over his experience. However, he has never forgotten even one moment in his lifetime about his loved ones. When it comes to making fun things, he has to make new tops and toys, which brings smile and happy moments to anyone.
When it comes to making new tops and toys, he is always curious about the movement of everything around him. Sometimes, it is that of things. Sometimes, it is that of people. His love for the lost during World War II moves him forward. He loves to see people smile and with whom he can share fun. Through his career he enriched himself. His richness in his character attracts many people who are very intelligent, interesting and highly educated. At the same time, he attracts ordinary people and children owing to the resourcefulness of making fun things.
When you read this book, Masaaki Hiroi would like you to take some time to think what culture means. What is culture to you? Is it a part of social status? Or, is it something else? If a person has some valuables from an old age, does that mean that the person knows “culture?” Masaaki Hiroi would say, “No.” If you were asked what culture is, what would you answer? I would like you to find your own answer of “what culture is” and “the meaning of culture”, which is my life-long question. My grandmother was from one of the most well-known prominent aristocratic families in Japan and I was always told the importance of culture by my grandmother. I was blessed to see various cultural exhibits and artworks thanks to my grandmother but the definition of culture has always been my big question. Masaaki Hiroi gave me a lot of clue to finding answers to the questions.
As a professional craftsman to make Edo tops, which is a part of Japanese culture, Masaaki Hiroi has strong opinions about the role of culture and a reason why he devotes his life to making Edo tops. Masaaki Hiroi thinks culture is something that you can find fun moments in it and make you comfortable. Culture should play important roles in learning and enjoying your lives to make a difference.
These days, one thing that Masaaki Hiroi laments a lot is that many children in Japan do not know how to enjoy themselves. Japan produces a lot of virtual games, but Masaaki Hiroi thinks they do not provide “pleasurable” moments or “sparkling moments” like old toys, which stir imagination. A lot of Japanese children care whether they get the right clue to reach their goals, winning. Winning and losing the games have nothing to do with culture. To his surprise, there are answer books to such games. According to him, winning virtual games cannot be a goal, culture. Understanding culture is an “endless journey” to pursue to make a difference.
Culture should play an important role to teach children to enjoy the moment they are living. These days a lot of Japanese children are not well disciplined. This is seen in his exhibits. When they break Masaak Hiroi’s tops or wooden toys in the exhibit, they do not even say, “I’m sorry.” What is happening in Japan?
Cultural exchange activities among different cultures are important. Cultural exchange activity is one important means to understand each other’s culture. Cultural exchange activity leads not only to understand each other but also to give opportunities to see your own culture from outside. At the same time, you could deepen the understanding of your own culture.
Through playing virtual games, children feel sense of achievement by using answer guides. There are no guidebooks to find answers to the problems which people worldwide are facing. Furthermore, child psychologists are warning such games do young children’s brains harm. Masaaki Hiroi does not say that people should not play such games.
We have to live our own lives. And, culture gives you a lot of clues to make people think and grow up as mature individuals. Knowing your own culture is one important way to grown up. However, if you do not become aware of the true meaning of culture, culture means nothing.
If you did not have room to have playfulness which is a part of culture, life would not be fun. Culture cultivates children’s mind, which leads to expand their imagination. Masaaki Hiroi believes that cultural education is important for children.
At the same time, toys have played important roles in teaching moral and cultural education. Culture plays a very important role in teaching children morality unique to individual countries. Through playing with traditional toys, children used to learn morality and how to take good care of things. Culture is an important part of education. This topic is written in Chapter 11.
Virtual games might be exiting but they never produce warm, comfortable feelings through touching and playing toys. They are virtual and not real, so you can not touch them. For example, to spin a top, you have to know how to spin tops with your fingers. You may fail to spin standard tops until you master how to use your fingers well enough to spin them. However, “failing” is one step to learn something and grow up.
Masaaki Hiroi makes a lot of kinds of standard tops which require thick thread. Those who know how to deal with thread would not think it would be difficult to wind thread around those tops. The stunning and shocking fact is that those children who only know how to push buttons of virtual games or who do not learn to do any daily chores usually have no idea how to wind thread around the tops. It is an easy task to wind thread around the tops, but some children give up dealing with thread easily and even start to cry. When they want to see his tops sinning, they tend to depend on adults. They never try to play with them by themselves. They will never appreciate what they have around them. Some children do not even recognize tops as toys and see the tops wonder what they are.
It is such a shame that, these days, there are a lot of Japanese children who are never taught the “pleasure” of using their hands and mind to play and are only spoiled. This is really happening in Japan especially among young children. Japanese children used to learn a lot of things by playing with Japanese traditional toys like tops, which is missing from Japanese culture.
Using hands well is important in many ways. Culture has played a very important role in learning basic movements using hands for children. Fishing, for example, needs reels and thread. Making plastic models would be fun if you had clever hands.
Before, children used to learn some basic movements which were important in their daily lives through playing with toys. And, this is part of “the role of culture.” Masaaki Hiroi hopes those who read this book will have some idea about the Japanese play culture and also enjoy what it is like.
To enjoy Masaaki Hiroi’s tops fully, you need to use your own hands well. Furthermore, handling your hands well leads you to improve your ideas in many ways. When Masaaki Hiroi talks about the basic roles of culture, he mentions the importance of cultural exchange among other cultures. Some of his stories are written in Chapter 8 in this book.
Masaaki Hiroi loves to see sparkle in children’s eyes when they are surprised to see his tops spin beyond their expectation. This is one of the reasons why he visited countries even in political turmoil. He knew that visiting such countries was dangerous, but he could not help visiting them because he wanted to give a moment of peace to the children in those countries even though his deed might have been a little. He knows how hard life would be for children in such countries through his experience during World War II.
Masaaki Hiroi and his friends starved and experienced a hard time during World War II, but they secretly hid tops, called Bei Koma, Bei tops, part of which were made of iron, even though the government in those days forced every citizen to donate all iron to Japan.
They also played with the wooden tops Masaaki Hiroi made. He has treasured the fun memory he had during his childhood with the lost. He believes that children have capability to find fun anywhere and anyplace even at hard times. He loves children a lot and wants them to be happy even a short time and encourage them to live to the full. When I talk with him, I always feel his warm-heartedness for people.
Masaaki Hiroi is a self-taught man. His endless curiosity has brought forth his original tops. He is a man of wisdom. He did not like the education he was given from the government during World War II. So, he was skeptical about the pre-war education, which was always about sacrifices and killing.
He first learned how to make tops and how to be a good blacksmith from his father. Through top-making exhibitions he got to know many interesting people, such as highly educated people, including prominent physicists. He always has strong desire to learn. He will often laugh and say to me, “I myself am a