Mr. Kazuyuki Iida, an 80-year-old painter who lives in Obihiro City, spent more than 30 years teaching painting and the importance of carrying through with the things that you do at Obihiro Juvenile Training School which was scheduled to close on April 1, 2022.

It all started in mid-1980s when Obihiro Juvenile Training School asked Mr. Iida, who was a painting teacher at that time, to teach painting as a volunteer aiding the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders so they can return to society. He was in his 40s and was very busy, but he accepted the offer, planning to do it only for one year as he had experienced many hardships and sympathized very much with the children.

Since then, he has taught watercolor painting and drawing about twice a month for more than 30 years. The goal of his class is to, instead of giving technical guidance, help each student complete a work of art. Forbidding the students from talking, the teacher perseveringly watched each student until they complete their work. Introducing many special classes taught by local volunteers, the Juvenile Training School has accepted children with intellectual or developmental disorders since 2012 and also put a lot of effort into emotional education for the students to nurture ways of thinking and people skills. "Mr. Iida's class based on his experience and personality gives the boys a lot to learn from," says Director Sowa of the Juvenile Training School.

His childhood experience is the background behind his activities. His parents divorced when he was an elementary school student. Poverty and loneliness drove him to fight often with classmates. When he graduated from junior high school, he dreamed of becoming an art teacher but gave this up because of poverty. After graduating from junior high school, Mr. Iida got a job painting movie signboards in Obihiro. About a dozen years later, however, the popularization of television drove the film industry into a decline. The company he worked for went bankrupt, leaving him unemployed. He was at a loss, and then met an art teacher at the junior high school that Mr. Iida had attended by chance. The ex-teacher encouraged Mr. Iida to resume painting, which he had liked to do. As a consequence, he became a painter in the latter half of his 20s. Using the three colors he could barely afford to buy, he became engrossed in painting. When he was painting on a white canvas, that was the only time he was able to forget everything unpleasant. He submitted his completed works to competitions, winning a series of awards in Obihiro City, Hokkaido and Tokyo. This was first time for him to win recognition. Since then, his life has turned for the better. Subsequently, he taught himself pastel painting and broadened his career as a painter. A local high school offered him a job as an art teacher, which he accepted, working at that job for more than ten years.

Based on his own experience and through painting, the Juvenile Training School taught the importance of finding the things that you can become absorbed in. "You may not be good at painting. Find something that you can be absorbed in, whether it is singing, writing or anything else. Then you will not give up on your life. If you do not give up, your path forward will open up some day." Obihiro Juvenile Training School stopped teaching classes in the end of August 2021. A few days after his final class, Mr. Iida received a letter of thanks from a student via the Juvenile Training School. The letter said the teacher's classes led the student to dream of becoming an illustrator after leaving the training school. Mr. Iida's heart, communicated through painting for over 30 years, will continue to impact many boys for a long time.

We are deeply impressed by how Mr. Iida spent more than 30 years sincerely working with children and conscientiously teaching painting. The teachings of Mr. Iida, whose goal was to complete a work of art, convey a warm-hearted message encouraging children to always continue to try and not give up or be discouraged. There must be some feelings that can only be shared among people whose family background is complicated. It is as if he was showing the students how to converse with one another through painting in a classroom where talking was prohibited.