When School Starts..
In April 1961 I entered Seikei Junior High School in Tokyo. As I also went to Seikei Elementary School, there was no entrance examination to go to Junior High School.
I rode an excaltor that brought me automatically up to Junior High.
As soon as the first term ended in July, we went on a journey to Summer School in Hakone. I remember a shabby-looking dormitory where we stayed two nights. We called it a spooky house. But we enjoyed seeing beautiful white lily flowers on the garden.
During the summer vacation in August my father took me to Itoh Seashore, Shizuoka Pref. where I leaned to swim. My father told me, I would not be able to swim, unless I drowned in the surf once or twice. Brrr..
The second term started on the 10th of September. I couldn't sleep well on the very night before school started. It was exciting to see my classmates again!
The beginning ceremony of the second term was held at the auditorium. About 1000 students gathered. For starters the principal gave a talk. It was quite a dogmatic speech. He cited anecodotes and proverbs from the old Chinese philosophers like Confucius and Lao-Tse. He said, "Something colorful equals to something empty." Or to put it simply, "You may adore a blonde woman with blue eyes. But beware of judging people by apperance, they are mostly empty-headed!". He went on, "People make a decision in the morning, but they take it back in the evening immediately." and things like that.
I found his speech boring and I almost fell asleep. As a matter of fact I had to sleep later on. For after his pedantic long speech, it was a time for meditation, which we call "Gyonen". The characteristic of "Gyonen" is put your both hands forward and form a shape of a peach around the navel of your body.
Then close your eyes. Why peach? I wore a dark-blue school uniform with a golden badge of a peach. Imagine that many people come and see yummy, plump and juicy peaches dangling from a peach tree. The peach is likened to be a wise man. You see, the wise man attracts people. People wait in line to see him, just like they make a way to see beautiful peaches. Seikei means originally that "they make a small way." Well, it sounds dogmatic again, isn't it?
I just did what I was told to. What do you think I was doing during the meditation? I was thinking of bento my mother made for lunch. I was already hungry. When the principal clapped his hands, "Gyonen" is over. Next we stood up and sang our school song in unison.
Finally we left the lecture hall and divided into an individual classroom.
The homeroom teacher told us to change places. I was surprised to find a stout-built boy sitting next to me. He was utterly foreign to me. I've never seen him during the first term.
His name is Masafumi. He lived with his family in Seattle, USA. He went to elementary school there until June.
His father worked at the branch office of Mitsubishi Trading Company. Presumably he was recently transferred to Tokyo Head Office. As Mitsubishi Corp. Group supported Seikei School financially, Masafumi joined our school without effort., I guess.
Later on I discovered that in the western world the school year begins not in April but in September.
It's interesting to know that the German Prime Minister Ms. Merkel also forms a shape of a peach with her hands when she listens to others attentively. But the Germans insist that it's a shape of a rhombus or diamond. Maybe she emulated a Buddhist, Dalai Lama. Anyway when she adopts this Buddha's posture, she seems to be polite and respects other people she speaks to.
Last but not least, I'd like to leave you with this one last thought.
The present Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had gone through the discipline of "Gyonen" as he also went to Seikei School. I do believe he has spirits of "Gyonen" stamped in his mind and hopefully makes headway for a "COOL JAPAN" campaign that invites many foreigners to Japan.
I rode an excaltor that brought me automatically up to Junior High.
As soon as the first term ended in July, we went on a journey to Summer School in Hakone. I remember a shabby-looking dormitory where we stayed two nights. We called it a spooky house. But we enjoyed seeing beautiful white lily flowers on the garden.
During the summer vacation in August my father took me to Itoh Seashore, Shizuoka Pref. where I leaned to swim. My father told me, I would not be able to swim, unless I drowned in the surf once or twice. Brrr..
The second term started on the 10th of September. I couldn't sleep well on the very night before school started. It was exciting to see my classmates again!
The beginning ceremony of the second term was held at the auditorium. About 1000 students gathered. For starters the principal gave a talk. It was quite a dogmatic speech. He cited anecodotes and proverbs from the old Chinese philosophers like Confucius and Lao-Tse. He said, "Something colorful equals to something empty." Or to put it simply, "You may adore a blonde woman with blue eyes. But beware of judging people by apperance, they are mostly empty-headed!". He went on, "People make a decision in the morning, but they take it back in the evening immediately." and things like that.
I found his speech boring and I almost fell asleep. As a matter of fact I had to sleep later on. For after his pedantic long speech, it was a time for meditation, which we call "Gyonen". The characteristic of "Gyonen" is put your both hands forward and form a shape of a peach around the navel of your body.
Then close your eyes. Why peach? I wore a dark-blue school uniform with a golden badge of a peach. Imagine that many people come and see yummy, plump and juicy peaches dangling from a peach tree. The peach is likened to be a wise man. You see, the wise man attracts people. People wait in line to see him, just like they make a way to see beautiful peaches. Seikei means originally that "they make a small way." Well, it sounds dogmatic again, isn't it?
I just did what I was told to. What do you think I was doing during the meditation? I was thinking of bento my mother made for lunch. I was already hungry. When the principal clapped his hands, "Gyonen" is over. Next we stood up and sang our school song in unison.
Finally we left the lecture hall and divided into an individual classroom.
The homeroom teacher told us to change places. I was surprised to find a stout-built boy sitting next to me. He was utterly foreign to me. I've never seen him during the first term.
His name is Masafumi. He lived with his family in Seattle, USA. He went to elementary school there until June.
His father worked at the branch office of Mitsubishi Trading Company. Presumably he was recently transferred to Tokyo Head Office. As Mitsubishi Corp. Group supported Seikei School financially, Masafumi joined our school without effort., I guess.
Later on I discovered that in the western world the school year begins not in April but in September.
It's interesting to know that the German Prime Minister Ms. Merkel also forms a shape of a peach with her hands when she listens to others attentively. But the Germans insist that it's a shape of a rhombus or diamond. Maybe she emulated a Buddhist, Dalai Lama. Anyway when she adopts this Buddha's posture, she seems to be polite and respects other people she speaks to.
Last but not least, I'd like to leave you with this one last thought.
The present Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had gone through the discipline of "Gyonen" as he also went to Seikei School. I do believe he has spirits of "Gyonen" stamped in his mind and hopefully makes headway for a "COOL JAPAN" campaign that invites many foreigners to Japan.
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