My work １２(Not children's story but a short story) "The sound of dust"

  This year is going to finish soon. 

  I had various things in this year. This blog had one-year anniversary.

Today, the viewers of my blog have been recorded "13400". 

And people from 78 kinds of regions of the world have visited my blog.

  I hope the viewers go beyond 23000 next year.

  And one of the biggest things was to start writing stories more than ever.

I could not take time to do that at the end of the year though...｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡

  By the way, today's dinner was Soba.

 Maybe, I remember posting the photo of Soba last year as well.

  We eat this soba on December 31st. We eat soba, hoping that we can live long
in our lives.  

  I translated the part of my work. I attach it on this last post of this year!

  This is not for children. I just tried to make a story of Samurai period.

I will attach the next one in the New Year.

  The aim of the 2014 is to write more stories. Don't you think the only way
to gain the fruitful life is to spend time for what you want to be in the future? 
  We say Yoi Otoshiwo! (よいお年を！＝よいおとしを！)to everyone. 
It means like "Have a good year!"

  Hey everyone, Yoi Otoshiwo!

The sound of dust  ~1~

A drop of water fell on Jougen’s forehead. Jougen wiped forehead. He knew that it was large drop of rain from the touch of the finger-tip. He rose immediately. He was taking a rest under the tree near a small temple.

The large drop of rain spread over the square of the precincts of the temple. He hid under the small roof of the temple.

“We have had a heavy rain quite often recently. That’s unusual…”

 A monk appeared in a corridor.

“This sky shows the unrest of this world.”

Jougen said to the person with his face tuned upward to the sky. Jougen didn’t know the color of the sky facing then. Moreover, he had never seen the grain of the wooden corridor. He went up the steep stairs to come to the temple, called Saimyou-ji . However, he had never seen the color of the stone stairs. He had never seen the color of the rosebay that was flourishing besides the stone stairs. Jougen was a natural blind person.

“Where are you going?”

The monk in Saimyou-temple asked to Jougen.

“The house ahead…”

“You mean, Mr. Suenaga’s house.”

“I don’t know his name.”

  The monk got surprised to know the blind man was about to visit the house without knowing the lord of the house.

“His name is Suenaga.”

“I see.”

  The rain stopped. A lot of sun light came from the break in the cloud all over the area.

Jougen drawed his instrument, “Biwa” close to him. And he wiped the Biwa on his towel.

“Mr.”

  Jougen heard the monk’s voice from his back.

“The samurai you’re going to meet get mad easily. You need to pay attention to your words.”

“Oh, I see. I appreciate it. But I don’t spare my life.”

  Jougen held his Biwa in his arms and stood up. He started to walk slowly. An aged samurai was unnoticeably standing there. There were a lot of wrinkles on the aged samurai’s face. His armor and helmet was broken a bit. The aged samurai lead Jougen

to outside the temple.

 

 “Mr. Jougen, this is Suenaga-sama.”

  The aged samurai asked Jougen to sit down in front of the host and went out the room.

“Mr. Jougen, I know the reputation of your storytelling. I would like you to show me your storytelling.”

“Certainly, but, the salary won’t be low. We can survive by such fee.”

“Of course, I know. I’m ready.”

  After having remained silent for a while, Jougen took hold his Biwa in his stomach. And it became silent a few moments. He was mumbling. He seemed to talk with someone. And then he made a frown and sounded a string of Biwa with the plectrum. The room echoed with the sound of a string. Jougen started to sing.

The sound of bell from Gionsyouja (Buddhist temple)

It reminds of impermanence

The blossoms of the sal-tree proclaim that prosperity is subject to decline.

Insolent men are fated to go to their doom.

It is the same in ephemeral

 After he finished the foreword, the room fell silent again. Suenaga gazed at Jougen’s storytelling and said.

“Mr. Jougen, I would like you to do “Nasuno Yoichi (the name of samurai)”.

Jougen didn’t say anything. However, he suddenly sounded a string again…

 To be continued

Thanks for reading!
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Japanese lifestyle ~72~ The door in Japan

  I found an interesting article on Japanese styled door.
It was written about the difference of Japan and other countries.
  Japanese door opens outward like below.

  How about your country? I guess the door may open inward.
  I've heard that the door which opens inward has the meaning of
welcoming the guests. I've been to abroad some times, but
I did not check the doors.
  But why does Japanese door open outward?
  The article I read says, it is because we have the custom to
take off shoes. So the door opens outward so that people
can keep the space to put on their shoes.

Japanese traditional culture ~43~Oosouji

  The season oosouji is coming! I wrote about oosouji at the end of the last year.
Oosouji directly means "Big cleaning".
  We focus on cleaning home or the workplace and so on in this season.
We do that so that we can welcome the new year in the cleaned environment.
And we started to wash the curtains of the window. I am kind of busy on my
business now, so I need to start Oosouji little by little so that we can
finish by the end of this year.
  This tradition would have the meaning of protecting people from evil.
Recently, I believe cleaning the room or house leads to stabilize the
good mental condition

  I really like the season of the beginning of the year. Because the
atmosphere is so refreshed.

　By the way,I don't do anything in my house at Christmas.

Japanese traditional culture ~42~ゆず湯 Yuzu yu

Yesterday was Touji 冬至.(the winter solstice）
It is the day when the night time is the longest in the year.

In Japanese traditional culture, we put yuzu; an aromatic citron in the bath.
It is a hot bath scented with yuzu.
The reason is because you can get your body warmer.

And you can enjoy the aroma of yuzu.

Japanese traditional culture ~41~ しわす師走 shiwasu

  In Japan, we sometimes call December "Shiwasu".
If I write it with Kanji, it's like this "師走".
Shi し（師） means the monk of Budhism.
Wasu わす（走） means "running".

  So, this word means "the monk is running."
All people are busy in December. So, even the monks
run from place to place in December.
This word "Shiwasu" shows the busyness of Japanese
life in December.

Japanese lifestyle ~71~The decoration at my wedding

I show you a decoration which I used at the wedding.

I bought these dolls to put on the reception desk.
I have introduced about Eto(えと) on this blog before.
There are the  twelve horary signs in our culture.

Let's review those signs.

1 the Rat
2 the Ox
3 the Tiger
4 the Hare
5 the Dragon
6 the Serpent
7 the Horse
8 the Sheep
9 the Monkey
10 the Cock
11 the Dog
12 the Boar

I was born in a year of the Horse. And the bride was born in the year of Rat.

Well, now the season in which I have to write a Nengajou is coming.
That is, I will send the New Years post cards to all people who came to
the wedding. And also, I need to write some more people.

I would like to value the Japanese yearly events. One of the reason is
that I introduce about something on this blog.

Japanese lifestyle ~70~

Last Sunday was my wedding.
I will write something about it later.
So far I have to do some things...

Japanese traditional culture ~40~

  Tommorrow is my wedding.
I need to think of my speech. I've already made a speech roughly.
I need to think again so it would be better...

  I will introduce about this blog at my wedding.^ ^
I will have a Japanese style's ceremony.

Japanese lifestyle "Orizuru ~70~~cranes with origami~"

  One more week until the wedding.
The cranes with origami were completed.

Thankfully, some people helped me to make these cranes.
  Almost all things have been ready.
The seating chart was done.
  Today I have many things to do.
  I will have a meeting with my friends of high school.
I am going to dance with those friends while I leave the wedding hall.
And also, I need to think the speech I will make at the beggining and the end of the party.

  Today, I found that the photos I took in Germany had been developed.
I developed those photos a few weeks ago.
  My memories in Germany haven't gone.

I  haven't done my work on writting a story about biwahoushi very well.
I would like to do that after the wedding. And I'll post on this blog
within this year.

Japanese education Yutori education

 Yesterday's newspapar told that the recovery of Japanese education.
The news showed the result of reserch on education between countries.
The test was conducted by OECD. And it tested the abilities, such as
mathmatic literacy, ability to read and understand, science literacy.
Japan was 7th at the mathmatic literacy, 4th at the ability to read and
understand, 4th at the science literacy. That seems to sound nice.
 Looking at the countries which are higher than Japan, Asian cities
are seen, such as Shanhai, HongKong, Singapore. (I don't know
why they researched Shanhai, HongKong not China. Maybe there
are too many population and it would be difficult to servey)

  Maybe Shanhai, HonKong and Singapore are rich countries.
People's living standard would be much higher than the average of
Japan. So, people would be able to pay a lot of money for children.
 
  Besides that result of research, the newspapers told the result
 got better compared to a few years ago because Japanese education
system changed from "Yutori" education.
 What's Yutori education?

 That is the movement of about more than 10 years ago. The goverment
decreased the assignment of each subject. And people used to insist on
the decrease of Children's task because they thought children needed to
take a rest more. Yutori education means "education free of pressure".
 As the result, I heard that children, especially those who are lazy( most of
children are lazy...hahaha) became to escape from studying.
 After the discussion, Japanese government shifted the policy to
increasing the assignments again.

 Japanese education has been aware of focusing on the ability to
"think" not just "memolizing". The high level private school gives
the entrance examination of such test. They test how much children
can "think".

 Japanese people tend to lower the self-esteem. In spite of the reslt of the
result, some people may think Japanese education system is running later
than Western countries's education.

Japanese lifestyle ~69~~Emoji orz ~

 In Japanese,   alcohol is called "Sake"
One kind of the Sakes is "Nihon syu".
The other day, I drank after my work.
That was one of my enjoyments in my daily life.
 Today, I found my memory card (the card that
contains a lot of photo data) was broken...
 I reminded that I spilled the Nihon syu over my desk.
Maybe the SD card was broken at that time.
  In that SD card, there were a lot of photos
I took in Germany. There were some photos of the stature of
Bach, Beethoven, and a drawing of Goethe.
  OHHHHHHHHHH My GOSH!!!

 My memories in Germany have gone!!　Such a cruel thing...

 orz

  By the way, do you know the " orz "?
This is a kind of "Emoji", a drawing with some letters.
Can you recognize a person kneeling down from that Emoji?
A head is left side. You can make is just by typing "o" "r" "z".

 Japanese people use this "orz", when you feel frustration.

 orz

Japanese Kikubari About an allergy

  I write about Japaense Kikubari after a long time.
In Japan, the bride and groom send a card with an invitation card.
On that card, they ask guest's allergy because the bride and
groom serve guests.
  I got an answer that says he has an allergy of a raw shrimp.
You may not eat an raw shrimp in your culture. So this allergy
sounds special to Japanese culture.
  The cook will prepare the meal without a raw shrimp for him
at the wedding.
  This is Japanese Kikubari.

Japanese expression ~18~ できちゃった婚 de ki tyatta kon

  In some cases, Japanese couples get married after knowing the bride
gets pregnant. We sometimes call this kind of marriage "Dekityatta kon".
The nuance of this expression is complicated a bit.
 In Japanese, when we say "tyatta" that means "accidentally".
And it has childish and cute nuance.
  20 years ago, Dekityatta kon was not accepted socially, however,
the situation seems to be changing. I often hear someone get married
in this style.
 I think people still avoid disclosing openly though. Close friends would
be known by the couple.

  But it's true that Japanese people usually do not raise their baby
without registering the marriage. I heard that some of the couples
raise their baby without registering the marriage in Europe.
 

Japanese saying ~20~な na

I introduce a saying that begins from "な" na

(I haven't witten this topic on Japanese saying for a long time.)

That is... ななころび　やおき　na na ko ro bi     ya o
 ki
Kanji  is  七転び八起き
"Nana" means seven
"Ya" means eight
Korobi means "fall to the ground"
Oki means "pick yourself up"
It means, you would make failures seven times. But you should come back eight times.

Now I believe that the only way to achieve something is not to give up...

Japanese expression ~17~ 矛盾 contradiction

  In Japanese, 矛盾（mu jun）means "contradition".
This word has a story which comes from Chinese culture.
As you may know, Japanese culture has been affected by Chinese culture.

 矛 means "A sword"
盾　means "A shield"

 Long time ago, there was a man who is selling a sword on the street.
He said to the customers, "This sword is so great. It can pierce any shields."
He was also selling a shield there.
He said to the customers,"This shield is so great. There are not any swords
which can pierce this shield".
One customer asked to the shopkeeper, "What happens if you pierce
the shield with the sword in hand?"

You know, this shopkeeper's word has contradiction.

  This word 矛盾　means "contradiction."

Japanese traditional culture ~39~ Origami ~How to make a crane~

  Today, I will teach you how to make a crane with origami.
Do you know origami? I have heard that this Japanese traditional
culture is getting to be known all over the world.
  It is a kind of craft with paper.
  In Japan, you can buy colorful papers for origami like below.
And also, it's not expensive. Just 100 yen(less than 1 Euro) ~ 300 yen.
And it has 300 papers in the one pack.
  Why do I need to make a crane with origami?
  It's because I want to use a lot of cranes by origami at my wedding party.
You may have seen the scene, many guests scatter petals in hand to the
bride and groom. We will do that with a lot of cranes instead of petals.
  This way seems to be getting popular at Japanese wedding.
  When I heard of that, I got surprised to know such a creative way.
  Traditionally, Japanese people have imported other cultures from abroad
and modified those cultures in Japanese way. This is one of the typical examples
of such Japanese style.
  By the way, I attach a lot of photos on how to make a crane.

                                                     Fold once like above

Fold twice like this

 I don't know how to explain in English... Just see and imitate it...

 You fold the other side like this

 You need to make this.

 I guess this is the most difficult for begginers.

 You do the same thing on the other side.

It's done.

 You can try this with a square paper. I have to make 300 cranes with my bride.

I'll ask some people for help.

 Today is Sunday. It's my lovely holiday!! I will practice the piano for my wedding.

I will play the classical piece "the Liebestraum No. 3" by Franz Liszt at my wedding.

And I will get ahead of the story I have launched to write a bit.

My works ~11~ "Biwa houshi"

  I have started writing a story about Biwa houshi.
Biwa houshi is a blind man who was the story teller in old age.
Biwa houshi told some brave stories of warriors, playing the instrument, called Biwa.
I learned that there was a story teller, like biwa houshi, called scops in England.

 Do you know "crops"?

Japanese expression ~16~無常観

無常観　"mu  jou  kan"
Mu　無　nothing
Jou   常   eternal
Kan 　観
"Everything is not eternal."
It is said that this concept represents the philosophy of Japanese culture.
However, we have not been conscious of this concept in our daily life.

  Japanese Children learn this word from the classical literature, called
Heike monogatari = Heike story. It was written in Kamakura period.
It's about 1000 years ago.
  The story is about Samurai family named Heike who were destroyed by the other Samurai
family, Genji.
  Heike used to be very strong. They had a power in the government of those period.
However, Heike was destroyed. Their proprieties did not last for a long time.
It is exactly "Mu jou 無常".

 I have heard the European philosopher's word. "everything flows"
It seems that the word tells us the same kind of idea.
I don't know if it's exactly the same though.
I think people in Europe tend to think logically than an oriental.
 So, I guess each idea was not concluded in the same process.

Japanese education ~12~ Where does the name Mt.Fuji come from???

  There is a story, called Kaguya hime in Japanese classical literature.
Most of people in Japan have read this story in our childhood.
"Hime" means princess.
  This is a story about a princess that came from the moon.
The storyline is like below.

  There were old man and woman who don't have children.
One day, when he was working in the mountain, he found a bamboo
whose root was shining. He cut the bamboo. He found a small cute girl
in the bamboo.
  The old man and woman raised the lovely girl with warmed heart.
They named the girl "Nayotake no Kaguya hime"
She became a so beautiful woman.

  A lot of noblemen got to know the woman. They were curious of Kaguya hime.
They tried to get married with her. However, she refused that.

  And an emperor also heard of Kaguya hime.
The emperor wanted to get married with Kaguya hime as well.
Kaguya hime refused emperor's requirement.
  One day Kaguya hime disclose the old man and woman
that she was a women from the moon. And she told she had to
go back to the moon soon. Kaguya hime tells some messengers would come there
soon. Of course, the old man and woman did not wanted her to go back the moon.
  And also the emperor did not.

  The old man and woman tried to stop the messengers
The emperor also tried to stop.

 However, their trials were in vain.
Eventually, Kaguya hime went back to the moon. She gave
a medicine instead of returning to the moon. That was the elixir of life.

 The emperor depressed so much . And he decided to burn the medicine
at the place where is the closest to the sky. The emperor got to know the
highest mountain was Mt. Fuji and he went there with a lot of soldiers.
Then, he ordered to burn the medicine there.

  The story is like this.

  When you write Mt. Fuji by Kanji, you write like this. 富士
And "Fu" 富 means "a lot of"
Ji 士　means "soldiers".
  The origin of the name of Mt. Fuji may be from this story.
Some one named 富士 because the emperor went the mountain with
a lot of soldiers to burn the medicine.
  By the way, in Japanese, the Kanji of the elixir of life is 不死.
Hu 不　means "no"
JI 死　means death.
And the pronunciation of 不死　is "Fuji". So there is also rhyme here.

 Classical literature is so deep...

Japanese education ~11~ English education

  Today's newspaper says, Japanese Ministry of Education decided to start
English education from third grade(8~9 years old) at elementary school.
  In Japan, there is a English class at elementary school.
However, perhaps, it is once a week or so. It's a quite few.
  I think we should start to learn English more earlier age.
Some people say, we should not start learning the second language
before our first language develops. I think it doesn't matter so much.
The newspaper says, the education system would start from 2020,
the year when the Olympic will be held in Tokyo.

Japanese education ~10~The classical literature

  From next year, I have to teach junior high school students
Japanese at my workplace. I mean, I will have both English and Japanese class
at my work place. I have been preparing for the classes of next year now.
The other day, I learned the Japanese classical literature.
  I haven't read such works recently. I used to study it until high school.
  On this posting, I will write about the work I learned at that day.

  I still feel hard to find those classical literature are interesting. ^^;
When I was in school, I didn't enjoy learning classical so much.
However, I felt it was not so difficult to read the work.
  Japanese junior high school students have to read the work
like below in order to enter high school. The work is from the
examination for entering high school of Kumamoto prefecture.
 If you want to get in the public high school,
you have to have each prefecture's test held in March.

  This classical work was written at the end of Heian period.(794-1192)

From "Kojidan"(= title of the book)

  Kyougoku daijou daijinn(it is the status of a person) Munesuke kou (= a man
whose name is Munesuke) was having bees. People said it is useless.

  An aristocrat was at Tobadono(= the name of an imperial villa which is
located in suburb of Kyoto).
 One day, a beehive suddenly fell down in front of an aristocrat and
a lot of bees flew through the air. People got in panic.
 Munesuke found a "biwa(=a loquat)"which was in front of the aristocrat.
And then he peeled it and raised it. All the bees put on the loquat.
Bees did not fly through the air any more. Munesuke gave the loquat
the servant besides the aristocrat.

 The aristocrat said "I appreciate so much."
He praised him so much.

                                                    Fin

  How did you feel, reading this story?
The original story has some phrases that has not been used nowadays.
So, it is kind of difficult to read. However, the story is understandable.

Japanese food ~36~A saury Sanma

The season for saury has arrived.

Do you eat saury in your country?
If you live in Japan, you can enjoy eating fish in each season.
Japan is surrounded by the ocean. So, we have the habit of eating fish frequently.
There might be a manner when you eat saury. You should eat it cleanly.

Japanese traditional culture ~38~Yuinou no gi 結納の儀（ゆいのうのぎ）

  You are so lucky. At this posting, you can see  so rare  photos.
Most of foreign people in the world, would not have ever seen
those photos.
(Actually, we also haven't ever seen the stuffs in our life)

I will write about ceremony of Yuinou on this posting.
  We Japanese people do a formal ceremony, called "Yuinou no gi"
before we get married.
  This tradition has many meanings.
  First of all, this ceremony has the meaning of swearing the
engagemento in the public. And after this ceremony, each
family of the bride and groom becomes closer.
 And second, the bride and groom exchange some gifts
each other.

  Some decades ago, the bride used to invited the groom to her
house and did the ceremony. But nowadays, traditional styled
Japanese restaurant is used for the ceremony.
  At this ceremony, some gifts are given from the groom to the bride.
The wife of the owner of Japanese restaurant is called
"Okamisann" She explained well about the meaning of the
gifts.

The groom needs to give a lot of money for the bride.
That is called "Yuinou kin" Kin means "money".

The gift on your right is Surume. It's a dried squid.
This dried food can be preserved for a long time.
This gift is given so that the bride and the groom can
make their living without missing a meal.
The gift on your left is Kobu. Kobu is a kelp.
In Japanese, we say Yoro"kobu" when you are happy.
So, a kelp has the meaning of lucky food.

The stuff on your right which looks like strings is called
Tomoshiraga. "Tomo" means "together". "Shiraga" means
"white hair". This gift is given so that the bride and groom
can live together until they get old.

This is "Katsuo bushi". It's a dried bonito.
"Katsu" has the meaning of "win" in Japanese.
So, this is lucky food in Japanese traditional culture.
This triadition is based on the idea the man work in the society.

We drank Sake, Japanese alchohol at the ceremony.

And the photos below are dishes we had after the ceremony.

Each dish is sophisticated...
The last photo is Sakura yu. They preserve the Sakura with salt
in the spring. This is also lucky food in Japanese traditional culture.
Well, this Japanese restaurant invited "Dame Elizabeth Taylor",
famous actress about 20 years ago. I saw the photo of then.

As I show you above, this Yuinou has a long history.
On wikipedia, the origin of Yuinou seems to go back until
4 or 5 century.


Well, that's about it, today.
I'm sure these are quite rare photos. Maybe this blog has not
been known at all. I don't know how much my activity of
introducing Japanese culture is valuable.
I just hope I dedicate to those who are interested in Japanese
culture. I hope I play a role as a brighe between other cultures.

Thanks for reading.
https://www.facebook.com/SeeMyJapan











 

Japanese expression ~15~Keigo けいご敬語 An honorific expression

  In Japanese, there are many honorific expression to show respect to the person.
One of the reasons why Japanese people tend to be seen "polite" would come from
our language that has various kinds of honorific expressions.
  There are three kinds of terms of respect for the person, such as
Teinei go, Sonkei go, Kenjou go.
 Teinei go are like "masu" "desu". These come at the end of the sentences.
Most of Japanese learners would know that.
 Sonkei go is the term to show the person.
 Iu 言う（いう）means "say".
 When you mention to what your superior said, you have to choose the word like
”Ｏｓｓｙａｒｕ” It is the Sonkei go of "say"言う（いう）
Kenjou go is humble language.
You have to choose the word "mousu or moushiageru" when you say something to your superior.

 When Japanese people handle these three kinds of words according to
various social situation. Young adults would sometimes make mistakes though.

 At elementary school and junior high school, children start to learn these words
at school.

Japanese lifestyle ~68~About workplace

   I listen to the radio on my way to my workplace.
I've heard that American or Canadian workers put on
his or her family's photo on the desk at workplace.
Maybe people would put on family's photo in other
cultures, too.
  But in Japan, I guess it is not common to do so.
I think it is not very welcomed to do so in Japanese culture.
In Japan, workers usually are working at opened space
in an office. I think most of company would not give
an separated room to each worker.



  I have kept posting articles on this blog for one year since
I started. Fortunately, a lot of people checked this blog
from various countries. I counted the number of the countries
yesterday. It was 72. It is said that there are about 190 countries
in the world. I guess the kind of country would not increase
any more...
  When I started this blog, I aimed to keep posting for one year.
I don't know if I can keep posting in the future as well.
I like to think about the cultural differences between other cultures.
So, I hope this blog continues.


  I have kept writing a story like below. This work has become
100 papers with Japanese manuscript paper. But the story
has not finished yet. I need to write more to end the story...
I don't know how much I need to write from now.
That may become a very very long story for children...
Writing 100 papers is my first experience. If I entry a
competition, the manuscript papers should be from 80 to 150.
This story is about baseball which is one of the most popular
sports in Japan. I know baseball is not so common sport in Europe.
Hopefully, I want to attach something interesting to read some day.
It will be more shorter story...

Thanks for reading!!
https://www.facebook.com/SeeMyJapan

Japanese traditional culture ~37~ invitation card

  The bride and groom have to make invitation cards for the guests.
These are the cards that we chose.
These look Japanese old stylish cards, ha?
  I had to write addressees with a writing brush.
I usually don't use such a brush, so it was kind of hard for me to do the work.

I heard some people don't prepare for these cards if you can tell the
beginning time easily. That's for saving money.

Thanks for reading.

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Japanese traditional culture ~36~ having a lunch

  I went to a Japanese restaurant with my a fiancée and her family.

This Japanese restaurant was typical of Japanese restaurant.

The dishes looked so nice.

  The bottle is Japanese traditional alchohol, called Syoutyuu.

Syoutyuu is made from wheat.

Japanese traditional culture ~35~ seats at the wedding

  Now I have started to decide the seats of my wedding reception.
This work is not easy though.
  In Japan culture, there is a seat, called Kamiza.
It is a seat of honor. Probably, there is this kind of seat in other culture.
At the wedding reception, the seat of honor is the one which is the closest
in the room.

  The paper is upside down!! ^ ^;  I couldn't attach well.
The wedding planer explained well. This paper shows the order of seats.
There is a main table(メインテーブル) below.
  And you have to take care of how to write each person's title, such as
"groom's friend", "groom's co-worker""The president of a company"....
Usually, we need to write those titles on a seat and provide it for the guests.

I heard of a interesting story.
  It is occasionally happen the groom invites his co-worker
after he quit a company. And if the guest was the elder and senior person,
it is hard to decide his title. It is hard to write "groom's friend".
Because, if the guest is so old(50～60 years old),
writing "groom's friend"seems to be disrespectful in Japanese culture.

 If the groom was still working at the same workplace, his title could be
written as "Duryou　同僚"which means "co worker".
 But the groom had already quit his company, he would not be able to
write in that way.

 Anyway, in my case, I would not have so many troubles when I write guest's
titles.
  I have to finish this work by 13th October.

Japanese traditional culture ~34~ traveling expenses

  In Japanese culture, we have a tradition of providing traveling expenses
for the guests. When you invite a friend who is living far from the
wedding ceremony, you need to provide a lot.
  The amount of the expenses should be odd number in my region such as
10000 yen, 3000 yen or 5000 yen.
  And if you had been invited by the guest's wedding, the traveling expenses
would be provided almost the same amount.

  I want to know if there is this kind of tradition in your culture.

Japanese lifestyle ~67~typhoon

  During this season, the typhoon is the great worry to us.
Today is my holiday. But typhoon is coming near my hometown.
It's so raining now. And very strong wind is blowing outside.
  Every year we count the number of typhoon, like
Ｔａｉｈｕｕ(typhoon) 1 gou(gou　号),２　gou, 3 gou...
 The unit is "gou" when you count the number of typhoon.
And the typhoon which is coming now is 18 gou.
  If you are living along the coast, it's very dangerous during season.
Maybe there are some lives are lost every year.

Japanese lifestyle ~66~ NOZOMI

  When I went to Kansai area, I got on a shinkansen, named NOZOMI.
As you may know, it's so fast train.
  When you are on train, you'll see some sales staffs who are selling
some foods and drinks. She behave so politely in the train like
cabin attendants.

  When you have a chance to get on NOZOMI, you should see the
garbage collectors. Their technique of cleaning is excellent. They clean
so quickly, and behave politely. They have only ten minutes to clean
the inside of train. But they always complete their jobs.
I think there are no garbage cleaners like them in the world.
I am thinking they should be respected.
The garbage cleaners may be prejudiced. But the cleaners of NOZOMI have
sophisticated skills.