Clean sea, is that all right?

Children thinking about Okinawa May 18, 18:19

The light of the sun shining down with Sansan.

The clear blue sea.

Delicious food and sake, and the smiles of people who are cheerful.

Okinawa always fascinates us.

There is a child who said this about Okinawa.

"The sea is beautiful and there are many delicious foods. But Okinawa is not the only one for the people who live in it. I think there are many things ,

so I want to know that."

A 6th grade girl who goes to an elementary school in Tokyo.

It's about the elementary school she attends and the children who think about Okinawa.

(Social Department Reporter Kei Nishi Muta)

Continue to face Okinawa

The elementary school is located in a quiet residential area of ​​Setagaya Ward.

As soon as you enter the site, you will see this Shisa.

You can see the depth of the relationship with Okinawa.

Private, Wako Elementary School.

Since 1987, 35 years ago, I have been teaching about Okinawa.

Participants are 6th graders and spend a year learning about the history and culture of Okinawa.

In the fall, I go to Okinawa, and before graduating, I put together a notebook of the learning outcomes and convey what I learned to the fifth graders.

On May 13th, when I visited the 6th grade classroom, a class was held to learn about Okinawa's return to the mainland.

Two days later, Okinawa will be 50 years after its return.

While looking at newspaper articles and photographs at that time, the children were imagining and exchanging opinions on how they thought the Okinawans would have taken the return.

The thoughts of the teachers

At this time, there was a man watching the class at the back of the classroom.

Mr. Yasuro Fujita.

I taught at this school for 32 years until last spring, and was involved in Okinawa learning nine times as a sixth grade teacher.

When I retired, I am reviewing the materials at that time and listening to the people concerned in order to systematically reexamine the Okinawan learning that has been continued for more than 30 years.

One of them is Toshihiko Koda, a former principal.

He became a teacher at Wako Elementary School in 1983 and is one of the people who knows the "beginning" of learning Okinawa.

This elementary school emphasizes "comprehensive learning" by learning based on actual experience, such as raising silk moths in the 3rd grade and touching the creatures of the Tama River in the 4th grade.

Until then, the theme of the 6th grade comprehensive study was Hiroshima, the bombed area, but Gyoda and his teachers at the time proposed to change to Okinawa.

Why did you choose Okinawa?

Mr. Gyoda told Mr. Fujita that the teachers at that time had a belief.

The belief that "looking at Okinawa leads to thinking about the present of Japan."

Former Principal Toshihiko Koda

"Okinawa always expresses today's problems for Japan." When you look at Okinawa, you can see Japan today. "I'm learning Okinawa, but that's it. At the same time, we have created such learning that elementary school students are aware of the problems of the society of Japan, where they live. "

Meaning of learning "now" in Okinawa

Looking at Okinawa means looking at Japan.

If you look at the history of learning Okinawa, which Mr. Fujita reexamined, you can understand the meaning of the word.

The situation in which Okinawa was placed at that time has been strongly reflected.

It's been eight years since I started studying Okinawa in 1995.

A girl assault by an American soldier occurred in Okinawa.

It is said that more than 80,000 people gathered at the prefectural convention to protest the case.

A very painful incident that happened because of the base.

The burden on Okinawa's bases has become a social concern again.

Until then, learning about Okinawa, which had a strong aspect of learning about history and peace, centered on the Battle of Okinawa, began to focus on the postwar history of Okinawa, especially the issues surrounding the US military base. ..

It was a turning point where children's learning was centered on thinking about Okinawa today.

And in 2001.

Following the terrorist attacks in the United States, many schools canceled their school trips because Okinawa, where US military bases are gathered, could be the target of terrorism.

At Wako Elementary School, it was debated whether to carry out the study trip to Okinawa scheduled for the month following the terrorism as scheduled.

Thorough discussions were held in each class, at staff meetings, and with parents.

And the conclusion I made was "I will go to Okinawa as usual".

Parents also supported the school's decision that "now is the time to learn about the dangers of the base and the reality of Okinawa next door."

In the notebook of the sixth grader at that time, looking back on the discussion at that time, it is written as follows.

"I think there is something I can learn now."

"If I learn Okinawa, I think I can see Japan today."

The thoughts that Gyoda and his colleagues put into learning Okinawa were firmly conveyed to both children and parents.

Thoughts to be inherited

I also met a person who said that learning about Okinawa was the foundation for himself.

Keita Maeda.

He is a sixth grader 31 years ago.

I still kept a notebook that summarizes what I learned for a year.

The surprising darkness that the residents felt when they visited the evacuated "Gama" during the Battle of Okinawa.

When I turned off the lights for "only one minute", there was a girl child who started crying because she was scared.

Seen from the hills of Kakazu, there are too many military aircraft taking off from Futenma base.

The sound was so noisy that I couldn't even hear my friend's voice.

Looking at the notebook, it is said that the memories of those days are revived vividly.

"Okinawa of your own" that you felt with your five senses.

Mr. Maeda feels that it is because of that that he has become able to have his own thoughts on various issues surrounding Okinawa.

Keita Maeda

"If I hadn't learned this kind of thing, I think that human beings were thinking about the base problem in Okinawa with the feeling that" Why is Atsugi good, but I'm making noise in Okinawa? " I think that if you don't do it yourself, you'll lose interest in it, but I've come to feel that everything isn't something else. increase"

Feeling the importance of "learning based on actual experience," Maeda recommended that his eldest son, Sota, also attend Wako Elementary School.

Sota is a sixth grader.

He participates in Okinawa learning in the 50th anniversary of his return to the mainland and the milestone year.

Mr. Maeda hopes that this year's learning will be an irreplaceable experience for Mr. Sota.

What children think about Okinawa, which is 50 years after their return

A special class held on May 13th for the 50th anniversary of the return.

Returning to the mainland means that the postwar American rule will end and Okinawa will return to Japan.

The currency changed from dollars to yen, and cars changed from right-hand traffic to left-hand traffic.

After being taught the basics, the children were asked what kind of event they thought the return to the mainland was for the people of Okinawa, and gave the following opinion.

"I don't want to continue to be ruled by the United States because many people were killed in the war. I'm happy to be back in Japan."

"For those born and raised under American rule ."

It was a normal life, and even if I was told that I would return suddenly, I think it didn't come to my mind. "

After this, the teacher in charge introduced the children how the local newspaper reported their return.

An article with a big headline

, "Okinawa returns to Japan" and

"Curtain to US rule" .

The article said at a ceremony to commemorate the return, Governor Chobyo Yara said, "It is also true that our earnest desires have not always been put in."

Returning to the mainland without the full return of the US military base.

The children were reminded of the people of Okinawa at the time, who couldn't really rejoice, and the ongoing base problems.

What came out after this was the words of girls and children introduced at the beginning.

"The sea is beautiful and there are many delicious foods. But for the people who live in Okinawa, that's not the only thing. I think there are many things, so I want to know that."

Even now, 70% of the facilities dedicated to the US military in Japan are concentrated in Okinawa.

Are we living on the mainland really good just to see the beautiful sea of ​​Okinawa and eat delicious food?

It seemed that such thoughts had sprung up in the children.

What do they see and think in Okinawa learning in the 50th year of their return?

I would like to continue to see it in the future.

Finally, I asked Mr. Fujita, who watched over the class.

Mr. Yasuro Fujita, a former teacher at Wako Elementary School

"What I have been accumulating for 35 years is learning to reconsider the footsteps of the society in which we live. Okinawa and Tokyo are far apart and historically different. There may be, but it has a very big meaning. I hope the teachers will continue to fight with their children. "

After a graduate

In 2001, a study trip to Okinawa was carried out one month after the terrorist attacks.

The notes in the text are actually from my colleague, Fumio Ando.

To conclude this article, I would like to give her brushstrokes to her graduate.

The actual situation of the fierce nursing that I heard in the pitch-black cattail.

A photo of the girls of the Himeyuri students at the museum.

Even now, 20 years later, I still have a memory that never leaves my mind.

The most memorable event was the exchange meeting with local high school students.

Finally, I had the opportunity to ask a question, "How do you think you can eliminate the base from Okinawa?"

Okinawans living side by side with the dangers of the base.

I'm sure it was annoying.

But the high school student's answer was different from my imagination.

"Maybe it's better not to have a base. But my dad and mom are doing base-related work, and that's what makes my life. So I don't want to lose it right now. Some Okinawans like that. I want you to know that I am. ”

It was a very valuable experience for me to know the complexity of the base problem.

I'm currently working as a reporter.

What supports me is the desire to think with many people about problems that differ in opinion depending on their position.

At the origin, I feel that I have experience in Okinawa.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we discussed in class whether we should go to Okinawa.

We don't have the option of not actually visiting, just saying "Isn't it dangerous?" From a distance.

Yes, I remember everyone agreeing.

"I think there is something I can learn now."

At that time, the words I wrote in my notebook were the thoughts of everyone in the 6th grade and 2nd class.

2001 Wako Elementary School graduate

NHK Social Affairs Department reporter Fumio Ando

Kei Nishi Muta , a

reporter from the Social Affairs Department

, joined the station in 2011, and is from Chiba prefecture, where Okinawa is his first place.

Her origin as a reporter is in Okinawa.

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