Japanese food(drink) ~Mugi cha ( wheat tea)~

 Japanese green tea may be famous in the world.
But mugi cha (wheat tea) is also popular in the summer.
I think people drink more often when they have lunch or dinner.
  In our house, we always keep wheat tea in a bottle in the
refrigerator. It's more reasonable in cost.

  I  have an examination on 11,12th July. So, I stop posting articles
until that time.
  Sorry.

The short trip in Gunma

  Now, Japan is in the long vacation, called "Gorden week".
I have a holiday from on 2nd May, to 6th May.
  Many people go abroad or go to a tourist resort.
I went to a Miyogi shrine in my prefecture, Gunma.
This shrine was constructed around 537.
Usually, there are some very big and old trees at shrine.
The stairs were so steep. So it was hard to go to the main building.
  The visit at this shrine made me relax.
  Maybe, it is very important to be relax in order to
do good performance at your job and your study.
  As you see, Japanese people have worshiped not only God(Kami)
but nature since old ages.
(I used the word Kami on purpose. In Japan, the concept of "God" is different
from other religion, such as Christian.)

This is a barrier in Edo period.

In 400 years ago, people could not move from one prefecture to the other prefecture

freely. The government banned people from bringing in the Edo area(Around Tokyo).

The government officials checked at this checkpoint. 

Don't cut your nail at night !! ~Japanese superstition~

Some people say, "Don't cut your nail at night !!''


This is a superstition in Japan.


"Or you will not be present at your parent's death."
"Or you will die at an early age."


Every superstition does not have a ground.


However, I sometimes hear this superstition.


Anyway, in Japanese, there is a saying "A skilled hawk hides its talons."


Do you have this kind of saying in your culture???

Japanese traditional culture Hina doll part 2

I  have introduced about Hina doll before.

  The 3rd, March was the day of Hina doll.
This is the day for girls. We have a song for this special day.
 
  We eat sushi on this day, I would like to introduce "Temari zushi".
It's special kind of sushi. I think this kind of sushi have not been
introduced in abroad.

  Do you notice the shape of the sushi is round.
This shape comes from the image of "Temari"
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%89%8B%E3%81%BE%E3%82%8A#mediaviewer/File:Japanese_folk_art;_Temari%EF%BC%9B%E6%89%8B%E9%9E%A0.jpg
  This idea is nice. I do not know who made this kind of sushi first.

  I could buy this at supermarket on 3rd March.
 

Japanese lifestyle The house work and international marriage

  It is said Japanese culture is the mascline culture.
I agree. Japan is the male-dominate society.
  In Japan, the cities, towns, and villages that have
the law related to the gender eaquality, are 28.6% in 2012.
And the Gunma prefecture (my hometown) is 8.6%.
  My hometown is located in local area. And it is known that
people in Gunma is conservative.
  Maybe, one of the reason why Japan has not been developed enough
is the gender gap that still remains in Japanese society.
I think is is not easy for women to advance in some companies still now.
  Interestingly, I hear Japanese woman gets married with western cultural
man more often than the case Japanese man gets married with western
cultural woman. Japanese men  do not know how to behave in the
lady-first way.  Women in the western culture may not look Japanese men atractive. I am not sure.










  However, I help my wife with washing dishes on weekend.
And I often wash bath tub on weekdays.
  In some cases, the wife who manages family finance
controls the husband.
  Actually, my friend was blamed for expending money by
his wife after he gets married.
  And his wife started to control his family budget.
He always obeys his wife. (He has two dauters and says he has spent a happy life.) ^ ^;
  There are many cases in Japanese family.
 
 



 

Japanese lifestyle ~TV show~

  I would like to introduce about Japanese TV shows nowadays.
As you know, the contents of TV program are affected by
the trend of each time.
  It is related to the interest of people.


  Interestingly, we often watch TV programs that praise Japanese
culture or high technology these days.
  In those kinds of programs, foreign people (In many cases,
European and American) see Japanese culture and praise
like, "How wonderful!!"...
  Most of Japanese people would feel comfortable to see those
situation.
  Japanese people did not have many chances to go abroad
until 20 years ago.(I am not sure exactly when people start to
travel abroad like now.) I guess most of ordinary people
did not know how foreign people see Japanese culture.
Generally speaking, I think Japanese people modestly
evaluate our cultures.
  However, actually, Japanese people would feel happy
to hear foreign people praise our cultures. That's why
TV programs like I said above are popular in Japan now.
 
  I think people feel close to foreign people more than ever.
We often see foreign TV personalities on TV.
  Especially, we often see foreign people on the street in Tokyo.
  So, I think people feel easy to talk to foreign people
more than 20 years ago.


  I think TV programs like above will decrease sooner or later though.
Trend is always changing.

Japanese manner Greeting on the letter

  I  teach you something about Japanese letter.
When you write a private forman letter, Japanese people write
a certain phrase at the beginning of the letter.
Usually, the phrase is related to the season.
  For example, if you write a letter in winter,
you begin with the phrase, " It is getting colder, how are you doing?"
There are hundred kinds of  phrases in each season.
As you know, you can enjoy various changes of seasons.
Because of this cultural background, Japanese expressions
are formed.