Iwate Swan 15: Agricultural School Festival

It is high school festival season here in Japan, but it is also coming at the same time as many students and teachers are becoming sick with influenza and the flu. One of my schools had to cancel their school festival altogether, but the agricultural school decided to forge on amongst all the sick vibes sweeping the countryside and I was happy to see them pull through.

The school is known for Miyazawa Kenji (宮沢 賢治), Iwate born author who actually taught at this very agricultural high school. He is most well known for his famous stories for children, and there are little monuments dedicated to him all over the city. As a fan of Japanese literature, it was certainly very rewarding to know I was also teaching where such a respected and well known author had once taught many years ago.

The festival was fun and featuring dancing, food, and booths for the students to show off their creativity and talents. I was glad to have gone and enjoyed the event!

Music in this episode:
Iwate Swan Theme: Keterol

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• iwate
• swan
• agricultural
• high
• school
• festival
• miyaza
• kenji
• author
• children
• stories
• poems
• writer
• gaijin
• boys
• girls
• future
• dancing
• swine
• flu
• influenza
• teacher
• fall
• winter
• famous

[ignoranx]

looks like you are popular with students of the time-honored agri school.good job. did you ever read "the restaurant of many orders"?

[rodgerswan]

i have not read that one, but i was told the story by a japanese friend back home.

[maxzor1]

record yourself giving a class swan :D

[rodgerswan]

recording students in the classroom is a bit of a grey area and there have been cases on youtube when teachers have got in some trouble for doing so here. I think videos like this are the extent that my students will be seen to avoid any undeseriable situations. I would love to, but it brings a lot of problems that I would rather not deal with.

[boodleboy]

Nice - "Behind The Wheel". Depeche Mode is the best.

[rodgerswan]

yeah! glad somebody could identify the song at the start of the video :)

[Kawp123]

He put a note in a jar for his future has the family retrieved it?

[operationDESQUISHIFY]

OMG the song the band was playing was Cruel Angel's Thesis, the Opening theme to Neon Genesis Evangelion, THAT'S SO AMAZING

[ReaperZA]

Wow, did Swan's parents find this can? Maybe it had something meaningful from the Swan man...

[31airajill]

wow..



[GrubbyTubby]

ahah, my hometown is morioka! :D

[Draidic]

lol the band is playing Neon genesis evangelion opening music. yeah i know nerd, but still nice. RIP Rodger

[TheRedDash]

depeche mode behind the wheel awesome

[TiramisuHappy]

Before you claim to know something, you should always do your research first.

Miyazawa Kenji is/was NOT the founder of Keio University. It was a renowned samurai named 福澤 諭吉 (Fukuzawa Yukichi) who founded the school. And that's him on the 10,000 yen bill.

You needed to be corrected.

[TimJMorrison]

That's so strange, he made a can for his future and now he won't have one.

I don't know how I feel about that.

[Summusicfreak41]

Ok now I want a candy apple..thanks