Milwaukee Catholic Herald – August 3, 2006

Japanese students hear,
see Wisconsin culture

Notre Dame sisters provide link
with Milwaukee middle school

By Matthew Ryno
Special to your Catholic Herald

Paola Tabares, left, a sixth grader at Notre Dame Middle School in Milwaukee, and Yuka Suzuki, a fifth grader at Notre Dame School in Kyoto, Japan, watch a dance demonstration during a social gathering between the two Catholic schools June 17 at the School Sisters of Notre Dame motherhouse in Elm Grove. The Japanese students visited their American counterparts, with whom they have been corresponding as pen pals. (Catholic Herald photo by Sam Lucero)

ELM GROVE — Vibrant turns of colorful dresses worn by young Hispanic girls as they danced to exuberant Latin tunes captured the visual and aural attention of visiting Japanese students. The sights and sounds were part of an 11-day cultural exchange program that took place June 17 in the traditionally quiet hall of the School Sisters of Notre Dame’s campus.

The program introduced 24 Japanese elementary school students to the cultures of St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Indianapolis. While in Wisconsin, the Japanese students from Kyoto met their American pen pals from the predominately-Hispanic, all-girl Notre Dame Middle School of Milwaukee. Together they toured the Milwaukee County Museum and Zoo. Afterward, some of the middle school students who are enrolled in an after-school dance program presented traditional Hispanic dances to their peers, offering opportunities for all to participate.

The giggling Japanese students cautiously joined – in some cases, performing unfamiliar dance moves and drawing appreciative smiles and friendly laughs from onlookers and participants.

The exchange program started a day earlier, with an excursion to the Notre Dame sisters’ community in Mount Calvary, where the Japanese students met with the elderly sisters and learned about earth spirituality gardening efforts undertaken by the sisters.

“Our sisters in Mount Calvary celebrate the earth, and know of ways to have minimal impact and how to show respect to the earth through farming and development. They share their food with others in appreciation of the miracle of God. The Japanese students got to plant marigolds, use arts and crafts to express themselves, and look at the planting and growing of a flower as a phenomenon for all of us,” said Sr. Mary Alyce Lach, a 53-year member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame.

Personal touch

“It’s really like a three culture experience for these children,” said Sr. Patty Rass, who teaches at Notre Dame Middle School and helped coordinate the program. “The students see the culture of age, the culture of gender, and the American culture.”

The principal of Notre Dame School in Kyoto, Sr. Beatrice Noreka, explained the formality of Japanese culture.

“It is good to touch another culture and know other ways of expression. The American sisters always express feelings so naturally,” said Sr. Beatrice. “But we are so formal in Japan – we put values into our prescribed behavior.”

Meeting the Japanese students had an impact upon Elizabeth Roque, 14, who said she liked getting to know her pen-pal, Nawami Satake, 11, for whom she bought a small glass dolphin at the Milwaukee County Museum’s gift shop.

“She took me to the gift shop even though I didn’t ask to go,” said Satake, in a conversation translated by her teacher, Ryuichi Yukita. “Elizabeth is much friendlier to me compared to Japanese kids,” she said.

Both students agreed that they already knew a lot about each other before meeting, and now knew even more, including some of each other’s language.

Japanese perspective

Yukita was responsible for translating the American letters for his students in Japan. When they return to Japan, Yukita will be responsible for looking over reports, presentations and reflections students are expected to give.

According to Yukita and Sr. Beatrice, Japan is predominately atheist and Buddhist, and many of the people involved with religion do not attend ceremonies “as regularly as Christians do in America,” said Yukita.

In the midst of this, according to Yukita, Notre Dame Elementary School of Kyoto is one of the most prestigious private schools in Japan with “probably about one third of the parents in the school being doctors, dentists, and things like that,” said Yukita.

Even though Catholicism is not prevalent in Japan, Yukita said their school might also be attractive because “parents want children to be well disciplined morally, and see Christianity as a way to help.” However, Yukita said, there is no expectation to bring the children up Catholic.

Sr. Beatrice added that she thought perhaps some students come to her school just to study and get secular happiness, but she said, “We sisters have to make them notice how we serve others.”

One way of showing this, according to Sr. Beatrice, was to illustrate the steps the four School Sisters of Notre Dame founders in Japan took to put a school in the poor area of Japan about 50 years ago and then dedicated their lives to helping children through education.