Jack-of-all-Trades

No nails!  Brilliant construction!

We visited the Open-Air Folk House Museum in the community of Kawasaki about 30 minutes by express train from west Tokyo.   The museum has approximately 25 traditional houses and other restored, historical buildings, including a kabuki theater. As you can see, most buildings have very thickly thatched roofs and heavy beams.  Floors are made of bamboo and covered in reeds, tatami mats (for Samurai and other important guests), or wood planks. (Nails were scarce and only used for floor boards and in some roofing.)  The oldest house is 300 years.   These dwellings have withstood earthquakes, tsunamis, fires, insect damage, and avalanches. 

This steep-roofed house was a mountain home and snow piled up to the second floor.  The roof's pitch allowed snow to be more-easily removed when the woman climbed onto it.  Bamboo reeds covering the first floor served the purpose of protecting the house from snow.  Women's winter work also included shoveling snow away from the house for several feet all around, raising silk worms (on the second floor), spinning and weaving, making paper (silk worms need clean paper and mulberry leaves to eat), and taking care of the children and household. Men often lived in town during the winter and took jobs to supplement the family income. 

We met a kind, elderly museum volunteer who described himself as a "Jack-of-all-Trades", a chemical-mechanical-electrical engineer all rolled into one.  He had taken many business trips to Michigan and Cape Girardeau, MO formulating contracts with U.S. companies.     After discovering that we are from the States, he said slowly and quietly, "Yes, Japan and the U.S. were bitter enemies during the war."  Trying not to reveal deep emotions, he looked down.   Then he continued, "But after the war we had so much to learn from the United States."   I asked, "May I inquire what year you were born?"  Again he looked down.  "I was 10 years old when the war ended."  Imagine the impact WW II had on young boy?!  I wanted to ask if he experienced the Tokyo fire bombings, if he lost loved ones, if he went hungry....   I wanted to explain that I am a World History teacher and that I teach my students about World War II and the Pacific Theater.  And I wanted to ask him my most important question:  What would you like my students to know about the war??   But travel books have warned me that three topics are off-limits to foreigners here:  outcasts, the role of the Emperor, and WW II.  The official story-line is that Japan was a victim of World War II.  

 Changing the subject, he used a large tourist sign to discuss Japan's written language, patiently explaining the intermingling of its three language systems.  He was surprised that I recognized the Kanji (Chinese) character for "person" and the Katakana symbol for "no".  He confirmed that Japanese characters ARE quicker to read than Roman letters because they capture entire concepts, and in less space.    (Note:  By grade 6, Japanese children memorize 1,006 Kanji characters.  By the end of 9th grade, they have memorized 2,136.  The highest level Kanji exam covers 6,000 characters.)  While reading may eventually be easier, learning the language is not.   


Finally, I thanked him for sharing his time and expertise.  "You could be my Japanese teacher," I said.   He laughed and with genuine Japanese-humility added, "And you could be my English teacher for my English is not very good."  He handed us his personal card (making certain we recognized that it was not his business card) and said, "Please contact me if you have questions or need any help."   Notice the photo of a dog on his card?   His eyes filled with tears when he told us that she recently died.  We suggested perhaps he could get another.  He shook his head, "No, I think that is unfair because I don't have many years left. I would go first."