My schooldays

The building of my elementary school used to be the focus of attention as ‘futuristic’ in Nagano.

The heating facility used to the energy of Suwa hot springs. So I had no experience to see a potbelly stove until I entered Junior high school. I didn’t use to take off my outdoor shoes in the school building, although sweeping the floor was very hard. One corner of the building, the school entrance, was covered with a big glass window. It used to be shining and beautiful. Now, the glass is faded, and we can see shoe cupboards through that window. The school provides shoe cupboards for all students near the glass, because outdoor shoes brought mud dirt into the building.

The building was a true square and there were two small gardens in the center. My school used to have an elaborate garden. One used to be made with rocks brought from Yatsugatake mountain, which were made as a small Yatsugatake in shape. The other one used to be a flower garden, full of beautiful colorful flowers.

I used to be in a chorus club from 4th to 6thgrade. My homeroom teacher was a music teacher, and he coached the club. So me and half of my classmates joined this club. Every day, I used to sing songs with club mates after school, including weekends. In the last grade of elementary school, my club won Nagano 1st prize competition. NHK Nagano broadcasted this competition, and I watched this video with my class mates the next day. I was on TV. This was first time to watch myself on TV.

Yumi