Abacus

Michele, who is a wonderful writer, full of wisdom and knowlege and who often shows beautiful pictures of her homeland in Alaska, tagged me the other day to show the fourth picture in the fourth file of a collection and with a few clicks I came upon a picture of someone doing the accounting at my church. You know, counting the offerings in the collection plate and turning in a report. I thought it was very typically Japanese.

It used to be that all the mom and pop shops along the streets and in the neighborhood had a rickety, dinging cash register and alongside it a well worn abacus called a soroban in Japanese. I even remember my grandfather boasting that he was faster at using the soroban than most people are at using a calculator. It also used to be that if any woman wanted to hold down a job; and in the past the only jobs available for young women were office lady jobs (referred to in Japan as OL), then she must have attained a certain ranking in abacus classes. Of course nowadays I think being able to use a computer is a more marketable skill in the working world.

My kids were instructed to buy an abacus around 3rd grade and they were taught the rudimentary workings at school but I don't think they gained any great skill. I know I have a couple children who come to English and who also go to abacus school once a week (2nd graders). They are involved in calculating competitions and working up their speed however I don't think parents consider this as necessary a skill as it used be. (Advertisement for abacus school from the Internet).