Nagashima Spaland !!!!

Hellow ~ international studetns in Japa=)
Have you been enjoing your summer vacation?
I have not so much but I am planning to do some this summer.

1. Go to Nagashima Spa Laaaaaaaaaaaaaand!!!!!!!!!!!!
It takes for an hour from Nagoya station by bus. Round tickets are 1,800yen. Special tickets for the amusement and water park may be 5,700yen. It is not only just amusement park but a mega amusement comples. There are a big outlet mall, outdoor water park with exciting sliders and attractions. Woooo~, I wanna go right now!!!
  
2. Go to see fireworks ('0')///
One of my dream is going to fireworks party wearing Yukata with a boyfriend~. It seems that it would not come ture this summer again. Anyway I can go with my freinds and families. Actually that's not big matter. I just hope it. And I just deram it will happen someday. Near Nagoya, fireworks being held in Inuyama, Okazaki is famous and really Goooood!!!

 The big goal of this summer are three and small things are eating Kakigori (ice sharvings), Ngashi somen(flowing somen), to go shopping, movies, planetarium and so on.

This summer weather is quite strange.
Take care and have a fun time ~!!!

Doyo no ushi no hi !!!

I believe July 21st is the “Midsummer Day of the Ox” (土用の丑の日 – doyou no ushi no hi) in Japan.What’s that?  Well, basically it seems to be a day to eat freshwater eel (unagi). It is said that eating eel gives us stamina and energy to survive the hottest season, so that is why we eat it during the hottest time of the year in Japan. Sometimes this day is referred to as ‘unagi day’.

Midsummer Day of the Ox can fall on different days each year, but it is usually at the end of July or the beginning of August. The date depends on some complicated calendar stuff which, to be honest, I don’t really understand.  It seemes not all but many foreign students thought ‘doyou’ meant ‘Saturday’ and ‘ushi’ meant ‘cow’, when they first saw the name of this day in Japanese. Actually, ‘doyou’ means ‘the end of the season’, and because of the old calendar, this day now falls in the middle of summer, thus ‘Midsummer Day of the Ox.’

So, why the Ox?  Well, I’m not sure actually.  It might be something to do with the Chinese zodiac, or it might just be that we need the strength of an ox to survive ‘natsubate’ (‘summer fatigue’).  Let's beat NATSUBATE!!! So I will go out to look for restaurants serving a big and good portion of HITSUMABUSHI!!!

Refer to followings about hitsumabushi restaurants
http://www.houraiken.com/
http://hitsumabushi.xtone.jp/ibasyo.html
http://www.hitsumabushi.co.jp/

TANABATA (七夕)

Have you ever heard TANABATA? TANABATA (七夕, meaning "Evening of the seventh") is a Japanese star festival, originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair). According to legend, the Milky Way, a river of stars that crosses the sky, separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. The celebration is held at night.

Recently people generally celebrate this day by writing wishes, on tanzaku (短冊), small pieces of paper, and hanging them on bamboo with other decorations of Origami and paper crafts. Since kindergarten age people learned how to do it so TANABATA is familiar festival to Japanese. The bamboo and decorations are often set afloat on a river or burned after the festival, around midnight or on the next day. There is also a traditional

Tanabata song:
Sasa no ha sara-sara (笹の葉　さらさら)

Nokiba ni yureru (軒端にゆれる)

Ohoshi-sama kira-kira (お星様　キラキラ)

Kingin sunago (金銀砂子)

Translation:

The bamboo leaves rustle,

shaking away in the eaves.

The stars twinkle;

Gold and silver grains of sand.

Big TANABATA festivals will be held around Nagoya. Let's go out and experience TANABATA (>0<)///

For details, refer to the following URLs;

One of the three biggest festivals, Anjo Tanabata Matsuri(第５８回安城七夕まつり)　→　http://www.anjo-tanabata.jp/　

Other of the three biggest festivals, Ichinomiya Tanabata matsuri(一宮七夕まつり)　→　http://138ss.com/tanabata_bunner/index_tanabata.htm

bIg ChAnGe..... cHaMiLa HeAr......

My name is Chamila became JPNAVI with working from 2011.7.1.I enjoyed being here at JPNavi even though I only Joined on Two Days, everyone was really nice to me, and took care of me. I had a lot of fun being together with everyone, eating and talking and, of course, working here was a really nice experience.I`ll Do My Best....

Last blog.

Hi, Kate here!

Today is my last day at JPNavi, so it will be my last blog as well. I'm going back home next week, and I have a lot of packing and cleaning to do.
I enjoyed being here at JPNavi; even though I only worked for a little bit, everyone was really nice to me, and took care of me. I had a lot of fun being together with everyone, eating and talking and, of course, working here was a really nice experience. I am very happy to have met such nice people, and I hope they will keep well while I'm gone!

Being in Japan was really fun. I cam here last year in the end of August, and I have no idea where the 10 months have disappeared. I fell in love with karaoke, making a point of regularly going to sing my heart out; I've learned to discover new dishes by combining spices that I've never used before and of course I practiced kyudo, which became an important part of my life.
I really wish I didn't have to go back home, and could stay here another year and study at Aichi Shukutoku University. The teachers were always nice and helpful, making every lesson extremely fun and relaxed. The students were always interested in us foreigners, but I never felt more welcome.
The whole experience of studying abroad made me feel more open to the world, and accept a different thing without questioning it too much. I've had a really friendly environment where I lived, and I feel like I won't be able to live without everyone, but we'll keep in touch I hope!

Do come to Japan, and see how it is for yourself! You won't be disappointed! :)

Paradise Kiss the movie!

Not long from now, on the 4th of June, one of my favourite mangas will be released as a live-action movie! Created by Yazawa Ai (who also created the very popular NANA) 'Paradise Kiss' is a story about the world of fashion, modeling and above all love and sacrifice. It may sound like it's very dark and gloomy, but on the contrary! It's filled with lots of jokes and funny references, though some of them might appeal only to more mature readers.

The story revolves around a high school senior, Hayasaka Yukari, and the members of a fashion atelier, also high school seniors, preparing for their final fashion show. In the atelier you will find George, an extremely eccentric fashion designer with blue hair; Arashi, who apart from sewing George's designs plays in a punk band; Miwako, who wants to follow her sister into the fashion industry in her own, pink-haired way; and finally Isabella, who's full of mysteries that you will have to discover yourself.
In the beginning Yukari doesn't approve of the fashion students nagging her, and is more than startled by George's behaviour and manners. But gradually, she begins to understand their world and gets pulled into it, her mind leaning favourably towards the career of a model. Of course this does not go well with her Mom and Yukari has to go through a lot to get what she really wants!

The movie stars two of my favourite actors: Mukai Osamu as George and Yamamoto Yūsuke as Yukari's high school crush Hiroyuki Tomomuri. Mukai and Yamamoto previously worked together when making Atashinchi no Danshi, alongside the female star Horikita Maki. Horikita and Yamamoto worked together in a 2007 drama Hanazakari no Kimitachi e. 
 

Rain season!

In Japan, between May and July depending on the part of the island, the rain season occurs. It is similar in Korea or Taiwan.The rain season is called 梅雨 (tsuyu), which translates into "plum rain". It is called so, because of it coinciding with the plum ripening period. The rainy season is caused by the collision of cold northerly and warm southerly air masses, which results in a relatively stable bad weather front over the Japanese archipelago for several weeks. Usually, the island of Okinawa is affected by the rain about a month earlier than the rest of Japan, while the island of Hokkaido is usually not affected at all. During this time, tourist activity is significantly lower than usual, which allows to see certain places at a more leisurely pace, however the whole trip might be heavily affected by the rainfall.

foreigner whose country is an inland place, this humidity is quite hard to handle. Taking showers during the day tends to help quite a bit.

One important thing is to let your room and closets get some air. Because of the increased humidity and rain, your room might get damp completely on its own. That's why if you manage to find a sunny day, you should open all your windows and closets, and let the warm, dry air do its magic.

Coming back to sightseeing, there are a couple of places that are profiting from the foggy and gloomy atmosphere. For example Mount Kyouya feels much more spiritual in the fog rather than blazing sun; or the hydrangeas in Hakone parks are much more plentiful during the rain! I think though, that the best escape is an open air hot spring, where you can relax and admire the clouds and foggy scenery while listening to the constant tapping of raindrops.

Worth knowing!:

- Kappas are presumably intelligent water spirits in Japanese mythology. They are monkey-like creatures with saucer-shaped heads, long noses, and a yellowish-green skin. Kappas are said to lure children to the water and pull them under, feeding on their blood. Their main weakness is that their heads are filled with water, and when this is spilled they lose their powers. In manga and anime, to call someone a "kappa" is sometimes used as insult.

- Ameonna is a person who always brings rain with them. Wether it's a trip or a picnic, the clouds always follow this person.

Live music!

On Wednesday, Aichi Shukutoku Daigaku Bekka Ryuugakusei Band (in short: ABE Band) gave a concert! Out of the Band members, two are currently working part-time at JPNAVI: Jang (played on drums) and me (that is Kate, on vocals). Other band members were: Jieun (keyboard), Jerry (guitar, vocals), Jack (cello) and Yuuji (bass guitar).

Everyone at JPNAVI came to see us preform, we were really happy!


The idea of having a concert came from Jang. Because Jerry was returning back to America not long after our graduation ceremony, we wanted to make some nice memories together. So when Jang said that there is a venue where we could play we all agreed immediately!

However, as much as we were eager to practice, it was quite hard to find a time where everyone could come to practice. We tried practicing without drums or piano or base, but then it wouldn't really go well; when we met together we did much better than when meeting in parts.

I say meeting, but truthfully we didn't have that much practice. We started rehearsals about 10 days before the actual concert, and we managed to have about 4 rehearsals in total.
We sang 8 songs, and one of them was composed by Jerry; it's called 何かくれた事 (Things I received)

The concert was extremely fun, and I think everyone enjoyed it as much as the band did!
Here's a video, just to show you how fun it was :

BIGBANG

(left to right: Seungri, Daesung, TOP, Taeyang, G-Dragon)

Formed in 2005 this 5 person male group from South Korea is quite popular in Japan along with other K-pop groups such as 2NE1, Brown Eyed Girls or Girls' Generation. They have recently (11th of May) released their second Japanese album (second place on the Oricon charts just 5 days after release), and are currently on tour in Japan.

Their first attempt at Japanese market was in 200 with the EP For the World. It didn't have much promotion, but still managed to get up to 16th place on the Oricon charts. Their big success though was the single Number 1 from their album of the same name. Afterwards, the group went on a hiatus, each of the members following their single paths; solo singles for Taeyang and G-Dragon, and drama parts for TOP (Iris).

Finally back in 2011 the group released their Tonight EP, which made it to the 10th place in the US iTunes charts, thus being the only non-English album in the top 100.

BigBang is mentioned as the most influential Korean band at the moment, setting trends in everything from sunglasses through clothes ending on minute accesories. In 2010, the group's Big Show concert was chosen by the South Korean Touristic Committee for their Visit Korea from 2010—2012 campaign, stating that they will "have a big economic impact on the country".

Blood types (血液型)

In the West people often refer to one's astrological sign to understand some character traits. In Japan such an indicator is one's blood type, ketsuekigata (血液型)! That is why it is common for people to ask for your blood type in Japan、and it is surprising for a Japanese person that someone does not know their blood type.

It is popular for famous people to include blood type information on their web pages, or for baseball players to have it included on collectors cards. Creators of manga and anime often include the information about the character's blood type when introducing the story, and in such way determine certain traits of their personality.

It is interesting, that only Korean and Japanese Facebook allows the blood type information in the user profile!


A type:
Most common trait about this type is perfectionist. A type people are also serious and can be overly sensitive, sometimes unable to relax. However they are very calm and trustworthy, also patient and very artistic.

B type:
This type is said to be very goal-oriented. Also sometimes extremely moody, but on the other hand they can be cheerful and lift the atmosphere in the room. All that said, they are unpredictable and sometimes wild.

AB type:
Sometimes called the 'split personality' blood type. Can be both outgoing and shy, unpredictable and calm. Not too fit to be a leader, but often called geniuses.

O type:
This type is said to the a trend-setter, and likes to be the centre of attention. Initiates a lot of things, but not always finished what was started. Tends to be agreeable and social, but on the other hand can be rude and jealous.

Compatibility:
A is most compatible with A and AB
B is most compatible with B and AB
AB is most compatible with AB, B, A and O
O is most compatible with O, and AB

Onsen (温泉)

Everyone likes to relax every now and then, and in Japan one of the most popular places to go for some R&R is an onsen.



Onsen (often marked as ♨ on maps) is a hot spring bath. Because Japan is a volcanic country, there's a lot of places where you can find a natural source of hot water, and people use it to enjoy themselves. There are lots of types of onsen including outdoor and indoor ones. A lot of the places tend to be in the countryside, but you can find some in popular tourist spots as well, and as a part of hotels or such。However, to be classified as an onsen, the bath needs to include at least one of the 19 signified chemical elements. Due to those elements, the bath water is believed to have healing qualities.

Before the Meiji period, all the baths were coeducational, but nowadays they are mostly separated by sex. In rural areas one might still find some of mixed baths.
It is customary to wash oneself thoroughly before actually entering the hot spring. The resort provides toiletries and towels(sometimes one has to pay for renting them though). Swimsuits are not allowed inside the bath, and sometimes wearing the towel inside the bath is also prohibited. That's why you can see people placing their folded towels on top of their heads!
There are a lot of onsen that ban people with tattoos. It's applied not only to men but also women, and no matter how small the tattoo is, one might not be let in.

Some of the oldest baths date back to the 8th Century AD, like Arima Onsen or Dogo Onsen.

One of the most famous hot springs is Jigokudani Monkey Park (地獄谷野猿公苑) in Nagano prefecture where one can enjoy a bath with monkeys. Jigokudani means 'hell valley' and has been called so because of steam and boiling water that escapes through the frozen ground.

One of the most popular and recommended experiences is to visit an onsen ryoukan. One can enjoy an overnight trip, including a dinner and breakfast, thus bathing as many times as one wants. In such places one would usually get a yukata to wear, to ensure comfort and freedom of movement. Ykata is similar to a kimono, but much lighter and informal in a sense. In a ryoukan, you can use one for bathing, lounge wear and also sleep in it. If you have your meal in a dining hall, no one will look at you strangely if you show up in your yukata, as everyone just wants to relax and be comfortable! You can even walk around in it around the onsen resort! :)

Golden Week

Golden Week is a large consecutive holiday, which occurs from 29th of April to 5th of May. It includes 4 national holidays:


April 29th
Shōwa Day (昭和の日,)
This holiday is a commemoration of the birthday of the Shōwa Emperor Hirohito, and is celebrated to encourage people to reflect on his 63 year reign (1926-1989).


May 3rd
Constitution Memorial Day (憲法記念日)
A holiday to commemorate the promulgation of the Japanese constitution, on May 3rd 1947. On this day, the National Diet Building is open to public visitors. People often choose this day to reflect on the meaning of democracy in Japan.


May 4th
Greenery Day (みどりの日)
It was originally celebrated on April 29th, and referred to Emperor Hirohito, drawing on his love for plants and nature, but without mentioning his name. Nowadays, it is thought of as a holiday to connect with nature.


May 5th
Children's Day (こどもの日)
The holiday was originally called Tango no Sekku (端午の節句) and was celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th moon in lunar calendar. It is sometimes referred to as Boy's Day (along with Hinamatsuri as Girl's Day). Families hang carp-shaped flags and display helmets and Kintarō dolls.

Nowadays, because Golden Week is the longest consecutive holiday, it is the most popular travel time. Some companies give their employees time off for the working days in between the holidays, otherwise workers tend to take paid leave off work and travel.
Travel plans include Japan as well as Asia, Americas and Europe.

Hanami

Since it's April all across Japan the cherry trees (sakura) began to bloom. Obviously it doesn't happen all at once, but in waves. It starts from the south and then works up north throughout the whole month.

It is said that the practice of picnicking under the blooming trees started somewhere during the Nara period (710–794), when it was done under the ume trees. Later on in the Heian period (794–1185) the practice became entirely connected with the cherry trees, and has been ever since.

During the hanami, families or work colleagues gather together and have a small party, so to say. The eat bento and drink sake, and generally just enjoy themselves. During the hanami season there are a lot of new products, exclusive to this time of year. These include sweets, meals and alcohol tasting of cherries.

About a week ago I went to Nagoya castle together with my culture class. The view of blooming cherry trees is truly amazing, and it is a pity it doesn't last longer. However, when the petals are blown of by the wind it looks just like snow! And just to make it clear, the cherry trees are not only pink! They vary greatly from absolutely white, through tinted slightly peachy up to actual pink.

Ukiyo-e

Last month, I went to the Nagoya-Boston Museum of Fine Arts to see an exhibition about Ukiyo-e ! I found it very interesting, so I'd like to introduce it to you (^.^)

Ukiyo-e is a Japanese artistic movement from the Edo Period (1603-1868) consisting of prints (engraved on wood).

This kind of print was really appreciated by the Japanese middle classes !

It generally depicts young pretty ladies, courtesans, kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers, famous places, etc.

The ukiyo-e style widely influenced the European impressionist movement.

I am sure you have already seen the work of Hokusai or Hiroshige !

Pandas, Welcome to Japan !

A pair of pandas from China is coming to Ueno Park in Tokyo！

Many Japanese and tourists were waiting for them since the last panda Ling Ling died in 2008.

To welcome the female Xian Lu and the male Bi Li, children and parents are covering the walls near the park with drawings and messages everyday !

For the moment, procedures about the protection and the environment of the pandas are conducted.

From March, it will be possible to see them !! \(^o^)/

Hina-Matsuri (Doll Festival)

On March 3 the Hina-Matsuri (Doll Festival) is held throughout Japan !

Traditionally, each home is decorated with ornamental dolls called ''Hina-Ningyo''.

These dolls represent the imperial court with the Emperor, Empress, but also musicians in dress of the Heian Period (9th-12th centuries).

In general, these dolls are passed down from generation to generation.

Families display ''Hina-Ningyo'' from February to wish girls happiness and take them down on the evening of March 3. If families forget to take the dolls down before March 4 it is thought to bring bad luck for the future marriage of the daughter(s).

Valentine‘s Day !

On February 14 was Valentine's Day !!

Everyone celebrates it throughout the world, but do you know the differences between countries ?

Let's learn more about the most romantic day of the year ♪

Originally, Valentine's Day was a religious festival. It is just from the 14th century that Europeans introduced the aspect of love within this celebration.

In most countries, couples give each other a present to show their love. Red rose is the most common present as it is the symbol of passion.

What about Japanese Valentine's Day ?

Valentine's Day was introduced in Japan in 1958. On this day, only women offer chocolates to men.

At the office, female clerks also give chocolates to their colleagues. These chocolates are usually called ''giri-choko'' (chocolate of obligation !).

One month after, on 14th March, it is men's turn to give a present to thank these women ! It can be chocolates but also flowers... This is the ''White Day'' !

It also happens that girls offer each other chocolates to show their friendship. In this case, chocolates are called ''tomo-choko'' （chocolate of frienship).