New Page 1

Empowering Manager News ***** JAPAN EXTRA ***** May 2006

leadership through partnership

In this issue

Heritage House School in Japan

More information

Heritage House School in Japan 2006

On 22nd April 2006, six Heritage House students and four support staff set off for Japan. They wanted to experience the Japanese way of life first hand, to study wadaiko (Japanese Taiko Drumming) with Masaaki Kurumaya Sensei, and to make a new link with students at Kuretake Sogo Yogo Gakko, a similar school in Kyoto. Spring in Japan is very beautiful, cherry and plum blossoms are everywhere, small rice fields are flooded in preparation for rice planting, big trees and small plant pots outside homes are bursting into life.

Heritage House staff member Cathy Darvell masterminded this ambitious trip, and raised a substantial amount of the funding needed. Cathy has been teaching Heritage House students Fukui style taiko drumming, including the details of Japanese etiquette and customs. They greatly impressed Kurumaya Sensei by sitting very quietly for Zazen (meditation) before their taiko class with him. Kurumaya Sensei is one of Japan's foremost teachers of drumming. Combining high standards with a great sense of fun and mischief, Kurumaya Sensei worked individually with each student, and we saw over and over again that the higher the expectation, the higher the student's achievement. Heritage House students met some of Kurumaya Sensei's own wadaiko students who have learning disabilities and we observed one of his classes.

Heritage House students were very adventurous about Japanese food and we ate at Japanese restaurants every day. They tried many new foods, from sweet dumplings to fish flakes, not being put off by the ones they didn't like. We also stayed in Japanese style rooms with tatami matting floors, sleeping on the floor on futons. Everyone had to learn to take off their shoes at the front door, and take off their house slippers before walking on the tatami mats.

In Kyoto, we had a very friendly and moving welcome to the Kuretake school.

The Kuretake school song beautifully performed by the school choir brought tears to the eyes of the adults in our party. In front of the whole school, 162 students, Heritage House students each stood to introduce themselves, speaking into a microphone. The ice was well and truly broken after the Heritage House students performed taiko and invited Kuretake students to join them for a matsuri (festival style) encore. The international connection was cemented further with a wadaiko workshop for both schools led by Kuretake staff, and an impromptu football game at lunch time. The following day, a small group of Kuretake students joined us for sightseeing in Kyoto. We saw an anime film of Astro Boy (Japanese cartoon), and performances of the traditional Maiko (Kyoto's geisha) spring dances. Students were very impressed by the lavish costumes of the Maiko.

Heritage House students perform taiko drumming under the name Yu-kan Daiko. Yu-kan means 'brave' or 'courageous' in Japanese. And of course it sounds like 'you can' in English. They more than lived up to their name on this journey when their intrepid spirits brought great inspiration to others, including this very fortunate volunteer who accompanied them.