Before the start of my teaching journey in Toyko, Japan, I learned about El Sistema Japan. El Sistema is an organization that has always been on my to-do list so when I found out about El Sistema Japan, I decided to reach out even with my poor Japanese skills.

 

El Sistema Japan is an organization that supports the children affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, which severely hit the communities of northeastern Japan in March 2011. They are committed to developing life skills in children “through music” to help them overcome the post-disaster challenges and realize their full potential as a vital member of society (El Sistema Japan). Currently, they are offering different programs in Soma City, Otsuchi City, Komagane City, and Tokyo in providing children in the rural cities with accessible music learning opportunities. 

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Upon arriving in Tokyo for my full-time teaching job in an international school, I contacted their Tokyo office and asked whether there is an opportunity for me to join the teaching fellow during my free time on the weekends. The executive director, Kikugawa-san, shared with me his story about how started El Sistema Japan from scratch and invited me to start joining their closest program outside of Tokyo.

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My earlier experiences were mostly based in Komagane, which is approximately a 3.5-4 hours bus ride outside of Tokyo. I would usually wake up early on Saturday mornings, take a 40-minute subway to the Shinjuku station, and transferred to the bus terminal. Around noontime, I would arrive at Komagane and start the teaching after the lunch break. I spend the whole afternoon working either with the whole strings ensemble or individually with students who are needing more 1-1 tutorials. We usually finish at around early evening and I would then take another 4-hour bus along with other teaching fellows back to Tokyo. Most fellows are commuting just like me on the weekends because it is really difficult to find teaching resources around Komagane area. Although the commute was exhausting, I really enjoyed working with those children as well as practicing my Japanese skills while teaching them.

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After I was more settled with my life in Japan, I then asked the program coordinator whether I could visit a different city. The coordinator then sent me further away to the northeast part of Japan, which was also the epicenter of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. Otsuchi is a little town that was severely destroyed by the tsunami during this earthquake. Even though it was 8 years since the disaster happened, a lot of the people are still living in temporary housing when I visited. There was no train that connects to the town, so it usually took me a subway, three trains, one local bus, and another car ride until I get to the city. The trip lasts around 6-7 hours one way, so sometimes the other fellows and I would take the night bus on Friday evening after work to arrive in order to arrive early on the next morning. Due to the poor public transportation that connects to this small town, it was also really difficult to get teaching resources for the children in town. There aren't many students there, but every single one of them was passionate about music learning, and they would spend their weekdays practicing hard with a local teacher after they finish school. Seeing the persistence and passions in these children, it made me want to spend more time with them while I was living in Japan.

 

Both Komagane and Otsuchi's teaching experiences were transforming experiences for me and I still kept in touch with the fellow and the local teachers even after I left Japan. At the start of the pandemic, the teachers were not allowed to leave Tokyo due to travel restrictions, so I connected with the program manager again and offered Zoom classes for the kids in Otsuchi. I was touched by the children's persistence even during this challenging time!

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Besides volunteering as a teaching fellow at El Sistema Japan, I also joined the Fellow Orchestra, where we gathered regularly to rehearse and perform to fundraise for the programs and instruments. What a memorable experience with these wonderful human beings during my journey in Japan!

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