Nihonbashi (日本橋）

Nihonbashi

This bridge was the most important bridge during the Edo Period. It is a bridge over the Nihonbashi-gawa River on the north side of Chuo-ku and was the point of origin for Japan's five main streets. The Bakufu measured all distances in Japan from Edo from this point and was rebuilt in stone during the Meiji period. Many high-class department stores were built around this bridge and the area has become a very busy and popular shopping destination. This area still bears a bronze signpost with the words "Origin of Roads in Japan".

A model of the Mitsui Echigoya

During the Edo period the district was a major mercantile center and the Mitsui family, who based their wholesaling business in Nihonbashi, developed Japan's first department store, Mitsukoshi. It was founded in 1673 with the shop name Echigoya (越後屋) and sold kimonos. Ten years after being founded, door-to-door selling was abandoned and the shop was turned into a store where customers could purchase products on the spot with cash. The company experienced massive expansion and has grown to be an international department store chain. The current Mitsukoshi building completed construction in 1935 and features seven stories of stores.

Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi
[A seven story department store completed in 1935]

In the 1960s, the Shuto expressway was built over it, and it was not until recently, when Tokyo was making a bid for the 2016 Olympics, that there was talk about moving the Shuto underground. This bridge is a sign of how the Bakufu (the Shogunate) kept the daimyo under control: daimyo that the Bakufu trusted less were assigned lands further from Edo, as measured by the bridge. The Shuto Expressway also gives a glance of the modern Japanese worldview, especially their view on their heritage.

The zero mile point sign at Nihonbashi

Websites: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3033.html, http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/tokyo/ginza_nihonbasi.html, http://www.ltij.net/tokyo/nihonbashi.html, http://www.mitsui.com/jp/en/company/history/index.html

Kanda Myojin

This shrine is one of the oldest and most important shrines in Edo/Tokyo, and has been rebuilt several times. In both the Edo Period and the Meiji Period, this shrine was seen to offer protection for the shogun or the emperor, and is known as the Tutelary Shrine of Edo. This shrine demonstrates how the Japanese worldview affected the place of religion in both everyday life and in politics.

Website: http://www.kandamyoujin.or.jp/english/e01.html

Yushima Seido

A Confucian temple constructed in the Edo Period. Rather than a site of worship, this was an institution for higher learning. The present site is directly across from the Tokyo Medical and Dental University. This site demonstrates the interconnectedness of religion and education in the Japanese worldview, as well as the influence of Confucianism on the Japanese worldview during the Edo Period.

Website: http://www.japanvisitor.com/index.php?cID=357&pID=1187#seido

8.1 From Isolation to Adaptation: Japan Outcomes Index

General Outcome
Through an examination of Japan, students will demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the ways in which beliefs, values and knowledge shape worldviews and contribute to a society’s isolation or adaptation.

Specific Outcomes

• Values and Attitudes

Students will:
8.1.1 appreciate the roles of time and geographic location in shaping a society’s worldview
(C, I, TCC, LPP)
8.1.2 appreciate how a society’s worldview can foster the choice to remain an isolated society
(C, I, TCC)
8.1.3 appreciate how models of governance and decision making reflect a society’s worldview
(C, I, TCC, PADM)
8.1.4 appreciate how a society’s worldview shapes individual citizenship and identity (C, I, TCC)

• Knowledge and Understanding

Students will:
8.1.5 analyze the effects of cultural isolation during the Edo period by exploring and reflecting
upon the following questions and issues:
• In what ways did Japan isolate itself from the rest of the world? (PADM, LPP, CC)

• How did isolation during the Edo period lead to changes in Japan? (CC, PADM)
• How did the changes resulting from isolation affect Japan economically, politically and
socially during the Edo period? (ER, PADM, CC, I)
• How did the physical geography of Japan affect its worldview? (LPP, PADM, TCC)
• How did the shogun use the feudal system and the hierarchical social classes to maintain control of Japan? (PADM, CC)

8.1.6 analyze the effects that rapid adaptation had on traditionally isolated Japan during the
Meiji period by exploring and reflecting upon the following questions and issues:
• What were the motivations for the radical changes in Japan’s model of organization during
the Meiji period? (ER, CC, PADM)

• How did Japan adapt to changes brought on by the transition from feudal to modern models
of organization? (CC, TCC, I)
• How did the changes resulting from adaptation affect Japan economically, politically and
socially during the Meiji period? (ER, CC, PADM)

• In what ways did changes resulting from isolation in the Edo period compare to changes
resulting from adaptation in the Meiji period? (CC, TCC, I)

• What challenges emerged for the Japanese in maintaining traditional cultural aspects of their society while undergoing rapid change? (CC, I, TCC)

Voting on Locations to Visit in Japan

Issues Faced by Japanese Students Today

In all levels of schooling, Japanese students face a great deal of stress, from school, peers, and family. This post is intended to highlight some of the issues that many Japanese students face along with some extreme social issues that exist among students, to raise awareness of what Japanese students go through, especially in contrast to Canadian students.

Education in Japan is very competitive, and students are under constant pressure to study hard for entrance exams for prestigious schools and universities. Often, this pressure comes from certain mothers, who will drive their child to study regardless of their physical and emotional well-being. Some mothers are more extreme than others. In the late 90s, a woman murdered her neighbor's two-year-old daughter because she had been admitted into a prestigious kindergarten that her own daughter failed to enter (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/jun2000/jap-j19.shtml). Many Japanese students attend cram schools during the evening to give them further time to study. In addition, all high school students are required to register with an extra-curricular club that meets year-round, adding even more to their schedule.

Because of all this pressure on Japanese students to succeed, suicide is very common among Japanese students. In 2005, 886 students committed suicide, many of which were school-related. (http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ed20070615a2.html) Suicides are especially prevalent during entrance exam season, when a student receives unfavorable marks. Currently, Japan's suicide rate is one of the highest in the world.

Many youth in Japan suffer from a unique condition called hikikomori. This is a condition in which youth, mostly young men, from early adolescence to mid-thirties, will shut themselves in their room and avoid social contact with anyone for a period of six months to several years. They go to such extremes because they are afraid of others, and cannot handle the pressure society places on them. (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/15/magazine/15japanese.html)

Ijime, or bullying, is a very major social problem in Japan, often more so than in North America. Usually, students who are bullied stick out in some way, and the entire class participates in bullying these students, often by ostracizing them. Teachers will often encourage bullying, as they see it as an effective means of "behavior modification," and parents tend to place the responsibility on the victims rather than the bullies. Bullying is another major contributor to both suicide and hikikomori. (http://legacy.lclark.edu/~krauss/advwrf99/causeeffect/akikocause.html)

In an interview with Paul Suzuki, who works with Japanese students, he identified the main concern Japanese students have as, "They are longing for a place of belonging... where they can feel at ease, feel accepted, know they would be welcomed, and belong." Many Japanese students do not feel they have a place of belonging, even at home.

Japan-AB Archive

Vjm1-logan/charlie said...
We believe the canadian style is more effective than the Japanese style of teaching. But in canada we still do encounter some bullying but there have been no suicides we have heard of.

May 31, 2010 10:20 AM

So far I haven't heard of any school related suicides.