Last week, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took a trip to some random elementary school where he made a point to eat one of the nationally subsidized school lunches (“kyushoku”) with students. He ate a salmon steak, some wakame miso soup, rice mixed with some kind of seaweed, and washed it all down with a frosty mini-bottle of milk (salmon and milk? Ick!). He remarked it was even more delicious than his old school lunches (which likely included a bit of whale meat) despite having “some difficulty” finishing the whole thing. Here’s what it looked like:

And here’s what Abe had to say about the visit in his latest e-mail magazine:

I visited an elementary school in Tokyo last week in hopes of getting a feel for the educational environment children are in today and talking to them in person.

It was my first visit to an elementary school in the 40 years since I graduated from my own. Over lunch, I had a chance to hear, in their own words, what children are really thinking. Many shared with me that they enjoy extracurricular activities and sports. They also asked me unpretentious questions, such as, “As a child, did you have a goal in life?” These questions reassured me that children have hopes and dreams for what they want to pursue in the future.

I was a bit worried that the children would tense up with the press crew in their classroom, but the close bond the class shared and the warm smiles they gave me as we talked impressed me strongly.

I have kept in close touch with my elementary school friends, meeting with them frequently even now after 40 years. Exciting
times spent together with friends, even if you occasionally argue, will become a precious memory later in life. It is my hope that
children will possess the kindness to go over and talk to another child they see all alone. I was able to convey this message during
my visit to the school.

While he also added some token call to action against evil bullying activities, I couldn’t help but focus on and feel jealous of the delicious-looking lunches these kids get to eat. I never once got a taste of salmon during my US education, though perhaps it’s all the better since I wouldn’t have trusted my lunch ladies to prepare fish anyway. Still, it’s no wonder Japanese kids are so much healthier. Well, that and the constant endurance tests that they call phys ed class and extracurricular sports.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 19th, 2006 at 1:26 am and is filed under Food, Japan, Japan-US Relations, Politics, Rightwingers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.