It all started with a conversation between an older women and one of my students during a group morning exercise session (Radio Exercise, a popular program across Japan) at their apartment complex:
“I had a big family when I was little. We used
to buy a huge watermelon and enjoy freshly cut slices with sharp edges. They
tasted great!”
Although the summer festival is the only
event the apartment hosts now, according to her, when more children lived
there, they had evening events as well in the outside common area to enjoy cool
night air together.
“Back then, whenever I walked through the area,
I would run into someone and have a quick chat. Now, I don’t even see anyone
there.”
What can we do? The student started
thinking and then came up with the Tanabata Festival (Star Festival) last year.
It is Japan’s Festival of Wishing on the Stars on July 7.
It sure would be nice to decorate the place
with bamboo branches, following to the festival tradition, and to organize
games. But can we make it more laid-back and casual?
Although the apartment doesn’t have many
kids anymore, can’t we do something to welcome kids from the neighborhood and
bring us a little closer?
So, for last year’s event, they decided to
play Suikawari, a traditional Japanese game that involves splitting a
watermelon on the ground/floor with a stick while blindfolded. It’s kind of
like piñata. The event site, a gathering room in the apartment, was filled with
kids, attracting the largest number ever since the place opened.
Some of the senior participants from the
apartment, who no longer had regular interaction with kids, seemed a bit
overwhelmed by the youthful energy.
Following the huge success last year, they
organized the second Tanabata Watermelon Festival this year. But before we knew
it, the event was known as the Watermelon Splitting Day….
This year, they made it even more casual:
They didn’t organize any structured activities except for watermelon splitting
and Bamboo Bowling, an original game the students had developed using bamboo
trunks growing on the apartment premises.
The turnout was unbelievable! The place was
filled with people of all ages, from elementary school kids and young families
to older men, whom we don’t get to see often. We had even more people than last
year.
But since these student organizers had
little experience in running events like this, the place was total chaos….
But we can always find a silver lining,
even in this chaos. Since the students were too busy and overwhelmed to offer
support, the participants took their own initiative, speaking with each other
and building intergenerational connections. Some seniors were actively engaging
in deep conversation with students, while another senior participant gently lending
a hand to a young mother with a baby and a small child.
Among these participants, one sweet lady
particularly caught my attention. She, probably in her 80s, came to the place more
than 30 minutes before the event started and stayed seated alone quietly.
She sat there throughout the day, gently
with a smile, watching the students going back and forth to prepare for the
event, and then elementary school kids fully enjoying the Bamboo Bowling with
loud laughter and screams during the festival.
And then, people gradually and naturally
started gathering around this lady, mostly smaller kids and seniors feeling
startled by such energy and chaos. They seemed to be drawn into the soothing, cozy
atmosphere she had.
As the lady left the event, she bowed and
said, “I’m afraid I couldn’t do anything to help….” But I whispered to her
back, “Thank you for creating coziness and comfort.”
Shino Sawaoka
Associate Professor,
Dept. of Health Management,
Tokai University
jzt1864@tokai.ac.jp
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