More family time in the fall!

According to the “Koujien,” a popular Japanese dictionary, 『団欒(だんらん) (family get-together)』 means to sit in a circle and chat happily. Aren’t we reminded that we spend very little time as a family? Why don’t we create more family time and enjoy some family activities such as family reading night, hiking on weekend, or a museum visit showcasing some kids art? Of course a simple dinner with all family members would be a great idea, too! Can we take a moment and think how we can enjoy this fall season as a family? 続きを読む…

Strength and Mysteriousness of Japanese

I read the book “Kanji and Japanese,” which I bought at bazaar last month. When we write a Japanese sentence, the sentence is a mixture of Kanji and Hiragana. Only a blend of both Kanji and Hiragana can make the sentences. Moreover, each character of Kanji has meaning. We cannot recognize the meaning of Kanji if we just hear the sound in isolation of the sentence. Hiragana, on the other hand, does not have meaning in each character, but it does have meaning unique in its sounds. Only Japanese is this way.
For example, if you hear “katei no mondai” in Japanese, you must guess ”katei” 『家庭(family)』『課程(process)』『仮定(Assumption)』by hearing the other word in the sentence. We must hear the context in order to derive meaning. It is normal for us, but it is also weird. In most other languages, we can get meaning just by hearing the sentences. In Japanese, we need to get the meaning of Kanji to understand the each kanji character’s meaning. Maybe this is the tough part of learning Japanese, but it is also a good hint for how one must learn it.
続きを読む…

Other-Oriented Life Style

We are all both self centered as well as other-oriented. When we don’t consider others, we may have trouble seeing clearly outside our personal focus. Also we may have a limited point of view and may judge inappropriately. However, when we see things in terms of others, we can influence others and help so much more. By discerning judgement we gain clarity otherwise missed. Keep in mind to be other oriented so that you can have a more purposeful life for yourself and others. 続きを読む…

Due to a school meeting, we cannot use the Friends Central on November 11th.
Please note that we will reschedule all classes and events on November 11th for November 12th.
Thank you for your understanding.

Before

Saturday, November 11th
Elementary Learning Festival (at New cafeteria)
Middle school Cultural Festival (at Main campus)
↓↓

After

Sunday, November 12th
Elementary Learning Festival (at Linton gym)
Middle school Cultural Festival (at Main campus) 続きを読む…

What do you want to do in the autumns?

It is getting cool now. My car’s front glass became white which was frozen. These days is called as Yoztuyu in Japanese. That means the air is clean and the sky is blue. The moon in the night is shiny and also the trees become colorful around the houses. Then it fell down. Many bugs are singing. It is very comfortable season.

In japan people are using the many words which is involved with the hobby in autumns.
For example, those are a fall hobby, a sports fall, reading book fall.
What do you want to do in the fall? 続きを読む…

It is a season to fall in love with books

Japan School Library Association and The Mainichi newspaper conduct a survey every year about school kids reading. If a child reads no book in a month, it is called “No reader”. The results from May 2016 were that 4% of Elementary, 15.4% of Middle School and 57.1% of High School students were “No reader”. From this result, more middle school students than elementary and more high school students than middle school are not reading books.
It is very important to read books. We can lean so many things through books. We can lean widely and around the world. We can be a friend of an author. We can be a friend of different age groups and hundreds years ago people.

A reading week will start from Oct 27. The fall is also called “Fall of reading” and the night is long, quite, not too hot and not too cold so it is a perfect season to read books. To enrich the minds, the fall is a season for “Fall in love with books”! (2017 reading week slogan)

続きを読む…

Learn from elderly people

The 3rd Monday, September 18th, 2017 was a “Respect-for-the-Aged Day” in Japan. As you may know, it was held on every September 15th, however, it is held on the 3rd Monday of September due to “Happy Monday” system which was established in 2001.
The number of people age 65 and older in Japan as of September 15th. This group accounted 35.14 million (27.7% of total). The ratio of the total population is more than a quarter for four straight years.
Elderly people have experienced and studied a lot of things, and also have stored their minds with knowledge. We can say that elderly people is “Life Master”, because they have already had a broad range of knowledge that we should try to acquire.
A “Respect-for-the-Aged Day” is not only the date we treat elderly people so kindly, but we should learn from their valuable experience and wisdom and we also have to think about the importance of it. These things will lead to respect for them from our heart.
Everyone goes through the same thing. This way of thinking is a step for creating a rich aging society.
続きを読む…

Never forget! Etch in your heart and think over

September 11th, has become a day of memorial for the U.S., it has been 16 years since the terrorist attack that killed just under 3,000 people including 24 Japanese. I have visited where the World Trade Center used to be. They had busy traffic like they used to have.
On the other hand, 6 and half years has passed since the Japan earthquake Disaster that took about 20,000 people lives. I remember the memorial message given by the Iwate Prefecture Representative. “Already 6 years, but still only 6 years past. During this time, I got married and additional family members have come, and a new house has been built. However, since that year, the closer to March 11th, I get nervous. As the outside scenery changes, it seems real that things are better and has been working to be revealed, this emotional reaction might never go way. To ease natural disaster victims shock, what we can do is not to forget and etch in your heart to remember of them.”
続きを読む…

An emotional eraser

We use an eraser when we write something wrong or have the wrong answer when studying. In fact, we all have an emotional eraser.
When we do something wrong to our friends or family, or bother someone; or when we cannot deliver what we were asked to do, we say “I’m sorry” or “I apologize.” This is just like an emotional eraser. Regardless you’re a child or an adult, when we realize our mistakes, we can avoid a disagreeable feeling or an argument if we use the emotional eraser with courage.
The more we use this emotional eraser, the easier it can erase. Or it becomes harder and harder to use or nothing will get erased.
I believe we can use the emotional eraser to brighten our lives 続きを読む…

It is not easy to see yourself

We do not like other people criticize us. We often say, “Please leave me alone. I know about myself more than anyone does.” Is it really true? I think it is difficult to know yourself. Normally, people tend to overestimate or underestimate oneself, and it is not easy to evaluate oneself objectively. Then what is the key to know oneself? After all, how other people see you is the key. For example, your personality is how other people feel about you.

続きを読む…