Video of the Week--Japan News Stories
RSSFrom SLJ January 2005
David Bilmes, Schaghticoke Middle School, New Milford, CT -- School Library Journal, 01/10/2005
videocassette. color. 26 min. with tchr's. guide. NoodleHead Network. 2004. $89.
Gr 4-12-Japan comes to life in this easy to watch, yet informative video. American high school students give their perspective on this fascinating country in three- to four-minute segments. Topics that were broadcast on their local news station include school, home life, traditional arts, religion, food, architecture, and sports and games. The segments are separated by seven seconds of the screen going black, making it easy for teachers to focus on specific topics. The video can also be watched all in one showing since the teen reporters make sometimes dry topics like architecture and religion upbeat and interesting. Having a male report on traditional arts such as ikebana and calligraphy will make that segment of more interest to male viewers than it might be otherwise. The teen reporters highlight interesting facts such as the color of a student's shoes indicates his school grade level, and most Japanese are Buddhists and are cremated when they die, so there are few cemeteries in Japan. One of the few weak spots in the video is in the religion portion, which focuses almost entirely on Shintoism with only a brief mention of Buddhism. The segment on food, with its emphasis on raw fish dishes, will particularly interest students, and the portion on home life does a good job of explaining how bathrooms in Japan are quite different from those in the U.S. This video teaches viewers a lot about Japan in an interesting manner and will stimulate class discussion.
