To meet Plarpon: Toyooka city Nitta Elementary School [Japan]
SEEDS Asia visited Toyooka city municipal Nitta Elementary School on 20th October, 2023. More than 19 years had passed since Typhoon Tokage devastated the northern Hyogo Prefecture.
Where Toyooka city is situated, there were several townships that were flooded when water broke the levees along Maruyama river to which we lost 7 people and thousands of buildings were destroyed.
Nitta Elementary School is located in the wetland behind Maruyama river and close to where the levees were destroyed. The school ground and the district were stricken by mudwater. The school afterwards has continued to pass on their disaster experience and gratitude to those who helped them recover to new generations through whole-school commemoration gatherings. Every year on 20th October is the day when the school organize the gathering and open classes, which attracted SEEDS Asia’s attention. Thanks to the support of Prefectural and City Board of Education and the personnel of the school, we were able to visit the school to witness the special day.
Nitta Elementary School’s memorial activities are centered around a poplar tree that used to exist on campus with a nickname “Plarpon.” There is a picture storybook and a song dedicated to Plarpon.
Plarpon symbolized the school and befriended the students of Nitta Elementary School. However, the tree was destroyed by the storm and washed away from its stump by the floodwater during the typhoon. After the typhoon, it was located in the middle of a rice paddy soundly standing, and afterwards even new buds sprouted. This resilience of Plarpon empowered the children of the school who had been impacted by the disaster, and now continues to be told about for generations in the forms of a book and a song.
During the whole-school commemoration gathering, a video footage of the disaster was broadcast along with storytelling by teachers who went through the disaster. Students listened in to those and sang the song “Like the Poplar Tree.” This gathering was followed by open classes, among which was for Grade 4 students who were asked the question “Do you think constructions should take place to strengthen the infrastructure in order to protect our town from floods?” The following discussion entailed interesting opinions on the protection of human lives as well as conserving the environment and unique ecosystem.
When asked “What do you think are the building blocks that enable 19 years of continued commemoration activities?” the Principal highlighted the strong wishes of the disaster-affected teachers and community members. However, those wishes could easily fade away in the long duration of time. This is more so in Toyooka city which is a large town consisting of many smaller municipalities that were merged, resulting in many teachers teaching at Nitta Elementary School without directly experiencing the disaster. Also, adults who witnessed the Typhoon disaster are retiring while new adults may not have the memory of it.
Despite many challenges that may include the pandemic, the school is successful in equipping with mechanisms for passing down memories (commemoration gatherings), tools (storybook and song for Plarpon), diversifying tools (dance, theater act, T-shirts, etc. invented by children), and connecting their gratitude to helping others who encounter new disasters.
SEEDS Asia is pleased to witness various ways to pass on disaster experiences to newer generations in different communities, and to share those widely, inside and outside Japan.
