Congratulations!

My friend, Naomi, gave birth on 5th of February.

Her son’s name is Manato.

Noami, congratulations!

Is this peculiar to Japan?

One of my Japanese friends (whose husband is American) once said that when American people go to visit the home of an acquaintance, they don’t bring a calling present.

If you are American, tell me if this is true.

If you are not American, do you bring a hospitality gift? I want to know if this is a custom peculiar to Japan.

I usually bring sweets or fruits which costs about 2000 or 3000 yen. This depends on our relationships.

When you have guests in your house, you need to provide some sweets to serve your guests. If you haven’t had time to buy anything, you can serve the gift the guests offered, saying “I’m sorry; this is what you have brought.” (“Omotase de sumimasen.)

Do you have any customs when you visit an acquaintance?



Thank you!





Koir(Canada) : Being from Canada, I can say bringing a gift is dependent on the situation. If it's a party with other guests, most of the time bringing something like food or dessert is preferable to ensure everyone has enough to eat. Other times, bringing gifts when you visit an acquaintance isn't a common practice.



I don't visit acquaintance that much in their homes...mostly because my acquaintances are quite far away. Perhaps another person who does have acquaintances closer to them can provide more insight.





Klint(The US) : Well, like Koir said, most of the time when people here meet up for things like cookouts, football games, and even movies, it's better to bring food and drinks with you. I guess this is often seen as a way to relieve the host from having to supply everyone with food on their own. It's really just a social convention that most people will choose to follow though. Therefore, it's not entirely necessary to bring anything at all, especially if you're going by yourself or don't plan on staying too long.



In my experience, the only real gift giving is done around the more obvious, major events (Christmas, Birthdays, Valentines Day...) although it's typical for one to receive gifts during other important stages of their life as well (graduation, buying their first home, getting married, having kids, getting promoted, retiring, etc...).



I hope this has been helpful.





Columbine(UK) : For me, it depends on the circumstances. If I had never been to their house before, I might take something, especially if I was invited for a sit-down dinner. A bottle of wine or flowers, or some chocolates. It's not compulsory though.



If it were just a casual visit with a friend, I might take some DVD's with me we could watch or if i'd done some baking, some of that in a tupperware box. Often I don't bring anything, but then it's more normal to return an invitation with an invitation. So I might not bring anything, but then they would visit my house another day instead.



If it's a party, I would offer to bring something when I accepted the invitation. Obviously if it were a birthday party, i'd bring a card and a gift relative to how well I knew them.



If I have a guest visiting, it's generally polite to offer them a drink, and if they stay longer, something to eat. Like if a friend of relative pops around, i'll always offer tea and a biscuit. If it's later in the evening, I'll offer other things.







Koir, Klint and Columbine, thank you!

And, Koir, thanks for the revision as always.

Evidence of Poverty?

Several days ago, a Japanese TV news program said that some American people were proposing hanging out laundry to dry in the sun. At first I didn’t understand the point because most Japanese people hang out their clothes, except those who don’t have a balcony or a yard in which to hang things.

The news reader continued that hanging laundry is seen as evidence of poverty in the US, so some people protested against hanging the washing out to dry. They don’t like their town appearing to be poor.

I was shocked to hear this. We’ve always hung laundry outside, as we believe that using a dryer is a waste of electricity. Nobody here protests against what we do. We have a drying tumbler, and we use it when the weather is bad.

So then, when American people come to Japan, do most of us appear poor to you? Do I appear very poor?



Thank you.



http://www.alachuacounty.us/documents/bocc/agendas/2009-04-28/d229954f-7b85-4b9d-afbf-0498ee48fd2c.pdf



Klint(in Massachusetts ) : No, I don't see hanging laundry outside to dry as any sort of sign of poverty. My family and most other people where I live also hang our laundry out to dry, whether they're rich, poor, or somewhere in the middle.



Koir : Although being Canadian, I do have trouble imagining people preferring to hang their clothes out to dry in the sun when a dryer usually is fairly affordable for most people. But by no means does that mean I think all countries must believe the same thing. Again referring to past anime series I have watched (specifically To Aru Majutsu no Index and Toradora), it appears both practical and "exotic" (for lack of a better word) to hang laundry out to dry in the sun or using a tumbler to dry clothes.





Klint and Koir, thank you!

A Happy New Year!

A Happy New Year!

It was very nice this morning.

We call New Year’s morning “gantan”. During gantan, we eat food called “osechi”.

Pictured above is osechi that I made.

This is not for just one person, but for a family.

Usually osechi has three boxes. We start with the food in the first box drinking “toso" (a sort of sake). The second box mainly has vinegared food and grilled fish. The third box has boiled food.

We don’t finish all the osechi at one time. Osechi includes a lot of food that can be kept for a long time, and we eat it until about the third day. However, eating osechi at each meal is tiring, so after gantan we often eat something else with osechi.



Thank you.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osechi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toso



Koir, thanks!

Book: Guin Saga Vol.130

This is the final volume of Guin Saga, entitled “A Fathomless Future”.

I’ve read 130 volumes of this story, and the final book doesn’t have an ending because the author died before she finished it. Even so, the story seems to continue.

Valerius, the chancellor of Parros kingdom, says in the book; “The Middle Land may be about to go into very difficult times.”

There is a lot of foreshadowing. I really want to read the rest of the story, but I can’t.

Will Istavan be able to meet his son? Will the son have family troubles with his half-brother? Will he inherit Istavan’s kingdom in the future? What will happen to Rosalie? What about Rinda? Who will be the heir of Guin’s kingdom? What will happen to Octavia? Above all, what is Guin’s real identity? Where is he from!?

The story suddenly ended in the middle of the story. Do I have to imagine the rest of it by myself?



Thank you.



Koir, thanks as always.

When will you have fun?

I used to go to an English conversation school. One of the teachers there had started learning Karate, using the same style I had learned. The coaches that taught me were also teaching him.

He said he would be competing in a Karate tournament, but unfortunately, I didn’t manage to go to see the matches. So the next day, I asked him how he did.

His story was that one of his coaches told him not to enter because there were too many fighters. I don’t know the details. Anyway, he was not able to fight in the tournament.

What surprised me was his words: “They should change the system of the tournament. They now choose the opponents by lot, so sometimes beginners fight advanced students. If beginners fight between beginners, they will have a lot of fun. They can reasonably expect to win.”

I was astonished. “They will have FUN?”

Indeed, in the first-round, most beginners fight against advanced students and lose.

However, nobody had ever thought as he did. Japanese people think that if you want to win, you need to become strong. It would take about three or four years, and it’s not surprising. Try hard! In addition, I say that nobody has ever said they had fun or wanted to have fun in the Karate school. They only wanted to be strong.

Now I know this seems to be a Japanese way of thinking, and foreign people wouldn’t agree.

Still, Karate is not a sport. I can’t call Karate fighters “players”. Am I too serious?




Thank you.
Koir, thanks as always.

A villa of Mito Kohmon

Mito Kohmon’s real name was Tokugawa Mitsukuni (July 11, 1628 - January 14, 1701). He was a famous territory lord during the Edo era, and many TV dramas have been made using the “Mito Kohmon” name. As a result, almost all Japanese know about him.

I went on a trip to Ibaraki prefecture and saw his villa last Sunday. He lived there after he retired, and eventually wrote a history book. The villa has a large, beautiful garden and receives many visitors each year.

When I was a kid, children were always joking about Kohmon because the word has the same pronunciation as “school gate” and “anus”. Kids must still make this corny joke even now.

Thank you.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_Mitsukuni




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ff7XRVbF80&feature=related



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28S-IxNapBw

Koir, thanks!