My Childhood

I'm not going to reveal my exact birth year here but I was born in a year of the middle of Showa era. ( Showa starts in 1926 and ends in 1986.)

Do you believe in fortune-telling?

Chinese zodiac is one of the fortune-tellings popular among Japanese people.

My Chinese zodiac sign is Pig.

　　　　　

According to the Chinese zodiac, Pigs are diligent, compassionate, and generous. They have great concentration: once they set a goal, they will devote all their energy to achieving it. Though Pigs rarely seek help from others, they will not refuse to give others a hand. Pigs never suspect trickery, so they are easily fooled.

General speaking, Pigs are relatively calm when facing trouble. No matter how difficult the problems are Pigs encounter, they can handle things properly and carefully. They have a great sense of responsibility to finish what they are engaged in.
I do think I have many of those personality traits.

I was born at my mom’s mother’s house in a rural village in Gifu city.
I heard that my mom had an easy delivery when she gave birth to me.
It was a normal delivery.
A pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks.

　　　　　　　　　　　　

According to the current World Health Organization definition of prematurity, a premature delivery is a delivery before 37 weeks of gestation, counting from the first day of the Last Menstrual Period (the LMP).
My parents had some rice fields and vegetable fields that they had taken over from the ancestors, so my mother had to work on them until the delivery day. 

As she was working at home, she couldn’t get any maternity leave or infant-care leave.
She also had to take care of her children by herself.

There is a difference between a day-care center and a kindergarten. Most of the day-care centers are operated by municipalities while more than half of the kindergartens are privately run. Kindergartens are supervised by the Ministry of Education and classified as educational institutions for children of age 3 to 5 under the Educational Law, while day-care centers are under the supervision of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and classified as welfare institutions under the Child Welfare Law.

As for me, I attended a kindergarten.
It was a private kindergarten.
I started to go to the kindergarten at the age of five.
My parents enrolled me in the kindergarten because most of the children in our community went to that kindergarten.
The kindergarten was about 7 kilometers far from my house.
I went there by the kindergarten-bus.

　　　　　　　　　　　

There were many young teachers in the kindergarten and some middle aged teachers as well.
Most of my kindergarten teachers wore smock.

I’ve never wetted my pants while I was in kindergarten.
I could use the toilet well when I entered the kindergarten, because I was five years old already at that time.
My mother trained me how to use the toilet.
We didn’t have a nap time at our kindergarten. I think kindergartens usually don’t have a nap time.

There were various kinds of play equipment on the playground, for instance, sandbox, swings, slide, jungle-gym, seesaw, and so on.
The sandbox was always crowded. I liked building tunnels, rivers, and mountains in the sandbox.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　

I also liked swinging on the swing. I liked swinging high. It was so exciting.

 I was good at jumping rope, too.
I liked playing tag, hide-and-seek as well.
Origami was very popular among the girls.
I learned how to make origami. I made cranes, yakko-san, purses, and many other things.
When it was rainy, we played indoors. I liked drawing. I was good at drawing cute girls.
When it snowed, we played snow fight. That was so much fun.
I also build snowmen. I used some pebbles or the red fruits of Nanten for the eyes, and twigs for the nose and mouth of the snowman's face.
I went on the field trips with my teacher and friends.
My teacher was very nice, so I think I’ve never been scolded by my teacher.

I remember the recital of music by the pupils most clearly. I played the xylophone. I practiced playing the xylophone very hard and was able to perform perfectly that day.
I think kindergarten was fun. I enjoyed the commuting time to the kindergarten by bus everyday.
Unfortunately, I don’t keep in contact with my kindergarten teachers. I wonder if they are doing well.

I didn’t play with my parents very often in my childhood. They were busy all the time, so I played with my sister and my neighbor friends.
I think fathers should be granted a paternity leave to help their wives rear their children.
I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher when I was small. I like children.
I wish I could return to those days when I was innocent and had no worries.
I don’t think Japanese children today are happier than children in other countries.
Japanese children today are too busy. And there are few safe places for them to play in.
I don’t think today’s competitive and distrustful society is not good for children.