Jidoukan's Latest and Greatest

Last Friday marked the completion of Markus' "Usagi Kurasu" (Rabbit Class) year at Jidokan. The next level classes, which is "Kuma Kurasu" (Bear Class), resumes on April 11.

The characters in the backdrop read "Omedetou", which means "Congratulations".

Wakagi Jidoukan held a year-end event celebration during the last class prior to spring break. Markus received his certificate of completion and souvenir badge.

Markus' Usagi Kurasu wore Anpanman hats (as shown) for their portion of the presentation. Anpanman is a popular cartoon character in Japan, idoled by many young toddlers.


Overall, Jidoukan has been a wonderful learning experience for both Markus and I. It gives us the opportunity to interact with many other neighboring Japanese families who have become good friends. It amazes me how much of the Japanese language and culture Markus has attained through his interactions with others.

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This is one of the favourite activities the children (and moms) love to play. I call it the "newspaper mess game". Sensei (teacher), gives all the children pieces of newspaper to rip up into tiny pieces, after which we pile it up into a big heap and then throw the paper into the air like confetti. The kids love to jump into the huge piles and burrow their way around. It's loads of energetic fun! Than of course all the children help clean up all the pieces of newspaper into the bags. We usually find bits of pieces of newspaper tucked in our clothes and hair when we get home.

Here, Chihiro and Kotaro enjoying every minute of the game

"Yay, I'm on vacation!"