War Stories
During the speech writing correcting season, I have found that 60% to 70% of the entries I am put in charge of deal with the same topic. And there are two really popular topics that just swap in and out of the majority position. These topics are eco-friendly / anti-global warming stories and pro-peace / anti-war stories. Neither are particularly surprising to me, knowing Japan.
Also not particularly surprising is that Japan focuses on war stories that foster empathy and paint it as the victim. The most obvious case is in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hiroshima seems to be the focal point around here, though that may just be a geographical bias - more students have actually been to Hiroshima than to Nagasaki. The other stories that are routinely used in the classroom as well as in contests are those where the ground war hit Okinawa. Never mentioned are the military excursions in Southeast Asia, Pearl Harbor, etc. And I suppose I can understand that. But the lopsidedness is pretty sad sometimes.
I’ve read countless stories of children being killed, digging graves for family members, and people asking for water. It makes me choke up on occasion. (I got out of teaching a class earlier because I didn’t feel like I could correctly “enthusiastically” explain the vocabulary earlier without disrespecting the lives lost in the story and making light of a really grave situation. Also, the fact that I’m American can be awkward too.) The good thing is that students here all agree on a basic truth of life: war is awful. We definitely agree on that point.