Shuntaro Tanikawa was by far the most famous poet in postwar Japan and passed away at the age of 92 this year. It was difficult even for him to support himself solely by selling "pure" poetry books, and he engaged in a variety of tasks such as translation, copywriting, and more. I heard that writing lyrics for school songs was especially good work financially for him.
When the elementary school my son attended merged with another school, the teachers asked Mr. Tanikawa to write lyrics for a new school song. They were very proud of this because he was a kind of authority. However, when it came time to finally start the new school in April, the lyrics for the school song hadn't arrived. The teachers were troubled and sad, but they had no choice but to hold the opening ceremony without the school song. I assume they couldn’t pressure him because he was such an esteemed figure.
My son, who was in fifth grade at that time, tweeted him in May and asked, "Haven't you written the lyrics for the Akinohi Elementary School song yet?" And a few days later, they finally arrived.
Your son is the real hero here :P
@Ersatzjello Yes, but to be honest, the lyrics weren’t that good in my opinion. Shuntaro Tanikawa was undoubtedly a great poet, but it's not easy to write lyrics for a bunch of school songs.
How common are school songs in Japan. In the UK we don't really have them?
@t4up3 In Japan, elementary, junior high, and high schools almost always have a school song. We usually sing the school song at events and ceremonies.
In high school (1963) we had a not exactly a school song but a school cheer: Rangers, Rangers they're the best. They're the best of all the rest. Aye, aye the Rangers are the best .....and so on. The tune was also not of especially great quality. So no school is going to do much worse than that.
@Bennatan Hahaha! I'd really love to hear it! After writing this post, I did some research on Shuntaro Tanikawa and school songs, and I'm thinking about writing more on this topic.
自分が通った学校の校歌をどれ一つ思い出せません🥹息子さんの行動力が素晴らしいです！
@Aki_ 息子はそのまま遠慮しない大人に育ちました。家で英語を勉強しているところを文字通り一切見たことがないですが、ヒップホップをたくさん完コピしたので英語をしゃべるのと聴くのは受験勉強ガチ勢の私よりできるのです。ムカつくので数年かけて見返そうと計画しています。