November 30, 2005
There are some tatami rooms for guests in Japanese traditional style house.
In my house, there are 3 tatami rooms as the following picture.
When we have many guests, we took away all fusuma doors. After that, one big room emerge.
These days we hold funerals, Buddhist memorial services and big private parties there. Japanese people also used to hold their wedding ceremonies there in the old days.
November 29, 2005
We got orders from a company, which is in Aichi prefecture Japan, yesterday. The company was sort of a potential customer until now. We have done several sales activities to get a new customer. We did it !!!
On the other hand, there are too many problems caused by asbestos in Japan. Asbestos is included in most slates. Another potential customer has had a plan to make slates without using asbestos. Yes ! The potential customer has had a plan to make slates with using our product(recycled chemical fiber) instead of asbestos ! I hope the plan is determined to implement, of course. :-)
November 28, 2005
I forgot to explain the harquebus at home to my American friend who visited my house the other day. The harquebus is really very old and looks like a rifle gun. I guess it made in the Edo period. I've heard that it was been hiding by my grandfather during World War 2. There weren't enough metal resources in Japan at that time, so Japanese government gathered everything made of metal. That's the reason my grandfather decided to hide it. :-)
There are also some spears with it in my house.
By the way, the verb "explain" isn't used at SVOO sentence patterns. Also, the verb "suggest", too. I didn't know that. I have to study a lot more about verbs....(ToT)
November 27, 2005
I got the urge to become a host family after my American friend visited our family the other day.
The situation was a good opportunity for me to introduce Japanese culture to foreigners. So I can practice my English for free and they can learn Japanese for free, of course.
It sounds give-and-take, right ? :-)
And my children can have lots of opportunities to come into contact with a different culture.
By the way, my nephew and niece came to my house to play with their cousins - my children. Toooooooo noisy ! But if there's no sound children playing, we will have to feel lonely. I don't have any ideas other than being patient. :-p
November 23, 2005
My American friend and I went to an international exchange event. There was a nice activity. It was "Try to make takoyaki". "Takoyaki" is a Japanese snack.
See also this article about takoyaki.
My Australian friend invited me to join the event. He joined the event with his friends, who have been studying Japanese in Japan. There is a international exchanges place at rinku town, where is close to Kansai international airport.
The event was held there. I met a lot of nice guys and had a chat. That was really fan !
After that, my American friend came to my house to see my Japanese traditional style house. He is very interested in Japanese culture. I tried to explain the detail of my house to him. But my English skill is still bad... I couldn't explain well. I have to apologize to him.
Anyway, we served him oden and raw fish for dinner at home and went out for a drink. He tried to sing some English and Japanese songs at a karaoke bar. :-)
November 22, 2005
Let me introduce "Ramma" today. :-)
Ramma is the carvings of Japanese style room. It's made of natural woods and made by traditional workmen in many cases.
The purposes of ramma are ventilation and daylighting. The room which has rammas become elegant.
November 21, 2005
Do you know Butsudan ? It means "Buddhist altar" in Japanese.
A butsudan is in Buddhists's homes to honor both their ancestors and the deceased recently. Generally, they get and put it in the homes when someone of their family died first.
The Buddhist priest gives a name to the deceased each time someone dies. The name is written on an tablet(ihai in Japanese) - a kind of name plates and the tablet is placed on the butsudan. We often offer rice, tea and flowers on it and pray for the repose of souls.
November 20, 2005
I went to the elementary school which my sons attend in order to see show-and-tell this morning.
My 3rd son pronounced a lot in the Japanese way and sang some good songs. The songs are "It's a small world" and "Humans are great". I was so impressed when listened to the songs. The lyrics hit me in my mind.
I wanted to see my eldest son's one, but I wasn't able to do it. Because I had to visit my relative's house to attend a Buddhist memorial service. I think I'll have to attend them a lot from this because my parents have so many brothers and sisters. :-p
November 19, 2005
My wife and I went to a kindergarten where our 4-year-old daughter attend in order to see a concert today.
I was worried about her condition. She had a little bit fever last night. If the temperature went up, I didn't get her in on the concert. Fortunately, it went down this morning. I was relieved.
She and her classmates are really so infant that they can't play well any musical instruments. However, they were practicing a lot for a long time. It's the most important to challenge them, right ? They definitely played so hard. We enjoyed seeing it there. Especially, the scene that many infant girls play musical instruments is so cute. :-)
November 19, 2005
I have to practice my English to explain about my Japanese-style house as I've posted on my blog before.
Today... I try to explain "Tokonoma" in Japanese-style houses.
A tokonoma is an alcove in a traditional Japanese room where art or flowers are displayed. It was originally a religious place to put a statue of Buddha. People today put some seasonal picture scrolls and ones for special occasions with a flower arrangement and an incense burner. The average size of tokonoma is about the size of a tatami mat. And there's an alcove post(tokobasira) beside a tokonoma.
