The First Week

What a great start to the new school year!

I hope your child is excited as I am about their Japanese class.

This week your child learned some of basic knowledge of Japan and Japanese language, like…

NAME:
The Japanese refer to their country as "Nippon" or "Nihon". These two names apparently have their origin in the words "place where the sun rises”. The ancient Chinese referred to Japan as a “place where the sun rises” because of its relative geographical location. Since Japan is east of China, the sun appeared to rise from the direction of Japan.

GEOGRAPHY:
Japan is an island nation lying off the east coast of Asia. It has the general shape of a crescent and extends 3,000 km (1,860 miles) from tip to tip.

The country is made up of four main islands (Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Hokkaido) which together with more than 4,000 smaller islands are collectively referred to as the Japanese Archipelago. But the way, the Big Island of Hawaii is almost half size of Shikoku island of Japan.

Japan is 10% smaller in physical size than the state of California, yet it is home to almost four times as many people!

The capital of Japan, Tokyo, is one of the largest cities of the world with a population of 12.29-million.

Japan's highest mountain is Mt. Fuji.

Then, a question for you: Which is higher Mt. Fuji or Mauna Kea?

Answer is...Mauna Kea

How about...

Which is higher Mt. Fuji or Mauna Loa?

Answer is...Mauna Loa

Even though the Big Island of Hawaii is half size of Shikoku (one of 4 mail islands of Japan), we have two mountains higher than Mt. Fuji. We should be proud of this, I guess...

The NATIONAL FLAG:
The national flag of Japan is called “Hinomaru” or “Nisshoki”, which means "the flag of the rising sun". The sun is represented by a red circle at the center. The flag match the name of the country (meaning place from where the sun rises).








JAPANESE LANGUAGE:
Below are listed a few of the characteristic features of modern Japanese language:

KANJI, HIRAGANA, KATAKANA:
Until Japan came in contact with China, it had no writing system of its own. Japanese was a spoken language only. The Japanese adopted the Chinese writing system to express their spoken language in writing. The Chinese form of writing is called kanji, which literally means “Chinese characters.” Kanji is now one of three systems in the Japanese use to write their language. Hiragana and katakana are the tow other systems. There are phonetic systems, whereas kanji is a system based on meaning rather than sound.

Modern day Japanese sentences are composed of a combination of kanji, hiragana and katakana. Words which have strong semantic value, that is, nouns, verbs, adjectives and some adverbs, are written in kanji. Conjugated portions of verbs, adjectives or nouns (tenses, negations, etc.), particles, interjections, and most adverbs and other parts of sentences which do not convey the major message in the sentence are written in hiragana. Katakana is now used mainly to write words of foreign origin (non-Japanese), or names of foreigners. It is also sometimes used as device to call attention to certain words (i.e., in advertising, announcements, etc). It is also sometimes used to write onomatopoetic expressions.

THE BASIC JAPANESE WORD ORDER:
The word order in Japanese is subject, object, verb order. The Japanese word order in a sentence is subject first, object second, and verb last. Particles follow nouns. Correct particle usage is important in order to convey accurate information. Negations occur at the end of sentences. When forming a question, the word order of the sentence is not changed as it is in English. Rather, the question marker is simply attached at the end of the sentence.

JAPANESE WRITING FORMAT:
Japanese was originally written vertically on a page staring from right to left. Many Japanese books are still printed in this way. Therefore, the front cover of a Japanese book opens from the opposite side of a Western book. Recently, Japanese is written horizontally as is English and sometimes books written his way open the same Western books.

SELF-INTRODUCTION and GREETINGS:
In addition, your child learned how to introduce him or herself. Ask your child to introduce him or herself in Japanese. S/he should be able to introduce him or herself with proper bows!

Bowing is a very important custom in Japan. Japanese people bow all the time. Bowing is a gesture of respect. Different bows are used for apologies and gratitude, to express different emotions, humility, sincerity, remorse, or deference, and in various traditional arts and religious ceremonies.

Most commonly, they greet each other by bowing instead of handshaking or hugging. It is impolite not to return a bow to whoever bowed to you. Japanese people tend to become uncomfortable with any physical forms of contact. But, they became used to shaking hands with westerners.

Bowing has many functions in one. It expresses the feeling of respect, thanking, apologizing, greeting, and so on. It's a convenient and important custom for you to learn. You can bow, when you say, "ARIGATOO (Thank you)", "SUMIMASEN (Sorry)", "KONNICHIWA (Hello)", "SAYOONARA (Good bye)", "OYASUMI NASAI (Good night)", "OHAYOO GOZAIMASU (Good Morning)", and more!!

When you bowing, pay attention that your:

• eyes move downward with the bow. Do not attempt to make eye contact during bow.
• feet are positioned together, facing forward.
• hands are placed relaxed but straight alongside your body if you are a male. Females lightly cross their hands at their fingertips in front of their body while bowing.
• body is not slouched or not turned away from the other person.

Bowing seems simple, but there are different ways of bowing. It depends on the social status or age of the person you bow to. If the person is higher status or older than you are, you should bow deeper and longer. It is polite to bow, bending from your waist. If it is a casual situation, you can bow like nodding. The most frequent bow is a bow of about 15 degrees. You might feel strange to do it, but try to bow in Japan. You will be considered very polite!

Also, it is impolite not to return a bow to whoever bowed to you. Take a look at the video clip.

 

See... The Japanese believe that it is impolite not to return a bow to whoever bowed to you!


Also, students learned Japanese greetings such as OHAYOO GOZAIMASU "Good morning", KON NICHI WA "Hello, Hi, or Good afternoon", KONBANWA "Good evening" and SAYOONARA "Good-bye".

JAPAN TRIP:
I am a planning a Japanese trip during Spring Break 2014, and the trip has been approved by the school.

• Object: 

To provide opportunities for the Japanese class students to feel supported in their efforts, by using the language firsthand. They also will be exposed to a wide and rich range of Japanese language and culture, and gain understanding and appreciation for Japan. This trip will help to nurture and develop a life-long love for Japan. 

• Tentative Date:

7 days: Friday, March 14, 2014 to Friday, March 21, 2014

• Approximate Cost:

$3,200
includes

• Round Trip Airfair
• Airport Transfer in Japan
• One day Bus sightseeing tour with a professional English-speaking guide in Kyoto (lunch included)
• 1 night accommodation in Kyoto with breakfast
• 3 nights accommodations in Tokyo with daily breakfast
• 2 nights accommodations at the ski resort with dinner, breakfast and lunch
• Ski school fees
• Ski, ski boots, and ski wear rental
• Bullet train fare from Kyoto to Tokyo
• Round trip Bullet train fare from Tokyo to the ski resort

I will be the primary faculty member designing this trip and Julie Camarillo is also going with us as a the HPA female chaperone. If your child is interested in this educational opportunity, please e-mail me at thiruma@hpa.edu. Parents and family members are welcomed to join us on this trip.

Should you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Please note that the dates and cost are subject to change.

Have a wonderful weekend!