dagashi.htmlTEXTJyWs j @lFܑ MONTHLY NEWS - January 1999: Learning to Have Fun Again

MONTHLY NEWS
January 1999

Learning to Have Fun Again

Kids living outside the city of Yamagata are attending a different kind of "school" once a month to learn traditional pastimes. On the fourth Saturday of each month, a plot in front of a candy store and an adjacent park become transformed into open-air classrooms for the dagashiya gakko, or "candy store school."

Over 30 different "classes" have been held in front of the Hajimeya candy store since April 1997. Kids have learned how to make fireworks and have been entertained by picture-card storytellers. One class was led by a Mongolian exchange student, who taught Japanese kids the kind of games Mongolians of their own age like to play.

This project is the brainchild of Michio Matsuda, a 37-year-old social studies teacher at a Yamagata University-affiliated middle school. He decided to set up the classes in front of a candy store because that is where he always used to go with his friends to play after school.

Back in the old days, these stores sold sweets that weren't expensive and were made from healthy ingredients like beans and wheat. They also sold simple toys, such as kites and tops, that kids could afford to buy with their allowances.

Children are being forced to learn so many facts at schools these days, Matsuda felt, that many of them don't have time for anything else. He started his "candy store school" because he wanted to bring the fun back to growing up. In launching the classes, he asked local college students and residents to teach the kids whatever they were good at.

On a typical Saturday afternoon, schoolchildren gather with their friends in front of Hajimeya and take whatever "class" they want. There might be a handicraft class led by students from a local art college or demonstrations in kendama, or cup and ball, by elderly residents.

Third-grader Ryosuke Arai said he looks forward to attending the classes every month. "I like it because there's always something I want to learn here," he said. "I also get to meet at lot different people like college students."

Photo: Local kids gather at "school" to listen to a traditional sotry teller. (Asahi Shogakusei Shimbun)


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