Japanese historical figures

My class today was discussing, slowly, famous people and their statues. I have been teaching in Japan long enough not to assume my charges will know all that much about the big wide world across the seas...Still, took a long time for the penny to drop on Chopin, Garibaldi, Nelson & Joan of Arc. Where were they born, who were they, why were they famous, where were their statues? etc

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Last week we had the same faltering exchange over the four US Presidents (Lincoln, Washington, Roosevelt & Jefferson) who feature on Mount Rushmore so prominently, and had some bearing on US/world history. My concern last week was rhythm & intonation, getting some bounce into sentences and not pausing after the was/were (and thereby stressing them inappropriately). I actually had them up & swinging their hips to the beat of the sentences - daft? Yes! Did it work? World of difference for one student who 'got it' 100%. (Others just proved you can't dance with your arms folded/hands in your pockets/leaning on a wall/holding a book 3 inches from your face!)

We came to the conclusion that Japan isn't the kind of place where you trip over statues on every corner - at least not of famous people. Matsumoto has an awful lot of iffy ones of semi-naked children...Anyway, as that conversation petered out I asked for their top 5 of historically important Japanese people (each made a list) and from that vote on a top three after describing them a bit. This was their final list.

1. Ryo Sakamoto
2. Tokugawa Ieyasu
3. Hirofumi Ito

(Also in the running were Hirohito, Himeki, Ono Komachi, Shotoko Taishi & Tadataka Ono)

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