Teacher Article - Tokyo 2020 Volunteers

Volunteer, Masako Koga

Assistant to ES and MS Principals

Masako Koga, assistant to the elementary and middle school principals, volunteered at Yoyogi Gymnasium for both the Olympic (handball) and Paralympic Games (wheelchair rugby and badminton). She says there is nothing to compare with watching the games up close and being able to share the exhilaration of athletes when they win their medals. After the awards ceremony, the athletes would come out to the gymnasium and take photos, letting Mako and other volunteers take photos with them and touch and hold the medals.

Volunteer, Yasunori Haruyama

ES Japanese

Elementary school Japanese teacher Yasunori Haruyama volunteered for the men’s and women’s basketball competitions at the Saitama Super Arena as a member of the competition management team. Preparation beforehand included workshops on the history and meaning of the Olympics, fittings for his uniform, and online meetings about team members’ responsibilities. He regards as highlights of this special experience getting to know volunteers from all over Japan, catching a behind-the-scenes view of the athletes as they arrived at the stadium and prepared for their events, and hearing excited shouts from the changing room after a win. A particularly moving moment was standing on the podium during a rehearsal of the medal ceremony to listen to the national anthem. Another occurred after the men’s final, when the winning American team players returned to their locker room and said “Thank you” in Japanese to the volunteers.

In appreciation for his work, Haruyama-sensei received a copper pin-badge (as a volunteer for three days), a silver pin-badge (as a volunteer for five days), a gold pin-badge (as a volunteer for seven days), and a Tokyo Olympics special edition wristwatch (as a volunteer for ten days) from the Tokyo Olympics Committee.

東京オリンピック2020での ボランティア体験について

松村 麻里

司書教諭

私が東京オリンピックのボランティアに応募した のは2018年のことで、その後、新型コロナウ ィルスの世界的拡大を受けてオリンピック／パ ラリンピックが延期になり、直前まで本当にオ リンピックは開催されるのか？と不安になることも多々あり ました。

2021年5月、ようやくボランティアのユニフォームが支給さ れることになり、六本木の今は使われていないホテルの旧館に 向かいました。まずボランティア活動中肌身離さず持つことに なるIDカードを支給され、次々に部屋を回りながら自分のサ イズに合ったシャツ、パンツ、ジャケット、シューズ、バッ グ、帽子、マスク等を受け取りました。”TOKYO2020”とい うロゴの付いた大きな袋がユニフォーム一式でいっぱいにな り、ようやく本当にオリンピックが始まるんだ！という実感 が湧いてきました。

私の担当は晴海に作られた選手村で、端から端まで歩くと15 分近くかかる広大な敷地にいくつもの居住棟が並んでいまし た。ボランティア初日には、まだ数カ国の選手団スタッフが入 村しているだけでしたが、居住棟のバルコニーには各国の国旗 が張られていて、これからどんどん国旗の種類が増えていくの を想像するとワクワクした気持ちになりました。

私の担当国はバルカン半島にあるアルバニア共和国で、選手、 コーチ、スタッフ総勢で20人ほどの小さな選手団でした。主 な仕事は、選手団団長（Chef de Mission)の通訳兼ナビゲー ションで、彼のお供で空港、埼玉スーパーアリーナ（バスケッ ト）、オリンピックスタジアム（陸上競技）などの競技会場に 行くこともできました。選手団団長は日本社会に強い関心があ り、移動の車の中でいろんなことを質問されました。女性に とって日本は働きやすい国なのか？アルバニアも日本も鎖国 を経験した国として、どんな共通点があるのか、そしてどう やってここまでの経済発展を遂げたのか？日本がこんなに安 全で「おもてなし」の心が行き渡っているのはなぜか？など など。私の知識と経験でわかる範囲の返答はしましたが、異 文化コミュニケーションには語学力だけではなく、自分の国 の社会、政治、文化への理解を深めることもとても重要だと 改めて感じました。

アルバニア選手団との一番の思い出は射撃選手の荷物トラブル で、来日時の飛行機に積み込まれておらず一日遅れで荷物だけ が成田空港に到着することになりました。普通なら空港担当者 が選手村に転送してくれるところですが、荷物の中身が「銃火 器」ということで、どうしても本人が空港に行って係員や警察 立ち合いのもと中身の確認と書類の提出をしなければなりませ んでした。しかも、その日は開会式当日で、彼女が開会式に着 るスーツも荷物の中でした。飛行機の到着予定は 17:20 他の 選手やスタッフは18:00には選手村を出発し、開会式スタート は20:00、アルバニアの入場行進は11番目… まさにMission Impossibleのように思えましたが、車両担当ボランティア、 エアライン職員、空港職員等、様々な関係者の連携プレー で、厳重な交通規制もかいくぐり、なんとか彼女は開会式の 入場行進に間に合いました！

今回、選手村ボランティアという形でオリンピックに参加し て初めて理解できたことが数多くありました。世界最大のス ポーツイベントの開催は、外から見ただけでは想像もできな いくらい多種多様な分野の方たちが何年もの歳月をかけてい ろんな準備を積み重ねてようやく実現できること（We are creative, We take ownership)、現場のスタッフは、開催期 間中に起こる様々な問題に臨機応変に対応し、アスリートた ちに持てる力を最大限に発揮してもらう環境を整え るために毎日試行錯誤しながら懸命に働いているこ と(We act ethically, We pursue challenges）、 そしてそこに集うアスリートたちはこれまでの努力 の成果を世界中の人たちに観てもらう機会が持てた ことに感謝し、そこでの出会いや経験を心から楽し んでいること（We make connections)。 西町の日常生活でも、オリンピックの現場でも、人 と人が理解しあって共に活動するために大切なこと は同じなのだと実感しました。 Mari Matsumura English Version

Student Articles

In the second week of October, the entire middle school had an opportunity to leave campus for a variety of off-site learning experiences. We hope you enjoy reading these student submitted articles, in their own words.

Grade 6 Trip to Showa Kinen Koen

The trip to Showa Kinen Koen was very fun. We went biking, boating, to a bouncing dome, and climbed on big nets. The bouncing dome was a huge structure with hills that you can bounce on. It was an incredible experience. I enjoyed biking, because we got to travel fast around the park. The nets were strange, but fun to play tag on. Boating was an adventure. We were in pairs sailing around. We started to try to bump into the other boats. We even got stuck in a wall of high grass. Overall, it was very enjoyable and at the end we got ice cream and cold drinks.

-Timmy M

We went to Showa Kinen Koen and went paddling, bouncing on the marshmallow-white trampoline hills, and biking through the ichou trees. While paddling, we (I) had a feeling of freshness and freedom, while having fun racing with the kōi and the ducks. Next, we went to bounce on the “bouncing dome,” a marshmallow-like trampoline hill. We played tag, and it was the best. Even one of our chaperones joined in. After we ate lunch, we started cycling. One of our chaperones helped the people who were not the best at cycling. Although we got lost finding the way back, it was the funniest day I can ever remember.

-Erica S

About a month ago we went on a field trip to Showa Kinen Koen. The whole sixth grade fit in one bus, and we had three groups of fifteen. Each group rotated with biking, swan boats, and a big trampoline. Right after we got to the park, we had a snack near the entrance. It was very, very hot even though it was the middle of October. My group first went biking around the park. It was peaceful, and it was nice to feel the breeze. Then we went on the swan boats and, lastly, the marshmallow-like trampolines. Overall, it was one of my favorite school field trips so far.

-Alisha H

I loved this field trip because all of the sixth grade was outside in nature and doing outside things like boating, biking, and even walking. I loved the boating because we could see ducks, and I love water. I loved biking because we did it as a group, and we got lost at one point, but, honestly, it was kind of fun because we discussed our situation with each other and actually tried getting back instead of goofing around. Overall, this field trip was very fun and exciting.

-Luna W

I made many new memories on the field trip, funny ones and happy ones, but a memory I would want to focus on was how we acted ethically, which is one of the NLEs. Almost everyone in

our group tried not to jump on the trampoline when a toddler came by, and some of us even tried to find his mom. I have another good memory from when all of us said thank you to the staff when they helped us paddle the paddle boat to the right place. I would want to keep doing this for all of the field trips in the future, so that we can make more and more great memories.

-Sara I

Grade 7 Trip to Mt. Takao

By Grade 7 Students

The seventh graders’ first field trip was to scenic Mount Takao, a mountain and famous tourist attraction near Tokyo. The seventh graders were assigned groups and given cameras with which to capture the natural beauty of the peaks they were on; they then teamed up to edit and finalize the photos. We saw people ascending the mountain at many different paces, similar to the way we learn at Nishimachi, where students are encouraged to learn at their own speed.

On November 5, some Nishimachi sixth and seventh graders attended the KPASS MS Drama Festival, held at the National Olympic Memorial Youth Center and hosted by the British School in Tokyo. Six other international schools from Tokyo and Yokohama also attended this event. The overall theme was collaboration, which was difficult as COVID restrictions meant we couldn’t have direct contact with students from other schools. As a result, each school worked in its own bubble.

KPASS MS Drama Festival (Grs. 6 & 7)

By Rin U. Grade 7

The title of the collaborative piece was “The Story of Jo.” We were given the topic on the spot and asked to think about Jo’s life. This included making up milestone events in his life and the family structure for this imagined character. Each school performed its self-chosen event in Jo’s life in chronological order. Ours was Jo’s moving out of his family home for the first time. During the workshop, we thought about the scenes that we were going to

include, which were limited to a total of five minutes.

Then, little by little, we started to build the ideas into a unified performance. In our first scene Jo tells his mother about moving in with his partner. The next takes place at a family picnic, where Jo tells the family his intention to move out. In the last scene other family members remember what Jo was like, following the move.

Mr. Thomas and Ms. Rutherford* directed us as we rehearsed our piece, giving us advice and comments. The advice given was very helpful and precise, and as we went through the piece, I could see that everyone’s performance skills were improving. This was a very special experience, because we were able to see how the other schools did. We were very pleased with our final performance. It was interesting to collaborate with other students from Nishimachi whom I wouldn’t normally interact with, and I would love to have an experience like this again.

*Jordan Thomas, Nishimachi performing arts teacher. Kathryn Rutherford, Nishimachi MS humanities teacher.

Grade 9 Visit to Matsukata Graves

that of Hachiko (the famous dog known for his faithfulness and loyalty to his owner), Toshimichi Okubo, and many others.

In Humanities class, we are learning that an individual’s upbringing essentially determines what they value. Visiting these graves allowed us to gain an understanding of how the Matsukata family values were passed down to Tané Matsukata and, in turn, became part of our school mission and values.

By Grade 9 Students

On October 11, grade 9 visited Aoyama Cemetery, where our founder, Tané Matsukata, and her grandfather, the fourth and sixth prime minister of Japan, Prince Masayoshi Matsukata, are buried. This experience provided an opportunity for us to learn about the traditional Japanese ways of o-haka-mairi (visiting graves), as well as to plan out a short excursion in preparation for our trip to Hiroshima/Nara/Kyoto. The o-haka-mairi experience allowed us to clean the graves of Ms. Matsukata and Prince Matsukata and arrange flowers to show our appreciation of and respect towards the Matsukata family. We used short excerpts from school history reference materials, which summarize Nishimachi’s journey to becoming the school we all love today. We then got to experience Japanese culture by enjoying a traditional o-bento lunch box and then visiting other graves in the cemetery such as

Grade 8 Trip to TreeCross Adventure

By Yui K.

On November 4, the eighth graders went on a field trip to TreeCross Adventure in Atsugi, Nanasawa. In the park, there are six obstacle courses which you do up in the treetops! Before we got to do the activities, we got training from our instructors, such as how to use our harness and how to zipline safely. At first it was scary for me to get through the obstacles, since we were up in trees that were up to 15 meters high, but after a while I started to enjoy them. My favorite part of the course was the last one, where we flew over a 30 meter deep valley on a 173 meter zipline. It was very thrilling and fun, and the view was amazing. Overall, it was a very pleasant experience, and I would definitely go again.

Yuken I.

令和3年、10月11日、僕た ち9年生は、たくさんの 偉人が眠る青山霊園に足 を運びました。青山霊園 では、第4代総理大臣であり、松方種子 先生の祖父でもある松方正義のお墓があ り、その隣には、西町インターナショナ ルスクールの創立者である松方種子先生 が眠っていらっしゃいます。まずお墓に お参りをし、お花をお供えしました。西 町のグローバルな教育に大きく影響を与 えた松方家のお墓の前では、参考資料か らいくつかの部分を抜粋して読み上げ、 改めて西町への理解を深めるとともに西 町の創立に関わった人たちに敬意を表し ました。

僕は、この経験を経て、西町という学校 に通っていることの意味を再確認できた 気がします。僕たちは、時代を変え、日 本を近代へと導き、「グローバル」な教 育の先陣を切ったといっても過言ではな い人物が作った学校に通っているので す。この思いを、あと残り数ヶ月となっ た西町での貴重な学校生活に生かしたい と強く思いました。

その後は、生徒たちが自ら興味を持つ人 物のお墓を見学しました。青山墓地に は、日本に大きな影響をもたらした偉人 たちが眠っています。僕たちのグループ は、明治維新の元勲であり、維新の三傑 の一人である大久保利通、「近代日本医 学の親」とも称され、現在コロナ収束に 向け尽力している北里病院の創立者であ る北里柴三郎、「日露戦争でのエピソー ド」で知られていて、戦争前には軍神と も呼ばれていた広瀬武夫、それから渋谷 に銅像を構える有名な忠犬ハチ公のお墓 を見学しました。各々興味を持つ人物に ついて調べ、お墓の前で短いスピーチを することにより学びを深めました。

僕にとって一番印象的だったお墓は大久 保利通でした。利通の墓は、青山霊園で も随一の大きさを誇るサイズでした。入 り口には鳥居が設けられていて、お墓の 前には利通の功績などが綴られている碑 文もありました。利通の墓には、その財 力を示すかのように亀の形をした亀趺と 呼ばれる台座が設置されており、もっと も印象に残ったのは、墓石に囲碁が置 いてあったことでした。大久保利通は、 幼い頃から囲碁に親しみ、極め、囲碁で 出世したとの逸話を残すほどの腕前でし た。そのためか、墓石が置かれている石 の上には、埃を被った囲碁の駒が置いて あり、定期的に囲碁が指されている痕跡 もありました。

この体験は、昔の人物を学ぶことはもち ろん、各々が自分との共通点に気づき （We make connections)、それに応 じて行動する（We act ethically) こと の大切さも学んだと思います。歴史的に は、今Japanese Social Studies で学習 しているような幕末に関連する人物も多 く眠っており、どれほどの影響を日本に 与えたのかを墓石の大きさなどから再確 認することができました。僕たち9年生 は、この経験を通して、改めて自分自身 の価値を見つめ直し、これからの進路選 択に勇気を持って挑んでいけるような気 持ちにさせられました。