TOKYO: 1st October, '04 --  'Gakuen' (or Gakuin) is a Romaji version of a Japanese word that turns up often enough in the Salesian Yearbook under the Japanese section.  It means school or institute, or academy.  It may well be the address of the Salesian primary and middle school in Tokyo, but there is more to the work than a school.  At the heart of it all is an impressive Salesian work for disadvantaged youth, which the four Salesians in the community would say is satisfying, at times exciting and always exhausting.  Their story deserves to be heard.

    The writer recalls a visit to this work not so long ago, and the most minor of incidents which warmed his heart!  The obligatory tour of the school, just after classes had ceased for the day and many boys had either not moved off to their boarding section or to home, depending on their circumstances. A tennis shoe came whizzing across the staircase at head-high level; embarassing for the Principal but handled with all due gentleness.  The writer recalls the same thing happening at a school where he was in charge!  This is real life, after all.

    The boys are not easy to deal with at Tokyo Gakuen, especially if they are not at school, and all due care has still to be exercised towards them in the house.  The facilities are excellent, the style interesting - a kind of youth village in group homes, which calls for dedicated lay assistance, and they have that too.

    There is an important quality very much alive here though, again from the writer's experience: the warmth and hospitality, the readiness to welcome, in the midst of an over-demanding schedule.  It will be one of the reasons, one suspects, why the second half of the Provincial Chapter, now in session and focusing directly on the needs for restructuring, will see this work as worthy of continued evaluation and support.  The other reason would be the enthusiasm of the four confreres who work there!