Song Beats My Heart

I don’t believe I’ve been fair to Tomi Chuu. Kawasaki may be my main school--whereas I only go to Tomioka once or twice a week--but I have come to love my time at Tomi Chuu in its own way. The school feels something like a mountain lodge because of its scenic location and intimate quality. As always, there are three grades, but at this school, there are only approximately 20 students in each grade. Rather than having each class eat in their own designated classrooms as at Kawa Chuu, here there is a proper cafeteria (with a particularly striking view of the mountains). I also get the impression that the school’s size doesn’t do wonders for the sports programmes’ competitiveness. In fact, while chatting with the baseball coach, he actually said, “bad team this year. Maybe next year ok, but bad team”.

This past weekend, Tomioka Middle School held its autumn festival. Each class performed a song and a play (the third years put on Cinderella in English; something of a coincidence as I myself participated in the same play as a middle schooler). I tried to record parts of the play, but not only was the foreign language dialogue challenging at times, but being a lower budget production, actors weren’t exactly mic’d. You may say that as such, a video isn’t necessary. If you feel that way, you're more then free to disregard the following. It also has poor video and audio quality, but I cannot help but share this particular tune--sung by the 1st years—which I heard being practiced many afternoons over the past month or so. Its name is “Song Beats My Heart” and if you feel inclined to suffer the inferior quality for a minute or so, you’ll here a chorus peppered with English.



Finally, I would like to share the first few of what I imagine will be a series of Autumn-inspired scenic frames. These are just a few impromptu shots I took on regular work days. As winter is approaching, it is becoming increasingly common to enjoy the sunset as I head back home.