I thought I would post one or two more from our son Brian's experience in Japan, in this case a bunch of kids and Brian getting ready for a group portrait. I love looking at candid photos of groups - there is so much to look at.

One of the things that struck me about the Japanese pre-school we visited was the degree to which "play" was part of the learning process. I think you would find this in most pre-schools. In most societies, though, once "real" education starts, we start to discourage play. That's too bad because I think that playing with things is how we learn and create.

The Google corporation understands this and that's why they have what is called "Twenty Percent Time." Google engineers get to spend 20% of their time working on things that aren't necessarily part of their job description. The get to play, experiment and tinker. What a great idea!