Hello, everyone!

Are you scared if the dead people come back from another world?

In Japan, It's Obon this week, when we welcome their spirits, and send them back by floating lit-up boats down the river.

We believe that even if a family member has died, his/her spirit is still there to protect us.

Therefore, we have the selebration during Obon week to thank him/her.

love,
Keiko^^

We enjoy drinking Japanese green tea in addition to coffee and black tea. There are usually two ways to drink Japanese green tea.

One is similar to the black tea process, which is to boil dried tea leaves. The other way is to put a little powdered green tea into a bowl, pour hot water over it, stir the tea with a chasen or a small tool made of bamboo, and then drink the mixture.

The tea ceremony aims at training in the discipline of humility snd reflection. The rules governing the whole procedure are so complicated that I can't explain them easiry.

I will, however,try to explain the procedure of infomal tea ceremony. The host cleans in and around the tea-room, hangs a picture in the alcove, and prepares hot water in an iron tea-kettle on a fireplace.

The guests wait outside or gather around benches in the garden. When they are summoned to the tea-room, they pass through a very narrow entrance.

The tea-room is generally nice feet square. The host makes tea, snd serves it for his first guest. The guest drinks it in the traditional manner and returns the tea-bowl. The host washes it, and prepares for the next guest.

I am sure you will be surprised to find Japanese tea bitter!!   

Kabuki is a classical play developed among the common people of the Edo Era. It is a drama combined with music and dance. All the performers are male,and women characters are impersonated by actors called "oyama."
It is true that the basic nature of kabuki lies in the interesting plots of the drama. but more fundamentally it depends on the manner of acting. The dialogues are spoken in a highly artificical voice, and the actions are quite exaggerated. The stage on which it is played has a long runway called "hanamichi" which stretches through the audience to the rear of the theater. Changes from scene to scene are facilitated with a revolving stage.
Today, it is played not only in major cities in Japan,but also is occasionally played in many foreign cities,for enthusiastic spectators.

Traditional Japanese sports have developed from the military arts whose fundamental principle is to protect oneself from an antagonnist's attack.
I will tell you about SUMO or Jpanese wrestling.

Sumo is one of our national sports,and it is more than 1,300 years old. There are professional and amateur sumo players in Japan. Six great contests are held annually lasting 15 days each. During this time people enjoy the sport on radio and TV,or go to the sumo stadium to watch the contest.

Somo is played in a ring which is formed by bales packed with earth. The diameter of the circle is about 15 ft.
The rule is that one who contacts the ground other than with the soles of the feet loses. One who is put out of the ring is also defeated.

Sumo wrestlers are usually very huge, ranging over six feet tall and weighing from 220 to 400 ponuds. When a wrestler enters the ring, he wears only a loin-cloth. His hair is worn in a traditional style.

Professional sumo wrestlers are ranked according to their skills with the strongest referred to as yokozuna or ahampion. A very impressive spectacle called "dohyoiri" or ringentry marks the champion's appearance in the ring.

Wearing costly embroidered aprons,the champions clap their hands and stamp their feet in accordance with time-honored customs. Each yokozuna is accompanied by two sumo men in dohyoiri. 

Thanks.

 

Do you know Japanese koinobori?

May 5 is Children's Day, which used to be the festival for little boys.

Today, however, it is generally considered as the day for parents to wish for their children's happiness.

Those parents who have small boys display warrior dolls in the house, and hoist paper or cloth streamers in the shape of carp(called "koinobori") on tall bamboo poles outdoors.

Some of the paper or croth carp are 10 m.(32.8 ft) long. It is a magnificent sight to see koinobori of varied beautiful colors swimming in the air.

On this holiday, we Japanese eat chimaki or rice-dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves and kashiwamochi or dumplings wrapped in oak leaves.