Since my last post, Japan has started to feel like another home. I have never lived anywhere for an extremely long time, so I am used to adjusting to new places as my temporary home. I thought it would be much harder to do that in a different country, living with a host family I didn’t know before coming here, but after the initial culture shock and nerves, I settled right in. My volunteering schedule has gotten into a nice groove. I work with a different age group every week, get to know them, plan for a music therapy session with them, and then at the end of the week we do a large group music therapy session. It has been a comforting routine because it allows me to take a few days to prepare for my sessions. Extra session planning time is needed here because I have to translate my entire session which turns into me outlining a script and then practicing how to communicate and sing in the Japanese language so that it is seamless during the actual session. 

I was with the four and three-year-olds for the past two weeks. The four-year-olds enjoyed playing with me. They seemed interested in just observing me as a person. I almost felt like a foreign creature. They were rowdy at one point so I decided that encouraging them to color with me would help give me time to catch my breath. What ended up happening was that I colored while the kids watched and handed me colored pencils they thought I might want. It was hilarious. Some did end up coloring and giving me their artwork as a very sweet gift. The three-year-olds were very rambunctious. I was constantly on my toes. They were fascinated with my hair and played with it every day, which I did not mind! One three-year-old even spoke English! The week I was with the four-year-olds the school was playing “shop”. Each classroom was a different store and sold various goods that were crafted by all the classes. Each class took turns being a shop and being a shopper. They had little paper money and would exchange it for the fun crafts made by the other children. It was adorable. The store goods included pretend lollipops and candy, spinning top toys made out of paper plates and bottle caps, superhero capes made out of old fabric, and paper headbands with popular Japanese characters like Hello Kitty and Pikachu. The school did an intruder drill that same week. It scared the crap out of me! Instead of just announcing that there was an intruder, they had a teacher dress up as an intruder and run into the classrooms while screaming. The teachers had to quickly push her out of the room and lock the doors while all of the children instinctively hid under their desks. I was standing there after that jumpscare and like a character in a sitcom I slowly made my way to the floor to match the actions of everybody else. It was quite hilarious.

My first music therapy sessions were a huge hit! I was honestly quite impressed with how well the children were able to follow instructions despite my broken Japanese and their age group. From my observation, Japan does a great job of introducing structure and behavioral expectations to children starting at just one year old. Not that the school is strict or harsh with the children, but it’s small actions that add up that make a difference, such as switching their shoes as soon as they come into the building and helping to serve lunch. Getting back to music therapy though, the children had a great time singing, playing with rhythm sticks, egg shakers and scarves, and dancing. I translated my songs into Japanese and had a script to follow to maximize the outcome for the children. I used a song to ask them questions about the day, month, and season which they understood and responded with enthusiasm. I worked on nonverbal communication through the rhythm sticks, encouraging them to follow my movements despite not speaking or singing, and encouraged them to interact with their peers (safely of course). The scarves allowed them to have some free dance time, but it was also used to work on receptive communication because they had to listen to the guitar for their dance cues. I also translated and memorized the hokey pokey in Japanese to work on coordination and learning left vs right. That was a fun challenge! It was beautiful watching how the power of the music transcended language in places where I needed it to. The joy of the children was contagious and the staff was truly grateful and impressed with my work. I missed working with groups of children. The four-year-old class was so grateful for me spending the week with them and doing music therapy that they made me the cutest thank you sign. It meant the world to me. 

I went to Okazaki for the weekend and stayed with a different host family. It almost felt like going to grandma’s house. I left the home with siblings and busy schedules and went to a house where the kids are grown and have moved out. I got spoiled and fed more food than I could eat, and then I went home at the end of the weekend. My temporary host mom (or host grandma) was very very sweet and an excellent cook. I taught her husband how to play gin rummy with their Ohio State playing cards they got from a previous host child. The reason I stayed out of town for the weekend was that Naoko had invited me to see a pottery exhibition for a previous United Planet volunteer who ended up moving to Japan to pursue pottery. He was very kind, it was nice to talk to an American. The exhibition was in Tokoname so I got to explore the area. It was very cute, definitely a hidden gem. Thankfully it wasn’t too cold that day. Before I left Tokoname, my host grandma took me to the mall. I didn’t do much shopping and spent under $10, but I had a great time. They had an entire store of only gacha machines. I walked through the entire store before deciding which machine I was going to try my luck with. I ended up getting a little cat dressed in a pineapple! The following weekend I went to see my host brother, Souta, play basketball. He was the smallest one on the team, but he did great. Life here moves slowly. It is causing me to be more present and relaxed. I do not know what is making life feel like this, but I appreciate the slowness.