Cross Cultural Awareness and English Spring 2014 Week 7: Love and Marriage in Japan

Hello everyone.

Well this is the last class before the final test. You can download your study guide by clicking the link.  

Today we are going to talk about love and marriage in Japan. The material for today's lesson was written by two University of Tsukuba students. Click the link to download the handout.

Now let's study some vocabulary. Please click the link: Cross Cultural Awareness and English 1 Vocabulary.    

Next, let's start the project. Your project is due on 30 June. Please submit your project by e-mail.

Enjoy!

                    

The University of Tsukuba Cross Cultural Awareness and English Trimester 3 Week 6: Project Part 1

Photo by Osamu Uchida

Hello everyone,

Today we are going to start our project. We will work on the project in today's class, and in the next class. 

Please pay attention to these important dates:

Tuesday 2nd period class

• 26 January (Sat.) First draught due. 
•  5 February (Tues.) Final draught due. 

Monday 4th period class

• 1 February (Fri.) First draught due
• 8 February (Fri.) Final draught due

I will check the content, spelling and grammar and make comments on your work. Then I will return your first draught to you so you can rewrite it (書き直す). 

You will need to do research in order to complete this project. Please remember to keep a record of the website URLs, book titles and any other resources you use. Also, DO NOT COPY AND PASTE TEXT FROM THE INTERNET! This is plagiarism (盗作).

Plagiarism is serious. It is academic dishonesty. 

All students found guilty of plagiarism will receive a grade of zero for the project. This project is worth 30% of your grade!

Before we start the project, let's study some vocabulary. Please click the link: Cross Cultural Awareness and English Vocabulary.

Please click the link to download the project task sheet: 

The University of Tsukuba Cross Cultural Awareness and English Trimester 3 Assignment

Photo by Okinawa Soba

Have fun doing the project. See you next week!

The University of Tsukuba CE Science and Maths C1 - Week 5

Hello everyone,
Today's reading is called Waste not, want not. In Japanese we have a similar saying,  勿体無い (Mottainai), which expresses regret concerning waste. Mottainai is an important part of Japanese culture. You can see "mottainai" written in many places in Japan including on Pizza Hut boxes.

However, despite the importance of mottainai in Japanese culture, there is a lot of waste, especially food waste. 


According to the Japan Times, about 23 million tons of food were discarded in 2007, which was worth about ¥11 trillion ($120 billion).  Japan's annual agricultural output is worth about ¥11 trillion too. So that means that Japan wasted as much food as it produced. Furthermore, it cost ¥2 trillion ($21 billion) to process that waste. What do you think of that? 

Another thing that is wasted all over the world is water. 
Today we are going to read about reclaimed water.
First, let's study some vocabulary. Please click the link: CE Science and Math C1 Vocabulary.

Now let's read the article and answer the questions.




Finally, please post a comment. Do you waste a lot of food? Is Mottainai important to you? How do you practice Mottainai?
See you next week!

英語総合1A Global Issues 2012 Unit 11 Social Change

Hello everyone,
Today we are going to talk about social change.
First, let's scan the unit and find words we don't know so well. Add these words to our Quizlet flashcard set 英語総合1A Vocabulary.

Now let's look at some photos of recent nuclear protests in Japan. Have you ever joined a protest? What do you think of people who join protests? Please post a comment.

Amanojaku

I love the sound of taiko. Taiko drums are often heard in summer in Japan. We hear them at festivals that we call matsuri.

The first taiko performance I ever saw was in Asakusa, near the famous temple we call Sensoji. I was very impressed by the performance. All the drummers were very small women. They had so much energy.

We can see taiko concerts too in summer too. I attended a great concert given by Amanojaku on the thirteenth of August at the Nerima Cultural Centre. The concert was a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Japanese immigration to Brazil. The concert was fantastic. I was very tired and sleepy but I did my best to keep my eyes open because it's important to SEE taiko as well as hear taiko. A taiko performance is like a dance!

This video is from Amanojaku's DVD called The Soul Beat of Japan. I hope you enjoy this example of traditional japanese culture as much as I did.
Do you like Taiko? Do you play Taiko? Please leave a comment?

Human Rights Week in Japan 人権週間

This year Human Rights Week is from the third of December to the tenth of December. The characters above are the mascots of Human Rights Week in Japan. Here is a link for more information in Japanese: http://www.moj.go.jp/JINKEN/jinken03.html
The tenth of December is International Human Rights Day.

Fishing

I went fishing yesterday. I went fishing with my friend Mr. Ibrahim. Mr. Ibrahim is a teacher at Kanto International High School. Mr. Ibrahim teaches the first year Study Abroad Class. I used to teach the first year Study Abroad Class. Mr. Ibrahim loves fishing. So, I went fishing with him.
We went fishing in Sagami-wan (相模湾). "Sagami-wan" is Sagami Bay in English. Sagami Bay is a great place to fish for Japanese mackerel (さば) because the Black Current (黒潮) flows through Sagami Bay. Japanese mackerel swim in the Black Current. 　

We went to Hiratsuka (平塚市,). HIratsuka is a city on Sagami Bay. In Hiratsuka we joined a three hour fishing trip. I rented a fishing rod from the shop in the picture below.

We fished from a boat called the Asa Hachi Maru. There were many other people on the boat. It was crowded.

I was lucky. I caught a fish. As you can see, I was very happy to catch the fish. Mackerel is my favourite fish. It is very delicious. Tonight I am going to have grilled mackerel for dinner. I'm looking forward to it.


Do you like fishing? Do you like eating fish? What's your favourite kind of fish? Do you like sushi? What's your favourite kind of sushi? Please leave a comment?

Kanazawa

I spent the last day of my trip to Ishikawa in Kanazawa. Kanazawa is a great city. It has many interesting things to see.

I visited the East and West Geisha Districts. These areas were known as Higashi Chayamachi and Nishi Chayamachi (ひがし茶屋町, にし茶屋町).

This is a street in Nishi Chayamachi. Nishi Chayamachi is small.

This is a building in Nishi Chayamachi. This building looks new.

This is a street in Higashi Chayamachi. Higashi Chayamachi is bigger than Nishi Chayamachi. These days, almost all of the buildings in Higashi Chayamachi are privately owned. However, one building called Ochaya Shima (志摩) has been designated a National Important Cultural Asset (国の重要文化財に指定されています). The pictures below were taken at Ochaya Shima .

I also visited Kenrokuen Garden (兼六園). Kenrokuen Garden is considered one of the three best gardens in Japan.

I went to a teahouse in Kenrokuen Garden. The picture below is a picture of the teahouse's exterior (御茶屋の外壁).

The type of tea served at the teahouse was matcha (抹茶). Matcha is delicious. I love it.

I also visited Kanazawa Castle. There is a lot of grass there. I like grass very much. In the picture above I'm touching the grass because I like the feel of grass very much. I miss grass. There isn't much grass in Tokyo.

My Adventures in Japan Part 6: Ishikawa

I went to Ishikawa Prefecture last Friday. I stayed for three days. Ishikawa is in the Hokuriku region of Japan. As you can see from the map below, Ishikawa is on the Sea of Japan.

Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui, a famous Japanese baseball player, is from Ishikawa.


I arrived in Kanazawa at about noon and picked up a rental car. The car was a special type of car. This type of car is called a keijidosha, K-car (軽自動車,). Many people in North America would be confused by this name because Chrysler used to make a car called K-car. My mother had a K-car. The Japanese K-car is different. It's a very small car. It has a small engine. It can't go very fast.

The first place I visited was Notojima. Notojima is part of the city of Nanao. Nanao means "seven tails". I went to the Notojima Aquarium. Business was very bad. Only a few people were there. All the exhibits wee closed. Perhaps people are afraid to visit this area because of the 2007 Noto Earthquake. There were many signs that said 「がんばっています！」, "Ganbette imasu!". This is very difficult to translate into English. In this case, "ganbette imasu" is closest in meaning to "we are persevering" in English. I felt badly for the people of Notojima but I was happy that it was it was so peaceful and quiet.

This picture was taken near the Notojima Bridge.

After I looked around Notojima I went to Wakura onsen. The picture above is a picture of the room I stayed in. My hotel had a rotenburo (露天風呂). A rotenburo is an outdoor bath. I could see the sea from the bath.

I drove around the Noto Peninsula. Along the way I saw the building below. It has a thatched roof. The interior is very nice too. It is in a place called Mitsui no Sato.

The picture above is a picture of an irori (囲炉裏). An Irori is a cozy place to have tea.

The country-side in Ishikawa is really beautiful. There are many rice paddies. The rice is ready for harvest now.


You can see a lot of traditional Japanese architecture in Ishikawa. In fact, many of the buildings are new but built in the traditional style.

The landscape of Ishikawa is very dramatic. You can see many interesting rock formations.




I took a short boat tour around the coast of Genmon. The rock formations were amazing.




Some of the rocks along the coast of Ishikawa were formed by lava flows. The picture above shows rock made from hardened lava.

After the boat tour I went to Nagisa Driveway. Nagisa Driveway is a beach. Cars are allowed to drive down Nagisa Driveway. This beach is a great beach for swimming. The water is warm and there aren't any rocks in the sea so you don't hurt your feet if you walk out into the sea.

More about my trip to Ishikawa next time!