２００７年１２月２５日
今週の漢字: 祝日
Holiday:
I wanted to wait until today to post in order to write:
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Yes, Christmas eve has already passed in Japan, and I did have off. However, it was for the Emperor’s birthday, not Christmas. In fact, people do not usually get Christmas off in Japan. So, I’ll be at Mito SHS later today, but it’s not such a big deal as my family arrives at Narita Airport tomorrow. I bought the shinkansen and DisneySea tickets last week. Luckily, my sales assistant spoke English very well. I like trying to communicate in Japanese, but for something as expensive as these particular tickets, it was great to speak to someone in my native tongue.
It does not help that my request was somewhat complicated. I had to buy a ticket for myself to Tokyo, and then I needed to get tickets for my family when they’ll come to my town. However, I also needed to get the return ticket for me, whereas the return tickets for my family to Tokyo are at a later date. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the cheaper reserved non-smoking seats, so I had to get unreserved seats. It makes sense, because it’s one of the big travel times in Japan, if not the largest.
In Japan, as opposed to many English speaking countries, the New Year’s period is a time to spend with family. Christmas is a time to spend with a lover or friends. I went to Nagoya on Christmas eve, and I was run over by a parade of lovers. It seems like they wait until this time to come out. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole year consists of planning for what to do on Christmas. Actually, many people here think Christmas is the 24th.
There are many differences between Christmas in America and in Japan. My students loved to hear about mistletoe and kissing. They usually use it purely for decoration. On Christmas in Japan, people usually eat KFC and Christmas cake. You may be wondering, “What is Christmas cake?” It’s simply any cake with Christmas decorations. The most common appears to be frosted sponge cake, especially strawberry shortcake. I’m not really sure why either KFC or cake has become a tradition.
Another difference is the making of a snowman. The iconic snowman in Japan is made of two balls versus America’s three. Also, it seems that a snowman tends to have the eyes made of orange or tangerine peels. There isn’t a name for the model snowman here as we do in America with “Frosty.” It isn’t only Frosty, but many Japanese people do not know Rudolph. They usually do not know that the other reindeer have names too. They do have the same song, but the red-nosed reindeer has no name. The students were a bit shocked to find out about Rudolph, Comet, Cupid, Dasher, Dancer, and the rest.
The biggest surprise is how Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. I tell the students that “mas” means “birth,” so it’s a day that is like the birthday of Christ. Because of katakana, many of the students do not know how to spell Christ. It also does not help when stores usually use “xmas.” At any rate, I’m glad that I was able to show them the meaning of Christmas.
Next week will be a shorter update, because my family will be here. So, the topic that I wanted to talk from last week will have to wait for 2 weeks. Stay tuned next week for another update!
今週の聖書の詩: “Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”
- Luke 1:1-4 (NIV)
It’s interesting that this introduction that Luke writes is usually forgotten. I think it’s important to see that Luke explicitly tells why he wrote his book. The prophecies were clearly written in the Old Testament as I have been quoting the past few weeks. Luke investigated the accounts of Jesus. Maybe he was skeptical and needed confirmation. Whatever the reason, Luke has reached a level of confidence where he can express all the accounts as truth.
今週の写真: Christmas!
今週の漢字: 祝日
Holiday:
I wanted to wait until today to post in order to write:
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Yes, Christmas eve has already passed in Japan, and I did have off. However, it was for the Emperor’s birthday, not Christmas. In fact, people do not usually get Christmas off in Japan. So, I’ll be at Mito SHS later today, but it’s not such a big deal as my family arrives at Narita Airport tomorrow. I bought the shinkansen and DisneySea tickets last week. Luckily, my sales assistant spoke English very well. I like trying to communicate in Japanese, but for something as expensive as these particular tickets, it was great to speak to someone in my native tongue.
It does not help that my request was somewhat complicated. I had to buy a ticket for myself to Tokyo, and then I needed to get tickets for my family when they’ll come to my town. However, I also needed to get the return ticket for me, whereas the return tickets for my family to Tokyo are at a later date. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the cheaper reserved non-smoking seats, so I had to get unreserved seats. It makes sense, because it’s one of the big travel times in Japan, if not the largest.
In Japan, as opposed to many English speaking countries, the New Year’s period is a time to spend with family. Christmas is a time to spend with a lover or friends. I went to Nagoya on Christmas eve, and I was run over by a parade of lovers. It seems like they wait until this time to come out. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole year consists of planning for what to do on Christmas. Actually, many people here think Christmas is the 24th.
There are many differences between Christmas in America and in Japan. My students loved to hear about mistletoe and kissing. They usually use it purely for decoration. On Christmas in Japan, people usually eat KFC and Christmas cake. You may be wondering, “What is Christmas cake?” It’s simply any cake with Christmas decorations. The most common appears to be frosted sponge cake, especially strawberry shortcake. I’m not really sure why either KFC or cake has become a tradition.
Another difference is the making of a snowman. The iconic snowman in Japan is made of two balls versus America’s three. Also, it seems that a snowman tends to have the eyes made of orange or tangerine peels. There isn’t a name for the model snowman here as we do in America with “Frosty.” It isn’t only Frosty, but many Japanese people do not know Rudolph. They usually do not know that the other reindeer have names too. They do have the same song, but the red-nosed reindeer has no name. The students were a bit shocked to find out about Rudolph, Comet, Cupid, Dasher, Dancer, and the rest.
The biggest surprise is how Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. I tell the students that “mas” means “birth,” so it’s a day that is like the birthday of Christ. Because of katakana, many of the students do not know how to spell Christ. It also does not help when stores usually use “xmas.” At any rate, I’m glad that I was able to show them the meaning of Christmas.
Next week will be a shorter update, because my family will be here. So, the topic that I wanted to talk from last week will have to wait for 2 weeks. Stay tuned next week for another update!
今週の聖書の詩: “Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”
- Luke 1:1-4 (NIV)
It’s interesting that this introduction that Luke writes is usually forgotten. I think it’s important to see that Luke explicitly tells why he wrote his book. The prophecies were clearly written in the Old Testament as I have been quoting the past few weeks. Luke investigated the accounts of Jesus. Maybe he was skeptical and needed confirmation. Whatever the reason, Luke has reached a level of confidence where he can express all the accounts as truth.
今週の写真: Christmas!
Isn't my tree so beautiful?
This is from the gingerbread dough that the other teacher made.
Lights in Nagoya
2 comments:
Lights, cookie dough, and family!
Hope you're having a grand, ol' time now...i'm interested in what your 2 wks. from now topic will be...
~ curtiss
Nothing says Christmas like a nice big family-sized bucket of KFC. Mm mm mm mm mm. Finger lickin' good.
Cute tree.
And why is the ginerbread house missing half a roof?
~ Your cuz,
Jay
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