Archive for 'Traditions'
Year of the Tiger – a year of Growth and Beginning Posted by eriko1 on Jan 22, 2022
Belated happy new year! This is a year of the Tiger. Tiger in Japanese is written as 虎（tora）but for Zodiac, it is written as 寅. I have learned that there are many versions of animal zodiacs (十二支 Junishi) in the world with some differences in animals. We adopted (導入する dounyusuru) Zodiac from China. But there…
Christmas in Japan Posted by eriko1 on Dec 20, 2021
I know I should write something about New Year in Japan. But I wrote about 年賀状, 除夜の鐘 ,福袋andお節 present and past last year. So I am going to focus on Christmas in Japan. https://blogs.transparent.com/japanese/new-years-cards-年賀状/ https://blogs.transparent.com/japanese/a-month-even-a-priest-must-run-part-1/ https://blogs.transparent.com/japanese/a-month-even-a-priest-must-run-part-２/ For a non-Christian country, Christmas is a huge event even though it is not a holiday (祭日saijitsu) in Japan…
Kominka – a future for disappearing villages? Posted by eriko1 on Jul 21, 2021
Kominka (古民家) – a traditional Japanese old house. A new fad that came about in the pandemic Japan was to escape (逃げる nigeru) from big cities and live in a rural area (田舎 inaka). The COVID-19 pandemic made many people realize that they did not need to live near the big cities and endure a…
I am not worthy… SUPERFICIALLY Posted by eriko1 on Jun 17, 2021
One day, my Japanese friend who was my classmate at grad school told me “Your bag is very nice.” And I said, “I got it on sale (セール se-ru).” What would you have responded to? Have you told a compliment (称賛 shosan) to your Japanese friend, and have you heard a similar response from your…
Kamikakushi – Spirited Away Posted by eriko1 on Jun 8, 2021
Kamikakushi (神隠し) is a word that has been in Japanese culture for hundreds of years. It means “hidden by kami (god, deity, divinity, tengu, yamanba, oni, fox, or spirit)”, and often translated to “spirited away.” You may have heard of Hayato Miyazaki’s movie. Even in the present day, many people disappear in a blink of an…