By Marc Carroll (Gifu-ken, 2001-03)

Think globally, act locally. Perhaps this may be a slogan for environmental movements, but it’s also certainly relevant to what we can do in our everyday lives.

In this same spirit, Noriko Hino, founder and Executive Director of NY de Volunteer, is hosting yet another impressive program called Explore Japanese Culture! An After School Program. New York City’s premier Japanese community service organization started this educational initiative in 2007 in partnership with the Parks and Recreation Department’s After School Program, and it will sweep through four NYC boroughs through the spring. Its goal is to cultivate a sense of “global citizenship” in students, some as young as six, and to encourage exploration beyond their immediate neighborhoods. This may seem like a lofty goal, but the program accomplishes it by introducing Japanese cultural arts such as kendo, calligraphy, origami, and tea ceremony.

At the end of the eight-week Brooklyn session, Noriko invited me along with Adren Hart (Nagano-ken, 1998-2000), another fellow JET alum, to meet and speak with the students in the program they were running at St. John’s Recreation Center in Brooklyn. Adren and I were more than happy to volunteer, since, like most of the students, we are Caribbean and African-American. Noriko had many Japanese volunteers in attendance as well but recognized the real advantage of students seeing someone like themselves who has benefited from experiences abroad.

When we arrived at the center in late November, something familiar was in the air. The session began with Noriko approaching the front of the room and dropping the signal. What happened next broke space and time, and there I was warped back into the shogakkou classrooms of inaka Gifu-ken. The appointed class kaicho commands, “Kiritsu! Rei!” To my amazement, all of the students stood, then bowed in unison. Impressive. Next was a very enthusiastic call and response introduction between the students and the 15 or so Japanese volunteers. At the same time it was somewhat of a sad occasion since this was the last week that students and volunteers would meet. Relationships were forged over these short few weeks, yet the kids were anticipating another week that would not happen.

We wasted no time and dove right into the current session’s activity, a massive origami project led by an expert origami artist. The students were given step-by-step instructions to create their own origami. Lastly, they wrote their names on their creations, but in yet another twist, most were impressively able to write their names in katakana…from memory! The final step was to combine each origami into what looked like soccer ball-sized object out of Katamari Damacy.

Next, Adren and I were to speak and it was clear that we could ride the wave of student excitement. Funny, when planning we first thought, “YATTA! Finally, a captive audience who will sincerely listen to our stories as cultural ambassadors in Japan!!” That shortly then became, “Eh…er..but chotto matte. So we’re explaining GLOBAL citizenship? We’re going to stand in front of almost 40 hyper six-to-ten year olds and in 20 minutes orate on this broad topic with little direction. How are we supposed to…” Oh yeah. We’re JET alums, we’ve done this a thousand times before, and it was time to dust off the ol’ ALT noodle for a little improv.

To whet their appetites, we started with stories of exotic cuisine, biking in the rain and the requisite cultural misunderstandings that we all have had. To maintain momentum and attention, we jumped into a short, simple exercise. Keeping in mind that we had to make this personal, we wanted to illustrate just how small our world is. So, we had them all take off their right shoes and hold them above their heads; just long enough for some quizzical looks and correct ripeness of foot-funk in the air. We told everyone to look at the labels inside the shoes and tell in what countries they were manufactured. A sea of hands flew up and answers were Spain, Bulgaria, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Not one was made in the USA. “Back on with your shoes; our noses have suffered long enough,” I exclaimed.

To continue the exercise, Adren and I tasked them with searching for other items in their own homes and finding out where they were made. We explained that their shoes, like many other things, might have once been a product of the USA. But now, everything from our food, to our toys, to our ideas comes from many places. Similarly, we also exchange our food, toys and ideas with other countries. The world is shrinking and it is important to understand and cooperate with people different than themselves.

The questions and answers that followed demonstrated that we really captured their interest, and they were very curious about our time abroad. Ironically, these were much like the questions we were asked during our time in Japan. Where did we sleep? What did we eat? The most insightful came from one of the youngest, “Did you miss home?”

Noriko’s goal for the program was not specifically to promote Japan, but to address an increasingly pertinent need to bridge both cultural and social gaps. As former JETs, even if we’re not sharing our experiences in Japan, we still have much to offer hungry young minds. Get involved in your community in some way. If you are interested in NYdV, it is hosting three more eight-week sessions in Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx.

For more information on the program, check out the New York de Volunteer site at http://www.nydevolunteer.org/activities/afterschool/index_e.html.