsu Iwami, at City Hall. His father had been Mayor of Himeji during the American Occupation after WW II. Mayor Iwami told us that Himeji Castle, which we visited yesterday, was the only part of the city that remained unharmed after the war. He also provided us with the following statistics about Himeji:Population of 540,000
56,000 Students
65 Kindergartens
71 Elementary Schools
35 Junior High Schools
3 High Schools
1 Special Education School
Aside from this data, he stated the “Three Pillars” (initiatives) of the city: Welfare (improving the quality of life and addressing the aging society), Environment, and Education. Mayor Iwami also expressed deep sympathy for the victims of Hurricane Katrina (as Himeji has a sister city in the United States-Phoenix, AZ). He also recommended that we visit the War Citizens’ Memorial Peace Center/Park. 
After lunch, we returned to City Hall to meet with members of the Board of Education and PTA. During these sessions, we learned that the student/teacher ratio is 18 to 1 and the class size averages at 40 students! Other interesting statistics…90% of high school students in Himeji go on to college and 98% of students in Himeji walk to school (the rest ride bikes or use public transportation). The PTA members also shared their impressions of American schools. They felt that we enforce strict discipline in our kids when they are young but loosen restrictions as they get older. In Japan, this is reversed. In addition, they believed that class sizes in the US are much lower than in Japan, that classrooms are colorfully decorated, and that the classroom arrangement is typically not in traditional rows as in Japan.
Since museums and temples are closed by the time we end our sessions, we spent the night shopping. The highlight was the 100 Yen Store (comparable to our dollar stores). I ended up buying a bunch of stuff to decorate our classroom. We ended the night with a trip to the “konbini” (convenience store) for some snacks to take back to the hotel.
4 comments:
The Japanese food looks different than the Japanese food at Japanese restaurants here in America, I wonder what if the sushi here is the same as sushi there
lawson mart!! i miss those small mini marts at every corner... in westport you have to drive everywhere
I think its really interesting that they have 35 junior high schools but only 3 high schools. I wonder what the size of the high schools are. Also, some of the PTA members look western...do they have kids in the system and if so how long?
Boa tarde prezada Universiade de Hyogo. Quero lhes dizer que fiquei muito feliz em poder estar escrevendo algumas linhas. Minha experiencia com voces foi maravilhosa, Deixo voces com as alegrias que a vida pode lhes dar e dizer-lhes que desde que retornei ao Brasil, procuro sempre estar com os imigrantes japoneses aqui no Brasil! Marcelo Blanck - m.blanck1999@gmail.com
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