Today I went with my friends Satoyo and Yuko to visit a preschool here in Osaka. Yuko works there as a preschool teacher a couple mornings a week. She’s an incredible woman – I’ve met very few women who are as motivated, ambitious and hard-working as her.

Yuko is single, and owns and runs a restaurant with her two best friends. They also run a recruiting company. Yuko can be found either at the restaurant or at the office at almost any hour of the day or night. She works soooo hard! And when she’s not at either of her two own businesses, I guess she’s working at the preschool! She says she likes the change of pace, the mental break from all her other duties adn responsibilities, and says it keeps her fit.

Here are Satoyo and Yuko – we took a bus from the train station, and for a short while we were the only people in the bus.

Yuko invited us to join her for a morning because Satoyo is interested in getting out of her long-time job with Japan Railways and doing something more creative and rewarding.  Here Yuko is organizing a team game in the gym.

Many moons ago, I too worked a few mornings a week in a preschool like this. We did recreational activities and crafts, and I also found it to be a delightful, rewarding experience.

It was very clear to Satoyo and me that Yuko-san was well-loved by the kids. She’s got so much energy, she’s very funny, and is a great match for these little ones.

Before snacks and meals, the kids line up at these outdoor sinks to wash up.

Lunch time! Check out the colour-coded kids. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed that genders would be separated so distinctly by colour. Now… the shirts they are wearing are supplied by the school (also colour-coded for gender of course), but look at their lunches! All of this comes from their home. The girls have pink lunch boxes, napkins, cups, utensils, and bags – not red, not yellow, not green, only pink. And blue for the boys. It’s incredible! And not just one of the kids, but all of them! And if that doesn’t separate them enough, look how the boys sit on one side of the table, girls on the other. I was amazed and very very intrigued.

But there is more wonder to behold. Their lunches! They looked like tiny wax models from a catalogue of children’s toys. Each lunch was so intricate, so carefully prepared by their mothers each morning. These kids don’t have nannies at home – their moms prepare lunches like this every morning. Look at this girl’s lunch on the left: tiny rice balls – one with a decorative sea-weed wrap, one rolled in sesame seeds – a spoonful of spagetti with a meatball, a cherry, a few slices of apple.  It’s too adorable, I can’t take it.

Check out the placemat, the utensils, the containers. And look how they hold the chopsticks. See the red and white chopstick container?  Oh  man, I DIE!

I never would have imagined that even a morning at a preschool would offer such a window into the culture.

Japan is overflowing with treasures and surprises, that’s for sure!

[This was originally written September 13, 2001]