My personal plan to make my children really happy when they grow up (Part 1)

Happy New Year everyone, this is Kaburaki, the president of GLI.

 

The year 2020 is dawning.

The Hakone Ekiden athletes are now running past right in front of us.

 

The sight of them frantically running forward is truly inspiring. Even if you are not a parent, you cannot watch it without tears.

 

It's amazing how hard people work.

 

Well, we are looking forward to the Tokyo Olympics this year! However,What on earth will society be like after the Olympics are over?"Many experts speculate that this is the case.

 

Will it get better? Or will it get worse? Of course, we are concerned about the economy of the

 

However, I can tell you this much,AI and robots are increasingly operating in society on a full scale, and Japanese companies are actively hiring foreign workers, etc,You are certain to enter a society you have never experienced beforeI think it is.

 

That's why, as a parentWhat kind of education should we give our children?"I think you are really struggling with the following about

 

I understand that troubling feeling very well, having children myself.

 

Therefore, for such parents, I would like to talk about better education for the coming age in three episodes, based on the wisdom I have accumulated through thinking, exploring, and acting.

 

This is Kaburaki's personal idea, and he is not saying that if you do this, you will be happy, so please put it into practice.

 

How about using this as a springboard to discuss the future of your children as a couple?

 

GLI will continue to strive to create a genuine education and environment for children this year.

 

We hope to help nurture the children who will carry the future.

 

Episode 1:As a child - in the company of many people.

My family is the 8th generation, as far as I know, from my brother and me. My family's Buddhist altar has ancestral tablets from the 1500s.

 

Kaburagi's arrow backs are the backstops of yabusame (horseback archery) in the Kamakura period (1185-1333), so it is assumed that they raised horses for yabusame and made bows and arrows for ceremonies, etc. As far as I know, this is a large farmhouse and they used to raise horse race horses and so on.

 

After the winter vegetable shipments are finished at the end of the year, the Kaburaki family prepares for the winter retreat.

 

The amount of rice cakes pounded and New Year's Eve soba noodles (made by kneading, stretching, and pounding from flour) was beyond imagination. The amount of rice cakes and buckwheat noodles made for the New Year's Eve celebration was more than I could imagine.

 

After the New Year's preparations are over, we can relax and take it easy.

 

At that time, stores were not open at all during the year-end and New Year's holidays, so it was customary for all relatives to spend time together slowly, eating food prepared at home. (Probably many families were like that.)

 

My father had 10 brothers and sisters, so their families would come together (although not all the families would come at once).

 

The house was large enough to accommodate a gathering, and there were six 8-mat rooms, so six families could simply stay there.

 

The dining room and kitchen were, to my surprise, 20 tatami mats with a sunken hearth.

 

There was a kiln and a sunken hearth, and people would gather around the fire to enjoy a happy meal. They roasted rice cakes and fish over that fire and ate them.

 

It may sound grand to hear that the house has a 20-mat hearth, but it is really an old Akagi style house like in a period drama, and I remember that it was very cold in winter because drafts came in here and there.

 

There was a goemon bath in one corner of the earthen kitchen.

 

The fire lit in the hearth was used as a seed fire in the bath, but if the wood on the side to which it was attached was damp, it would not ignite easily, and the smoke would fill the house, causing a great deal of trouble.

 

The property was 300 tsubo (about 1,860 square meters) with a warehouse, a cattle barn, a barn, a barracks for sericulture, a well, and a cemetery in the field behind the house that could be seen from the house toilet.

 

Anyway, the many buildings on the grounds were all playgrounds, and there was no shortage of hide-and-seek and tag games.

 

I know you have only seen this scenery on TV, but this is the reality of my life as a child.

 

My favorite thing to do is to have my cousins come over.

 

I used to wait for the winter holidays, helping out at home or making kites by myself (we had a bamboo thicket in the neighborhood), hoping that they would all come soon.

 

When cousins arrive and more neighborhood friends gather, the dozen or so begin to play chambara and battle.

 

After a certain amount of time, someone and someone else will start fighting, or someone will start crying if they don't like something. But none of the parents intervene.

 

The world belonged to the children. Of course, if you did something too bad, an adult would come out and slap you.

 

The thing was settled in one shot. At that time, they didn't gently persuade me, "What's wrong, ~-chan?" I was not gently persuaded by him, "What's wrong with you?

 

Even if they made me cry or slapped me, I still wanted to play with my relatives and neighborhood friends, so it was more of a loss to be foolish. So everyone recovered quickly.

 

The next thing I knew, I was back in the chambering, yay, yay.

 

New Year's gift? You might think that having a lot of relatives would bring you a lot of New Year's money, but unfortunately, back then we had 500-yen bills, so we didn't collect as much as today's children do.

 

Still, a toy store in town was having its first sale on the 2nd and was offering a fukubiki with a great lineup of items for first prize, so I grabbed a 1,000-yen bill and stood in a long line.

 

But all that came out were things that were worth the price. But it really was a dream.

 

After the New Year, everyone went back to their respective homes. I really still remember that time, and I watched the cars leaving forever and ever.

 

Nevertheless, many people gathered around the hearth.

 

Not only family members, but also neighbors, people from sports teams, children's associations, and school teachers when they came to visit us at home, we used to talk over the hearth for some reason. For some reason, people are more comfortable talking around a fire.

(*Community composition in the past and now)

 

In the past, I was influenced by many people in this way, and I came to adulthood with many places of belonging.

 

I can still see the faces of many of them. I don't remember being taught anything (like a lesson), but I can certainly say that their involvement has made me the person I am today.

 

Then you can't live a proper life. This is the year-end and New Year's holidays that make us think of such things.

 

Continue to No.2

 

GLI Representative Kaburaki

 

PS]
Programs we would like you to know about in conjunction with
NHK Special | 10 Years After: A turning point for the future
https://www6.nhk.or.jp/special/sp/detail/index.html?aid=20200101