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Sports Festival, the Japanese way
happystorm.x.fc2.com Many schools are having their annual Sports Festival or what they call “undokai” (運動会). The entire school and the community, especially the teacher-advisers and students are pushing themselves very hard to come up with a very organized and fun undokai. Strenuous rehearsals are done many times a week. Everyone is looking forward to the…
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The May 9 Journey
A new journey is set to start on May 9 in a community located down southeast. People will choose who will drive the jeepney. To be the driver is the most coveted position in the community. Driver 1,2,3,4&5: I am a good driver. I can take you to a better place. Choose me. Most of…
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How to distinguish Japanese from Korean and Chinese
Can you tell if a person comes from a specific country? Before coming to Japan, I had no idea how to distinguish Japanese, Korean and Chinese from one another. I had quite a few experience (when I was in the university as an international student) of trying to speak Japanese to a fellow student who I thought is Japanese, but after all, turned out…
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Rose Festival in Huis Ten Bosch
Rose and festival – two completely different words but are both related to love, happiness and celebration. Just imagine these two words being used together. It is indisputably pleasurable experience. The Location Huis Ten Bosch is a Dutch-inspired theme park in Nagasaki. It is a huge park where the buildings and surroundings would make you feel you are in Europe, but in fact you are in the island…
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Mask, a Must?
When I first came to Japan as a visiting relative, I was surprised to see a lot of people wearing masks. “What’s going on? Is there an epidemic?”, I curiously asked my sister who is married to a Japanese and has been living in Japan for many years. She explained that in Japan, it is…
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12 Things People Miss About Japan When They Leave
Japan is such a wonderful country. Most of whom I know, Japanese and foreigners alike express their fondness of the many aspects of the country: its people, food, celebration and culture in general. Most of them, when they leave the country, they wish they could go back and experience again the many things that they…
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Celebrating Birthdays in Japan and the Philippines
Being a Filipino living in Japan for a while, I have experienced how birthdays are being celebrated in a different manner in my homeland Philippines and in my current country, Japan. There are a number of differences worth noting, for the love of knowledge about cultural differences. (Photo from en.wikipedia.org) Celebrating birthdays, I bet, is…