An Exciting Start!
It’s been an exciting first week back from winter vacation here at Koyamadai. I’ve had a great time speaking with students about their vacations, and hearing about Japanese cultural activities for the New Year. Our students have been telling me about what to do when visiting a shrine, and about the different things you can get there. So far I have learned about the amulets and fortunes that people traditionally buy during their New Year’s trip to a shrine.
In this short time back at school, we have already had a few exciting events. This past weekend, our brass band participated in a concert of the Tokyo Metropolitan high schools at the Tokyo Cultural Center. My wife and I were able to go and enjoy all of the schools working together to make some beautiful music. We heard a selection of songs from Studio Ghibli’s “Spirited Away,” an arrangement of “Star Wars” music, and the students from Koyamadai worked together with several other schools to perform works from the opera, “Madam Butterfly.”
Another exciting event which happened this week was a hyakuninshu tournament for all of our first-year students. Not only was this the first time that I had seen a hyakuninshu tournament, it was also the first time that many of our students had participated in one! In the end, everyone had a great time. That’s all for this week, but I can’t wait to see what will happen next, here at Koyamadai.
【訳】わくわくする新年
小山台高校の冬休み明けの1週間はわくわくの連続でした。冬休みの話やお正月の日本の伝統について生徒たちから聞くのはとても楽しいものでした。神社に初もうでに行ったときのお参りのしかたやそこで手に入るお守りやおみくじなどについて聞きました。
学校が再開してから間もなくいくつかの行事がありました。先週末はブラスバンド班が東京文化会館での『東京都立高等学校文化祭音楽部門中央大会』に参加しました。私も妻と一緒に聞きに行き、参加した学校の織り成す美しい演奏を楽しむことができました。スタジオジブリの「千と千尋の神隠し」やスターウォーズのメドレーの演奏がありました。小山台高校の生徒たちは他の学校と合同でオペラ「蝶々夫人」からの抜粋を演奏しました。
今週一週間でもう一つ楽しかったのは百人一首大会です。私にとって百人一首の大会を見るのが初めてだっただけでなく、多くの生徒にとっても大会の形式で百人一首をするのは初めてだったようです。その日は皆がとても楽しいひと時を過ごしました。
今週のレポートはここまで。小山台で次にどんなことが起こるか楽しみです。
東京都立小山台高等学校
