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SCETA Learn Japan
Facebook reminded me that I had a Yōkai event on 11/11/16 and I remember that I was very grateful for all your support. But this year is even better. I am traveling to Japan to assist family of Miss U.S. International. When I come back I will be working for The Source Chef Fujino 10-year anniversary celebration on 11/29/17 https://dayinjapan.eventbrite.com and then presenting two panels at Anime USA on 12/9/17 https://animeusa.org Thank you very much for your support!!!
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Miss International Beauty Pageant
Miss US International 2017 is Shanel James from Maryland. She is going to Japan for the Miss International Beauty Pageant. I have been teaching her Japanese language & culture to get her ready. I will travel to Japan with her family as a guide and companion.
Do you want me to assist your trip to Japan as well? Yes, I love to! Please contact me!
SCETA Japan Center
4500 Lehigh Rd, College Park, MD 20740
202-656-6085
mail@LearnJapan.co
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Miss U.S. International
Miss U.S. International 2017 is Shanel James from Maryland. She is going to Japan for the Miss International Beauty Pageant. I have taught her Japanese etiquette, culture and language. She learns everything very quickly. She is extremely beautiful, smart and sweet. She is ready for Japan and the pageant. Ganbatte, Shanel san!!!
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妖怪 – Yōkai
In Japanese folklore Yōkai are supernatural beings of many kinds including monsters, spirits, ghosts, and demons. Some of them are friendly and some of them are not. Yōkai tales have been told in Japan for at least the last 1,200 years and are still told today, and yōkai of all kinds have been pictured in ukiyo-e, scroll paintings, manga, anime, etc. One of the oldest pictures of yōkai is the demon depicted on the national treasure from the 7th century Buddhist Tamamushi Shrine.
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Bonin Flying Fox
The Bonin flying fox (オガサワラオオコウモリ) is endemic to Japan and has been found in a few islands of Ogasawara (known as the Bonin Islands in English). The Bonin flying fox is called Ogasawara Ookōmori in Japanese. Oo means “big” and kōmori means a “bat.” Needless to say, an ookōmori is bigger than a regular kōmori (its body is about 9 inches long), but also ookōmori eat fruits whereas kōmori normally eat small insects. Also the ookōmori’s eyes are fully functional unlike those of an ordinary kōmori. Therefore, an ookōmori is normally diurnal where a kōmori is normally nocturnal. Strangely, some Bonin flying foxes are diurnal and others are nocturnal depending on the island where they live. Since 1969 Bonin flying foxes have been designated as natural treasures of Japan.
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Tipping in Japan
The custom of tipping is not common in Japan as it is in the U.S. While you can tip a personal driver, photographer, or tour guide if you use these during a visit to Japan, you do not routinely tip the service staff in restaurants, hotels, etc. Indeed many businesses (including hospitals, and hotels) have a policy against their staff accepting tips. If you receive great service, you might consider giving them a boxed gift, but please keep in mind that some businesses will not allow their employees to accept even an apple. If you want to try and tip anyway, then prepare brand new bills, place these all with the person side up inside an envelope (as shown in the photo), and pass it to the person you want to tip as unobtrusively as possible. Be sure to use only brand new bills, otherwise it might be considered an insult. For your personal driver you can tip openly, but still use new bills in an envelope. One last word of warning: there are special traditions in Japan for giving gifts to families at weddings and funerals, so be sure to check with someone who can advise you of the proper etiquette before you attend such ceremonies.
Please contact me for more tips & advice in Japan!
Chika Sugiyama
(202) 656-6085
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招き猫 – Maneki Neko
Maneki-neko is a Japanese lucky charm of a cat and is also called “beckoning cat” in English. Today it is well known in many countries all over the world and is found in stores and businesses. Maneki means an “invitation” and neko is a “cat” in Japanese. It is called maneki-neko because the cat’s grooming pose when it holds up its paw to its ear resembles an inviting gesture in Japanese culture. People say a maneki-neko that raises its right paw will bring money and one that raises its left paw will bring customers/people. The higher the paw rises, the more luck it will bring. A maneki-neko usually holds a gold coin in its other paw for more luck attracting money. People say that a white maneki-neko will bring happiness, a black one will protect you from misfortune, a red one will bring good health, a pink one will bring romance, and a calico will bring fortune. Furthermore, a maneki-neko with eyes of two different colors is supposed to bring even more money because such a cat is rare in real life.
One last thing: In Japan people say that September 29th is the day of maneki-neko.
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Japanese Table Manners
Many people love Japanese food in the U.S., but most of us don’t know the dos and don’ts of Japanese table manners. Let’s learn proper Japanese etiquette.
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マリモ – Marimo
Marimo literally means an “algae ball” in Japanese. A marimo is a colony of thread-like algae that naturally takes on a ball-like shape due to the action of water currents in certain lakes. Marimo grows just like any water plant, but once it reaches about a foot in diameter, it falls apart and the whole process starts over.
Today marimo are found not only in Japan, but also in some lakes of Iceland, the USA, Europe, and Australia. Researchers believe that all marimo in other countries originally came from Japan. You can actually buy man-made marimo from Japan and raise them at home.
Since 1952 the marimo from Lake Akan in Hokkaidō have been designated as special natural treasures of Japan because of their almost perfectly round shape, large size and velvet-like surface. However, this is only an illusion; in fact the surface of a marimo is pretty hard and prickly.
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サンマ – Mackerel Pike
Mackerel pike is one of the most popular fish in Japan and is called “sanma (サンマ)” in Japanese. Sanma tastes best in the fall. Many Japanese people think that grilling sanma with grated daikon radish & soy sauce is the simplest yet best way to enjoy this fish. Here is a photo of a grilled sanma with a cat-shaped radish. It’s too cute for me to eat it, but maybe you can enjoy it. 😉
Food and photo by トモ (@tomos0105)
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忍者学 – Ninja Study
Mie University Graduate School in Japan announced recently that they will have ninja study as a subject for the entrance examination starting 2018. They have not released the details of the examination. You can choose ninja as a topic for your thesis at Mie University Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences. A history professor, Professor Yamada from the same university is known for ninja study as well as Japanese ghosts and spirits. Mie prefecture has a ninja museum as well. Ninja fans from all over the world must be excited.
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ありがとう – Arigatō
“Arigatō” means “thank you” in Japanese. The word arigatō came from arigatai. Today some people say arigatai as well as arigatō, but the original meaning of arigatai was just “hard to exist”. This is to say that receiving kindness is a blessing, and we should never regard someone’s kindness as an ordinary gesture. This is based on the Buddhist belief that for us to be alive on this earth at all is already miracle.
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透明クレヨン – Clear Crayon
Did you know there are clear crayons??? Apparently they came out a few years ago in Japan, but I didn’t know anything about them. They cost a lot more than traditional crayons, but they are so beautiful and useful (pen drawing won’t be covered).
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Shōryō Uma Art
Some people today make cars, motorcycles, Totoro’s Neko Basu, etc. as a shōryō uma (click here for details) for their beloved ancestors. Lol
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精霊馬 – Shōryō Uma
Obon is a ceremony held in late summer when the Japanese offer thanks and respect to their dead ancestors (click here for details). People in Japan believe that their ancestors’ souls can travel back to our world at this time. Some households shape small cows or horses called shōryō-uma or “spirit horses” out of vegetables and place these in the family altar so that their returning ancestors may travel more comfortably. Unlike Halloween in the West, the returning souls are not considered frightening, but are warmly welcomed.
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山の日 – Mountain Day
This is the second year that Mountain Day is being celebrated as a national holiday of Japan. So if you haven’t climbed a mountain yet, or at least taken a long hike along a mountain trail, this would be a good time to start. (click here for more details about Mountain Day).
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Travel Support to Tokyo
Traveling or relocating to Tokyo? As a lifelong Tokyo resident I can help you plan your trip, alert you to special places you must see (and some you might want to avoid), and teach you basic greetings and useful phrases before you leave the U.S.
I will travel with you to Tokyo and help you get settled so that you can more quickly feel comfortable. Finally, I will stay in touch with you (you must own a smart phone or a laptop) to help you with on-the-spot advice and translating on your Japan trip.
Every trip will be customized to meet your interests. Three classroom style courses are included free of charge with your purchase (up to $360 value). Please contact me for details.
Chika Sugiyama
202-656-6085
mail@learnjapan.co
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ガチャ飯 – Gacha Meal
A gacha (click here for details) for meals is coming soon to a rest stop in Hyogo, Japan. This is the first gacha of its kind will only be available for a limited time between August 5th and August 31st 2017. This is how it works. You pay 500 yen (about $5 US) for a capsule which contains a random meal ticket good for a restaurant meal that normally costs between 600 to 2000+ yen. Of course you don’t get to choose which meal you will get, but it’s fun and ought to be a pretty good investment – if you are not a picky eater.
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ガチャ – Capsule Toy
In the Japanese language a “gacha” is a capsule-toy from a vending machine. These capsule vending machines originated in the U.S., but today I think they are a lot more popular in Japan than in the U.S. The gacha made by Bandai is called “gashapon”, and people loosely call a capsule-toy in general “gashapon”, “gachapon”, “gacha”, “gacha gacha”, etc. A gacha is well-known in many countries because its capsules contain familiar character figures from anime and movies.
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Guerrilla Rainstorm
On 7/18/17 there was a guerrilla rainstorm (ゲリラ豪雨) with golf ball ~ billiard ball-size hail in Tokyo. Wikipedia says “a guerrilla rainstorm is a Japanese expression used to describe a short, localized downpour of over 100 mm of rain per hour”.
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貼るピアス – Sticker Earrings
Look what’s new in Japan!!! Now you can get fake pierced earrings that use medical tape to stick to your ear robes! They really look like real pierced earrings, don’t they??? They are so cute, and they only cost 100 yen (about $1 US) !!!
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雨の京都 – Rainy Day in Kyoto
It’s rainy season in Japan. This is a picture of Kimono Forest in Arashiyama, Kyoto. It’s beautiful in the rain. Many traditional Japanese scenes look lovely in the rain.
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Lactic Acid Diet
http://parole-girl.com/fasting/
I found this article. It’s written in Japanese, but it is about speeding up your metabolism. It says the more lactic acid bacteria and amino acids you take, the faster your metabolism will become. The most common food that contains lots of lactic acid bacteria is yogurt. Amino acids can be found in meat, eggs, beans, etc. So you just have to eat lots of yogurt and high-protein foods according to this article. If you try this diet, please let me know if your metabolism gets faster!
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Tamagotchi Video
I have posted a few videos on YouTube. This video shows how to unlock Tamagotchi locations.
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ホタルイカの身投げ – Firefly Squid Suicide
Have you ever heard of the “firefly squid suicide” phenomenon? Firefly squid normally live deep in the ocean, and release mysterious blue light in the dark (please read my firefly squid post for more information). But every so often many of these creatures crowd into the shore of Toyama Bay, and their blue lights can be seen on the shore. People say that between midnight and dawn during the new moon in March-May is the best time to see this, but still depending on the weather conditions, you may not be able to see anything. The reason why the squid come to Toyama Bay is still unknown, but has something to do with laying their eggs. People think maybe lots of squid lose their sense of direction, and accidentally swim towards the shore that many of them cannot find their way back to deep water.
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DC Anime Club
I have taught some basic Japanese language and culture for the DC Anime Club on the 22nd of April, 2017. Thank you very much for your support. Please contact me for the future events.
https://www.meetup.com/DC-Anime-Club/events/238387812/
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Sakura in Tokyo 2017
According to the Japan Weather Association, cherry blossoms opened on the 21st of March in Tokyo – earlier than anywhere else in Japan. Normally cherry blossoms start blooming in the south first, and gradually move up to the north. But the weather has been so odd that many unusual things are happening everywhere.
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卒業式 – Graduation
Unlike American schools, the Japanese school year starts in spring. From kindergarten to graduate school, all schools usually begin in April and end in March. Graduation is a very emotional event for most Japanese, and many students and teachers cry during the ceremony. In the Tokyo area graduation frequently falls the cherry blossom season and this makes it even more memorable.
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3-Gatsu no Lion
3-gatsu no lion (English title: March Comes in like a Lion) is a new anime now playing on Japanese TV. (Currently at episode 20, it is scheduled to have 22 episodes in all for season 1). The main character is a teenager who plays Japanese chess or shogi professionally, but even if you don’t know anything about shogi, you can still fully enjoy this heartwarming anime, which illustrates all kinds of interactions between different types, ages, and classes of people in Japan. Season 2 is scheduled to start in October this year.
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Hinamaturi Event in Tokyo
Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo is hosting an exhibition for hinamatsuri until 3/27/17. You can see over 6500 hanging ornaments of dolls and other hinamatsuri decorations.
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雛祭り – Hina Matsuri
March 3rd is Hina-matsuri (English translation “Dolls’ Festival, Girls’ Day, or Dolls’ Day.”) It is not an official holiday, but a traditional event held every year to celebrate the health of a young girl in the family and to wish a happy marriage for her in the future. In ancient times, a doll was dropped into a river on this day to symbolically dispose of a young girl’s illness or bad luck. Later, this doll became a symbol of the young girl herself, and now a female doll is displayed with a male doll (her future husband), amid servants, flowers, food, and drinks. These dolls are not toys, but beautiful and often expensive images dressed in elaborate costumes like those worn at the imperial court long ago. We often celebrate it with hishi mochi, sushi and shirozake or white wine.
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2017 March Courses
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 is a general introductory course for beginners. It covers a little bit of everything, including writing, reading, speaking and listening. JAP 101 If you want to learn Japanese properly with grammar, you should take this course. JAP 101 will cover writing, reading, speaking and listening with grammar. Prerequisite is BEG 1 or equivalent. JAP 201 JAP 201 will cover writing, reading, speaking and listening with grammar. Prerequisite is JAP 104 or equivalent. Chika Sugiyama
4500 Lehigh Rd, College Park, MD 20740
mail@learnjapan.co
202-656-6085
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雪国 – Snow Country
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.
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節分 – Setsubun
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.
