Rakugo is a great way to hone one’s imagination”…Former TBS Yuko Aoki, “Failures and reflections are also learning”, in her “Struggles of Raising a Child”.

You know how mothers say it’s important to try even if you fail!”

Yuko Aoki, 41, a former TBS announcer, who had hesitated to attend a piano recital in late March, was encouraged by her sons’ words. Despite feeling embarrassed, she “took on the challenge” of attending the recital. She performed the famous song “When You Wish Upon a Star. Aoki recalls.

My sons taught me a lot. I always talked about the importance of experiencing things. As a mother, I couldn’t be hesitant. I attended the piano recital because my sons had attended the class. I wasn’t good enough to show them off to the public, but I was able to ……”.

Aoki, who has two boys, ages 10 and 8, emphasizes “experience” in raising her children. Siohigari (ebb and flow clamming), taste picking, and firefly watching……. She tries to give her sons seasonal experiences according to the season.

On April 19, Aoki compiled her child-rearing essays, which were serialized on the website of the lifestyle magazine “FRaU,” into a book titled “Sansai kara no Kosodate Shikki (A Child-rearing Chronicle from Age Three)” (Kodansha Ltd.). Ms. Aoki, who humbly states that she is “not an excellent mother by any means,” hopes that her essays will be “even a little interesting,” and tells episodes of her child-rearing experiences, including failures and reflections, along with specific examples of “experiences” she has had with her own children throughout the year.

Humans and plants are the same.

I always knew that ‘experience is important,'” Aoki said. But I didn’t know what to do. I thought I had to do something special, like climbing Mt. Takao (Hachioji City, Tokyo) because everyone else was going there or traveling abroad to see beautiful scenery.

I began to be aware of the elementary school entrance examinations and heard about them from cram school teachers and others, and it was an eye-opener for me. Even something that can be done easily at home can become a great hands-on education, depending on how you are aware of it. I realized that the way you approach things can increase the amount of fun you can have.

One of the experiences Aoki had with his sons was a vegetable garden.

We grew mini-tomatoes and corn on our balcony and in a rented field. Of course, you can’t just plant something and expect it to grow on its own. We had to water the plants and weed them, which was hard work. The corn that had grown so well was eaten by civets, and I once screamed when I saw a large number of aphids.

But I think the children learned that plants, like people, are not easy to grow and that things don’t always work out as expected. They can also realize what color and shape the flowers and trunks have. Because of the hard work, it is a great joy when they are able to harvest the harvest. The children were proud of the fact that they had grown their own vegetables.”

Analog work is also instructive.

For example, in the summer, we write summer greeting cards to our school teachers and friends. In this age of digital communication, where we can easily get in touch with people via e-mail or LINE, just writing the name of the person to whom the postcard is addressed must be a difficult task. On the other hand, I think it is very meaningful to think about what kind of picture you should draw on the postcard to make the recipient happy and what kind of words you should use to convey your feelings. It may not be efficient, but I think that by taking the time and effort, we can better consider the recipients of our letters.

Experiential learning can also be done around the home. For example, by observing the fruit and seafood sections of a supermarket, one can learn what is in season, and by going to a library, one can learn that one must read quietly and return books to their original place.

Tamao Akae’s~.

It is also important to expand children’s interests and concerns.

As soon as Corona went viral, I started using my own car instead of public transportation. In the car, I played TBS radio. Then my second son, who was a kindergartener, learned what was being broadcast and started imitating it, saying, ‘Tamao Akae’s -‘ I thought if he was going to imitate me, he might as well do it. I decided that if he was going to imitate me, I might as well play Rakugo. At first I played CDs, then Rakugo DⅤD for children, and so on.

My son was completely hooked. After studying, he started going to a rakugo theater, and when he worked hard, he was rewarded with a fan that allowed him to pretend to be a rakugo performer. Rakugo is a form of Japanese comic storytelling in which the performer plays several roles on the cushion, and I think it is a great way to hone one’s imagination. I think it’s a great way to hone your imagination.

Fortunately, her husband, Hiroyuki Yabe of “Ninety-Nine,” is understanding of Aoki’s educational policy, saying, “Yes, I agree. Even so, Aoki sometimes finds herself demanding results, and she continues to raise her child while reflecting on her own words and actions. She says she wishes she could share her struggles with other mothers who are raising their children as hard as she does.

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Yuko Aoki was born on January 7, 1983. After graduating from Keio University in March 2005, she joined TBS as an announcer. She has been in charge of many programs including “Sunday Japon” and “NEWS23X,” as well as variety, news, and sports programs, and has attracted attention for her innocent personality. She left TBS at the end of December 2012. She left TBS at the end of December 2012 to work as a freelance announcer. She is currently expanding her activities to include modeling and narration.