Monday, March 17th, 2025
The Japanese educational system is quite different than the Canadian system in which I’ve spent over forty years as a teacher, a union leader, and currently as a trustee. It is so fascinating to be welcomed into so many schools within Shikaoi’s jurisdiction and to have the opportunity to observe and ask questions. I have learned so much because of the open dialogue the Town of Stony Plain and Shikaoi have nurtured over the past forty years.
Today, Glen Shimbo kindly escorted us on a four-school tour.
• Shikaoi Elementary English Class (Glen & Josh – grade 4)
• Kamihoronai Elementary School Tour (Glen)
• Sasagawa Elementary School Tour (Glen)
• Shikaoi High School Canada Studies Classes [2] (Glen & Mel – first year students)
As retired teachers and lifelong learners, it is such a delight to get to be invited on a tour of a school or to have the privilege of observing the craft of another teacher as they interact with their students. Getting to directly participate in a class lesson is still a thrill. Dodi and I are so thankful to continue to have these opportunities.
Unlike the junior high and senior high schools, the elementary students are not required to wear school uniforms. The significant importance of public education is certainly evident here by the small class sizes and increased number of teachers and support staff in each school.
It is a bit surreal to sit up at the back row in a lecture-style classroom (a tiered student seating area) in Japan and listen to groups of students deliver presentations about Parkland School Division schools and the education system in Canada in two languages. This first year group of students (grade ten) are the young men and women who will be travelling to Stony Plain in the fall of 2025. It is anticipated that there will be at least 70 students making the trip. For those of you reading this blog, I hope you will consider hosting these kids or at least spreading the word to your family and friends that their support would be appreciated.
Today was another good day.
Tuesday, March 18th, 2025
Dodi and I were on our own today. we took a walk about the town after lunch and explored, including visiting some local merchants. We bought pastries at the Main Street Shofuku confectionery shop. Then we purchased groceries at both the Co-op and Fukuhara grocery stores. Later in the day, I returned to Main Street and got a haircut at one of the many barbershops in Shikaoi. It is a bit nostalgic seeing the barber’s pole spinning outside each shop, which is the indicator that they are open for business. Without any basic Japanese phrases on my end to lean on and without any knowledge of English from the barber, we were able to convey each other’s intentions. I got the haircut I was looking for and was happy to be able to support another local business.
I was on call for making dinner, tonight. In keeping with our current reality. I made a vegetable stir fry and sushi (scallop, two types of tuna, salmon), and cucumbers with a nori wrap and black sesame seeds. We also enjoyed some sashimi. The wasabi seemed to be more potent than at home and I experienced a couple of moments when my sinuses felt like they were on fire.
A basic and common question that Japanese can ask in English is, “What is your favourite Japanese food?” My answer to this question is ‘sashimi’, to which they are usually very surprised to hear that some Canadians actually like raw fish.
Wednesday, March 19th, 2025
In the morning, we made a quick visit to the bakery before joining Tomoko for a grade eleven foods class at Shikaoi High School. We made pizza. The class was a lot of fun and the pizza was tasty. I teamed up with a pair of students for the lesson. Kernels of sweet corn, boiled potato chunks, and mayonnaise were part of the selection of toppings. A tomato-based sauce (the sauce comes in a very small plastic squeeze bottle), two types of sausage meat (pork and prosciutto), yellow onion, and green peppers (they are the same green peppers we have at home, but about one quarter the size) were also used. There were six groups of students and each demonstrated their creativity in the pizza-making process. One group made a couple of very large pizzas, another chose to go with thick crusts. The pizza dough shapes varied with each group and included one shaped into a heart. There was a group that included cookie-sized pizzas with their toppings arranged to make happy faces. My group went with making four personal-sized pizzas, but we shared with each other. Three were round, one was rectangular, and two of them were made with thin crusts. The potato topping was a new experience and I enjoyed the corn topping and the drizzle of mayonnaise added before baking the pizza.
Back to our bakery visits. We are learning by trial and error what days and times the bakeries are open. We’ve also discovered that certain items are only made on certain days. A loaf of whole wheat or multigrain is rare. We have been frequenting the Hananeko Bakery. It is the one closest to the SS House and the product has been delicious.
Thursday, March 20th, 2025
Happy Spring Vernal Equinox Day!
“Vernal Equinox Day is a public holiday in Japan that occurs on the date of the Northward equinox in Japan Standard Time, usually March 20 or 21. The date of the holiday is not officially declared until February of the previous year, due to the need for recent astronomical measurements. The autumnal equinox is also a holiday.” – Wikipedia
Taeko and Takanori invited us for a pizza lunch at the Roadhouse Nest restaurant. We met up in the parking lot with three ladies familiar to us, our lunch dates, Elizabeth, Kayoko and Masame. This venue was about 10 to 15 minutes northwest of town, towards Lake Shikaribetsu. There was a perfect view of the northern mountain range from the restaurant. They were covered with fresh snow, today.
We were treated to Japanese style pizza which consisted of a very thin crust and a unique combination of toppings. My absolute favourite was the blue cheese and walnuts pizza, served with a garlic oil to drizzle over the top. Another favourite consisted of a baked tomato sauce base and cheese which was then topped with fresh lettuce and prosciutto after it came out of the oven. Our group’s first two pizzas included one in which the main topping was potato and the other was a basic cheese pizza. One of the guests who joined us (Elizabeth) brought along a homemade pumpkin loaf (delicious). She handed it to the proprietor as she entered the dining area. It was sliced into seven equal pieces (the number of guests at our table) and served on a plate with dessert forks and was the last course of our meal, before coffee was served. Since we were treated to our lunch, I didn’t ask if there was a charge for this service. The afternoon’s conversation was mostly about food and gardening. Plans were also discussed about me and Dodi being invited into a few homes, good restaurants to eat at in the future, and the prospect of at least one more shopping excursion into Obihiro and Otofuke. As I have indicated before, we are being treated extremely well by our Japanese neighbors, the Yamamotos and are so grateful for their friendship.
Friday, March 21st, 2025
Today, we spent quite a bit of our time at the Shikaoi High School attending Orie’s two first-year Canada Studies classes. High school grades are identified by first year (grade 10), second year (grade 11) and third year (grade 12). The students were finishing off presenting their group presentations on the Alberta education system. They worked in teams of five or six students and were tasked with each person speaking in both Japanese and English. All presentations were accompanied with a slideshow of information. Stony Plain’s Westview School, Memorial Composite High School, and the University of Alberta figured prominently as they were the main topic in three of six group projects in each class. The students evaluated each other’s presentations. As observers, me and Dodi were encouraged to provide feedback and ask questions at the conclusion of each talk.
Mel had previously asked us if we would be interested in joining her Tea Club for lunch. We purchased some food items that are provided each day for students and staff. It was very tasty and extremely inexpensive. Three students met up with us in one of the classrooms and we sat together and had a very pleasant English conversation during our meal. The time went by so fast.
Tonight was our third consecutive Friday of hosting local residents at the SS House. If someone had told me that I would have the unique opportunity of travelling halfway around the world to live for six weeks in a place where I had a very little knowledge of the language, only to host a weekly Potluck party for people I had just been introduced to, I think I would have had to ask them what planet they live on. These evenings have certainly been a highlight for the both of us. An atmosphere of mutual respect and a willingness to learn is the feeling one has for the duration (and beyond) of the approximately three hours we get to spend with genuine and gracious people. Tonight’s conversation once again began with discussing all the great food that was prepared as we shared a meal together. As our eagerness to sample each dish slowed down from being full, the conversation shifted to music. It was a lot of fun to search YouTube or Spotify for our favourite songs. We laughed quite a bit when all of us were able to join in on a chorus or verse we all knew. It was special for me to hear our guests sing Japanese classics for the first time. As we exchanged our ‘good nights’ and ‘thank you for coming’, I could hear my internal voice saying, “Thank you Stony Plain for the gift of a forty-year relationship with this remarkable community. I am glad I got to come here.”
Stony Plain in Shikaoi 