To answer many questions - Yes, I am fine from the earthquake. I didn't feel it at all! Thank goodness!
My friend Corey that I visited in Korea is coming to my town! We will meet Tuesday night in Sendai City and spend the night there. Then, my very first visitor will come see the place I call home! So excited! =) Have a great week, everyone! I will!
Monday, March 26, 2007
Saturday, March 24, 2007
sayonnara
Friday marked the end of the school, I now have two weeks of spring vacation. What that translates to me is two weeks of sitting at my desk with no work to do, no classes to teach and no job expectations. When the students come back, they will be one grade higher.
This also means to me a whole new work environment. In Japan, teachers move around from school to school for most of their career. Many of us believe this is so that any one school will not have an overflow of talented, dedicated and passionate teachers. On 1:00pm on Friday, every school in the country announces to the teachers who is staying at the school and who will be moving on to their next work environment. The teachers are informed privately ahead of time but are expected to keep it a secret from everyone. They are not able to decide if they stay, leave, or where they are going to go next. The prefecture decides all these details.
1:00 on Friday, we all sat in the teacher's office. The principal of the school announces the teacher's name of who will be leaving; that teacher stands and the principal continues to inform everyone of which school they will be going to. This is the first time all the teacher's know who won't be around anymore. After the 10 minute announcement, all the teachers stand and bow to one another and walk around the room, saying their goodbye's.
Basically, if you're a young teacher - I think your first 3 or 4 years, a teacher is guaranteed to be moved around after their year completed at one school. Usually after 3 or 4 years, a teacher is able to stick around the same school for a while. I think the cap of those years is 7 or 8 years and then they will be moved to their next school as well.
My school is having a major turnover this year, 10 teachers are leaving. 10 teachers that I have worked hard with to establish comfortable relationships with. I'm pretty dissapointed with who will be leaving, honestly all 10 of them I have created decent relationships with. It was a huge blow to me, to see them all go. One of them including, Mitsue my young Japanese teacher.
On Friday night, we had a "farewell party" for all the teacher's that will head out. It was really emotional, everyone crying. Myself included feeling really emotional, I was trying not to cry. We had dinner; following dinner speeches began. One teacher that is staying presents one teacher that is leaving with flowers and gives a small speech about how they will be missed or inside jokes. Tears were shed. Then, everyone chats for a little while, taking turns going from person to person saying goodbye. After that, each teacher that is leaving gives a speech about their time spent at the school, more crying involved. Afterwards, we all went to Karaoke.
My opinion, as an outsider evaluating my life around me, is it seems so destructive to the lives of these people. Some have to move hundreds of miles in under two weeks, now bringing them even further away from their family. Then, having to re-establish yourself in a new work environment with a new town, new students, everything. Everyone was clearly upset to be leaving, I just feel the negative points to moving teachers around outdoes the positive aspects. Maybe, just because I am sad to see alot of people go, and am disappointed in how hard I worked to create relationships with them. On a positive note, I hope that my other school has a better work environment. I didn't develop relationships with any of the teacher's - so I hope that I will be able to make some with the new batch of teachers.
This also means to me a whole new work environment. In Japan, teachers move around from school to school for most of their career. Many of us believe this is so that any one school will not have an overflow of talented, dedicated and passionate teachers. On 1:00pm on Friday, every school in the country announces to the teachers who is staying at the school and who will be moving on to their next work environment. The teachers are informed privately ahead of time but are expected to keep it a secret from everyone. They are not able to decide if they stay, leave, or where they are going to go next. The prefecture decides all these details.
1:00 on Friday, we all sat in the teacher's office. The principal of the school announces the teacher's name of who will be leaving; that teacher stands and the principal continues to inform everyone of which school they will be going to. This is the first time all the teacher's know who won't be around anymore. After the 10 minute announcement, all the teachers stand and bow to one another and walk around the room, saying their goodbye's.
Basically, if you're a young teacher - I think your first 3 or 4 years, a teacher is guaranteed to be moved around after their year completed at one school. Usually after 3 or 4 years, a teacher is able to stick around the same school for a while. I think the cap of those years is 7 or 8 years and then they will be moved to their next school as well.
My school is having a major turnover this year, 10 teachers are leaving. 10 teachers that I have worked hard with to establish comfortable relationships with. I'm pretty dissapointed with who will be leaving, honestly all 10 of them I have created decent relationships with. It was a huge blow to me, to see them all go. One of them including, Mitsue my young Japanese teacher.
On Friday night, we had a "farewell party" for all the teacher's that will head out. It was really emotional, everyone crying. Myself included feeling really emotional, I was trying not to cry. We had dinner; following dinner speeches began. One teacher that is staying presents one teacher that is leaving with flowers and gives a small speech about how they will be missed or inside jokes. Tears were shed. Then, everyone chats for a little while, taking turns going from person to person saying goodbye. After that, each teacher that is leaving gives a speech about their time spent at the school, more crying involved. Afterwards, we all went to Karaoke.
My opinion, as an outsider evaluating my life around me, is it seems so destructive to the lives of these people. Some have to move hundreds of miles in under two weeks, now bringing them even further away from their family. Then, having to re-establish yourself in a new work environment with a new town, new students, everything. Everyone was clearly upset to be leaving, I just feel the negative points to moving teachers around outdoes the positive aspects. Maybe, just because I am sad to see alot of people go, and am disappointed in how hard I worked to create relationships with them. On a positive note, I hope that my other school has a better work environment. I didn't develop relationships with any of the teacher's - so I hope that I will be able to make some with the new batch of teachers.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Kendo
About a month ago, I was asked by one of my adult students to have dinner at her house. I went to her house and had a delicious meal, afterwards, she asked if I would be interested in watching her son do Kendo. Kendo is the Japanese Martial Art that is similar to fencing in our culture. I had never actually witnessed this sport in person but have always been intrigued by it, mostly because of the outfit worn by a Kendo player.
I was watching a bunch of kids under the age of 12 fight eachother with bamboo sticks, called shinai when one of the sensei's (teacher) asked if I would like to give it a shot. I agreed and went out there with the kids. I practiced whacking this stick over my sensei's head for the rest of the evening. In the end, I had felt so much stress relief that I asked if it would be okay if I came again the following week. That's how it started.
I've been going for a month now, only once a week but I am welcome to join them on any of the days that they meet. They meet Monday, Wednesday and Fridays - so last week, I went on Friday, too.
I'm not really good right now. I have a lot to learn - the proper way to sit, bow, scream, hold my shinai, perfect timing to stamp my feet and hit over the head, the Japanese commands for all of this. I guess there is that old saying, can you teach an old dog new tricks? We'll see. My sensei is a really patient man - his daughter married a man from Idaho two years ago so I think he has a little understanding with possibilities of language barrier and stuff.
I wanted to understand more about Kendo so I used trusty wikipedia.
According to that site,
In the beginning, since I am the most recent learner of Kendo, I sit closest to the door. We meditate for a few minutes. Afterwards, we all bow to the student leader and then to our sensei's who are sitting in front of us. After that, it is about two hours of practice.
Kendo is really unique to me. You don't wear any shoes or socks, you are barefoot. You advance or retract from your opponent in a manner that makes it appear as if you are sort of hovering over the ground. During some thrusts or jabs, you are expected to let out screams and slam your foot on the ground at the same time. It's really hard to explain, so just watch this video. Focus on their footwork, it's amazing!
With that bit done, I am going to go get ready for Kendo practice! Maybe one of these days, I will get good enough to compete!
I was watching a bunch of kids under the age of 12 fight eachother with bamboo sticks, called shinai when one of the sensei's (teacher) asked if I would like to give it a shot. I agreed and went out there with the kids. I practiced whacking this stick over my sensei's head for the rest of the evening. In the end, I had felt so much stress relief that I asked if it would be okay if I came again the following week. That's how it started.
I've been going for a month now, only once a week but I am welcome to join them on any of the days that they meet. They meet Monday, Wednesday and Fridays - so last week, I went on Friday, too.
I'm not really good right now. I have a lot to learn - the proper way to sit, bow, scream, hold my shinai, perfect timing to stamp my feet and hit over the head, the Japanese commands for all of this. I guess there is that old saying, can you teach an old dog new tricks? We'll see. My sensei is a really patient man - his daughter married a man from Idaho two years ago so I think he has a little understanding with possibilities of language barrier and stuff.
I wanted to understand more about Kendo so I used trusty wikipedia.
According to that site,
The Purpose of practicing Kendo is:
-
- To mold the mind and body,
- To cultivate a vigorous spirit,
- And through correct and rigid training,
- To strive for improvement in the art of Kendo,
- To hold in esteem human courtesy and honor,
- To associate with others with sincerity,
- And to forever pursue the cultivation of oneself.
- This will make one be able:
- To love his/her country and society,
- To contribute to the development of culture
- And to promote peace and prosperity among all peoples.
In the beginning, since I am the most recent learner of Kendo, I sit closest to the door. We meditate for a few minutes. Afterwards, we all bow to the student leader and then to our sensei's who are sitting in front of us. After that, it is about two hours of practice.
Kendo is really unique to me. You don't wear any shoes or socks, you are barefoot. You advance or retract from your opponent in a manner that makes it appear as if you are sort of hovering over the ground. During some thrusts or jabs, you are expected to let out screams and slam your foot on the ground at the same time. It's really hard to explain, so just watch this video. Focus on their footwork, it's amazing!
With that bit done, I am going to go get ready for Kendo practice! Maybe one of these days, I will get good enough to compete!
Friday, March 16, 2007
Happy St. Patrick's Day
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
In honor of the 1/16th of my Irish heritage (or whatever really low # it is) - I taught my adult students about the holiday and then we made potato pancakes!
I really got into the spirit of things.
yes those are green pancakes!
it was hard to translate "food coloring" to people in the grocery store, glad I got it though!
more pictures to be uploaded to the internet later
In honor of the 1/16th of my Irish heritage (or whatever really low # it is) - I taught my adult students about the holiday and then we made potato pancakes!
I really got into the spirit of things.
yes those are green pancakes!
it was hard to translate "food coloring" to people in the grocery store, glad I got it though!
more pictures to be uploaded to the internet later
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Graduation
I'm into Japanese culture in my blog this past month it seems. I guess that was the purpose of my blog in the first place.
Today's lesson is the difference between a Japanese and American school system!
It's mid March, which means all my ninth graders have graduated. Last weekend was the weekend of graduation. My base school students graduated on Friday and my other Junior High School walked the stage on Saturday. I was teaching elementary on Friday, so I couldn't go see my one school, however; on Saturday, I woke up bright and early to check out my other school's graduation.
Junior High School (JHS) graduation's importance is equivalent to that of our high school graduation ceremony. In Japan, citizens only have the legal right to receive an education until the end of their ninth year in Junior High School. Throughout their last year of JHS, students are trying to decide on their next step in life - to move onto high school or to get a job. Many students are deciding which high school they want to attend. It's very similar to high school students in America deciding on whether or not they want to move onto college and then deciding on which college they would want to go.
Now, it's not as simple as choosing a high school and then going. When a high school is decided upon, the next step is having to take their entrance exam. That is what the ninth graders are preparing for all year - their entrance exams. The difficulty of the exam is dependent on what kind of high school you are trying to enter. Hence, you want to go to the best high school -you're exam will be harder. So, compare that to high school students wanting to go to Harvard - so they need to get really high scores on their SAT's. The difference here is that in America - if you want to go to Harvard, apply and then do poorly on your SAT's - you can retake them or you can go to your "back - up" choice college. Here - the student's choose one school and get one shot. If the school they chose was really difficult and they didn't pass the entrance exam - what that means to them is - sorry, you aren't going to high school. They have one school they can apply to and one exam to try for. If they do poorly, they have to wait until the following year to retake the exam.
As you can see, the school year here doesn't begin in August or September like us - it begins in April. The ninth grade students graduated so they don't come to school anymore. However, the 7th and 8th grade students still have classes for this week and all of next week. On March 23, the students will go on spring break. So, the 7th graders will leave on the 23rd and when their two week vacation is over - and they return on April 9th, they will be 8th graders. There are really no breaks here. There are - but not how we know them as breaks in America.
You probably remember leaving school in June and having months off for the summer and returning to your new grade in September. In Japan, the longest break they have is in the summer for 5 weeks. When, they return they are in the same grade. So, their grade change break is only 2 weeks long. Their winter break is also about 2-3 weeks long as well. However, during these breaks - the students still come to school. They still study and play sports and receive help from teachers. They just don't have any scheduled classes. So, essentially, breaks aren't breaks as we think of them.
As a result of this comparison of Japanese JHS to American high schools - the graduation was also quite different. When I think of graduation - I think of a really happy, proud moment. Our speeches are usually written with the idea of "we're moving ahead and we're going to accomplish many great things", etc.
The Japanese graduation was quite a somber event. The students wear their everyday uniforms, while the parents and teachers wear their best outfits. It's nice because all the students come watch the ninth graders graduate. In the front are all the graduates, behind them are their parents, behind the parents were the 7th and 8th graders. To the one side, are all the teachers and to the other side are important people like city officials, BOE people, elementary school principals, etc. The graduation proceeds with all the student's names being called as they walk up to stage to receive their diploma. One name is called, the student responds with hai or yes, walks over, bows to the people to the side (so if you are closest to teachers, you bow to them, if you are closest to the other officials, that's who you bow to). When they were on my side (teacher's side) we all bowed back. They walked in a particular march, reminding me much of how military people walk. There are always about 5 students waiting in line, perfectly spaced apart from one another. While one name is being called by the homeroom teacher, the student in the front of the line receives their diploma from the principal. The student bows to the principal with the student who is standing in line behind them. The principal then gives the diploma to the most foreward student. That student walks off stage and another name is called and then the next student receives their diploma. It goes on like this until all students have received their diploma.
All this time, you see the student's holding back as best as they can - tears. Most have already started crying at this point when they walked in. The homeroom teachers are also crying at this point, too. After all the students receive their diploma's, it's speech time. Speech time is when all the tears come trickling down. The principal gives a speech, an important official does, a student from one of the lower grades, the PTA president and the one that affects everyone the most is the speech from the graduating class president to the principal. During all these speeches, they have background music playing - as Meg says, "Full - house like." So, these speeches are different because they are more or less reflecting on their past 10 years in this school district. Not really giving motivational words as to their future. While these students are giving their emotional speeches, they have in the background emotional music. As Katie says, "to make sure everyone is crying." Oh, and throughout all this - it kind of reminds me of church. You are told to stand, to sit, to stand, to sit. I guess it was good though because a graduation ceremony in another language can get really boring, really fast. Additionally, the best outfit I had to wear was a dress that is meant for summer. The only type of sweater I had for it was also a summer sweater. I bought tights so my legs were alright, but my arms were quite cold. It was held in the gym, which is barely heated (more or less heated by body heat). So, this constant movement, warmed me up a bit.
Moving back onto the sobfest. The student who gave the speech to the principal was speaking between sobs and sniffling into the microphone for like the last 4 minutes. The principal is also up there crying their eyes out from the speech. All the teachers sitting around me were crying. It was hard for me to be on their level because I could only understand bits and pieces of the speech and really for me, I think of graduation and I think of happiness, accomplishment, celebration. I certainly don't think of graduation as a sad time. Cultural difference.
After all the speeches, the students sing. This is where it gets even worse. At this point, everyone is crying. The students are singing in front of everyone, some of them barely able to sing because they are crying so much.
Then, it's over. The end. I felt pretty cold-hearted because I think I was the only person not crying at some point. So, that my friends is how a Japanese JHS graduation ceremony works.
Dave's take on a high school graduation
Today's lesson is the difference between a Japanese and American school system!
It's mid March, which means all my ninth graders have graduated. Last weekend was the weekend of graduation. My base school students graduated on Friday and my other Junior High School walked the stage on Saturday. I was teaching elementary on Friday, so I couldn't go see my one school, however; on Saturday, I woke up bright and early to check out my other school's graduation.
Junior High School (JHS) graduation's importance is equivalent to that of our high school graduation ceremony. In Japan, citizens only have the legal right to receive an education until the end of their ninth year in Junior High School. Throughout their last year of JHS, students are trying to decide on their next step in life - to move onto high school or to get a job. Many students are deciding which high school they want to attend. It's very similar to high school students in America deciding on whether or not they want to move onto college and then deciding on which college they would want to go.
Now, it's not as simple as choosing a high school and then going. When a high school is decided upon, the next step is having to take their entrance exam. That is what the ninth graders are preparing for all year - their entrance exams. The difficulty of the exam is dependent on what kind of high school you are trying to enter. Hence, you want to go to the best high school -you're exam will be harder. So, compare that to high school students wanting to go to Harvard - so they need to get really high scores on their SAT's. The difference here is that in America - if you want to go to Harvard, apply and then do poorly on your SAT's - you can retake them or you can go to your "back - up" choice college. Here - the student's choose one school and get one shot. If the school they chose was really difficult and they didn't pass the entrance exam - what that means to them is - sorry, you aren't going to high school. They have one school they can apply to and one exam to try for. If they do poorly, they have to wait until the following year to retake the exam.
As you can see, the school year here doesn't begin in August or September like us - it begins in April. The ninth grade students graduated so they don't come to school anymore. However, the 7th and 8th grade students still have classes for this week and all of next week. On March 23, the students will go on spring break. So, the 7th graders will leave on the 23rd and when their two week vacation is over - and they return on April 9th, they will be 8th graders. There are really no breaks here. There are - but not how we know them as breaks in America.
You probably remember leaving school in June and having months off for the summer and returning to your new grade in September. In Japan, the longest break they have is in the summer for 5 weeks. When, they return they are in the same grade. So, their grade change break is only 2 weeks long. Their winter break is also about 2-3 weeks long as well. However, during these breaks - the students still come to school. They still study and play sports and receive help from teachers. They just don't have any scheduled classes. So, essentially, breaks aren't breaks as we think of them.
As a result of this comparison of Japanese JHS to American high schools - the graduation was also quite different. When I think of graduation - I think of a really happy, proud moment. Our speeches are usually written with the idea of "we're moving ahead and we're going to accomplish many great things", etc.
The Japanese graduation was quite a somber event. The students wear their everyday uniforms, while the parents and teachers wear their best outfits. It's nice because all the students come watch the ninth graders graduate. In the front are all the graduates, behind them are their parents, behind the parents were the 7th and 8th graders. To the one side, are all the teachers and to the other side are important people like city officials, BOE people, elementary school principals, etc. The graduation proceeds with all the student's names being called as they walk up to stage to receive their diploma. One name is called, the student responds with hai or yes, walks over, bows to the people to the side (so if you are closest to teachers, you bow to them, if you are closest to the other officials, that's who you bow to). When they were on my side (teacher's side) we all bowed back. They walked in a particular march, reminding me much of how military people walk. There are always about 5 students waiting in line, perfectly spaced apart from one another. While one name is being called by the homeroom teacher, the student in the front of the line receives their diploma from the principal. The student bows to the principal with the student who is standing in line behind them. The principal then gives the diploma to the most foreward student. That student walks off stage and another name is called and then the next student receives their diploma. It goes on like this until all students have received their diploma.
All this time, you see the student's holding back as best as they can - tears. Most have already started crying at this point when they walked in. The homeroom teachers are also crying at this point, too. After all the students receive their diploma's, it's speech time. Speech time is when all the tears come trickling down. The principal gives a speech, an important official does, a student from one of the lower grades, the PTA president and the one that affects everyone the most is the speech from the graduating class president to the principal. During all these speeches, they have background music playing - as Meg says, "Full - house like." So, these speeches are different because they are more or less reflecting on their past 10 years in this school district. Not really giving motivational words as to their future. While these students are giving their emotional speeches, they have in the background emotional music. As Katie says, "to make sure everyone is crying." Oh, and throughout all this - it kind of reminds me of church. You are told to stand, to sit, to stand, to sit. I guess it was good though because a graduation ceremony in another language can get really boring, really fast. Additionally, the best outfit I had to wear was a dress that is meant for summer. The only type of sweater I had for it was also a summer sweater. I bought tights so my legs were alright, but my arms were quite cold. It was held in the gym, which is barely heated (more or less heated by body heat). So, this constant movement, warmed me up a bit.
Moving back onto the sobfest. The student who gave the speech to the principal was speaking between sobs and sniffling into the microphone for like the last 4 minutes. The principal is also up there crying their eyes out from the speech. All the teachers sitting around me were crying. It was hard for me to be on their level because I could only understand bits and pieces of the speech and really for me, I think of graduation and I think of happiness, accomplishment, celebration. I certainly don't think of graduation as a sad time. Cultural difference.
After all the speeches, the students sing. This is where it gets even worse. At this point, everyone is crying. The students are singing in front of everyone, some of them barely able to sing because they are crying so much.
Then, it's over. The end. I felt pretty cold-hearted because I think I was the only person not crying at some point. So, that my friends is how a Japanese JHS graduation ceremony works.
Dave's take on a high school graduation
Monday, March 12, 2007
I woke up in Buffalo
So, last night I went to bed in Japan...
and woke up in Buffalo, NY...
...or so I thought for a split second when I opened my door. So much for spring anytime soon!
and woke up in Buffalo, NY...
...or so I thought for a split second when I opened my door. So much for spring anytime soon!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FERRIS! I hope all is well in Romania =) Love you.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Hina Matsuri
March 3rd in Japan was a special day called hina matsuri ひな まつり or the doll's festival. On this day, it is customary for Japanese families to pray for the wellness and healthy growth of their daughters. Any family that has daughter's in their household is traditionally expected to display a special platform of dolls in their household. Theses platforms are usually tiered with between three to seven layers. Covering the platform is a bright red felt. On the top tier sits dolls of an emperor(obina) and empress(mebina) wearing costumes from the imperial court during the Heian period(794-1192). Behind the emperor and empress is a gold screen.
The next tier displays the "ladies-in waiting" (san nin kanjo). The one is the nagae no choushi - a woman who holds sake in a cup with a long handle. The second one is called the sanpou - she is a sitting doll that holds sake'. The last lady is kuwae no choushi - also, a sake' holder. Most families can't display the following dolls that I will mention. These dolls cost a lot of money and a typical display with only the 5 dolls to this point cost about $1,000.
The next tier displays the five musicians (go-nin bayashi). There is a drum (taiko) player, a large hand drum player (ookawa), a small hand drum player (katsumi), flute player(fue), and a singer (utaikata). The next tier displays two ministers(zuishiin). The one one the right is Udaijin and younger. Whereas, the one on the left (sadaijin) is created to be older and more wiser. This is because in the Japanese court long ago, the left was considered to be superior. Other things you may find on the platforms are mandarin, cherry or peach trees.
I got to partake in a festival while teaching at Kindergarden. All the girls were dressed up in summer kimono's. They performed a song and dance for me. All the boys were wearing little bow ties. It was adorable - seriously, one of the cutest things I've seen here. I wish I had brought my camera. The song they sang is the traditional Hina Masturi song. It goes like this:
Akari o tsukemasho bonbori ni
あから を つけましょう ぼんぼり に
ohana o agemasho momo no hana
おはな を’あげましょう もも の はな
go nin bayashi no fue taiko
五 人 ばやし の ふえ たいこ
kyo wa tanoshii hinamatsuri
きょ は たのしい ひなまつり
Let's light the lanterns
Let's set peach flowers
Five court musicians are playing flutes and drums
Today is a fun doll's festival.
Afterwards, we ate the traditional food that is eaten on this day. The first food was a traditional rice cake called hishimochi. It is colored red, white and green for superstitious reasons. The red is for chasing evil spirits away, the white is for purity, and the green is for health.
The second food is called arare which literally translates as "hailstones." These things were pretty nasty - they were really sweet. Again, they come in the different colors for the superstitious reason.
The last food I tried in honor of this doll festival is "sakura mochi." Mochi is usually just a bean filled rice cake. However, for this festival the mochi is dyed pink and there is a sakura (cherry blossom) leaf wrapped around it. I enjoyed the actual mochi part but the sakura leaf was extremely salty.
The doll set is usually put up in February, but is expected by tradition to have the platforms disassembled by March 4th. There is the superstition that if a family does not do this on time - their daughter will get married much later than was expected in old time Japan.
The history of this festival was adapted from China. It began during the Edo period(1603-1867). Families believed that these dolls had the power to remove bad spirits that may be associated with a daughter's poor health, beauty of opportunities to marry. The superstition is that the bad spirits would be trapped into these dolls thus protecting the daughters in the household. In old times, these dolls would be sent down on a river, carrying these bad spirirts far, far away. According to some Japanese friends, this practice is still done in certain parts of Japan. I think it is for more cultural reasons moreso than people actually believing in the spirits.
As far as Japanese people still following this ritual - it seemed it was still done with most people I asked, but it seems to be not as important. One family had 5 tiers up, another family told me they can't afford the dolls, and another family only displayed the emperor and empress because they said it takes to long to put everything up and it takes up a lot of space in their house. Other houses that I had gone into, was quite similar - instead of many tiers, I just saw a simple display somewhere in the house - recognizing there is the festival, but not actually putting too much effort into creating their platforms.
The next tier displays the "ladies-in waiting" (san nin kanjo). The one is the nagae no choushi - a woman who holds sake in a cup with a long handle. The second one is called the sanpou - she is a sitting doll that holds sake'. The last lady is kuwae no choushi - also, a sake' holder. Most families can't display the following dolls that I will mention. These dolls cost a lot of money and a typical display with only the 5 dolls to this point cost about $1,000.
The next tier displays the five musicians (go-nin bayashi). There is a drum (taiko) player, a large hand drum player (ookawa), a small hand drum player (katsumi), flute player(fue), and a singer (utaikata). The next tier displays two ministers(zuishiin). The one one the right is Udaijin and younger. Whereas, the one on the left (sadaijin) is created to be older and more wiser. This is because in the Japanese court long ago, the left was considered to be superior. Other things you may find on the platforms are mandarin, cherry or peach trees.
I got to partake in a festival while teaching at Kindergarden. All the girls were dressed up in summer kimono's. They performed a song and dance for me. All the boys were wearing little bow ties. It was adorable - seriously, one of the cutest things I've seen here. I wish I had brought my camera. The song they sang is the traditional Hina Masturi song. It goes like this:
Akari o tsukemasho bonbori ni
あから を つけましょう ぼんぼり に
ohana o agemasho momo no hana
おはな を’あげましょう もも の はな
go nin bayashi no fue taiko
五 人 ばやし の ふえ たいこ
kyo wa tanoshii hinamatsuri
きょ は たのしい ひなまつり
Let's light the lanterns
Let's set peach flowers
Five court musicians are playing flutes and drums
Today is a fun doll's festival.
Afterwards, we ate the traditional food that is eaten on this day. The first food was a traditional rice cake called hishimochi. It is colored red, white and green for superstitious reasons. The red is for chasing evil spirits away, the white is for purity, and the green is for health.
The second food is called arare which literally translates as "hailstones." These things were pretty nasty - they were really sweet. Again, they come in the different colors for the superstitious reason.
The last food I tried in honor of this doll festival is "sakura mochi." Mochi is usually just a bean filled rice cake. However, for this festival the mochi is dyed pink and there is a sakura (cherry blossom) leaf wrapped around it. I enjoyed the actual mochi part but the sakura leaf was extremely salty.
The doll set is usually put up in February, but is expected by tradition to have the platforms disassembled by March 4th. There is the superstition that if a family does not do this on time - their daughter will get married much later than was expected in old time Japan.
The history of this festival was adapted from China. It began during the Edo period(1603-1867). Families believed that these dolls had the power to remove bad spirits that may be associated with a daughter's poor health, beauty of opportunities to marry. The superstition is that the bad spirits would be trapped into these dolls thus protecting the daughters in the household. In old times, these dolls would be sent down on a river, carrying these bad spirirts far, far away. According to some Japanese friends, this practice is still done in certain parts of Japan. I think it is for more cultural reasons moreso than people actually believing in the spirits.
As far as Japanese people still following this ritual - it seemed it was still done with most people I asked, but it seems to be not as important. One family had 5 tiers up, another family told me they can't afford the dolls, and another family only displayed the emperor and empress because they said it takes to long to put everything up and it takes up a lot of space in their house. Other houses that I had gone into, was quite similar - instead of many tiers, I just saw a simple display somewhere in the house - recognizing there is the festival, but not actually putting too much effort into creating their platforms.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Nature
Global warming seems to be gaining more awareness worldwide. It has become a hot (no pun intended) issue this year with the crazy weather the world has experienced. It's possible that Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth has given some US citizens the reality of the situation. There are still many people that don't believe that global warming is occurring. There are others that believe it is happening but don't believe that it is happening as rapidly.
At my English Conversation Class a few weeks ago, we discussed global warming. I am always interested in how Japanese people perceive global problems and compare and contrast it to how American people think. At my class, it seemed all the members in the conversation agreed that we are experiencing global warming and that it is a bad thing. They all agree that we need to take actions to prevent the rapid increase. One thing that I told them is how I feel that Japan already takes measures to prevent it.
Here are a few major differences in Japan that will help prevent global warming if implemented in America:
Recycling. Japanese people recycle EVERYTHING. I mean everything. I still don't understand how to get rid of some of my “garbage.” This is to the point that at lunch time – all students clean their milk cartons, cut them with scissors and are dried out and recycled by the school. There are several different disposal bins – not just garbage cans. This allows people to recycle everywhere – at the convenient store, grocery store, at school, etc not only at their homes.
Electricity. You know how anywhere public you go to – lights are on everywhere? For example, in bathrooms, changing rooms, hallways, etc. Well, in Japan, lights are turned off until you need them. Public restrooms in schools or restaurants aren't left on constantly like in America. At my gym, the exercise room and the changing room lights are off until someone goes in to use it. However, once that person is done with using it – they will most certainly turn the lights off as well. In addition to this, electric appliances are not left on, either. At school, the copy machines are left off. At the gym, all the machines are in switch off mode until someone uses them and then turns it off when finished.
Transportation. People don't drive short distances. Where I live, many people use bikes. School buses are quite rare – students ride their bikes to school, some incredibly long distances. There is a good mass transportation system. Most areas have trains serving them.
Water. Toilet bowls use less water than the toilet bowls in America.
These are just a few examples of how I perceive Japan to be more environmentally friendly in a way that could help global warming if America used some of these ideas.
Global warming in the news:
Al Gore's Suggestions on how to help
After all that environmental propaganda, allow me to inform you of my latest nature adventures. The first one reveals the benefits of global warming. This benefit is none other than a beautiful hike in February. Granted, I am more south than New York State, but even the locals in this area claim that this year is incredibly warm compared to the past. Therefore, in February I rewarded my eyes by going on a hike in an area called Ohtakamori. The weather graced us with clear, blue skies, perfect hiking temperature and sun the whole way through. I had done part of this hike in September; however, this time around, we went all the way around the peninsula. I feasted on beautiful colors of the ocean, blue-greens, high cliffs where the island meets the ocean, and my favorite part – a bamboo forest! The hike was an interesting one- at
first, hiking up a hill to get the views followed by nature trails with a few uphills and downhills following the ocean, a walk past men mending fishing ships, through a small fishing village into the bamboo forest followed by a dirty beach up some more nature trails and back to the car on the side of the road for about 20 minutes. And of course, followed by an onsen.
The next adventure is from last weekend – we went SNOW MONSTER HUNTING! Brian, Meg, Katie and I headed down South to our friend Maria's place. She lives close (I envy her) to a quasi national park named Zao. We got down there Saturday night but headed to Zao the following day. We went to the “other side” of the park which brings us to our neighboring prefecture of Yamagata Ken. Yamagata Ken reminds me a lot of the Adirondacks. Large, beautiful mountains covered in coniferous trees and snow. I miss the mountains.
We found ourselves in a ski town and stopped to get directions from the information center. We took a gondola up to the top of this mountain to find our snow monsters.
You're probably thinking to yourself, “What in the world are snow monsters?”
Snow monsters areeeee.....
In winter, on top of mountains, it snows sooooooo fast and it's soooooo cold that the trees up there become completely covered in snow. Ideally, you wouldn't be able to see that there is a tree that exists underneath all that snow. Therefore, you would have all these trees, covered in snow – but what it looks like to you as an optical illusion is nothing other than a snow monster – or if your imagination isn't up to par- a towering mound of snow.
With it being March and with the weather being unseasonably warm – we weren't sure if there would be much of any snow monsters left. We were in luck, we got to see our snow monsters! While, most weren't covered entirely in snow – it was still an amazing thing to witness.
The day was really warm – so we got to take our time looking around without being too cold. The summit of the mountain was a hazy fog, so we couldn't really see much of what was around – nothing but the towering snow monsters.
Just imagine dozens upon dozens of looming snow things around you! We played with the monsters for about two hours before heading back down. It was a successful trip.
Click on the crazy gaijin (foreigners) for all the pictures to Ohtakamori
Click on the mountains to view all the Snow Monster Pictures
Sunday, March 04, 2007
The Sapporo Snow Festival
This blog's adventure takes place in Sapporo, with a population of 1.85 million people weighing in as Japan's 5th largest city.This history of Sapporo from Lonely Planet,
This bustling metropolis was once nothing but a quiet hunting and fishing town in the Ishikari Plain of Hokkaido, settled by the Ainu. They were left alone until 1821, when the Tokugawa Shogunate created an official trading post in what would eventually become Sapporo. The city was declared the capital of Hokkaido in 1868, and its growth was carefully planned. In 1880, Japan's third major railway was constructed which linked Sapporo and the port city of Otaru.
In the 20th century, Sapporo emerged as a major producer of agricultural products. Sapporo Beer, the country's first, was founded in 1876 and quickly became synonymous with the city itself. In 1972 Sapporo hosted the Winter Olympics, and it continues to attract visitors from around the world.
Welcome to the 58th Annual Sapporo Snow Festival!
A few weekends ago, myself and a massive amount of teachers invaded the Northern island of Japan, Hokkaido and most noteably - the city of Sapporo. The reason? HUGE snow statues.
This trip was sponsored by our prefectural social network.
After work on Thursday, Akira, Brian, Meg & I headed to Sendai for a nomihodai - that is - an all you can drink for two hours deal. There were 48 teachers in all who went on this trip. Most of us met up before the overnight bus ride to help the ride go by a bit faster by having an all you can drink for two hours.
Following the nomihodai, we all headed onto the bus that would take us up North. I didn't fall asleep on the bus - as I am unskilled in that "sleeping in moving things" area. Following the 5 hour bus ride, we had to sit around in a ferry terminal that would transport us from tohoku - the northern area of Japan - to Hokkaido. I fell asleep on the hard floor for a few hours before we actually got onto the ferry.
Our scary amount of foreigners were given this large area split up into four spots to call home for the next 8 hours. At first, I explored with Dave & Hashmatt before taking my place on the ground and sleeping some more. The exploration was not much - finding a pathetic game room, seeing off the mainland, finding the vending machines of food, and not too much more after that. After getting in a few more hours of sleep, I helped pass the time by reading and playing some catch phrase - a game that made me think of my freshmen year of college. Eventually, we reached Hokkaido. After reaching dry land - we were now on the island of Hokkaido; but not quite yet to Sapporo. It was less than two hours on another bus and we finally reached Sapporo! A rushed getting ready time before our first night out. The first dinner was paid for - and lucky for me! it was a lamb grilling event called Ghengis Khan BBQ held at the Sapporo Beer Factory. I only ate vegetables but still had a good time as it was all you could drink as well. I think the fun part of this lamb eating event was wearing bibs and playing janken or "rock, paper, scissors" to see who drinks.
After dinner and drinking, it was time to go to the bars! We went to a place called, yes, no lie - Club Booty. I have to tell you now - that Japan has a lot of different beers - but my favorite beer is definitely Sapporo beer. I was pretty excited to be drinking my favorite beer in the city that brews it. Unfortuntely, in this night - I ended up with stitches. 
But no worries! I am a trooper! I still went to go see the Snow Festival! Okay! Onto the history of the snow festival!
The Sapporo Snow Festival, one of Japan's largest winter events, is attracting a growing number of visitors from Japan and abroad. Over two million people came to the annual event last year (2006) to see the hundreds of beautiful snow statues and ice sculptures which lined Odori Park, the main street in susukino and Satorando. The figures, large and small, turn Sapporo into a winter dreamland of crystal and white for seven days every February.
The festival began in 1950 when senior high school students of the city made six snow statues in Odori Park. In 1955, the Self Defense Force joined in and built massive snow statues as well. The Festival has grown from these humble beginnings to become the biggest and most well-known of Hokkaido's winter events and a snow festival of international caliber.
I am a "city overlook" kind of traveler. When my Australia travel buddy - Ferris & I would travel in Australia and New Zealand it seemed every city had that "must see" view spot. Well, so does Japan. Before viewing any type of Snow Statues we decided to go up the Sapporo TV Tower that vaguely represents what the Eiffel tower looks likes. You can get 90 meter panoramic views from the top (that's 295 feet) . Below is a shot of what Sapporo looks like.
I loved Sapporo. It had a really good vibe to it. The whole area reminded me a lot and I mean ALOT of home. The city reminded me of Montreal - and I LOVE Montreal, the mountainous terrain reminded me of the Adirondack Mountains. The city seemed more "Western" than that of any other city I've been to in Japan (that's not speaking for a lot at the moment). There was just something about Sapporo.Then it was onto the Snow Festival! We got back down from the TV tower and began our walk. It was really crowded but still quite awe inspiring. I posted some of the larger snow statues below. We walked around the main street - Odori Street to view the sculptures. Since I don't feel like thinking - let's just say it was "pretty cool".
Following the couple hour stroll to view these statues, we went to the shopping district. We checked out the Tanukikoji Shopping Arcade and walked a bit through the Pole Town & Aurora Town underground shopping mall. It was a full day outdoors and it was great to be outdoors.Sapporo is on the same latitude line as New York(NY) basically. Imagine Sapporo weather to be the same as NY weather. Along with the rest of the world, the weather in Sapporo has been strange. That means, we still got to see the snow statues - but there wasn't too much snow on the ground and it made for decent walking weather - I don't think I was ever too cold walking. That evening - since I was in no condition to go drinking again - Meg & I went to see Marie Antoinette.
The next day - we rented a car to get out of the city and see some of the wilderness that Hokkaido is probably best known for. Akira, being the awesome man that he is - took care of it for us - we rented a huge, white 9 person van to go out and see Hokkaido! You're probably thinking we're crazy for wanting to be out in a car again after how much traveling it took for us to actually get into Sapporo.
Once we left the city, we finally got to see SNOW again.
I love mountains! I love snow covered mountains!
It was great and relieving to be amongst snow again. The crunchity crunch of packing snow underneath my feet. The first time I have worn boots this year! Bundling up to stay warm! Blasting heat in the car. Again, mountains made me very nostalgic of the Adirondacks. We made a pit stop to take some pictures, whereby, Akira and drunk Brian played in the snow. (I don't think Brian was sober at all this whole day).
Our final destination was a small quaint town called Otaru. We had lunch there, where Brian was dared the equivalent of about $10 USD to snort curry powder. Maybe it was because he had been drunk all day or just really wanted the money - but he did it. We all had curry for lunch. After that we walked around on the snow fallen ground being refreshed by new snow that was falling, stopping only briefly into some Japanese culture shops to warm up our cold bodies. Otaru is known for it's glass blowing - and the last of our time in Otaru was spent watching Akira make Katie a bead at a very crowded glass shop. On the way back, we tried finding an onsen but it was too late.
Instead, we went to Moiwa -yama Ropeway. This ropeway offers panoramic views of Sapporo at 531m (1742 feet). You first take a gondola up to almost the top, then you get into this really cool caterpillar - car thing. Lucky for us, we got the inside car and weren't stuck on the sled seats that were attached to the back of it. It seemed really romantic; but WAY too cold to be on the top of the mountain, moving at night in winter.
We reached the top where we had the opportunity to view the Sapporo view by night. It was frigid but well worth the coldness endured to see. None of my pictures turned out though, sorry.
The next morning we headed back to the reality - by ending our travels - and going back to Miyagi via busses, ferries and a car ride back home.
I intend to live in Sapporo during the summer for a Japanese language school. I hope so, it looks like there is some good hiking there.
All the pictures from this trip.
Dave's take on this trip
Monday, February 26, 2007
To stay or to go?
That is the question that all of us here had to answer less than a month ago. I was on the fence about my decision, but ultimately I decided to stick around here for an additional year.
Now, there is the question, to stay in my town or move into the sort of city nearby? I often question my decision to stay in Japan since somedays it's so awesome here, and other days I fall into a coma of loneliness, aggravation or just feel entirely burnt out from the constant language barrier.
I think today is the epitome' of how hard it is to make these decisions. You are all aware of the horrible classes I put up with at one of my schools. Well, I worked hard on trying some rewards for good behavior since I can't punish students that behave badly. For a little while, 2/4 of my classes improved. It seems they've gone back to their horrible behavior. What makes it worse, is my schedule has been changed. Before, I was teaching two bad classes between two days. Now, I teach all of them on one day - Monday. I try to think positively that I get it all over with by Monday.
Today I snapped. My first two classes were horrible - as usual. But, I try to remain as patient as I can. I try to keep a smile on my face. Here I am with Mitsue, trying to teach English - we're about 20 pages behind from my other Junior High School. That's how bad these kids are. I try doing my warming up game - which went better than last time I tried. But this game - really should take no more than seven to ten minutes. With these kids - it takes like twenty. It's ridiculous. I get so tired and frustrated over constantly telling kids to stop talking, please listen to me, please look at me, please repeat after me. I get tired of talking over kids. I get tired of explaining something and then since no one was listening - when it comes time to do it -they all scream "I don't understand". It's like well, if you listened like I had asked you to, you wouldn't be confused. So, then I have to spend another 5 minutes explaining the same thing over again. It's such a waste. I get sick of being completely disregarded as a human being.
On top of their rude behavior, they also like to make fun of me. They like to make fun of my clothes, my hair, the fact I now have a scar over my eye, my shoes, my voice, everything about me. I had a stressful morning because I had spent last week translating a recipe into Japanese for an Elementary School on Thursday. They called to tell me that I can't use it because they only have one oven. I don't know what to do - I never baked or really cooked in my life. I always lived on campus, I've never had an oven and I still don't have an oven. I needed this recipe by this afternoon. It took me two days to translate everything last week and now they need a new recipe. I don't want to do this lesson but it was their idea and really wanted it.
All this stress built up. So, last class of the day. I did my game, which was okay. Then it was "repeat after Sara" time. It was my third time reading the story - and the students had yet to repeat after me, and were only getting louder. Without even thinking - I started screaming the story at the top of my lungs, as my face grew the color of a fire truck and my face probably looking serial killer mode. I released all my kept in anger through these words. I was screaming. I am sure the kids in the classes heard me. At once, the students all turned to face me for once, jaws dropped, their incessant chattering turned quiet and they actually repeated after me.
When I finished the story- I could not wipe the look of kill off my face - no matter how hard I wanted to. The Japanese teacher in the classroom started talking to them in Japanese. I listened and understood most of what she was saying. She said that I go to many different schools all the time and that this school is the worst. And they need to behave for me and something about my warming up games. I don't really know. After that, I stood over to the side of the class for the rest of the time, trying not to break down into tears. I've never ever snapped, without thinking first. I've yelled loudly at the kids - but I've never screamed like that without even thinking. It was a bad feeling.
There's the shitty part of my job.
Then, there's the other part that makes me want to stay. After that class, it was lunch time. I go to the teacher's room. Immediately two boys come in and give me a card from their class - my ninth grade students. They graduate in two weeks. It was inviting me to eat lunch in their class. It said "Welcome to 3-3" We love you very much. We had a very good time with you. Thank you very much." Then, I ate with them. At lunch, we chatted. After lunch, I stayed in and chatted with some of the girls. After lunch, I had a few of the kids come in to talk to me about going to Australia, boyfriends, and my hair color, eye color, etc. It's like they knew I had a horrible day with the jerks earlier and were trying to make my day better. I know that's not the case for real - but it's wierd how horrible my day was and how quickly those kids made me feel a bit better.
So, to stay or to leave? I don't know. Those ninth graders that I love so much leave in two weeks. I might go into the city. I am not an angry person and I don't like it when situations make me an angry person.
Off to dinner now.
Now, there is the question, to stay in my town or move into the sort of city nearby? I often question my decision to stay in Japan since somedays it's so awesome here, and other days I fall into a coma of loneliness, aggravation or just feel entirely burnt out from the constant language barrier.
I think today is the epitome' of how hard it is to make these decisions. You are all aware of the horrible classes I put up with at one of my schools. Well, I worked hard on trying some rewards for good behavior since I can't punish students that behave badly. For a little while, 2/4 of my classes improved. It seems they've gone back to their horrible behavior. What makes it worse, is my schedule has been changed. Before, I was teaching two bad classes between two days. Now, I teach all of them on one day - Monday. I try to think positively that I get it all over with by Monday.
Today I snapped. My first two classes were horrible - as usual. But, I try to remain as patient as I can. I try to keep a smile on my face. Here I am with Mitsue, trying to teach English - we're about 20 pages behind from my other Junior High School. That's how bad these kids are. I try doing my warming up game - which went better than last time I tried. But this game - really should take no more than seven to ten minutes. With these kids - it takes like twenty. It's ridiculous. I get so tired and frustrated over constantly telling kids to stop talking, please listen to me, please look at me, please repeat after me. I get tired of talking over kids. I get tired of explaining something and then since no one was listening - when it comes time to do it -they all scream "I don't understand". It's like well, if you listened like I had asked you to, you wouldn't be confused. So, then I have to spend another 5 minutes explaining the same thing over again. It's such a waste. I get sick of being completely disregarded as a human being.
On top of their rude behavior, they also like to make fun of me. They like to make fun of my clothes, my hair, the fact I now have a scar over my eye, my shoes, my voice, everything about me. I had a stressful morning because I had spent last week translating a recipe into Japanese for an Elementary School on Thursday. They called to tell me that I can't use it because they only have one oven. I don't know what to do - I never baked or really cooked in my life. I always lived on campus, I've never had an oven and I still don't have an oven. I needed this recipe by this afternoon. It took me two days to translate everything last week and now they need a new recipe. I don't want to do this lesson but it was their idea and really wanted it.
All this stress built up. So, last class of the day. I did my game, which was okay. Then it was "repeat after Sara" time. It was my third time reading the story - and the students had yet to repeat after me, and were only getting louder. Without even thinking - I started screaming the story at the top of my lungs, as my face grew the color of a fire truck and my face probably looking serial killer mode. I released all my kept in anger through these words. I was screaming. I am sure the kids in the classes heard me. At once, the students all turned to face me for once, jaws dropped, their incessant chattering turned quiet and they actually repeated after me.
When I finished the story- I could not wipe the look of kill off my face - no matter how hard I wanted to. The Japanese teacher in the classroom started talking to them in Japanese. I listened and understood most of what she was saying. She said that I go to many different schools all the time and that this school is the worst. And they need to behave for me and something about my warming up games. I don't really know. After that, I stood over to the side of the class for the rest of the time, trying not to break down into tears. I've never ever snapped, without thinking first. I've yelled loudly at the kids - but I've never screamed like that without even thinking. It was a bad feeling.
There's the shitty part of my job.
Then, there's the other part that makes me want to stay. After that class, it was lunch time. I go to the teacher's room. Immediately two boys come in and give me a card from their class - my ninth grade students. They graduate in two weeks. It was inviting me to eat lunch in their class. It said "Welcome to 3-3" We love you very much. We had a very good time with you. Thank you very much." Then, I ate with them. At lunch, we chatted. After lunch, I stayed in and chatted with some of the girls. After lunch, I had a few of the kids come in to talk to me about going to Australia, boyfriends, and my hair color, eye color, etc. It's like they knew I had a horrible day with the jerks earlier and were trying to make my day better. I know that's not the case for real - but it's wierd how horrible my day was and how quickly those kids made me feel a bit better.
So, to stay or to leave? I don't know. Those ninth graders that I love so much leave in two weeks. I might go into the city. I am not an angry person and I don't like it when situations make me an angry person.
Off to dinner now.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Japanese Culture
I finally feel my life has returned to somewhat of a routine since returning from America a month ago. I suffered from a really bad case of jetlag when i got back to Japan. It was much worse coming back to Japan than it was while being in America. In the madness of trying to get my life back to normal, I fell pathetically behind on my blog. I am trying to catch it all up but a lot of things have started to slip my mind, unfortunately. I am trying to hilite things that I don't want to forget 5 years down the road, while at the same time keeping it interesting for my readers.
This entry is dedicated to Japanese culture, of things that I have not talked about but I think are interesting to those who don't know much about Japan. Remember, I'm trying to educate everyone about Japan, too. Grassroots internationalization within inaka or rural Japan and via the internet for people who are interested in my life here.
Nengajo.
Nengajo in Japan is similiar to the Western culture of sending out holiday cards. Sure, a while ago, it may have originally been only for Christmas, but as times have changes, acceptance more widely spread, we have changed many of our Christmas greetings to the all encompassing phrase of "Happy Holidays". Nengajo is basically a "Happy New Year's" greeting. All nengajo are held at the post office until New Year's day where you will receive an influx of nengajo all on that day.
Nengajo is the size of a post card and well, basically that is what it resembles - a postcard. Japanese people send Nengajo to those people who have been kind to you over the last 12 months. It is believed to have existed since the 11th century; but with the introduction of postcards in 1873 - the custom of using them to send nengajo spread quickly. You buy the specific nengajo postcard at the post office. Many people hand make theirs, but with the introduction of computers, many of the ones that I received were made via a computer. Additionally, I received a few that had pictures of their kids on them as well, reminding me of holiday cards from home. I saw many from my co-workers - who had piles of 100's - and leafing through them - I saw many pictures were also of major events in the past year. For example, wedding photos, new houses, new cars. etc.
Japanese people follow the zodiac sign from the Chinese zodiac. Therefore, as the new year changes, the animal of that year does as well. This year - is the year of the pig or wild boar as the direct translation from Japanese into English. This means - that almost all the nengajo had some form of the pig on the picture side of it. It's also very common to include the new year - so this year was 2007. Other popular things to include are:
kotobuki - a general phrase that wishes a person well
shinshun - New Year
gasho - celebration of the New Year
geishun - greeting of the New Year
kingashinnen - Wishing you a very happy New Year
kyogashinnen - Hoping that you have a very happy New Year
akemashita omedeto gozaimasu - Happy New Year!
You can buy many stickers, stamps, and decorations to make your nengajo with all over Japan, usually beginning in November. I made mine with Katie and Akira and sent them out before going to Korea. It is a fun tradition and cool to look at. There are also some rules that if someone in your immediate family dies, you send out a card to inform that you will not be sending nengajo this year. If someone in your immediate family dies, it is like passing on the bad luck of your household to send nengajo to other familie's households. I think it is also customary not to send nengajo to that household as well - but I do not remember.
Then there is the otoshidama lottery. On the address side of the postcards is a pre-printed lottery number. If you receive a nengajo with a matching lottery number,. you can receive prizes from the post office. Some top prizes one can receive include a Hawaiian holiday, a holiday in Japan, a laptop computer, a DVD recorder and home theater system, and a digital SLR camera and printer. I don't know if I had matching numbers because I can't read the newspaper nor understand the news.
This year, 2007, around 3.79 billion special postcards for nengajo were printed. That's around 30 for every man, woman and child in Japan.
Setsubun.
Setsubun literally means division of seasons. It is the day that marks the end of winter. This year in 2007 - it was celebrated on February 3rd, which was a Saturday. On the evening on this day, people throw roasted soybeans inside and outside their houses with a scream of oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi! meaning Devil's out! Good luck in! As the beans are thrown, it is believed good luck is invited in and bad luck is driven out. It is also customary to eat as many beans as one's age. It is a superstition that it is a charm again bad luck.
During Setsubun, children throw roasted beans around their house to ward off evil spirits and other misfortune. In many families, an adult might put on a devil's mask and approach the children. The devil is hit with beans until he leaves.
I was able to learn about setsubun in a fun setting - at an Elementary School visit on the Friday before. I got to see exactly how it is celebrated. It seems that almost all schools do this - as my other Western teachers viewed this in their schools as well, and I saw evidence that it was done at my Junior High School's as well.
I was teaching 4th, 5th and 6th grade at this school. My first time seeing it was with the 5th grade class. The students all write out the things about them they want to change on a piece of paper. It seems that - they write things like "last year I was selfish, this year I want to share more" or "I want to be more kind" or "I fight with my brother too much". From what I gathered through the weak translation is that the student's wrote out the "devil's" inside of them that they want to "drive out". Then, the teacher's at the school made this HUGE cardboard devil thing and attached by tape, all the student's "devil papers" to it. So, at first, all the 5th graders taped their devil paper onto the cardboard cut out of the devil. Afterwards, the teacher leaves the classroom as each student receives heaps of peanuts from me.
Into the classroom jumps a devil! (the teacher dressed up as one). He was wearing some outfit, a mask of a devil and a helmet. As soon as the "devil" entered their classroom, the kids were literally pelting the devil with their peanuts. When I say pelting, I mean PELTING! I can see why he wore a helmet! I couldn't stop laughing. If they were just throwing peanuts at him, it would have been funny, but the fact that they were literally pelting him as hard as they could was too much for me to handle, I was laughing hysterically. The teacher then hid behind the cardboard cut out until the kids ran out and started picking the nuts up off the floor to pelt him. At this point, he left the room and returned as a teacher. The students then pick up all the peanuts off the ground and we ate as many peanuts as our age.
This pattern repeated for sixth grade, in the exact same way as it had for 5th. Fourth grade was a little bit different. The teacher didn't have the cardboard cut out and his outfit was slightly more different. The kids hung their devil paper's on the blackboard. The teacher dressed up like a ninja. He was in an all black, tight outfit with a black skirt going over his black leotard. He wore a curly, blonde wig, with large sunglasses (to protect his eyes) and came running in like this with a sword for one hand and a hook for the other. Same story - the kids pelted the crap out of him until they returned to their seats to eat their peanuts. At this point, he suggested "why don't we go scare other grades together?" Of course! Anything to disrupt the normalcy of a regular school day full of flying peanuts!
I put on his wig, sunglasses and took his sword and hook. He remained in his ninja outfit. The first place we went to was third grade - on the count of three, we opened up the door and ran through the classroom screaming. The kids went CRAZY! Then as abruptly as we interrupted, we ran out. Next stop, second grade. The kids had actually just finished doing their bean throwing - with their classroom. We ran in - where we were actually pelted by peanuts in this visit. Second grade took this visit by the most surprise. Last, was first grade - where we ran in unannounced and unexpectedly. We also then went into the teacher's room - where we ran around and I actually threw the peanut's at the head teacher and Vice Principal. I ran into the Principal's office and showed him the havoc I was creating in his school, before the 4th grade teacher and I ran out of the teacher's room.
It was a success. So good, that I was invited to be the devil for first grade's real bean throwing ceremony. Thus, myself and the special ed teacher ran in and we were pelted really hard by the peanuts. They really hurt!
Setsubun is fun. I really wish it did mark the end of winter. Alas, my house is still cold.
Valentine's Day...
As with most Western holidays, I receive a lot of questions from home about how Japanese people celebrate it; if they do at all. Twice today I was asked about how V-day is spent in Japan. It is celebrated, but a little bit differently than at home. In Japan, on V- day - only women give presents to the men. It doesnt' work both ways. There is a day - exactly one month after V-day - March 14th, where it is expected for men to give gifts to women - this day is called White Day.
I did see some remnants that V-day is celebrated here. If you went to stores, you could find candy making things, valentine's cards, decorations, etc. However, whereas in America, in Elementary School, all students make bags or boxes and write out Valentine's to everyone in the class - that isn't done here. At home, I remember selling and buying flowers for friends and "crushes" in middle and high school. However, here, I didn't see much of any thing going on.
I even asked my student's on Valentine's day if they knew that it WAS Valentine's Day. It seemed that they had forgotten - but once I told them, they were kind of like "oh yea!" So, yea, Valentine's Day is celebrated here - but it's not such a huge thing like in America. Which is good, because I wish I had a certain Valentine this year, too.
What's your Blood Type?
One week ago, I went shopping with Yumie' and her two sisters in Sendai, the big city nearby. It was my first time meeting her sisters! How cute they were! They remind me a lot of my sisters - and it was very natsukashii for me to be with them. We went to dinner at an "all - Asia" restaurant. This restaurant offered foods from all over Asia. Yumie is the oldest. Then there is her middle sister - Marie' and the youngest Hiroe. Hiroe speaks some English and Marie' speaks none.
I'm speaking with Marie' in Japanese when I am positive what she asked me was "What's your blood type?" However, trying to figure out the meaning behind this question, I look at her quizzically and said nani? or what? Like, why in the world would she be asking me my blood type? She said it again! I looked at Yumie' at this point and confirmed in English what I was sure was just being asked of me in Japanese.
I responded wakaranai or I don't know. Then, I looked at her and Yumie' in a very confused manner. It was here, that for the first time, I learned that it is very common for Japanese people to ask this. It is kind of like how we put personality types and lover matches in the hands of our Zodiac sign. It is Japanese custom to categorize personalities and the such to the type of blood a person has. It is apparently a popular question, but that was the first time I had been asked that here, over 6 months into living in Japan.
According to my favorite information receiving site, wikipedia. com,
This entry is dedicated to Japanese culture, of things that I have not talked about but I think are interesting to those who don't know much about Japan. Remember, I'm trying to educate everyone about Japan, too. Grassroots internationalization within inaka or rural Japan and via the internet for people who are interested in my life here.
Nengajo.
Nengajo in Japan is similiar to the Western culture of sending out holiday cards. Sure, a while ago, it may have originally been only for Christmas, but as times have changes, acceptance more widely spread, we have changed many of our Christmas greetings to the all encompassing phrase of "Happy Holidays". Nengajo is basically a "Happy New Year's" greeting. All nengajo are held at the post office until New Year's day where you will receive an influx of nengajo all on that day.
Nengajo is the size of a post card and well, basically that is what it resembles - a postcard. Japanese people send Nengajo to those people who have been kind to you over the last 12 months. It is believed to have existed since the 11th century; but with the introduction of postcards in 1873 - the custom of using them to send nengajo spread quickly. You buy the specific nengajo postcard at the post office. Many people hand make theirs, but with the introduction of computers, many of the ones that I received were made via a computer. Additionally, I received a few that had pictures of their kids on them as well, reminding me of holiday cards from home. I saw many from my co-workers - who had piles of 100's - and leafing through them - I saw many pictures were also of major events in the past year. For example, wedding photos, new houses, new cars. etc.
Japanese people follow the zodiac sign from the Chinese zodiac. Therefore, as the new year changes, the animal of that year does as well. This year - is the year of the pig or wild boar as the direct translation from Japanese into English. This means - that almost all the nengajo had some form of the pig on the picture side of it. It's also very common to include the new year - so this year was 2007. Other popular things to include are:
kotobuki - a general phrase that wishes a person well
shinshun - New Year
gasho - celebration of the New Year
geishun - greeting of the New Year
kingashinnen - Wishing you a very happy New Year
kyogashinnen - Hoping that you have a very happy New Year
akemashita omedeto gozaimasu - Happy New Year!
You can buy many stickers, stamps, and decorations to make your nengajo with all over Japan, usually beginning in November. I made mine with Katie and Akira and sent them out before going to Korea. It is a fun tradition and cool to look at. There are also some rules that if someone in your immediate family dies, you send out a card to inform that you will not be sending nengajo this year. If someone in your immediate family dies, it is like passing on the bad luck of your household to send nengajo to other familie's households. I think it is also customary not to send nengajo to that household as well - but I do not remember.
Then there is the otoshidama lottery. On the address side of the postcards is a pre-printed lottery number. If you receive a nengajo with a matching lottery number,. you can receive prizes from the post office. Some top prizes one can receive include a Hawaiian holiday, a holiday in Japan, a laptop computer, a DVD recorder and home theater system, and a digital SLR camera and printer. I don't know if I had matching numbers because I can't read the newspaper nor understand the news.
This year, 2007, around 3.79 billion special postcards for nengajo were printed. That's around 30 for every man, woman and child in Japan.
Setsubun.
Setsubun literally means division of seasons. It is the day that marks the end of winter. This year in 2007 - it was celebrated on February 3rd, which was a Saturday. On the evening on this day, people throw roasted soybeans inside and outside their houses with a scream of oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi! meaning Devil's out! Good luck in! As the beans are thrown, it is believed good luck is invited in and bad luck is driven out. It is also customary to eat as many beans as one's age. It is a superstition that it is a charm again bad luck.
During Setsubun, children throw roasted beans around their house to ward off evil spirits and other misfortune. In many families, an adult might put on a devil's mask and approach the children. The devil is hit with beans until he leaves.
I was able to learn about setsubun in a fun setting - at an Elementary School visit on the Friday before. I got to see exactly how it is celebrated. It seems that almost all schools do this - as my other Western teachers viewed this in their schools as well, and I saw evidence that it was done at my Junior High School's as well.
I was teaching 4th, 5th and 6th grade at this school. My first time seeing it was with the 5th grade class. The students all write out the things about them they want to change on a piece of paper. It seems that - they write things like "last year I was selfish, this year I want to share more" or "I want to be more kind" or "I fight with my brother too much". From what I gathered through the weak translation is that the student's wrote out the "devil's" inside of them that they want to "drive out". Then, the teacher's at the school made this HUGE cardboard devil thing and attached by tape, all the student's "devil papers" to it. So, at first, all the 5th graders taped their devil paper onto the cardboard cut out of the devil. Afterwards, the teacher leaves the classroom as each student receives heaps of peanuts from me.
Into the classroom jumps a devil! (the teacher dressed up as one). He was wearing some outfit, a mask of a devil and a helmet. As soon as the "devil" entered their classroom, the kids were literally pelting the devil with their peanuts. When I say pelting, I mean PELTING! I can see why he wore a helmet! I couldn't stop laughing. If they were just throwing peanuts at him, it would have been funny, but the fact that they were literally pelting him as hard as they could was too much for me to handle, I was laughing hysterically. The teacher then hid behind the cardboard cut out until the kids ran out and started picking the nuts up off the floor to pelt him. At this point, he left the room and returned as a teacher. The students then pick up all the peanuts off the ground and we ate as many peanuts as our age.
This pattern repeated for sixth grade, in the exact same way as it had for 5th. Fourth grade was a little bit different. The teacher didn't have the cardboard cut out and his outfit was slightly more different. The kids hung their devil paper's on the blackboard. The teacher dressed up like a ninja. He was in an all black, tight outfit with a black skirt going over his black leotard. He wore a curly, blonde wig, with large sunglasses (to protect his eyes) and came running in like this with a sword for one hand and a hook for the other. Same story - the kids pelted the crap out of him until they returned to their seats to eat their peanuts. At this point, he suggested "why don't we go scare other grades together?" Of course! Anything to disrupt the normalcy of a regular school day full of flying peanuts!
I put on his wig, sunglasses and took his sword and hook. He remained in his ninja outfit. The first place we went to was third grade - on the count of three, we opened up the door and ran through the classroom screaming. The kids went CRAZY! Then as abruptly as we interrupted, we ran out. Next stop, second grade. The kids had actually just finished doing their bean throwing - with their classroom. We ran in - where we were actually pelted by peanuts in this visit. Second grade took this visit by the most surprise. Last, was first grade - where we ran in unannounced and unexpectedly. We also then went into the teacher's room - where we ran around and I actually threw the peanut's at the head teacher and Vice Principal. I ran into the Principal's office and showed him the havoc I was creating in his school, before the 4th grade teacher and I ran out of the teacher's room.
It was a success. So good, that I was invited to be the devil for first grade's real bean throwing ceremony. Thus, myself and the special ed teacher ran in and we were pelted really hard by the peanuts. They really hurt!
Setsubun is fun. I really wish it did mark the end of winter. Alas, my house is still cold.
Valentine's Day...
As with most Western holidays, I receive a lot of questions from home about how Japanese people celebrate it; if they do at all. Twice today I was asked about how V-day is spent in Japan. It is celebrated, but a little bit differently than at home. In Japan, on V- day - only women give presents to the men. It doesnt' work both ways. There is a day - exactly one month after V-day - March 14th, where it is expected for men to give gifts to women - this day is called White Day.
I did see some remnants that V-day is celebrated here. If you went to stores, you could find candy making things, valentine's cards, decorations, etc. However, whereas in America, in Elementary School, all students make bags or boxes and write out Valentine's to everyone in the class - that isn't done here. At home, I remember selling and buying flowers for friends and "crushes" in middle and high school. However, here, I didn't see much of any thing going on.
I even asked my student's on Valentine's day if they knew that it WAS Valentine's Day. It seemed that they had forgotten - but once I told them, they were kind of like "oh yea!" So, yea, Valentine's Day is celebrated here - but it's not such a huge thing like in America. Which is good, because I wish I had a certain Valentine this year, too.
What's your Blood Type?
One week ago, I went shopping with Yumie' and her two sisters in Sendai, the big city nearby. It was my first time meeting her sisters! How cute they were! They remind me a lot of my sisters - and it was very natsukashii for me to be with them. We went to dinner at an "all - Asia" restaurant. This restaurant offered foods from all over Asia. Yumie is the oldest. Then there is her middle sister - Marie' and the youngest Hiroe. Hiroe speaks some English and Marie' speaks none.
I'm speaking with Marie' in Japanese when I am positive what she asked me was "What's your blood type?" However, trying to figure out the meaning behind this question, I look at her quizzically and said nani? or what? Like, why in the world would she be asking me my blood type? She said it again! I looked at Yumie' at this point and confirmed in English what I was sure was just being asked of me in Japanese.
I responded wakaranai or I don't know. Then, I looked at her and Yumie' in a very confused manner. It was here, that for the first time, I learned that it is very common for Japanese people to ask this. It is kind of like how we put personality types and lover matches in the hands of our Zodiac sign. It is Japanese custom to categorize personalities and the such to the type of blood a person has. It is apparently a popular question, but that was the first time I had been asked that here, over 6 months into living in Japan.
According to my favorite information receiving site, wikipedia. com,
According to Nomi's theory, those with type A blood tend to be reserved, punctual, and law-abiding, while type Os tend to be more outgoing, passionate, and driven; it is for this reason they are often considered "warrior" spirits[1]. Type Bs are said to be loners and self-sufficient, as "hunters," while ABs are said to be serious and solitary by nature.
The whole article here
Mom, if you read this, do you know my blood type? I don't.
That is the culture bit for you.
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the latest news with me? I bought tickets to Cambodia! I'm going for 10 days from April 26th to May 6th. Yaayy! I am excited.
Mom, if you read this, do you know my blood type? I don't.
That is the culture bit for you.
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the latest news with me? I bought tickets to Cambodia! I'm going for 10 days from April 26th to May 6th. Yaayy! I am excited.
People along the way
I love hiliting about people I meet along the way. In the summer, before coming to Japan - I had this idea to document about people I do meet and their stories. I don't know why - but I always find it really intriguing to learn the background about people.
I met three people on my way back to America that have stuck in my mind for the past month. The first man was a guy that only commented on how big my bag was. I was in Tokyo and waiting for a train to get to my hostel. Mr. friendly talked my ear off the entire way to the hostel. It was a fun conversation - but what I remember most about him is his smile and willingness to talk to me. Traveling - even in a short time can become lonesome and I take all the conversation I can get. He offered me his business card (which isn't so unpopular in Japan) and told me if I'm ever looking for a job in Tokyo to contact him. The card says he's in the "food research" business. Whatever that is.
At my hostel, I got directions on how to get to the airport. I knew a bit of a a roundabout way - but I wanted to try the new way that would save me some time and money if I got it correct. Not too surprising, I did not. I ended up on a train that I felt was not the right one, so I asked the woman next to me if this train was headed to the airport. She told me no - but then informed me of exactly what I needed to do to get to the airport. I think I followed. She exited off the train and then a man came over and asked me if I was trying to get to the airport. I told him yes, and then he tried explaining to me a more efficient way of getting there. I was pretty sure I was following his directions - but for his own piece of mind - he decided to go really out of his way for me. When it was my stop - he got off with me and then made sure I got on the right train. He waited with me and got me on - and then waited for the next train to get him to his destination.
The last people I want to tell you about were the Korean woman and her son that I sat with on the plane headed back for Lisa's wedding. Now – I didn't really bother learning any Korean when I went to Korea...but I did sort of remember three phrases. In my opinion, maybe the three most important ones in any language. The first one being hello, the second one excuse me, and the third one thank you. I had the window seat, which is good and bad. It's good when you can see scenery of a country in a way you would never be able to otherwise. It's good when you are trying to sleep and you can rest your head on something. It's good when you don't have people bothering you to get out to walk. It's good as stated in The Wedding Singer that you don't have the aisle seat, where the beverage cart hits your elbow when it comes past you. However, it's not ALL good. It's bad when you need to use the toilet. It's especially bad when the person that is sitting in the way of the toilet doesn't speak the same language as you. It was maybe 4 or 5 into my long flight back to America and nature called. I had a Korean woman next to me sewing. I was trying hard to recall the three phrases I knew in Korean. I knew all three, right? But, in my stage fright to speak, I wasn't positive which phrase meant what. What the heck, they'll either be pissed I killed their language or happy I at least tried.
“sillye hamnida” is what I meekly muttered from underneath my breathe. The woman looked at me strangely. I think to myself shit, I said the wrong thing. In my panic, I just decide to go for the language that usually never fails – body language. I point in the way of the bathroom and she understands. When I return, I say gamsa hamnida which I was almost positive was thank you. It was. The woman was smiling ear to ear and then started speaking rapidly to her son who was on the other side of her.
The son who's family name is Kim, leaned over his mother and said to me “my mother says you speak good Korean.” I laughed and said “not at all.” I then explained that I only know those two words and anyeoung haseyo (hello). This display of trying to speak their language sparked into a nice conversation for the next few hours. Kim was 27 (realllly cute) and studying to become a dentist. They were headed to Washington DC to visit his aunt who was having a baby. We talked about why I was going back to America, my life in Japan and many things Korean. They were very pleased that I had visited their country. I was amazed by his mother – the entire trip back to America she was sewing this baby blanket and a baby outfit. She explained to me about a Korean tradition. In this little white outfit, she had hand sewn stitches that go from up to down on it. She had hand sewn 100 of them in hopes that the baby will live to be 100 years old. This extremely amazing time consuming task is a Korean tradition that many Korean women do for friends and families babies. This woman was very fond of me, making her son translate as much as he could to me. It was really funny because a lot of it was very uncomfortable for him to translate. Things like I'm beautiful, I'm kind, if I come back to Korea her son will take me around, etc. It was really touching, and for the rest of the trip, she made sure to get my food for me if I was napping or offering things for me to have. I won't forget that family, it was a lot of fun getting past the initial awkwardness of sitting next to people I didn't think I could communicate with.
I have a student here that I really like. I always thought he was a bright student of mine because he always tried speaking to me in English; something that none of my students do. We had an essay question to practice the phrase “I think.” The question was “Do you think learning English is important?” He wrote on his paper, “some English.” I asked him what he meant. He said, “important words are “hello, how are you? Thank you, excuse me, good morning, etc”. From there he went on to say we should know these words for many languages, not just English. It turns out, as I've gotten to know him better, his English is actually really poor. But, he still remains to be one of my only students to greet me in English. He tries sooo hard to speak to me in English, but he is just not good at it. This boy is one of my favorite students and he is graduating from Junior High School in just about two weeks now. Thinking about it, I have grown attached to my ninth grade students that will be leaving me soon. A point was made that day and it has stuck in my head since. His logic and explanation really is true. It makes such a difference to me to see him try to say basic things to me, and it made such a difference to the Korean woman when I used her language, as well.
Our flight landed really late and I really hope that they made it okay to their next flight to DC. I nearly missed my flight and theirs was twenty minutes earlier than mine was. We waved goodbye as I entered the custom's line for US residents and they went to the foreign passport holders line.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
January Activities Part 2
A Speech
I just spend the last 30 minutes trying to figure out a way to type in the different Japanese characters on my computer. I failed so I can't show you examples. Instead, I will teach you about Katakana-go and how it can be confusing.
Some of my favorites:
Japanese Word
Manshyon
English word it sounds like
Mansion
What it means in Japanese - apartment building
What it means in English - a very, large, expensive home
With this word - I told a story about when I first heard the word. I was with a Japanese man and he pointed out his apartment building and said to me "This is my mansion." I started laughing at him because I thought he was making a joke. When he didn't laugh back - I didn't understand how someone could mix up apartment with mansion and wondered who his horrible English teacher was. Little did I know - that he was actually using the Japanese word of Manshyon - and he meant apartment building.
Japanese word - Atakku
English word - Attack
Japanese meaning - to attempt
English meaning - to set upon in a forceful, violent, hostile, or aggressive way, with or without a weapon; begin fighting withThe story (which is true!) that I told that goes with this one involves another ALT. He was interested in a girl and some of his Japanese students told him to atakku her. Not knowing the meaning - it sure sounds like a rather violent request over having a crush on a person!
Other examples for you -
Japanese word - faito
English word - Fight
J - meaning - give it your all
E - meaning - a battle or combat
J - Word Yankii
E- Word Yankee
J - Meaning - a delinquent youth
E- meaning - a person from the North in the USA
J - word sunakku
E -word - Snack bar
J - meaning - a Japanese bar where a person pays a lot to have women pours you drinks
E- meaning - Where a person goes to get a hotdog or milkshake
J- Word tureina
E- word Trainer
J meaning - sweatshirt
E - meaning Shoes
J - Word sumat-to*
E - word Smart
J meaning thin/hot/nice/body
E - meaning intelligient
*This is one case where you would not want to call your students smart!
You can see how confusing it could be to understand only a few Japanese words - then hear one of these katakana words and how it could mislead you. This was basically how the speech went. My professor friend, whom goes by Happy one (I love that!) - talked to our audience in Japanese as I tried to follow along as best as my abilities would allow me. From there - he would ask my input and I would try to respond as best as I could in Japanese. If I couldn't respond in Japanese - he, along with another British native, now a co-English professor would help translate for me.
Meghann came to support me and she was also brought up for discussion. After speaking, we turned the audience into an open discussion. The audience was free to ask Meghann & I questions they had involving foreigners or English discussion. Afterwards, we had tea and I made some new contacts which is always nice.
Katakana is a huge problem in teaching English. Since all the sounds in the Japanese language end in a vowel - aside from the one sound that represents the N in English - you often end up with words like PINKU instead of pink or SAKKA instead of soccer. It doesn't seem like a huge deal now, because the students are in Japan; however, if they are to travel and encounter people with little foreigner experience - their katakanized English will not be understood. I often want to settle with allowing Katakanized English be "okay" in my classroom - but the more I understand teaching, the lesser I am allowing it to fly in my classes. Likewise, it's very confusing for me to learn Katakana words because I just want to say the English word. I can never seem to get cappucino correct. I know I sound like an idiot when I just throw a word out there hoping it's the proper way of pronouncing it.
Of course, It can be a blessing, as my friend Dave says,
"foreigners wonder why their words are borrowed in a way that retains their separateness from real japanese via the katakana character set. i have to say, though, having been to hong kong i'm thankful for it: it's like having a cheat code for understanding menus and things - and in japan i'm willing to take all the understanding i can get."
And that is - Katakana-go.
Another professor of the college was there - and he showed us the University that is nearby. It was very enjoyable for me since I long so badly to be back in the fun setting of college. This particular professor teaches business - so it was really nostalgic for me to be back. He's spent quite some time in the USA - so he understands the challenges a foreigner faces in Japan. I quote him as saying "I'm a foreigner here myself." - meaning Japan.
The next evening we joined the International Association for a party. We had dinner and made ourselves more social within this group. It was a fun evening of conversation, people singing, and happiness all around. Certainly one of the nights where I am happy to be in Japan!
Oh, this speech was yet another way for me to be in the newspaper. Newspaper appearance #3.
Do you remember when I did English Haiku's way back in October? I met an English Professor from a nearby University who I have been keeping in contact with. He invited me to be a guest speaker at the International Organization I have mentioned in the past. We would be discussing together the confusion a newcomer to Japan has with words the Japanese language has integrated into Japan. He would be the main presenter – and I the evidence and proof of his theory. I accepted and made my speech on Sunday the 28th.
The material of the speech was something called katakana-go. Katakana is one of the three syllabaries that Japan uses for reading and writing. This syllabary is strictly for the use of foreign used words that have weaseled their way into the Japanese language. There is an actual board of people that decide which words will make it into the language and how they will be pronounced/spelled. So, for example, since I am a foreigner - my name is written in Katakana. America, ramen, computer, banana, etc are all also examples that would be written in Katakana.
I just spend the last 30 minutes trying to figure out a way to type in the different Japanese characters on my computer. I failed so I can't show you examples. Instead, I will teach you about Katakana-go and how it can be confusing.
Some of my favorites:
Japanese Word
Manshyon
English word it sounds like
Mansion
What it means in Japanese - apartment building
What it means in English - a very, large, expensive home
With this word - I told a story about when I first heard the word. I was with a Japanese man and he pointed out his apartment building and said to me "This is my mansion." I started laughing at him because I thought he was making a joke. When he didn't laugh back - I didn't understand how someone could mix up apartment with mansion and wondered who his horrible English teacher was. Little did I know - that he was actually using the Japanese word of Manshyon - and he meant apartment building.
Japanese word - Atakku
English word - Attack
Japanese meaning - to attempt
English meaning - to set upon in a forceful, violent, hostile, or aggressive way, with or without a weapon; begin fighting withThe story (which is true!) that I told that goes with this one involves another ALT. He was interested in a girl and some of his Japanese students told him to atakku her. Not knowing the meaning - it sure sounds like a rather violent request over having a crush on a person!
Other examples for you -
Japanese word - faito
English word - Fight
J - meaning - give it your all
E - meaning - a battle or combat
J - Word Yankii
E- Word Yankee
J - Meaning - a delinquent youth
E- meaning - a person from the North in the USA
J - word sunakku
E -word - Snack bar
J - meaning - a Japanese bar where a person pays a lot to have women pours you drinks
E- meaning - Where a person goes to get a hotdog or milkshake
J- Word tureina
E- word Trainer
J meaning - sweatshirt
E - meaning Shoes
J - Word sumat-to*
E - word Smart
J meaning thin/hot/nice/body
E - meaning intelligient
*This is one case where you would not want to call your students smart!
You can see how confusing it could be to understand only a few Japanese words - then hear one of these katakana words and how it could mislead you. This was basically how the speech went. My professor friend, whom goes by Happy one (I love that!) - talked to our audience in Japanese as I tried to follow along as best as my abilities would allow me. From there - he would ask my input and I would try to respond as best as I could in Japanese. If I couldn't respond in Japanese - he, along with another British native, now a co-English professor would help translate for me.
Meghann came to support me and she was also brought up for discussion. After speaking, we turned the audience into an open discussion. The audience was free to ask Meghann & I questions they had involving foreigners or English discussion. Afterwards, we had tea and I made some new contacts which is always nice.
Katakana is a huge problem in teaching English. Since all the sounds in the Japanese language end in a vowel - aside from the one sound that represents the N in English - you often end up with words like PINKU instead of pink or SAKKA instead of soccer. It doesn't seem like a huge deal now, because the students are in Japan; however, if they are to travel and encounter people with little foreigner experience - their katakanized English will not be understood. I often want to settle with allowing Katakanized English be "okay" in my classroom - but the more I understand teaching, the lesser I am allowing it to fly in my classes. Likewise, it's very confusing for me to learn Katakana words because I just want to say the English word. I can never seem to get cappucino correct. I know I sound like an idiot when I just throw a word out there hoping it's the proper way of pronouncing it.
Of course, It can be a blessing, as my friend Dave says,
"foreigners wonder why their words are borrowed in a way that retains their separateness from real japanese via the katakana character set. i have to say, though, having been to hong kong i'm thankful for it: it's like having a cheat code for understanding menus and things - and in japan i'm willing to take all the understanding i can get."
And that is - Katakana-go.
Another professor of the college was there - and he showed us the University that is nearby. It was very enjoyable for me since I long so badly to be back in the fun setting of college. This particular professor teaches business - so it was really nostalgic for me to be back. He's spent quite some time in the USA - so he understands the challenges a foreigner faces in Japan. I quote him as saying "I'm a foreigner here myself." - meaning Japan.
The next evening we joined the International Association for a party. We had dinner and made ourselves more social within this group. It was a fun evening of conversation, people singing, and happiness all around. Certainly one of the nights where I am happy to be in Japan!
Oh, this speech was yet another way for me to be in the newspaper. Newspaper appearance #3.
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