I visited Rainbow school for the first time after I got to know them through Facebook in February 2020. Although it was a short stay of 8 days, I have learned a lot from friendly children and Tomoko and other staff at the school. In Japan, I am involved with training students who want to become teachers but I have had many to questions around their learning and schools in general. “How do the students enjoy their both student and private life? Something is not quite right…” was repeating in my head. But this voice immediately disappeared after I met children and teachers from Rainbow school. This made me decide to bring some students over next time I visit.

The first thought I had after the visit was that I want many more people to know and visit the school. This visit may change your values and life view. I really want as many Japanese people as possible to visit the school. Although this is similar to the impression you get online such as Facebook, in fact, there is plenty of hard work behind posted beautiful photos. It is actually everyday battle for Tomoko, Yusuke and other teachers. I would say 20% beautiful and fun moments and 80% hard work. In Japanese educational settings, troubles are everyday matters apart from ceremonies such as graduation shows and alumni gathering. Same in Rainbow school. I want people who want to challenge and develop themselves to visit and spend time there. I heard some teachers irritated hearing some volunteers say that it is not that hard work as imagined. If you pay attention carefully, you see their care and consideration. Both teachers and children really took care of myself while staying in the school. When something happened, somebody always asked me help. When I lied down from exhaustion, somebody brought me a blanket. These silent cares were present so that I had a wonderful experience. They are beautiful people. I really want these people to be recognized. The children have constructive thinking, who act quickly and responsively. This is incredible. These children have a power to survive in any situation. For example, we are in the middle of Corona pandemic, which has caused so many problems. I see many people who show negative thinking, stop thinking or oversimplify the situation. Some turned to harshly criticize Chinese people pointing out their hygiene issues and that the Japanese government shouldn’t accept Chinese. Some feared the situation excessively and became overprotective refraining from going outside. And some bought toilet rolls for stock without thinking other people’s need.

When I think about the cause why this could happen, I could find the reason in Japanese education itself. Because our education system doesn’t make children think and prepare uncertain situation, but find “right” answer. Our thinking is too simplified to survive uncertain times and troubles. We are not good at thinking critically and creatively. When I observed children at Rainbow school trying and acting, they faced some issues and troubles. However they took it as opportunities to think differently or other ways to move forward with examination and contemplation. For example, when a bicycle is broken, Japanese people might give up due to lack of tools. But the children at Rainbow school used gaffer tapes to fix it. One child said “If the tyre got flat, I can fix it like a cool senior guys”. His thought was because of the flat tyre, he could do something his cool older guys can do. Another example was when one child was crying at night. If it’s in Japan, he might be told to be quiet. But he was taken care of by other older children. They told me that they want to console crying child because they were taken care of when they were little and crying at night. I thought this is something we lost in Japan due to practicing Capitalism prioritising money.