Spring vacation
What do you usually do on a long vacation? I think every time that I should put the vacation to good account, but I usually just lie around. So this time I’m going to study English and improve my language skills.
Mie University’s spring vacation is about a month and a half. I think it’s enough to study.
I also have some plans for pleasure. I’ll go to Ise with friends to buy tsuitachi-mochi. And I’ll go to Togari-onsen to ski in early March. I like skiing, so I’m looking forward to the trip. And I’ll take a trip with students and maybe some professors of the English Department. This trip will be the last one with the Department’s forth-year students and a professor. This trip will bring many pleasures and sadness. I think good-bye is so sad, but I want to say good-bye with a smile :-)
Because this vacation has just started, I want to spend it deliberately.
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My first year at university
A year has past since I got into Mie University. This year was very fruitful.
First, I got a lot of good friends. The English majors are nice. It is pleasant to talk with them. At the university festival in October, we made and sold okonomiyaki. We achived success through working hard together. The university festival is a pleasant and precious memory.
Second, English became closer to me. When I had the first English class, I was surprised and confused because the professor spoke only English and we had to speak English too. It is still very difficult for me even now, but it seems useful for us. Generally speaking, the teaching of English in Japan tends to set reading above speaking. I think listening and speaking English is more important.
Third, I started to learn how to teach students. I had been taught by teachers until graduating from high school. I felt freshness.
This year flashed by because I had a good time. Two month from now, new freshmen will come in and we will be sophomores. And learning must be more difficult. I’m going to do my best with my classmates. I wish our lives in next year are in good health, happy and fruitful too.
Thank you very much, Ruedi!
Comment [1]
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This year
The day before yesterday the spring vacation started. I will be a sophomore in April. Last spring I entered Mie university. I experienced a lot of first things for this year. I had new acquaintances, friends and teachers. I got a driving license in summer. The Kyoto trip was so great, and so on. I have many nice memories.
I think the biggest change is that I started to live alone. I realized long ago that I must live alone after graduating from high school if I go to university. But I didn’t have a specific image about it. So I had much obscure anxiety and little hope when I moved to Tsu.
The first night I couldn’t sleep well because of extreme tension about my new life and the neighbor’s loud snore. Afterwards my bed was displaced. But I am still annoyed by his snore now. Another trouble, there was no refrigerator in house for a week. I experienced life without a fridge for the first time. It was a heavy week and I learned that a fridge is necessary.
I felt lonely because I was always alone in the new house. I always had to eat meals by myself and I had no appetite in those days. I couldn’t get accustomed to be alone. I wanted to have a meal with my family. I had a lot of housework. I appreciated my parents for bringing me up. I knew they always help me. I want to return them the favor little by little. I will go back home in the spring vacation.
Today I’m accustomed to living alone, I eat enough and sleep well. I often oversleep, though, and I can’t wake up early, which is my problem. But I think living alone is so comfortable for me. Try it?
Comment [3]
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TV programs
Although I often watch serious programs too, I like entertainment programs on TV. Recently I’ ve been watching many NHK programs.
Have you ever watched the American family drama, Full House (Channel 9, 19:00 to 19:25 hrs on Tuesdays)? Full House was originally produced in 1987 in America, and since I was a kid it has been broadcast many times on NHK. I watched it several times when I was a kid but didn’t particularly like it then. But I’ve been captivated by Full House when I watched the reruns that started in April, 2005.
Full House’s appeal is that various happenings always occur in the Tanner family, the main characters, yet the drama always has a happy ending. Full House may be a TV program for children, but I can still enjoy it, and I can watch it from a different angle from what I had in chilldhood. I think Full House is a family drama which entertains both children and adults.
I also enjoy Shinken-juudai-shaberiba (Channel 9, 23:30 to 24:15 hrs on Fridays). This title means “a place for talking seriously for teenagers”. This is a program where a group of teenage regulars discuss a question that is suggested by one of them. I often watched this program in my high school days, and I still sometimes watch it when a question I am interested in is discussed. Sadly, this program will end in March and instead a new program will start in April.
Finally, Top Runner (Channel 9, 19:00 to 19:44 hrs on Sundays) is usually pretty good. On this program musicians, authors, actors, etc. get invited as guests if they are on the front line and in the spotlight. The guests talk about their history. I watch this program when a guest I like is on. A seasonable guest always appears on this program, so I’m looking forward to it a lot.
I also watch commercial broadcasting. I am interested in various things, so I will continue to watch various TV programs.
Comment [3]
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English is my best friend
Japan uses the “6-3-3-4” education system, which is the same as in the United States. This means that there are six years of elementary school, three years of middle school, three years of high school, and four years at a university. This system was set up by the School Education Law in 1947.
Elmentary school and three years of middle school are compulsory. Most children also go to nursery school and kindergarden. About 95% of middle school graduates go on to high school. and about 50% of high school graduates go on to a two-year college, a four-year college or university.
During the nine years of compulsory education, all children learn English. And some students also go on home-stay holidays during the summer to improve their English. Many university students learn English as part of their basic education, and so it is common for Japanese to study English for about eight years Still, most people in Japan feel that they can’t speak English. Why is this?
Generally speaking, most lessons in school are taught by Japanese teachers and students learn mainly reading and grammer. I suppose it’s the reason why most people in Japan have such a feeling.
But recently this has been changing. More and more schools are employing native speakers of English as assistant teachers who work along with the Japanese English teachers to help the students learn to speak natural English.
There are probably many reasons why Japanese have difficulty with English, but perhaps one of the biggest reasons is the worry about making mistakes. But, it is very natural for most Japanese to worry about mistakes because it is the custom in Japan to feel shame when they make mistakes.
Indeed, there are so many difficulties to learn English. But I love English. Throughout my life, I’d like to learn English. English is not only lifelong learning but also a best friend for me.
Comment [1]
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Mistakes
Recently, I often fail. For example, to sleep late morning, to sleep in class, and to go shopping. When I slept late morning, I thought that I wasted my time. And when I slept in class, I felt regret that I didn’t listen to teacher during week of tests. Besides when I went shopping, I thought that I wasted my money.
The other day, I bought a hat. But the color was deep, deep brown, though I thought that the color was deep green. The cause of the mistake was the store’s light. That light’s color was orange. So I mistook the color.
I think that I will make use of this experience next!
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Coming of Age Day
The second Monday of January is Seijin no Hi (Coming of Age Day) in Japan. People celebrate this day to welcome the young men and women who have turned or will turn twenty years old during the current year, as new members of society! Ceremonies are held in every city, town and village. The people who have reached the age of twenty get the right to vote and also allowed to smoke and drink.
I got twenty years old on November 29 last year. So I wore furisode and attended a coming of age celebration.
The day before the celebration, I went to a nail-art salon in Sakae. I experienced nail-art for the first time! I had an professional artist painted my fingernails. The artist painted in detail and attached line-stones to my fingernails. I admired her facility.
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New Year's custom in Japan
I first posted this article as a comment on Guoping’s Blog but I want everyone to read it so, I’m re-posting it here.
Let me introduce a Japanese New Year’s custom to you. In Japan, there are quite a few of these customs; for example, osechi ryouri, kagamimochi, hatsumode, motituki, and shimenawa. Do you know these customs?
Especially, I examined osechi ryori. The tradition started in the Heian period. Osechi are easily recognizable by their special boxes called jubako, which resemble bento boxes. Like bento boxes, jubako are often kept stacked before and after use.
Osechi have black soybeans, herring roe, tazukuri dried sardines cooked in soy sauce, kombu, sweet roasted chestnuts, red sea-bream, Japanese bitter orange, taro, kamaboko, kurikinton, mashed sweet potato with chestnut, rolled eggs and so on.
The dishes that make up osechi each have a special meaning celebrating the New Year. Let me give some examples. Black soybeans mean that everyone will keep their good health in the new year. Herring roe means “child”: it symbolizes a wish to be gifted with children in the new year. Taro have almost the same meaning because taro have many children. Kombu is associated with the Japanese word yorokobu, meaning “joy,” and red sea-bream, tai is associated with the Japanese word medetai, meaning an auspicious event. kamaboko, which is slices of red and white fish cakes alternated in rows or arranged in a pattern. The color and shape are reminiscent of the rising sun, and have a celebratory, festive meaning.
I don’t know how each food got to have each meaning, but I think it is interesting.
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Do you like zouni?
In Japan we have the custom of eating zouni on New Year’s day. Zouni is rice cakes boiled with vegetables. As I like it very much, I have done a little research about it.
It is said that the beginning of zouni was in the Azuchi-Momoyama period (approximately 1568 to 1600). People ate zouni on New Year’s Day and prayed to god for a perfect state of health.
Generally, in the north and east of Japan, square rice cakes are eaten and in the west of Japan round rice cakes are eaten.
The ways of making zouni differ from place to place. For example, in Iwate prefecture, people eat zouni with walnut sauce. In Fukui prefecture people put a turnip into zouni; the turnip is a good-luck token in Japan. In Hokkaido people eat very splendid zouni. People put crab, salmon, and salmon roe into it. In Tottori prefecture, very sweet zouni is eaten. People put round rice cakes into adzuki (red soy bean) soup. It is called zenzai in other prefectures. In Okinawa prefecture people don’t have the habit of eating zouni.
Though I said that the ways of making zouni differ from place to place, it is not decided strictly. Actually, people often get married to a person who is from another prefecture, so the ways of making zouni are united there. And new original zouni are born.
By the way, I put green laver in zouni. What kinds of special zouni do you know? I want to know about your home’s original zouni. And I want to eat every prefecture’s special zouni.
Comment [2]
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Snow
There has been some heavy snow in Nagoya and central Japan:
At 8 a.m. on Monday, some 23 centimeters of snow had built up in Nagoya, the highest level since 1947, according to the Nagoya Local Meteorological Observatory. It is also the first time in 60 years that such heavy snow has been recorded in the central Japan city in December.
Some sections of the Tomei, Meishin, Chuo and Nagoya expressways in areas affected by the snow have been closed since Sunday night.
Bullet trains on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line have been forced to travel at reduced speeds in some sections, delaying trains by up to 83 minutes.
I go to the nearest station of the subway by bicycle every morning. But yesterday morning I walked to the station because the road was covered with snow. Some transportation seem to have stopped, but Kintetsu was running without delay. The view from the Kintetsu train was a snowscape, but when I got to the university, there wasn’t any snow to be seen. I thought it was really rare that it snowed like this in Nagoya before Christmas.
In childhood I enjoyed having a snowball fight with my friends on a snowy school day. But yesterday morning I thought that I would have to walk to the station and I felt unpleasant because I might be late for school if transportation was delayed by the snow. I must have grown up to feel so. And I missed a snowball fight with my friends.
Were you affected by the snowfall? [4]
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