Independence
Yesterday morning R sent the children off to a playground down the street. It is not far from here, but we cannot see the playground from our balcony. Tokyo is a big city, but Japanese society is very safe and R is not worried about sending them off by themselves. In the very busy metro, one can see small children (5-6 years old) stand by themselves, and at first I would be looking for the parent but there was no accompanying adult present, nor do any of the other adults pay any mind to the child; clearly it is not noteworthy and must be very common. We have given them each a card that has 'please take me home to' and our address in Kanji, so in case they would get lost, they have a way to get home. They love their new-found independence and we hope that it gives them a sense of responsibility.
The children spent from 10am to 3pm by themselves in the children's castle, participating in the various organized activities there--crafts, sports, computer games, etc. Perhaps we are overdoing it with this whole independence thing I thought when I heard about the plan to leave them by themselves while we went apartment hunting from R (after all, they do not speak a word of Japanese, and although people are very friendly, not too many people speak English). But she had provided them with careful instructions, and when we came to collect them at 3, they were engrossed in some ball game in the gym and showed very little interest in us. Saskia did step away from the game for a second to ask me whether I had met the man who spoke Dutch and pointed him out. We met. He is a pilot (I surmise, he simply said he 'flew' so perhaps he is a flight attendant) and was on his way with his family to go and live in Guam for a year. He had a wife from the Azores (although she had lived in Florida since she was eight; she looked like she ought to belong to the Fresno lodge) and children the age of ours. The children had connected and had spent the better part of the day with each other. R pointed out to the children that they were genetically close; perhaps that was the reason why they got along. May be the fact that they could actually talk to each other had something to do with it as well.
It is interesting though, that when I walk down the street, or stand in the metro, I spot foreigners among the sea of Japanese. It is an entirely subconscious process, but one that I cannot surpress; there's another white guy. Not that I go over and strike up a conversation, but it is oddly reassuring. I wonder whether this is universal among minorities.
12:55:21 PM 
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