2007年6月10日日曜日

Family Life

a When do children usually leave home?
I think it depends on the family or an area but most of them leave thier home at the age of eighteen to early twenties in Japan.

b How many people live in your home?
Right now I live with my sister so two in my home.

c Do you have a head of the family?
Yes, I do. My mother is a head of the family.

d Who dose the housework?
Because I live with my sister we do the housework equally.
If I live with my parents now, my mother dose the most of housework.

e Who runs the family?
I think both of my parent do.

f How many rooms do you have to sleep in?
There's four of us in my family and we have each room to sleep in.



2007年5月28日月曜日

Are there any feelings in Japanese that can not be translated in to English?

Yes, there are many feelings like "ganbatttute", "gokurousama/otukaresama", "tondemonai" or " yoroshikuonegaishimasu" are not translatable to English.
Try to name as many feelings as possible in Japasene. (10 minimum)
Now write the English translation.

1.blue-憂鬱
2.happy-幸せ
3.calm-穏やかな
4.envy-うらやむ
5.ashamed-恥ずかしい
6.angry-怒る
7.surprised-驚く
8.gratitude-感謝する
9.miserable-みじめな
10.tired-疲れた
Do you touch people when you talked to them ? Why? Why not?

I think we do this action unconsciously if we open to that person and I guess I thouch my colse friend sometimes when we talk . I trust my parents but I don't touch them when we talk. To touch people we need to sit pretty close. I don't sit very close to my parents.
How do you greet people in your life? Is it different for different people? why?

I greet with people differently and it is depends on what kind of relashionship we have.
For example if I greet with my friend : I wave my hand with smile
someone older than me like teachers or neighbors:I bow .
foreigners:wave hand
kids:wave hand
Did her speech change your view of Islam?

Kathy's speech was a fresh idea for me because I had some friends who was Moslem but I've never heard a story about Moslam because I was taught talking about religion is a taboo subject in abroad.
1. How is your daily life affected by Buddhism? What do you do and why do you do it?

Our manners and culture are based on Budism but people of today don't realize that those are come from Buddhism. For example we say " Itadakimasu" with put our hand together before we eat. We were trained by our parents to do that since we were little but I think we never think about the meaning of word "Itadakimasu". I found it out when I grown up.
Japanese has many language which is not translatable in to English or other language. For example "Tadaima" , "Olaeronasai" , "itttekimasu"and "Ittterattsyai". Those phrases have thankful meaning and I like these phrases.


2. The next class will be about Islam. Check the newspapers for the next 2 weeks and find articles about Islam. How are they talked about? Do you feel negative or positive about Islam because of these articles?

I was really surprise with the number of Islam issue which most of them are talking about terror in Middle East. Here is one. On 24th of May, there were car explosion in Shiah area. The bomb was set in the car in market. The issue tells at least 25 people are deid and 60 people are injured and 2 buildings are collapsed. Recentally Shiah militaman killed Sunni in succession. May 22th 2007 YomiuriShinnbun http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/world/news/20070522i212.htm

Frankly , I feel nagative about Islam. I was trying to find an article of Islam which is not about terror but I coundn't find it out. I am sure they have news other than terror but unfortunately
the media don't feature at all.
Find 1 article that has to do with cross culture understanding or differences (English or Japanese newspaper). In your blog, note the newspaper, date, page (or web address), summarize the article in English and write why you think this is a cross culture situation.

I found out an article talking about Brasilian people. There was an earthquick registered an intensity of 3 in Mie on April 15th. Including Brasilians, over 3000 foreigners live in Yttkaichi city, and they didn't know what to do because they couldn't understand the ssituation. The government alEnglish Home page but not Portuguese, so they are under examination to have one in near future. On the other hand many Brasilians don't join for Japanese society, so this matter is not that easy to solve. May 17th Mainichi-Shinbun http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20070517-00000018-mailo-l24

I think this matter is very close to us and should be concerned. I think Japan is not an open (comfortable) place for foreigners because there is a lack of concern for foreigners in many ways.