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In this documentary film of a large Japanese elementary school located in a Tokyo suburb, Ema Ryan Yamazaki weaves together scenes from 700-plus hours of films to tell a story of how a Japanese elementary school instills distinctly Japanese characteristics in children. Long seen with curiosity and suspicion from western eyes, Japanese ways of teaching discipline and responsibility at elementary schools have received much accolade in recent years, becoming a model to be exported. What happens at a Japanese elementary school that would turn many unsuspecting 6-year-olds into well-disciplined 12-year-olds, and what might be the possible costs and benefits of such an education system? A critically acclaimed young documentary filmmaker, Ema Ryan Yamazaki, who is known for "Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George’s Creators" and "Koshien: Japan’s Field of Dreams," will join us for a viewing of her latest documentary and a discussion.

Instruments of a Beating Heart (New York Times Op-Docs version of Ema's Japanese Elementary school project, 23 minutes)

First graders in a Tokyo public elementary school are presented with a challenge for the final semester: to form an orchestra and perform “Ode to Joy” at a school ceremony. The film examines the Japanese educational system’s tenuous balance between self-sacrifice and personal growth as it teaches the next generation to become part of society.

Speaker:

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Raised in Osaka by a Japanese mother and British father, Ema Ryan Yamazaki grew up navigating between Japanese and Western cultures. Having studied filmmaking at New York University, she uses her unique storytelling perspective as an insider and outsider in Japan. In 2017, Ema’s first feature documentary, MONKEY BUSINESS: THE ADVENTURES OF CURIOUS GEORGE’S CREATORS was released worldwide after raising over $186,000 on Kickstarter. In 2019, Ema’s second feature documentary about the phenomenon of high school baseball in Japan, KOSHIEN: JAPAN’S FIELD OF DREAMS, premiered at DOC NYC. In 2020, the film aired on ESPN, and was released theatrically in Japan. It was a New York Times recommendation for international streaming and featured on the Criterion Channel. Ema's latest documentary feature, THE MAKING OF A JAPANESE, follows one year in a Japanese public school. The film premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2023 and is currently playing festivals around the world, with a release set in Japan for December 2024. 

Discussant:

Mariko Yang-Yoshihara is an Instructor and Education Researcher at the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE). She is also a Visiting Professor at Tohoku University in the Department of Management Science and Technology. Mariko earned her Ph.D. in political science from Stanford, and her research interests include innovation policy, research management, and STEAM (STEM + arts/humanities) education. Since 2009, she has designed curricula for educational and professional development and taught courses on qualitative methods and design thinking. In 2016, she co-founded SKY Labo, a nonprofit promoting STEAM education in Japan. SKY Labo’s inquiry-based program received official recognition from Japan’s Gender Equality Bureau in 2019 and won the Semi-Grand Prix of the Nissan Foundation’s Rikajyo Ikusei Sho (Award Promoting the Next Generation of Women in STEM) in 2022.

Moderator:

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Kiyoteru Tsutsui is the Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Professor and Senior Fellow in Japanese Studies at Shorenstein APARC, the Director of the Japan Program and Deputy Director at APARC, a senior fellow of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and Professor of Sociology, all at Stanford University. Tsutsui received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kyoto University and earned an additional master’s degree and Ph.D. from Stanford’s sociology department in 2002. Tsutsui’s research interests lie in political/comparative sociology, social movements, globalization, human rights, and Japanese society. His most recent publication, Human Rights and the State: The Power of Ideas and the Realities of International Politics (Iwanami Shinsho, 2022), was awarded the 2022 Ishibashi Tanzan Award and the 44th Suntory Prize for Arts and Sciences.