Jan Ken Po

When I was a little girl growing up in Japan, many, many decisions were made by Jan Ken Po, known as "Rock, Paper, Scissors" in America.  Nobody in my Japanese yochien (preschool/kindergarten) or gakkoo (school) needed instructions on how to play the game.  I have no memory of learning how to play it, or ever teaching anyone in Japan, even a little little one, how to play it.  The knowledge of how to jan ken po was in our water, in our air, in our DNA.

To pick teams, to decide who got the last osenbei (cracker,) to decide who would be "it" when we played Kick The Can, we always started with jan ken po; You never knew who would win, or what would happen.

I am calling my blog  "Jan Ken Po Stories," because I am not sure yet what I'm going to be posting.  I do know I will want to tell some stories about growing up in Japan, but I will also want to talk about what is happening to me today, here in North Carolina.  You never know what's going to happen.  Aren't we lucky that we don't?!

Artwork By John Marshall