A heartfelt ‘konnichiwa’

During a visit to the Robert J. Christen School (P.S. 81) on June 6, members of the Consulate-General of Japan in New York played a short documentary depicting student life in their home country. One scene showed schoolchildren clad in hair nets, serving meals to their fellow classmates in the school cafeteria. In another, students discussed taking on the responsibilities of caring for the school pet and helping to clean their classrooms. 

“I think that’s very helpful and fun,” said 9-year-old Lucy McGee, who was surprised to see students so involved in the functioning of the school.  

“Maybe we should pass this responsibility on to our children here,” Principal Anne Kirrane remarked. 

The documentary was part of a presentation by the Consulate-General’s School Caravan Program, a traveling program that teaches students at schools around New York City about Japanese culture. 

Since March, third-grade students at P.S. 81 have studied Japan in class and during sessions at the library. They have perused articles about Japan, compared their typical school days to those of Japanese students, folded origami and discovered Japanese folk tales. 

“I wanted the children to get to know the children on the other side of the world,” said school librarian Nikki Grochowski, known to the students as “Miss G.” 

Students greeted the three cultural specialists, who were clad in kimonos, with handmade Japanese flags and a hail of the Japanese salutation “konnichiwa.” 

Consulate-General Cultural Affairs Specialist Midori Goto described how different kimonos were worn for different seasons. She also showed the students a Japanese doll wearing 12 layers of kimonos.

“That means she’s from a very high class family — a royal family,” Ms. Goto explained. 

Along with the documentary and discussion of Japanese fashions, students participated in a trivia game, showcasing the knowledge they gained throughout their studies. Ms. Midori and her colleagues quizzed the students about Japanese foods, the “shinkansen,” or bullet train, and sumo wrestling.