Schools Given Japanese Dolls In Gesture Of Friendship

They’re pretty small and quiet as far as ambassadors go. But their mere demeanor can spark an interest in another culture.

Ask Miss Tokushima, one such Japanese doll.

She’s been in the United States since 1927, when she was sent here by Japanese citizens responding to an American gift of blue-eyed dolls.

Clad in her red kimono, Miss Tokushima oversaw the third annual Japanese Friendship Doll Festival at Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute on Thursday.

She stood next to Miss Fukuoka, of Eugene, Ore., as students from Pasadena Park Elementary received Japanese dolls.

Seven Valley elementary and middle schools were among the dozens to receive about 60 Japanese dolls this year.

Donna Peirone said that she and the other Pasadena Park fourthgrade teachers have been preparing to teach a Japanese cultural unit this year.

“We’re trying to gather as much material as we can on Japan,” she said.

Students will learn about the country through literature about Japan, cooking, the arts and social studies.

Meanwhile, the dolls they received will be on display in the school’s hallway.

“The dolls and the friendship that have gone between the people of Japan and the Americans have been so much appreciated,” said Patrice Pendell, activity coordinator for the Japanese Cultural Center.

Horizon Middle School, which has a sister school affected by Japan’s earthquake, “was very concerned about what they could do for their sister school,” Pendell said.

Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute Director Michiko Takaoka is from Kobe, center of January’s killer earthquake.

She said that a simple Japanese doll set brought to one of the earthquake shelters in the Kobe area is spreading a little comfort.

The doll festival is part of Hina Matsuri, or Girl’s Day, which is celebrated in Japan on March 3.

In 1927, an American missionary, Sidney L. Gulick, helped to send 13,000 American dolls to Japan as ambassadors of friendship.

The Japanese responded by sending 58 Japanese dolls to America.

One of those original dolls, Miss Tokushima, even survived World War II, a period when both nation’s people destroyed or hid the others’ dolls.

Both Japanese and American children have gained cultural awareness from their foreign dolls.

Takaoka told the story of a doll named Alice Johnson, which lasted 68 years in Tokushima prefecture, where Miss Tokushima is from.

Alice inspired Japanese students to pursue professions of teaching English and sewing Western clothes.

Smile back at the cheerful dolls’ faces, Takaoka said, and listen to their silent message of friendship.