Cheever!!!!!
Two days ago I got an email from the Institute for International Education, the organization that facilitates the JFMF on this side of the Pacific. Attached was a little more paperwork, a press release to send out to local media (which I immediately did, the shameless self promoter that I am), and the name of the prefecture and city that I will be visiting after the first week in Tokyo. I was so excited to finally find out! I also found out that one of the JFMF teachers I've been in contact with, Christina Vargas, is going to the same place. Check out her blog!
I'm going to be visiting Katori, Chiba. Katori is a very new city by Japanese standards. From what I've been able to find, Katori was founded when the citizens of the towns of Sawara, Omigawa, Yamada and Kurimoto voted to merge into one larger town. The merge took place on March 27, 2006. Shortly after the merge, the new town of Katori adopted this flag:
The flag of Katori features a stylized letter K. I'm
not sure what the colors or shape represent, but
I'm looking forward to finding out!
Merging of towns into a new city is a new idea for me. In my local area, we have a lot of small towns that have been enveloped by the urban sprawl that comprises the Greater Metropolitan Orlando Area. There are very few, however, that I can think of that would vote to abandon their individual identities. In Apopka, we have our own fire and police departments despite also being served by the county. We are served by Orlando-based Orange County Public Schools, but those elementary, middle and high schools that exist within our city limits are proudly recognized by those who live here as "our Apopka schools." The town where I live and work so cherishes its personality and local flavor that it holds its own teacher of the year ceremony aside from the one that OCPS presents. I can't see John Land or the Apopka City Council ever supporting any motion to merge with Orlando or any other locale.
So why would people in Japan vote to merge their four growing towns into one larger city? And how would they manage leadership-- a tetrarchy of some sort? I thought about this question with my meager understanding that many Japanese think of the wa, or harmony of the group, as they make decisions. Maybe having all of those town agencies stepping on each others' toes was too much for the local area to handle, and they wanted to streamline services. I don't know, but I'm looking forward to asking these questions of their local government and sharing the answers with my class and community. That's one of the main reasons I'm going on this trip, to learn and share!
One cool thing that I have found out, though, is that Katori is going to host some major handball tournament in 2010, and that their mascot for the tourney is a red dog named Cheever! Awesome!
Cheever!! Click this link to go to a page
with PDF instructions on how to make
your very own Cheever!
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