Japanese lifestyle Consumption tax

  The consumption tax will be raised from April 1st in Japan.
 In Japan, the consumption tax has been 5%.
The new tax will be raised to 8%.
  Probably it is not so high compared to the other countries.
  A lot of people are rushing to the store.
  I heard that people called it "last minute demand".
  In Tokyo, people make a line to buy their commutation ticket.
  And people make a line at the gas station.
  But the total of petrol cost is not so different even if the tax
is raised. (maybe it's just 1 Euro or so)
 

Japanese Kikubari ~ ~ From my experience

  I had a short trip to Tokyo, today.
  It took two hours from my hometown by train.
The purpose was to talk with editor of publisher.
I have been interested in publishing a book.
  So I asked for appointment and talked over
a lot of things with the professional editor.


  Today, the weather has been unsettled.
  On my way to Tokyo, I found I left my light blue umbrella in my car.
After the meeting, I came back to my home.
  There is a rotary in front of the station in my hometown.
When I arrived at the station, I found an umbrella on the curb(stone)
at the rotary. That umbrella was mine.
  I understood that I actually dropped my umbrella on the road when I
got off my car. Someone seemed to put it on the curb in case
the owner comes and looks for the umbrella.


  Is this act Japanese Kikubari!?
Kikubari is Japanese custom like below.
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1615883098712371315#editor/target=post;postID=6816017560995927373;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=303;src=postname

Intermission

  I will resign my job in this month for some reasons.
Teaching at cram school has been enjoyable for me.
I have taught English at the cram school for a year.
If you make a living by working at cram school, you
may have to run the school.
  And because of the declining of birth rate, it seems
to be harder to collect many children to manage the
school.
  But spending time with children was a lot of fun for me.

  I've got  some  stories.

  I wrote a story for one of the students who was in
my Japanese class. He was 12 years old.
He said he wanted to become a post man in the future.
I wrote a story about  a directer of post museum.
  He seemed to like my story.
  He thanked to me after the last class.
  He said, 先生、ありがとうございました！(Teacher, Thank you very much!)

  Yesterday was the last class of 1st grade of junior high school.
After finishing the last class, I found a crane folded with a piece of paper on my desk.
A massage from a girl student was on the paper.
 It was like...
 "Thank you. I'm sorry for bothering a lot.
   We did some bad things, but you acted positively. That was great.
   Please come to the school after you start the next job.
   Thank you for all your help."
  I was surprised and glad. Actually, I was worried and bothered a lot
by her.  (｡´-д-)疲れた。。
  It was so hard to make her concentrate on studying.
Honestly, her class was sooooo annoying... orz
  But it seems that the student felt something in my class.
  It is fun to see children get better and matured.
  I will write a message for her in return like...
 "Have a dream!! And make an effort!! 夢に向かって　がんばれ！！"

  Maybe I will write a story based on the experience in the near future.

Japanese lifestyle ~77~ The examination to enter the high school

  If you were in the Japanese junior high school, you need to spend
several months on studying so much to enter the high school.
  The examination to enter the high school is sometimes competitive.
So, students endure the stressful days.
  It is the first obstacle for those who go to Japanese school.
  But sometimes, the applicants don't reach the fixed number.
Japanese birth rate has been decreasing, so there are some such cases.
  The subjects of entrance exam are Japanese, math, social study,
science, and English. They have about 45 minutes tests for two days.
  Each region has each exam system. In my area, the chances to enter the
public schools are two times. The first-term exams is held the end of February.
You have to write some essays at the each test.
It is more difficult than the second-term exams.
And the grade at the junior high school is taken accounted.
  A few students can pass the first-term exams. The number to be
admitted is relatively small compared to the second-term exams.
  The second-term exam is held at the beginning of March.
  Unfortunately, there are some students who can't pass the both exams.
  But they usually can go to the private school.
  The test of private school is held in January.
Usually students can pass examination at private school.
   Most of students challenge the test of private school in case
they fail the test of public school.
  If you have good grade at junior high school, you would
go to the high school where you can prepare for the entrance test
of the universities.
  If you don't have the plan to go to the university, you would
go to the high school which is specialized in a major such as
commerce, industry, or agriculture. They can have vocational education
at the high school.
 

Japanese lifestyle ~76~ Meoto Ｄｙawan めおと ぢゃわん

  Moto(めおと) means "husband and wife".
  Ｄｙawan means "rice bowl"
This rice bowls are called "Meoto Ｄyawan"（Dyawan seems to be hard to pronounce...
You would need instruction.）
  The shape and color of these rice bowls are similar.
  And I imagine that this product was created in the hope of good relationship of
husband and wife. This style seems to be peculiar to Japanese culture.

Intermission

  The viewers of this blog reached 15,000 at last.
Thank you for all!! Thank you for visiting!!
  I decided to take a licence of Japanese guide. That licence is
national licence. I like to introduce Japanese culture, so
I may work as tour guide for income. 


  I have to have an Enligh test and Japanese
history, geography and general questions.
  I started to study Japanese history and geography again.
I used to study in my school.
  Hopefully I would like to introduce useful information
for tourist on this blog in the future.
  I will write something through studying for the examination.


  You will get more information for sightseeing and traditional culture in detail.
 Look forward to it.

Japanese food ~39~ Wagashi 和菓子（わがし）

These are Japanese sweets. Maybe green color sweet seems to be
unusual. All of these sweets are made of "Mochi(sticky food)"
I think the color of  Sakura mochi(See the second photo) is good.
It uses the leaf of cherry blossoms. And the leaf is pickled in salt.
  You can enjoy these sweets, drinking Japanese green tea.