J-STORIES – Preschool children cut vegetables with real knives and fillet fish. They sometimes make various dishes such as stews and fried foods and serve them to adults. This is a scene not often seen in ordinary households, but there is a preschool that teaches children initiative through cooking and cleaning up.
Hiyori Nursery School is located in Kirishima City, Kagoshima Prefecture . The owner, Risa Furukawa, believes that by teaching children about the dangers of things while letting them use them, they will learn to be careful through experience. She is also particular about the knives used in the nursery school, and has collaborated with a company in Tsubame-Sanjo City, Niigata Prefecture, known for its Western tableware and metal products, to create children’s knives that are so sharp that even adults are surprised.
Originally a linguistics major, Ms. Furukawa worked as a Japanese language teacher in South Korea and China for eight years. After returning to Japan, she was surprised to find that people’s diets relied heavily on pre-cooked foods. This led her to feel a sense of crisis about the weakening connection between Japanese life and food, and to focus on the importance of education through food.
Following “Hiyori Nursery School,” Furukawa opened her second nursery school, ” Soranomachi Nursery School” (Tenmonkan, Kagoshima City), which is operated based on the idea that “making communities self-reliant through food will lead to the creation of a sustainable society.”
The kindergarten holds events inviting local residents, and elderly people from the neighborhood often stop by the adjacent deli. The kindergarten’s policy is to purchase necessary items locally whenever possible, and townspeople often greet the children when they run errands. This interaction with various local people brings vitality to the town, while the children develop rich imaginations by interacting with diverse individuals.
In a media interview, Furukawa explained that this kind of “food education” is part of childcare that values children’s desire to “try it” and fosters their ability to live.
Article by: Yui Sawada, Edited by: Katsuro Kitamatsu
Top photo: From the Hiyori Nursery School YouTube channel
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The English version of this article can be viewed here .
