THE JAPAN NEWS

 

Japan’s low birthrate is reflected in various aspects of society, including volunteer activities aimed at reading picture books aloud to children at a library in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.

The municipally run library, which has a collection of books aimed at children, is home to a read-aloud program called ohanashi-kai. The event has long been conducted by a group of volunteers, including Yoshiko Shiraiwa, 78.

Sitting in front of 12 kindergarten pupils in a second-story room in the library recently, Shiraiwa started reading “Mori-no-naka,” a Japanese-language version of an American illustrated book titled “In the Forest.”

Before Shiraiwa started, some of the children appeared restless, and others chatted to the kids they were sitting next to. But once Shiraiwa started reading the book, all the children quickly got lost in listening to her, as if they were drawn into her storytelling.

“That’s all,” Shiraiwa said when she closed the book. The children’s faces relaxed, as if the spell had been broken.
“I liked it,” one of them said.

The ohanashi-kai meeting started when the library opened in 1974, during the latter period of the second baby boom, in which women in the baby boom generation were reaching childbearing age. About 2.03 million babies were born nationwide in 1974. In Yokosuka alone, the city saw a record 7,200 babies born a year earlier.

 

The twice-a-month ohanashi-kai was attended by more than 40 children each time, mainly primary school students. Some children had to stand as they listened because it was too crowded to sit.

However, as the birthrate has continued to decline since, the circumstances surrounding children have changed. This included the advent of video games, the spread of juku (private after-school cram schools) and lessons for personal accomplishments, coupled with an increasing number of working mothers.

This resulted in a gradual decline in the number of ohanashi-kai gatherings for children. Haruyo Suzuki, 81, a fellow volunteer, remembers only two children attending a meeting one day.

“I begged them not to leave, saying, ‘Please don’t go home,’” she said.
In 1994, Shiraiwa’s group approached primary schools in several parts of Yokosuka with an offer to read books to children aloud for free, instead of waiting for them to attend their program. This was the start of the group’s on-demand program at school, which has continued to this day.

The children’s library is looking for new roles it can play today. In the hopes of sharing the appeal of books with children of various ages, the library has started regularly giving ohanashi-kai meetings intended for children up to the age of 2. At this event, mothers and children sit in a circle and enjoy a read-to-children program, playing with toys and singing nursery songs.

This gathering attracts many people each time, presumably because of an increasing number of mothers who spend a lot of solitary time only with their children amid the nuclearization of the family.

“This city has only a few places where I can meet parents my own age who bring their children with them,” said a 40-year-old woman who joined the event with her 11-month-old daughter. “I’m relieved to feel I’m not alone.”

The number of annual births has halved to about 1 million over the past 40 years. In Yokosuka, the figure has dropped to one-third or about 2,600 annually over the same period. Shiraiwa feels children will remain the same, despite changing times. “At any age, children can instantly tell a story is good and empathize with it. It’s amazing,” she said.

About 15 years ago, Suzuki visited a pharmacy in her neighborhood to buy a toothbrush. A woman who worked at the register said to her, “I grew up listening to your storytelling.”
The unknown woman’s somewhat shy voice has stayed with Suzuki all these years.


By Masaki Takakura / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer