This unique collision of worlds made me happy!
This underlining of observations made me sad: perhaps children are less affected by their surrounding culture. At some point, Japanese (and American) people decide that emoting is a bad thing.
Today, Seiya was visibly upset. He didn’t want to do anything in class - even if it was learning the lyrics to one of Eminem’s songs (he loves hip-hop, writes big “I [heart] HIP HOP” graffiti all over his work, draws DJ turntables, too). He just sat, defeated at his desk for the entire 50 minutes. Everything was impossible according to him. Not till after the class did my partner teacher tell me that he failed his 2nd-tier shipman’s communication exam (a national exam, like a certifictation). He’s in the fishing course and pretty much needs this to get a job on a boat. Others in the class passed, and some even took the 1st-tier test.
Why is it the kids that communicate? What happens to us later on?