{"id":359,"date":"2008-09-25T19:07:41","date_gmt":"2008-09-25T19:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=359"},"modified":"2008-09-29T19:28:38","modified_gmt":"2008-09-29T19:28:38","slug":"the-little-travelers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/library\/reviews\/the-little-travelers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Little Travelers: Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE LITTLE TRAVELERS<\/strong><\/p>\n

A JET Alum\u2019s Unique Approach\u00a0 to Children\u2019s Videos<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reviewed by Lyle Sylvander (Yokohama-shi, 2001-02) & Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94)
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Looking for a video that\u2019s natukashii<\/em> for JET alums, educational for kids and omoshiroi<\/em> for all ages?<\/p>\n

Well, a member of the JET alum community may have just what you need.\u00a0 And no, it\u2019s not called Barney\u2019s Japanese Campfire Sing-Along<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Little Travelers Productions<\/strong> (www.thelittletravelers.com<\/a>) was formed by the husband and wife team of Mike Hart<\/strong> (Mie-ken, CIR1994-1995) and Angelina Hart<\/strong>.\u00a0 After JET, Mike worked for Kirin Trading Company in California and spent several years leading customized culinary, garden and art tours of Japan.\u00a0 He met Angelina, now a child development specialist, while in a psychology master\u2019s program.\u00a0 Realizing that the vast majority of children\u2019s videos were either mind-numbingly oversimplified or woefully inadequate in educating children about foreign cultures, the couple embarked on an ambitious plan to fill the gap:\u00a0 They decided to produce videos that introduced young children to foreign cultures through deep immersion and daily living.\u00a0 Using their own two gregarious and inquisitive children as narrators and guides, the company launched its first DVD, Little Travelers: Japan, earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Little Travelers<\/em> adopts the single-camera point-of-view perspective of the ubiquitous cable show Globe Trekker<\/em>.\u00a0 Unlike that series, however, Little Travelers does not confine itself to the impressions of the passive tourist.\u00a0 Rather, there is a serious attempt to explore the deep cultural experiences of living within another culture.\u00a0 Mr. Hart\u2019s experiences living in Japan have no doubt inspired the narrative.\u00a0 Indeed, if there were a JET program for toddlers, this would be an ideal initiation video.<\/p>\n

The video begins with the two girls, named Chantelle<\/strong> and Nakia<\/strong>, anxiously leaving the familiarity of California for their new home in the Kansai area.\u00a0\u00a0 Getting acquainted with their new home involves such cultural adjustments as sleeping on a futon, hang drying the laundry and using a rice cooker.\u00a0 Soon, the children visit the local grocery and department stores, observing how different shopping habits fulfill familiar shopping needs.\u00a0 They are introduced to such uniquely Japanese food items as sushi, mochi<\/em>, onigiri<\/em> and bento boxes.<\/p>\n

Once acclimated to their surroundings, the children explore the divergent cultural aspects of Japan.\u00a0 They attend nursery school, make friends, learn some hiragana<\/em>, katakana<\/em> and kanji<\/em>, write calligraphy, bang taiko<\/em> drums, visit a mask maker and a pottery maker and have tea with a Shinto priest.\u00a0 Throughout all of this, we are shown gorgeously shot postcard images of old Kyoto, complete with cherry blossoms.\u00a0 The video ends with a visit to a ninja exhibit.\u00a0 While ninjas may not be Japan\u2019s most lasting contribution to world heritage, they are no doubt of great interest to young male viewers.\u00a0 In short, this video has something for everyone.<\/p>\n

Little Travelers<\/em> also has one other video on the market \u2014 Little Travelers: Bali<\/em> \u2014 and is currently shooting an episode in Ireland and Scotland.\u00a0 If all goes to plan, the company will shoot yet another in Iran (of all places) sometime next year.<\/p>\n

In addition to increasing cultural awareness, Mike hopes that this series will inspire children to travel and see the world, something that he himself did not do as a child.\u00a0 While growing up, he laments, his parents only took him on one long distance trip \u2013 to Disney World \u2013 and nixed his plan to live in Spain as a high school exchange student.\u00a0 With numerous trips to Japan and elsewhere under his belt since then, he has certainly made up for lost ground and his children will be unlikely to lodge similar complaints towards him.
\nLittle Travelers: Japan<\/em> is a fine introduction to this series and is a harbinger of much success and travels to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE LITTLE TRAVELERS A JET Alum\u2019s Unique Approach\u00a0 to Children\u2019s Videos Reviewed by Lyle Sylvander (Yokohama-shi, 2001-02) & Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) Looking for a video that\u2019s natukashii for JET alums, educational for kids and omoshiroi for all ages? Well, a member of the JET alum community may have just what you need.\u00a0 And no, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":59,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-359","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PkZ7m-5N","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":690,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/359\/revisions\/690"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/59"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}