Home is where the heart is — which for the Iwanaga family will be in Montana, at least for the holiday season. FHS Japanese exchange teacher Toshiharo Iwanaga — as well as his daughters Ryo and Naho — will experience a true Christmas reunion next week after being separated from his wife and oldest daughter for more than four months. “This is a difficult time for me and my daughters. We are living separated from part of our family,” said Iwanaga. “If we live together we don’t appreciate the sense of family that we begin to understand when our family is not with us.” “It’s very hard to be away from our mom for so long,” agrees Ryo. “We have had to take the place of our mother by taking care of each other, whereas our mother would.” Iwanaga’s wife, Keiko and eldest daughter, Kaori, will journey to Kalispell Dec. 20 despite bureaucratic problems that have delayed the trip. The two have been unable to buy a return ticket to Japan, which in turn has caused immigration problems. “When my daughters and I traveled over to America, the security guards had to make sure we knew how to speak English,” said Iwanaga. “This might cause a problem for my wife and daughter, because they don’t know how to speak English very well.” The Iwanagas’ Christmas plans will consist of going to church on Christmas Eve, then celebrating Christmas with a quiet day at home. Christmas in America won’t be extremely different, according to Iwanaga. “In Japan only five percent of the population are Christians so nobody knows the real meaning of Christmas, it being the birth of Christ,” said Iwanaga. “Christmas in Japan is the equivalent of a birthday celebration in America, but since we are Catholics, then Christmas will be very similar to our traditions.” In Japan, parents usually give one present to children and receive no presents in return, said Iwanaga. “In Japan the students don’t have such a Christmas spirit at school, unless it is a private Catholic school,” said Iwanaga. “It’s nice to see everybody’s warm-heartedness.” Because family absence leaves a void in Iwanaga’s heart, he now has a special place there for his students — his American family. Iwanaga took his students to his home this week to learn about Japanese culture. “Although my students and I have different cultures, we are all the same, we are all human beings,” said Iwanaga. On Tuesday, students practiced calligraphy — a type of Japanese writing — watched professional sumo wrestling on TV, listened to Japanese music and ate Japanese food. Iwanaga shared his knowledge to teach his students more about Japanese culture instead of just the verbal part of Japanese life. “At school we only learn the language, but Tuesday we enjoyed the culture,” said Iwanaga. “Hopefully the students feel closer to the culture now and are more interested in Japan.” Iwanaga believes that education is important and hopes that by teaching the Japanese language and culture he will teach his students something they can carry with them their entire lives. Said Iwanaga: “We are human beings before we are Americans or Japanese — we are all the same inside.” |
