Although Cian started school last Monday week, in the Gaynor-Takahashi family and Turf Appreciation Society gambling takes precedence over all else, so you are only reading about this now.
And at 26 to 1, rightfully too.
As with Cian's 'graduation ceremony' so it was with his 'entrance ceremony'; lots of 'be good students' speeches, technical issues with these newfangled things called 'school bags', and of course, wonderfully outré fashion choices.
What was thought provoking about all of this was the realization that upon starting school, or more pointedly, starting in a Japanese school, Cian is not merely learning various universal academic subjects; he is also being educated and socialized in how to be a Japanese person. It is a necessary form of acculturation but decidedly different from his father's culture.
This process goes considerably deeper than merely liking rice instead of potatoes, and bowing instead of shaking hands; culture is what we use to interpret the world and our place in it. That act of interpretation is not innate but learned, and much of that learning takes place at school. And this may well prove to be contentious in the future for, as Sanae will readily testify, there are aspects of Japanese culture I do not accept, particularly its conservative, parochial view of the wider world, and its reflexive, uncritical submission to tradition. That Cian may well be inculcated with such an outlook is something I, as his father, as his non-Japanese father, am not completely comfortable with.
So send the parcels full of Tayto crisps, Barry's teabags, Jacobs fig rolls, smarties, GAA county jerseys, Peig Sayers' autoboigraphy, Reeling in the Years DVDs and Christy Moore CDs. With your help we can make Cian, if not 100%, at least 50% guaranteed Irish.
Not forgetting "The Irish Field"
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