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2017 March Courses

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Sign-up is available for the January courses: 3/1/17 – 3/27/17 It’s $125 for 4 classes!!! We will meet once a week for four weeks. Seven students max per class.  Please contact me to register.  ***** 3/1/17 – 3/27/17 *****   Mon Wed 6-6:50pm JAP 101 BEG 1 7:10-8pm JAP 201 N/A Course Description BEG 1 This … Read more

雪国 – Snow Country

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雪国

Snow Country (雪国) is a very well-known novel by Yasunari Kawabata (川端康成) who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1968.  Probably everyone who has grown up in Japan knows its opening line “国境の長いトンネルを抜けると雪国であった” [“The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country” (translation by Edward Seidensticker, 1996.)]  Snow Country is a love story based in part on the author’s journey to Niigata in the far north of Japan.  TV shows, movies, a play, etc. have all been made from this novel.

節分 – Setsubun

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Setsubun, which literally means “dividing season,” marks the day before a new season starts according to the traditional East Asian lunisolar calendar. While there is a setsubun for each season, the one we typically refer to is the Spring Setsubun. According to the Japanese calendar, Spring Setsubun in 2017 falls on February 3rd; however, on rare occasions, it can fall on February 2nd.

During Setsubun, people engage in the custom of mamemaki (please see the mamemaki post for details). People also eat an entire roll of sushi, that is called Ehōmaki for a good luck. It’s not good to slice the roll because the luck will be cut off as well.

地獄谷のサル – Monkeys in Onsen

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There is a park in Nagano Prefecture, Japan where you can watch Japanese monkeys taking a bath.  This is one specific type of monkey called a Snow Monkey.  The park is specially designed to keep these monkeys as wild as possible and to strictly control tourists.  For example visitors are not allowed to feed the monkeys so that monkeys won’t harass or try to follow tourists.  But for those who want closer contact, there is an inn nearby where monkeys may join you while you take a bath in onsen outside.

温泉 – Onsen

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Onsen or hot springs in Japan are natural spring that wells up from the underground or man-made bath that uses natural spring water.  The regulations in Japan to be qualified as an onsen are to have one of the followings.  1. The water has to be at least 25 Celsius degrees naturally before heating.  2. The water must contain certain levels of mineral as it wells up naturally.

2016 Anime Top 5

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This year is almost over.  So I’d like to share with you some popular anime released in 2016.  According to the Japanese fan website www.anikore.jp, the following new anime were judged the best to appear in 2016:

  1) ERASED

   2) Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-

   3) Your Name

   4) A Silent Voice (this one is not yet available on DVD)

   5) New Game!

I only know first three anime, and they are all good.  My favorite is ERASED.  A Silent Voice DVD isn’t yet available.

しめ飾り – Shimekazari

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Shimekazari is a decorated shimenawa.  Today many households just put up shimekazari like any other new year’s decoration; but traditionally its purpose was to attract the spirit of one particular Shinto deity: Toshigami-sama, (protector of health and good fortune), so that he would purify the house and keep bad luck and evil spirits away.

Shimekazari is usually suggested to be put up between 13th and 28th of December, and to be taken down on the 7th or 15th of January depending on the area of Japan.

Shell-less Hatching

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A Japanese high school teacher, Yutaka Tahara figured out how to hatch a chicken in plastic wrap without a shell.  In high school students study the chicken embryo development, but the chickens die in the process.  Teacher Tanaka researched for 30 years how to hatch the chicken successfully.  It is fascinating!

KFC Christmas Dinner

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It’s almost that time again… it’s almost time for… KFC!!! lol

I mention this every Christmas season, so you may be tired of hearing it, but please let me say it again for the first timers.  In Japan KFC chicken is very typical and popular Christmas dinner for many households & Christmas parties.  KFC starts taking orders for the Christmas special as early as 11/1/16.  People form long lines in front of KFC stores on Christmas Eve because we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day.

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