Frog Boy and the American Monkey: the Body in Japanese Early Schooling

Abstract

Working within the general framework of cultural psychology (e.g., Bruner, 1996; Cole, 1996; Shweder et al., 1998), I am particularly interested in how the self is differently construed and constructed across cultures (e.g., Kitayama & Markus, 1999, 2000; Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Markus, writing in Shweder et al. (1998), described the self as “where the individual, the biological entity, becomes a meaningful entity—a person, a participant in social worlds. Although the experience of self may appear as primarily individual creations, they are in several ways also cultural and historical constructions” (p. 895). This chapter explores the development of a physical self in Japanese early schooling.

Below our apartment in Yashiro, Japan, was an exercise area with parallel bars, gymnastic bars, climbing ropes, a balance beam, and so on. Signs about 75 centimeters high explained how to use each one. My daughter, Scooter, a sixth grader, spent much time there climbing and swinging. She used the parallel bars to learn to ride a unicycle. One evening a fourth-grade boy from her school came by with friends. They ignored Scooter, as she did them. He stood in front of one sign, then jumped up and landed on the top of the sign. He hunkered there; buttocks on his heels Asian style, then jumped effortlessly down. He repeated the jump on two other signs before leaving. Awe struck, Scooter asked, “How does he do that? He’s like a frog. He’s a frog boy.”

On the wall of the elementary school gym were mounted horizontal wooden bars used for climbing and exercising. Waiting for PE class to start, Scooter climbed up the bars. Using the bars, ropes pulled over against the wall, and window ledges, she climbed three-quarters of the way to the ceiling. Her teacher, Kikkawa-Sensei, looked up and shook his head. “Our American monkey,” he announced, motioning for her to come down for class.