Totto-chan: The Little Girl in the Window

Summary

Totto-chan and her Mother got off the Oimachi Train at Jiyugaoka Station. (2) Her mother

had a flash back about Totto-chan’s previous school and teacher. (3) They went to a new school,

Tomoe, that had railroad cars as classrooms. (4) The railroad cars attracted Totto-chan and said she like it very much. (5) Totto-chan met the headmaster and was then accepted as a student of Tomoe after the long conversation. (6) The headmaster showed Totto-chan the assembly hall where students ate their lunch. (7) She left the house by herself towards the train station. (8) She arrived before anyone else. (9) She found a new friend named Yasuaki Yamamoto who had had polio. (10) Every lunch time, the headmaster inspects every lunch box if there were something from the ocean and something from the hills (p.33). The students always sang “Chew it well” before eating their lunch and enjoy a pleasant conversation. (12) The class went out for a walk—a time of freedom and play for them (p.39). (13) The children wanted a school song but they didn’t like the song the headmaster made and soon they forgot about wanting one. (14) Totto-chan accidentally dropped her purse in the toilet and tried her best to recover it but failed. (15) Totto-chan’s real name is Tetsuko but her father called her Totsky. (16) Totto-chan loved to listen to rakugo comedians. (17) The children went back to school the night when the new trailer for a library arrived.(18) The headmaster let the children swim without swimsuits to teach the children that all their bodies are beautiful and also to prevent the handicapped children on develop inferiority complex. (19) Totto-chan received her report card and was happy about it although she didn’t know yet whether A was better than B. (20) The children went camping inside the assembly hall and learned how to put up a tent. (21) Totto-chan helped Yasuaki climb her tree and it was the first and the last time he ever climbed a tree (p.64). (22) A bravery test was held in Kuhonbutsu Temple and after it, the children never got afraid of ghosts anymore. (23) Totto-chan loved to peek in at her Dad’s rehearsal hall. (24) The students went on a trip to enjoy the sea and hot spring in Toi . (25) Totto-chan’s class began with training the body to understand rhythm—eurhythmics. (26) Totto-chan made her parents buy cheeks but the cheeks eventually died after few. (27) The headmaster had always asked the parents to send their children to school at Tomoe wearing their worst clothes. (28) A new student arrived from Osaka named Takahashi that had body abnormalities and Totto-chan became friends with him. (29) Totto-chan had the tendency to jump on something she found interesting so her mother reminded her to “Look before you leap” (p.90). (30) The headmaster assigned different children each day to tell something in front of everybody in order to learn how to get up in front of people. (31) When Totto-chan got bitten by Rocky accidentally, Totto-chan didn’t mind the wound but instead was worried that her parents might take away Rocky. (32) November three was the Sport’s Day of Tomoe and Takahashi surprisingly won all the first prizes for winning all the events. (33)The children liked to call the headmaster Issa Kobayashi. (34) Totto-chan found a five-sen and she hid it and then the following they she couldn’t find it anymore on where she left it. (35) Totto-chan saw children talking by the use of their hands and wanted to make friends with them someday but she didn’t know yet about deaf people. (36) Mr. Maruyama and the students went to the Temple of Sengakuji to pay respect to the Forty Seven Ronin. (37) Masow-chaan, a Korean who people spoke ill of because of his native origin but Totto-chan made up her mind that she will become his friend. (38) Totto-chan’s pigtails were pulled by Oe and got scolded for doing so. (39) She met Schneider, a world famous skier that invited her to sit down on his skis. (40) The new railroad car became a library and became their favorite gathering place. (41)The first time Totto-chan saw the headmaster angry is when Totto-chan’s homeroom teacher thoughtlessly asked Takahashi if he had a tail. (42) A boy, one grade above her, was transferred to another school. (43) After watching Swan Lake Totto-chan wanted to become a so she took lessons but later stopped because she loved Swan Lake more than free ballet. (4) A farming teacher taught the students all about farming and let them plant seeds themselves. (45) The students enjoyed the meal they made in the woods. (46) Mr. Kobayashi kept on repeating that Totto-chan was a really good girl (p.141) (47) Tai-chan refused to marry Totto-chan one day because she beat him in a sumo-wrestling match. (48) Totto-chan started to chant that Tomoe was a wonderful school and her fellow students joined her. (49) Totto-chan did not wear anymore the imported hair ribbon to save trouble for the headmaster about Miyo-chan’s pestering about it. (50) Totto-chan went with other children from other schools to visit the wounded soldiers and she sang Chew it Well. (51) A man sold a health bark to Totto-chan and made everyone bite it to know if they were healthy or not. (52) A new student from America named Miyazaki came and shared many things to the other Tomoe students. (53) A first and last amateur drama of Tomoe and Totto-chan was not able to take part in it because of the trouble she would have had caused. (54) The headmaster used the floor of the assembly hall as a big chalkboard for writing rhythms. (55) They went to Yasuaki-chan’s funeral and Totto-chan’s cheeks were wet with tears. (56) Totto-chan wondered about what she would like to be when she grows up. (57) Totto-chan’s Dad refused to play war time music (p.175) and it made their life hard since to concerts were becoming scarce. (58) Totto-chan promised to be a teacher in Tomoe one day.(59) After coming home from Kamakura, Totto-chan was not able to find Rocky that seemed had died. (60) Ryo-chan, the janitor of Tomoe, was given a Tea party (farewell party) and then left to war before the American airplanes arrived with bombs. (61) Incendiary bombs fell on Tomoe School and the citizens of Jijugaoka (including Totto-chan) went northeast via evacuation train.

CHARACTERS

• Tetsuko Kuroyanagi (Totto-chan) à the “good girl” that promised to be a teacher in Tomoe School someday.
• Mother à the caring and understanding mother of Totto-chan
• Father à the supportive father of Totto-chan and took pride of his ideals as a musician.
• Sosaku Kobayashi à the headmaster of Tomoe School and the one who made a big influence to the life of Tomoe students
• Rocky à a German shepherd and close friend of Totto-chan
• Akira Takahashi à a dwarf; won all prizes on Sports Day
• Miyo Kaneko à third daughter of the headmaster
• Sakko Matsuyama à girl with large eyes who was wearing a pinafore with rabbit on it

• Taiji Yamanouchi à the one who said he wouldn’t marry Totto-chan
• Kunio Oe à the one who pulled Totto-chan’s pig-tails
• Kazuo Amadera à he loved animals and wanted to become a veterinarian
• Aiko Saisho à a very sedate and proper young lady
• Keiko Aoki à the one who said that her chickens could fly
• Yoichi Migita à boy who kept promising to bring funeral dumplings
• Ryo-chan à the janitor who ent off to war but survived

GLOSSARY

• Adamant (p. 165) à very hard
• Connoisseur (p. 168)à critical judge
• Torrent (p. 139) à violent stream
• Affably (p.87) à kindly
• Dilapidated (p. 71) à decayed

REVIEW

The book is all about a little girl named Totto-chan during the time of her stay in Tomoe School before the Second World War. Tomoe School was established by Sosaku Kobayashi. The educational system he used was doubted by some and was also superficially judged. He believed that all children are born with an innate good nature. His aim was to uncover their good nature and develop it so that the children would grow into people with individuality (p. 191).

The whole book itself is unique. Except for the fact that there are few educational books written for adults, particularly parents and teachers, that are actually read by children from the age of seven, its uniqueness is also determined by the true life experiences of the author—Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, renowned actress of Japan, hoped that the book would be instructive for schoolteachers and young mothers to know that there was once a headmaster like Mr. Kobayashi (p. 191.) More than she had been expecting, the book gave a great impact not just throughout Japan but also throughout the world. The book does not only show different philosophical depth but also what proper education should be. It also shows what many schools in the Philippines lack—touch of passion and creativity. Its only weakness is that it lacks creative description of the events

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi is clearly not Shakespeare or Alexandre Dumas when it comes to style in writing but this book just proves that a person is not required to be such poets and writers to touch the hearts of the people. The book inspired me and taught me what education should be and what I should be as a teacher. Frankly, I don’t like the book. I love it.

by: Carandang, Ma. Theresa B.