Book Review & Giveaway 25: Beyond The Tiger Mom

I have received another book from Tuttle Books!
And, as always, they have agreed to give (given) one free copy to a random visitor to my blog!

The book I’m reviewing today is titled “Beyond The Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age” by Maya Thiagarajan.

“Beyond The Tiger Mom”

I will put the details of the free drawing for this book at the end of this post.

Ms. Thiagarajan was born in India and then moved to America after she graduated from high school. She went to college in America and, afterwards, became a school teacher there.  Eventually, she moved to Singapore with her husband and their children and she became a teacher there.

From this, she has become familiar with the American way, the Indian way and the Chinese way of parenting and teaching children.

With her knowledge and experience of what works and what doesn’t work best for children’s education, she has written this extensive, easy-to-read guide.

“Beyond The Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age” can be purchased through Amazon here.

But, as I said above, Tuttle Books has agreed to give (given) one random visitor to my blog a free copy of this book.

***** Updated February 14th, 2016 *****

This special promo ended on 2016 February 14th. One random winner was selected and contacted directly by Tuttle Publishers (via email) with the details about the free book.

Thank you to all who entered, but only the winner was contacted.
*****

 

Japanese school lunch is excellent

I wrote a post about three years ago comparing Japanese and American schools.
(Click here to read it.)

Well, the Washington Post newspaper wrote an article fairly recently about Japanese 給食 (school lunches).

The article is here.

Basically, it says that school lunches in Japanese schools are healthy and delicious.
They are like home cooked meals made with locally grown ingredients, unlike the fast-food type of lunches that I ate in schools in America.

Also, the students serve the food to each other in Japanese schools.

having raised three kids in Japan, I know that students in Japan eat proper food in school.

How are Japanese schools different from America’s?

The only experience I have with the American public school system is when I was a student in the ’70s – ’80s in West-central Florida.
But I’m sure Florida’s public schools aren’t too different from schools in other parts of America. And even though I graduated from high school in 1988 I guess American schools aren’t too different today (with the exception, of course, of fashion and music tastes. And there are probably computers in U.S. classrooms now.)

My experience with the Japanese school system is from having three teenagers who attended Japanese public schools from kindergarten to the high school they’re currently attending (college).

Some differences between these countries’ school systems are:

– In Japan, the school year begins in April and ends in March. In America, the school year starts around September and ends in June. Also, students in Japan have fewer days off than American students.

– There are no school buses in Japan. In Japanese public kindergartens, mothers take their kids to school (often by bicycle). Public elementary schools and junior high schools are close enough for the students to walk to* (*in urban areas, like Tokyo, students must walk to school…no bicycles allowed. But in more rural areas of Japan, kids are often permitted by ride their bikes to school.)
High schools in Japan require passing an Entrance Exam to attend…so these schools usually require the students to take a short commute by train.
(Private schools in Japan, on the other hand, aren’t usually within walking distance from the students’ homes…so kids who attend private schools (even elementary school) can be seen commuting by train with their classmates.)

– In Japanese public schools, elementary school kids wear street clothes to school (like in American schools), but starting in junior high, they must wear a school uniform.

– In Japanese schools, everyone must remove their shoes at the entrance and change into 上履き (indoor shoes).

– In Japanese elementary and junior high schools students and teachers all eat the same school lunch. There are no choices.
In most high schools, students and teachers are required to bring a 弁当 (packed lunch) from home.
And very few Japanese schools have a cafeteria. Students eat lunch in their classroom at their desk.
In American schools, there are “lunch ladies” who prepare the school lunches and then serve the students, but in Japan, the “lunch ladies” cook the lunch but students take turns serving lunch to their classmates.

– Japanese school children don’t take a shower after gym class.

– There are no janitors in Japanese schools. The students clean their school everyday.

– In junior high and high school in Japan, almost every student joins a after-school club or team.

– 夏休み (summer vacation) is about five weeks long in Japan. It was about twice as long in America, if I remember correctly.
And during summer vacation, Japanese students have to go to school many times for their school club / team practice. Also, Japanese students must do a lot of homework during summer vacation.

– In American schools, there are no 入学式 (“School Entrance Ceremony”), and 卒業式 (“School Graduation”) isn’t until high school has been completed.
But in Japan, there are both 入学式 (“School Entrance Ceremonies“) and 卒業式 (“School Graduations“) for kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school, high school and college.

– In America, school grades are counted as 1 -5 for 小学校 (elementary school), 6-8 for 中学校 (junior high) and 9-12 for 高等学校 (high school).
In Japan, 小学校 (elementary school) is six years (grades 小1-6), 中学校 (junior high) is three years (grades 中1-3 (equal to grades 7-9)), and 高等学校 (high school) is also three years (grades 高校 1-3 (equal to grades 10-12)).

There are many other differences…such as the way homework and tests are administered and checked, the manner that classes are arranged, the fact that Japanese students stand and greet their teacher at the beginning and end of each class, the way that students are trusted in empty classrooms alone…even in kindergarten.

I’d say that schools in Japan and America have more differences than similarities. And I think education and school life that my children are getting in Japan is superior to what I had in America.

高校受験

Today my oldest daughter will take her 高校受験 (High School Entrance Examination).

She’s a 中学校三年生 (Ninth grader (last year of Junior High in Japan)).

In Japan, the school year is 四月から三月まで (from April til March).
小学校 (Elementary School) is grades 1-6, 中学校 (Junior High) is three years (grades 中1～中3…(equivalent to grades 7-9 in the U.S.)),  and 高等学校 (High School) in Japan is also three years (the equivalent to grades 10-12 in the U.S.).

Both 高等学校 (High School) and 大学 (College) have Entrance Exams.

My two younger daughters made a card for my oldest to wish her Good Luck on her test today.
I bought her a box of special Kit-Kat chocolates for students taking School Entrance Exams.

Kit-Kat is one of the popular snacks parents give their kids when they’re taking an Entrance Exam. Kit-Kat is popular because it’s name sounds like “I’ll surely pass!” in Japanese.
(Click here to read another post that I mention another flavor of Kit-Kat for High School kids taking the College Entrance Exam.)

The packaging of the Kit-Kat that I bought is like a postcard…and it can actually be mailed.

Well, to my oldest daughter:
ガンバッテね！ (Good luck!)

ウォーキング大会

Every year at this time, our town has a ウォーキング大会 (Walking Rally).

It’s organized by the local 小学校 (Elementary Schools) PTAs and it’s open to everyone in the town to meet and walk around the river for a morning of socializing and exercise. It’s especially popular with the elderly and the children who attend the 小学校 (Elementary Schools) and their families.

I’m on the PTA of my youngest daughter’s 小学校 (Elementary School).
She’s in sixth grade at 小学校 (Elementary School)…this April she’ll begin 中学校 (Junior High). (And my oldest will begin 高等学校 (High School)).

Since I’m on the PTA, I helped with the ウォーキング大会 (Walking Rally).
I’ve joined this ウォーキング大会 (Walking Rally) a couple times before…but this was the first time I joined it as part of the organizers.

There are two courses. A 3 meter course and a 5 meter course. My daughter’s school’s PTA helped with the shorter 3 meter course. So, that’s the course I did. My daughter and her friends walked the 5 meter course.

The event started at 10:00. The start-point was at an Elementary School near the river (not my daughter’s school).
I and the other PTA members got there at 9:30 to set-up and welcome people when they came. At 10:00, the school principal gave a welcome speech and then the gym coach led us in warm-up exercise…then the people doing the 5 meter course left first. The rest of us waited about ten minutes to give them a head-start so that we could all finish around the same time.

We began our walk at about 10:30 and finished at about 11:30. It was a very relaxed pace because, as I said, there were many elderly people and young children. It was enjoyable.

I walked at the rear of the group to make sure everyone was fine. I, as well as the other PTA members, wore a PTA armband.
An old woman walked next to me and told me all about a trip she took to America many years ago.

Once we all got back to the 小学校 (Elementary School), we were handed a ticket with a number on it for a lottery-type game.
There were twenty prizes and random numbers were drawn and called out by the 校長先生 (school principal). People with winning numbers on their ticket were given a prize.
I didn’t win anything…but my daughter won a box of cookies.

Next year I won’t be on the PTA anymore…but I may join in the ウォーキング大会 (Walking Rally) again.

運動会

Yesterday was my youngest daughter’s 運動会 (Sports Day event) at her school.
She’s in the sixth grade (which, in Japan, is the highest grade in 小学校 (Elementary school)), so this was the last Elementary school 運動会 (Sports Day event) for my kids.

運動会 (Sports Day events) are usually held from kindergarten to high school in Japan in September or October…but my oldest two daughters had their 中学校 (Junior High School) 運動会 (Sports Day event) last June (it was the first of my kids’ 運動会 (Sports Day events) that I didn’t attend because it was held on a weekday due to rain on the original day it was scheduled. (Click here to read my post about it)).

運動会 (Sports Day events) at Japanese 保育園 (Nursery Schools), 幼稚園 (Pre-schools) and 小学校 (Elementary schools) usually are decorated with strings of world flags hung over the school yard (中学校 (Jr High) and 高等学校 (High School) usually don’t decorate this way for their events).

My daughter played the trombone in the marching band for the commencement of the 運動会 (Sports Day event), and she ran in a couple races and other events during the day. As they usually do, the 運動会 (Sports Day event) started at 9:00AM and went until noon and we stopped for lunch (my wife and daughters had prepared an excellent lunch for us) and after lunch, the games re-started and the 運動会 (Sports Day event) finished at about 3:30PM.

I participated in the PTA 綱引き (Tug-Of-War).

A long day. But, as always, alot of fun!

This was the last 運動会 (Sports Day event) at the 小学校 (Elementary School)…next year, my youngest two daughters will be in 中学校 (Junior High School) and the oldest will begin 高等学校 (High School)!

Open House

Today was my daughters’ 学校公開 (Open School) at their Junior High School.

Today is Saturday, and there’s usually no school on Saturdays…but the school’s open on Saturdays when parents are expected to come (運動会 (Sports Day), concerts, Open School, etc), and then the school is closed the following regular school day (usually the following Monday).

But this Monday is a holiday (敬老の日 (“Respect For The Aged Day” (click here to read my FAQ about it))…so my daughters’ school will be closed on Tuesday, so they can have a three-day weekend like everyone else in Japan (Sunday-Tuesday instead of Saturday-Monday).

I watched my daughters’ English and Art classes. They did very well.

One the way home, my wife and I saw a stray cat with an unusual coat…all brown except for the black fur on his head.

He was a bit mangy…but we still liked him.

Anyways, there are a number of 秋祭 (Autumn Festivals) around Tokyo this weekend, but I probably won’t be going to any of them…we’re pretty busy this weekend. Anyhow, I’ve seen them all at least once each before.

今週末

The 2008 Summer Olympics in 北京 (Beijing) have ended.
Did you watch the closing ceremony?

The top ten countries for medals:

1. 中華人民共和国 (China) – 51 gold (100 total)
2. アメリカ合衆国 (USA) – 36 gold (110 total)
3. ロシア連邦 (Russia) – 23 gold (72 total)
4. グレート・ブリテンおよび北アイルランド連合王国 (Great Britain) – 19 gold (47 total)
5. ドイツ連邦共和国 (Germany) – 16 gold (41 total)
6. オーストラリア (Australia) – 14 gold (46 total)
7. 大韓民国 (South Korea) – 13 gold (31 total)
8. 日本国 (Japan) – 9 gold (25 total)
9. イタリア共和国 (Italy) – 8 gold (28 total)
10. フランス共和国 (France) – 7 gold (40 total)

Speaking of sports, a Russian 相撲 (Sumo) wrestler in Japan named 若ノ鵬 (Wakanohou) was recently arrested for possession of marijuana and dismissed from the Sumo Federation.

Japan has very strict drug laws. If he is convicted, he could face up to five years in prison and / or deportation.

What a stupid mistake.

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Last Saturday (2008/8/23), lightning struck the 醍醐寺 (Daigoji Temple) in 京都 (Kyoto, Japan), which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, causing a fire which destroyed part of the centuries old cultural asset.

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Also on Saturday we took our oldest daughter to an exhibition of Tokyo high schools and colleges to help us decide which one should attend next school year which begins in April in Japan.
She’ll be starting high school (10th grade).

Here’s a picture I took of the event. It was pretty crowded:

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From there, we went to the 米国空軍有効祭 (U.S. Air Force Friendship Festival) at the U.S. Air Force base in western Tokyo.

This is the only time that the U.S. military bases are open to the public. Actually, going on the U.S. bases is almost like going to America. The food, clothes, and the way everyone speaks loudly (and in English) are all very American. It’s kinda a culture shock for me (and of course, my family)…I guess I’m not used to America anymore.

It was a little bit rainy the day of this year’s festival, so it wasn’t so fun (but it wasn’t hot, so that was nice). We went to this festival three years ago…it was nice sunny weather on that day (although quite hot).

I couldn’t get any nice pictures from this weekend’s festival at the U.S. Air Force base because of the weather…but here are a couple pictures from the event when we went in 2005. They had a sky-diving show and let the public look inside the aircraft:

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And yesterday (Sunday), I volunteered to help set up and run a booth at a local summer festival near our house.

It was still raining (and it’s still raining today 😦 ) but a fairly large number of people still turned up. I helped run the drinks and かき氷 (flavored shaved ice) booth.

The weather was pretty cool, so not many people wanted shaved ice…but we sold alot of drinks. Especially beer!

It was a 盆踊り (Bon dancing) festival…but I was surprised that so many people still did the dancing despite the weather.

I was busy helping out so I didn’t bring my camera. But I took a picture with the cell-phone. It didn’t turn out so good because it was rainy and evening.

It was fun.

ニュース

Today and tomorrow we are taking my oldest daughter to look at a few high schools to help us decide which one she should go to next Spring (she’ll start 高校一年 (10th grade (first year of high school in Japan)) in April).

In December, she’ll begin taking high school entrance exams! (Next year, my 2nd daughter will do the same…then the youngest after that!)
They grow up too fast!

++++

Yesterday we went to 銀座 (Ginza) and 上野 (Ueno).
Near 銀座 (Ginza), I saw this 新幹線 (Bullet train) pass by (it was going past a train station, so it wasn’t moving so fast at the time):

And at 上野 (Ueno), we went to a junk-food store that sold ラムネ (Ramune), which is a popular (especially in the summer) carbonated drink in Japan.
It has a distinctive bottle with a marble in the neck.
It usually has a lemon flavor…but this store had many odd flavors and there was a sign that said 「まずいラムネランキング」 (“Top Ten Worst Ramune Flavors”)!

Some of the まずいラムネ (Worst Ramune Flavors) included
“Wasabi Ramune“, “Curry Ramune“, and “Takoyaki Ramune“…but the “#1 Worst Flavor” was 「キムチ・ラムネ」 (“Kimchee Ramune”)!

So I had to buy it!

I’ve haven’t tried it yet. I’ll let you know how it is.
(Actually, I really like 「キムチ」 (Kimchee)…(spicy, Korean cabbage). So I’m wondering how this drink tastes.)

From there, we went to a カラオケボックス (“Karaoke Box”), which is a private room for singing Karaoke (you can also order food and drinks from a menu and they’re brought up to the room you’re in).

I’m a terrible singer…but my kids enjoy it.

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In the news,

• A wild monkey got into busy 渋谷駅 (Shibuya Train Station) in Tokyo. Over thirty police officers attempted to capture it, but the monkey managed to flee the train station.There are wild 日本猿 (Japanese monkeys) in the countryside but in the city they’re usually only seen in the zoos.
• The American Navy’s nuclear aircraft carrier, U.S.S George Washington, will be stationed in 神奈川県横須賀市 (Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture) soon. There are a number of Japanese people who are against the ship coming here, mainly because it’ll be the first nuclear-powered ship to be stationed in Japan.The fact that there was a fire onboard the carrier last Spring compounded their worries.
  (You can read my earlier post about the USS George Washington coming to Japan).

  And now, it’s been reported, two sailors from the ship have been arrested last weekend in California, USA for murder!

Earthquake

Today (Saturday), was my youngest daughter’s School’s Open House…the day the parents can come watch the classes.

About eight years ago Japan stopped having Saturday be a “school day”…except for special occasions.

Days that parents are expected to come (Open House, Sports Day, etc) are usually on Saturdays…and then the next school day (usually the following Monday) is a day off for the kids.

So my youngest doesn’t have school this Monday.

Anyways, I went to watch her band practice (she plays the trombone) and then her Health Class.

Before we went to her school this morning, though, there was a big 地震 (earthquake) in Northern Japan.

It registered a 6 (out of 7) on the 震度 Japanese Earthquake Scale at the epicenter. It only registered about a “2” in Tokyo…but our house was swaying.

Up in 岩手県 (Iwate Prefecture) and 宮城県 (Miyagi Prefecture), the areas at the epicenter, there were landslides and a broken bridge.

So far, three people have been confirmed dead. One man died when he got hit by a falling rock and another man died in a landslide. Possibly the most tragic death is that of a man who panicked and ran outside…where he was hit by a truck!