Supporting my fav seniors #11 Productivity brought by carp

Here in Japan, after the season of cherry blossom, we start seeing carp-shaped streamers “Koinobori” (meaning “rising carp”) flying everywhere to celebrate Children’s Day (May 5). This is the tradition dating back to the Edo period (1603–1867): People would fly carp streamers, painted on cloth, outside the house in the hope that their children will grow up healthy and strong.

Rumor has it that samurai (worrier) families in the Edo period would order custom-made carp streamers, over 2-meter long, when a boy was born.

That tradition has become much simpler now: The streamers you see are much smaller, like paper carp made by kids at nursery and tiny ones sold at dollar stores.

Meanwhile, we are also seeing another growing trend recently: communities collecting used carp streamers from families, who no longer fly them because their children have already grown up, and flying them on a river or at a park.

Some communities fly over 200 carp streamers, giving energy to people with or without children and attracting tourists as well.

I didn’t mean to copy their things, but what we started in my community is a carp streamer project to decorate the neighborhood, such as local stores, facilities for older people, and neighborhood bulletin boards.

It all started during the COVID-19 pandemic. As people felt down and isolated, I began decorating the bulletin boards with carp streamers.

Since my mother (aged 80+) and child (aged 9) had made over 10 carp streamers together over the years, we decided to move them from the backyard to the front door facing the street, and asked my neighbors to do the same.

What I aimed for wasn’t a huge festival. All I wanted was for people, while walking on the street, to see carp streamers flying here and there, enjoy the view, and start smiling.

It was such a small thing. But gradually, I started seeing changes, giving me a sense of unity in the community. More people would stop by the carp streamers in front of my house and enjoy chatting there, an adult day care center started decorating its windows with carp made by older service users, and a local store manager brought huge carp streamers from his home and flew them at the storefront.

The pandemic is pretty much over now, but we continue to put up the small carp streamers on the bulletin boards. Local kids would smile as they find the carp, and their smiles then bring more smiles to seniors who are behind these kids watching over them.

As I see these carp streamers loosely bringing different generations together, I’ve come up with my own conclusion: “So many programs are being created, stressing the importance of intergenerational bonding. But the loose connection like this may be better….”

For example, I can’t forget the happy faces of the adult day care users and staff when I told them, “On the way to school, kids saw the carp you’ve made and put up on the day care center window. The kids loved them and said they’re sooooo cute!”

Something small to make everyone smile, something small everyone can do to be productive. If we can do more of something like those, that will be wonderful, don’t you think? ^_^