Ms. Gray Visits Japan

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Fast food

Question of the day, Oct. 15

Q: Do they have fast food in Japan? (from Mary Grace)

A: Yes!

Tokyo

Akasuka festival

Actor Don Kenny performing a kyogen play

Chopstick store

The Diet, Japan's legislature

Tokyo is amazing! We arrived at Narita airport Tuesday afternoon (although it was still Monday night, back in Memphis), and the bus that brought us from the airport into Tokyo was on a highway that was really a HIGHway once it got into central Tokyo. It rose up on a ramp until it was, for a few miles, at the level of about the 12th floor of the skyscrapers we were driving by. It passed so close to some office buildings that we could look into the windows of offices and see people working in them. It's the highest highway I've ever seen!

After going to our hotel, we took the subway to eat dinner at a part of Tokyo called Ginza. The Ginza area is a big shopping section of town, with huge department stores, as well as many small specialty shops. We went into one store that just sold chopsticks and chopstick rests. The chopstick rests are little stands that you lay your chopsticks against when you set them down at the table. There were sets of chopsticks made from different kinds of wood, some lacquered, painted, or inlaid with mother-of-pearl.

Some were very expensive. I imagine that fancy chopsticks are bought to use for special occasion meals or fine dinners served to guests, just as in our country many families might own a set of fine silverware that is only used for special occasions.

Today we took a tour of the Japanese Diet Building. This is NOT a building where people go to lose weight! The word "Diet" in Japan refers to their legislature. The Diet in Japan is like the Congress is the U.S., where elected government officials make laws.

Across from the Diet is a huge library, called the Diet Library. It is surrounded by gingko trees. Just as all the states in the U.S. have a "state tree," the prefectures in Japan have a tree as well, and the gingko is the tree for the prefecture of Tokyo. We have a gingko tree outside of our school library at C.M.D.S.!

Next we went to a local festival taking place at the Akasuka temple area of Tokyo. Lots of families were browsing the booths that were selling all kinds of candy, crafts, and souvenirs. I found out that when you buy something in Japan, they usually wrap up each item separately in pretty paper, or put it an individual small paper bag with pattern or design on it. The Japanese love beautiful paper, and use it in many creative ways.

Later this afternoon, we saw a play. It was a style of traditional Japanese theatre called kyogen. This style of theatre is 600 years old, and all of the plays in kyogen are comedies. The play we saw, called "The Inherited Cramp," really made us all laugh.

After the play, the main actor told us about the different kinds of traditional Japanese theatre, and showed us wooden masks that are used in some kyogen plays. I bought a video of performances of "The Inherited Cramp" and another kyogen play. When I get back, you will get to see two of these comedy plays on the video.

Monday, October 13, 2008

From San Francisco

I was honored to meet Mr. Yasumasa Nagamine, Japanese Consul General

JFMF teachers at the Japanese Consul General's residence.

I am sitting in the San Francisco airport, awaiting our flight to Japan.

Yesterday I flew to Chicago and then to San Francisco in the morning, and went to an orientation meeting (with the other 157 teachers who are going with me on this trip) all afternoon. It was fun to meet all the other teachers. There are at least 2 from every state. There are 4 of us from Tennessee.

My favorite part of the flight was when we flew over the mountains. Look at a map and see which mountain range lies between Chicago and San Francisco. They are the tallest mountains in the lower 48 states of the United States. They were dusted with snow. I have been camping in these mountains, and have seen how beautiful they are from the ground; but seeing them from above was amazing, because I could really see their shape, all together, and how wide the mountain range is. It made me think about pioneers crossing them in covered wagons. It is a good thing the pioneers couldn't see these mountains from above, because I think they would have just given up and stayed in the East!

Last night we were honored to be invited to a reception at the official residence of the Japanese Consul General in San Francisco. He made a short speech, to welcome us. He is a very gracious man, and made all of us feel at home. His house overlooks San Francisco bay, and we could see the Golden Gate bridge, and Alcatraz, from his veranda. After a few more short speeches, we had a buffet of Japanese food, with sushi and many other good things that I don't know the names of.

In 10 more hours I will be in Japan. I am so excited!

Sayonara for now. Keep reading lots of good books while I'm gone!

Ms. Gray

Thursday, October 9, 2008

A Monkey in Japan

My library friend, George the monkey, will be traveling with me to Japan. He has his own blog, where I will share stories and pictures of his adventures in the Land of the Rising Sun. You can follow George's travels at Monkeying Around Japan. He hopes you will read his blog during his journey! He has read this blog, and is excited about going to Japan, but worried that he will not like the food. I told him that there are many different kinds of foods in Japan, and that he is sure to find something he likes, but he is not so sure. The paragraph I wrote about Japanese pizza has him worried.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Counting in Japanese

Sunday, September 21, 2008

How to Fold an Origami Crane

Origami

Origami cranes at the Children's Peace Monument in Hiroshima

Origami is the art of folding paper. Although it began in China, where paper was invented, it was the Japanese who developed it into an art form.

The crane is a popular origami shape that has a special meaning. In Japan, cranes have long been symbols of honor, loyalty, and long life. They are known as the "bird of happiness." An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds one thousand paper cranes will be granted a wish.

Origami cranes have also become symbols of the desire for world peace, through the true story of Sadako Sasaki. Sadako was a Japanese girl who lived in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped on it in World War II. Years after the bombing, she became sick with leukemia from the bomb's radiation. You can read about her story in the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, by Eleanor Coerr.

Today, people from all over the world send about 10 million origami cranes to Hiroshima each year, to be placed at the Children's Peace Memorial. To find out more about this, go the Kid's Peace Station website.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

36 Views of Mt. Fuji (Hokusai)

Here you can see all of Hokusai's beautiful woodcut prints from the series titled 36 Views of Mt. Fuji. If you count them, you will discover that there are more than 36 pictures in the series. The original series of 36 prints was so popular that the artist added ten more, although the series title remained the same.

Can you find Mt. Fuji in each picture? Which one is your favorite?

To view the pictures in a larger format and read about the artist Katsushika Hokusai, click on the link for "slorker.com" below.

clipped from slorker.com

The 36 Views of Mount Fuji is a series of woodblock prints created between 1826 and 1833 by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai. Popular in the West, it’s one of the most well known Japanese art works due the widespread pop-culture reproduction of The Great Wave of Kanagawa (the first picture in the series) into posters, t-shirts and postcards.