2008年2月27日水曜日

Name in Japan

I would like to introduce something describe Name in Japan.

There are something describe our own name.
I'll give two examples.



First is Hyousatsu. Most of house has Name plate. We call it hyousatsu.
Hyousatsu shows us Family name.
Sometimes we can see family name in English in Japan, however kanji style is common.






Second example is name hanko, it means seal in English.
hanko is very important for our daily life.
hanko are devided from several types.
When we receive home-delivery service, we sign or put a seal.
We use Mitome-in in such this situation.
This type of hanko is very cheap, you can buy only 100 yen.
However ginkou-in is very expensive.
This is also one of the type of hanko.
When you establish bank account, you need this type of hanko.
Many of them are handmade in case someone forge.
These hanko is very important our daily life.

2008年2月20日水曜日

Ryoushin-ichi

Today I'd like to write about neiborhood my hometown, Kamo.

My hometown is very countryside.
It is around mountains, and there are many fields.
Some people sell vegitable which they produced.








This is the unmanned vegitable shop.
Shoppers choose what they buy and they pay money in the small box.
These vegitables are local production and very fresh.
There are some shops like this in my town and they are called "ryoshin-ichi"(sometimes called mujin-ichi).
It means conscience market.
It is common for Japanese country people to buy vegitable and so on at these shop.
There are some problems in these shop.
It is possible that someone stole money from payment box and vegitables.
Shop owner trusts shoppers that they will not steal and also he realizes some of his products may be stolen.
His real purpose is not to earn money by selling his products, but to share his products in his own field with neighborhood.

2008年2月11日月曜日

Welcome to Japan

When forigners travel to Japan, many of them go to see Japanese sightseeing spot.
Japan promotes activity of VISIT JAPAN CAMPAIGN by the Minister for Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Now Japan make a lot of effort to promote traveling to Japan for forigners.


Speaking of Japanese traditional place, many Japanese would say Kyoto.
There are many shirines and temples.
Also, Japanese characteristics is enjoying each seasons and nature.
Japanese people used to enjoys seasons and they used to make haiku through the nature.
Now they doesn't have custom of making haiku, however they never forget to feel the change of seasons. This shows one of Japanese characteristics.





Thease are photos of Kiyomizu-dera which is World Heritage Site.
Rhight sidephoto is Kiyomizu's stage is very famous.
We Japanese say "Kiyomizu no butai kara tobioriru you" when we make very big decisions.
"Kiuomizu no butai kara tobioriru you" means "jump down from Kiyomizu's stage" in English.
So Kiyomizu influences our conversation like Japanese proverb.
If you stand at Kiyomizu's stage, you may make big decisions!