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! :)