Welcome to the room of interesting trivia! vol.2

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Welcome to the room of interesting trivia!

Today’s theme is “Ai (愛)”.
I heard some languages had no word of ‘love’ today. Is it true?
I’ve never thought about that there was no word of ‘love’ in some languages, because I was thinking it would be common in the world..
I share our readers’ good questions and my answers this time.

Q>
I was always curious about the difference between 恋　and 愛. I guess maybe one has slightly stronger connotations than the other.

A>
Yes, 愛 is stronger than 恋(Koi). Koi could be just a romance. but you can also say 恋愛(Renai). Generally speaking, Ai implies stronger or deeper feeling or emotion. So, for example, you can say your family’s love as 家族(Kazoku) no 愛情(Aijo) or 愛(Ai) as well.

Q>
So, if you say 恋愛, how strong or weak is that?

A>
it’s just a combined noun. I guess it could be combined because some people think their Koi are very strong and not just a crush or something like that and then you can’t tell the difference between Koi and Ai well..However, you can’t say your family’s deep love as “Renai(恋愛)”. So, Renai or Koi is an emotional relationship between one person and another, not the family so to speak.
—
THANK YOU! Yes, I have a better understanding now
—
Q>
I’m not sure if there’s a better way to say “love” in English.
Sometimes I hate my mother tongue because it really makes no sense.
I guess maybe like 本当大好き。

A>
yes, you can also say 大好き. 好き = like but 大 you know, implies very much!
Yet, you know, like and love are still a little bit different.

Sports column vol.1 – Sochi Olympic

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Sports column vol.1 – Sochi Olympic
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Here are Japanese medalists now at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

羽生結弦(Hanyu Yuzuru) – Figure Skating (males) – Gold

– He is young, 19 years old from Tohoku region, Miyagi Prefecture, Sendai city and it was the first time for him to compete at the Winter Olympic Games. He got the first in the history of　over-100 points at the short program, and went to the top at the free skating as well, and won a gold medal by 280.09 points in total.
Takahashi Daisuke who won a bronze medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver in 2010 was the sixth-place this time.

葛西紀明(Kasai Noriaki) Large Hill – Silver

– He is 41 years old and the oldest of the Japanese Olympic team and the oldest at Ski Jump. He competed at his seventh Winter Olympic Games and first won an individual silver medal by 277.4 points in total.
Japanese ski jump large hill team (Okabe Takanobu, Harada Masahiko, Kasai Noriaki, and Nishikata Jinya) won a silver medal at the team competition in Lillehammer in 1994. In Nagano Winter Olympics in 1998, Funaki Kazuyoshi won an individual gold medal and Japanese large hill team (Funaki Kazuyoshi, Okabe Takanobu, Saito Hiroya and Harada Masahiko) won a gold medal at the team competition.

平野歩夢(Hirano Ayumu) Snowboard – Silver
平岡　卓(Hiraoka Taku) Snowboard – Bronz

– They are very young: Hirano Ayumu is 15 years old and Hiraoka Taku is 18 years old.

渡部暁斗(Watabe Akito) Nordic combined – Silver
– It is for the first time in 20 years since Kouno Takanori had an individual silver medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer in 1994. Japanese Nordic combined team (Ogiwara Kenji, Kouno Takanori, and Mikata Reiichi) clinched a gold medal at the team competition in Lillehammer.

☆This is Kasai’s amazing jump!

Today’s Haiku

Today’s Haiku – a short form of Japanese poetry which consists of three phrases of 5, 7 and 5

さらさらと竹に音あり夜の雪
Sarasarato, Takeni Otoari, Yoruno Yuki

Haiku poet: 正岡子規 Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902)

key words:
竹(take) : bamboo
音(oto) : sound
夜(yoru) : night
雪(yuki) : snow
さらさら(sarasara) : like the sound of rustle

implications:
Bamboo makes us tranquil state of mind.
The bamboo shakes off the heavy snow at night so that it cannot bear the weight.

季語[Kigo]-a word or phrase associated with a particular season,
used in Japanese Haiku
雪(yuki) = a word for winter

usage:
Let’s imagine about the sound that a bamboo shakes off the heavy snow on a winter night.
Did you feel the sound a bamboo shakes off the snow in the stillness of night?

Can you imagine how peaceful it is? (^^)/

※Japanese has plenty of imitative words as well.

Japanese Snowman (*.*)

Japanese Snowman (*.*)

Here is the snowman. My family member took this photo just after a heavy snow in Tokyo.

Japan now vol.8
Copyright(C) 2013-2014 MIJC – All Rights Reserved.

Japan now – vol.8

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Japan now – vol.8
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In Tokyo gubernatorial election on Febrary 9th, the voter turnout fell to a record-low 46.14% which was the third-lowest in history. It was caused presumably by heavy snow from 8th to the early hours of 9th as a factor. 舛添要一(Masuzoe Yoichi), independent, ex-Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare was selected as the new governor.

The low-pressure centered on the Pacific side passed the southern coasts of Kanto region and headed out at Sanriku offshore. In the central part of Tokyo, 27 centimeters of snow accumulated, which became the heaviest snowfall in 45 years since 1969. In March of 1969, we had 30 centimeters of snow in Tokyo. Mainly traffic accidents caused by road surface freezing killed 13 people and 1498 people were injured across the country as of 9th, 10pm of Japan time.

The Winter Olympic game was held in Sochi at 20:14 (Japan time: 1:14am on 8th) on the basis of 2014 this year. The Japanese team hit a record number of 248 members (113 athletes) in total in Japan. Prime Minster Abe Shinzo (安倍晋三) attended the opening ceremony and cheered for some Japanese athletes wearing the Japanese Olympic official uniform. In the afternoon Mr.Abe had an official meeting with President Putin at Sochi.

～号外ニュース-Extra News!!～no.2

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号外ニュース – extra-news no.2
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The Winter Olympics in Sochi 2014
02/07 – 02/23

Let’s cheer for our Japanese team from today!!

Once we clinch a gold medal, Tokyo Skytree, a giant landmark located in Sumida ward, Tokyo will be lighted up the next day. Sumida ward adopted a motif an elementary school student living in Sumida ward designed.

The opening ceremony started at 20:14 (Japan time: 1:14am on 8th) on the basis of 2014 this year. Our Japan team has 248 members (113 athletes) in total, which is record-high.



Here are the Olympic athletes:
(※I dared to list them in Japanese Kanji, Katakana and in the Roman alphabet.)

☆フィギュアスケート – Figure Skating
浅田真央(Asada Mao)
鈴木明子(Suzuki Akiko)
村上佳菜子(Murakami Kanako)
高橋大輔(Takahashi Daisuke)
羽生結弦(Hanyu Yuzuru)
町田樹(Machida Tatsuki)

☆スピードスケート – Speed Skating
加藤条治(Kato Joji)
長島圭一郎(Nagashima Keiichiro)

☆ショートトラック – Short-Track speed skating
高御堂雄三(Takamido Yuzo)
坂下里士(Sakashita Satoshi)
坂爪亮介(Sakazume Ryosuke)
酒井裕唯(Sakai Yui)
伊藤亜由子(Ito Ayuko)
桜井美馬(Sakurai Biba)
清水小百合(Shimizu Sayuri)
菊池萌水(Kikuchi Moemi)

☆アイスホッケー – Ice Hockey, All females,21人(nijyu ichi nin) – their nickname : “Smile Japan” (^_^)
中奥梓(Nakaoku Azusa)
小西あかね(Konishi Akane)
藤本那菜(Fujimoto Nana)
小池詩織(Koike Shiori)
近藤陽子(Kondo Yoko)
床　亜矢可(Toko Ayaka)
青木香奈枝(Aoki Kanae)
鈴木世奈(Suzuki Sena)
堀　珠花(Hori Mika)
竹内愛奈(Takeuchi Aina)
山根朋恵(Yamane Tomoe)
米山知奈(Yoneyama Haruna)
足立友里恵(Adachi Yurie)
大沢ちほ(Ousawa Chiho)
::
※I am afraid that the rest is omitted.

☆カーリング – Curling – all 5 athletes are from 北海道銀行(Hokkaido Bank)
小笠原歩(Ogasawara Ayumi)
船山弓枝(Funayama Yumie)
小野寺佳歩(Onodera Kaho)
苫米地美智子(Tomobechi Michiko)
吉田知那美(Yoshida Chinami)

☆スキージャンプ – Ski Jump
葛西紀明(Kasai Noriaki)
高梨沙羅(Takanashi Sara)

☆ノルディック複合 – Nordic combined
渡部暁斗(Watabe Akito)

☆アルペンスキー – Alpine Skiing
湯浅直樹(Yuasa Naoki)
佐々木明(Sasaki Akira)

☆フリースタイルスキー – Freestyle Skiing
上村愛子(Uemura Aiko)

☆スノーボード – Snowboard – 5 males and 3 females
平野歩夢(Hirano Ayumu – 15 years old!)
平岡　卓(Hiraoka Taku – 18 years old)
岡田良菜(Okada Rana)

☆バイアスロン – Biathlon
井佐英徳(Isa Hidenori)
鈴木芙由子(Suzuki Fuyuko)
小林美貴(Kobayashi Miki)
中島由貴(Nakajima Yuki)
鈴木李奈(Suzuki Rina)

☆クロスカントリー – Cross-country Skiing
恩田祐一(Onda Yuichi)
石田正子(Ishida Masako)
吉田圭伸(Yoshida Keishin)
成瀬野生(Naruse Nobu)
宮沢大志(Miyazawa Hiroyuki)
レンティング陽(Reiting Akira)

☆ボブスレー – Bobsledding
鈴木　寛(Suzuki Hiroshi)
佐藤真太郎(Sato Shintaro)
宮崎　久(Miyazaki Hisashi)
黒岩俊喜(Kuroiwa Toshiki)

☆スケルトン – Skeleton
高橋弘篤(Takahashi Hiroatsu)
笹原友希(Sasahara Yuki)
小室　希(Komuro Nozomi)

☆リュージュ – Luge
金山英勢(Kanayama Hidenari)

Japanese mythical world no.1

Have you ever heard about Japanese mythology? It would be interesting to imagine what people in the past had hoped.
I made a new category,”Japanese mythical world”. Let’s imagine the mythical world!

Snakes had been often worshipped as a symbol of Mother Earth or the Earth Mother among primitive religions in the world. One of the reasons was that snakes were symbolized by fertility and eternal life force because of killing destructive animals like rats. In Greek mythology they are often connected with dangerous creatures but not as evils but endless power of life while they are regarded as evils in Christianity. In Buddhist countries even today they are often worshipped as gods that protect us from dangerous evils. So, interestingly snakes are unique creatures which have been regarded as both good and bad perspectives.

In Japan, snakes have been mostly regarded as a good perspective to protect us from evils such as plagues since early times. In Japanese mythology written in The Nihon Shoki(日本書紀) or in Kojiki(古事記), snakes were represented by ヤマタノオロチ(Yamatano Orochi, 八岐大蛇 in The Nihon Shoki or 八俣遠呂智 in Kojiki) as one of legendary creatures. Before the Buddhism were mostly steeped in Japan, the faith in the creatures had taken root among the people. You could imagine how their myths were gradually assimilated with Shinto and Buddhism through old shrines and temples the people in the past handed down.

This picture of the gate of an old shrine shows you a big snake!
The rope of the big snake – Daija (大蛇) has been worshipped by the people since early times. The big Snake – Daija (大蛇) has been handed down generation after generation. In the middle of Edo period, it is said that an epidemic stroke the people and that one night the village headman had a dream about the way to take the plague away. The dream said that if the people made a big straw snake and marched along there with the snake, then the plague would be gone. It is said that their hope became a reality by the big straw snake.

Now especially old Japanese people still believe in a nature god which can achieve wisdom and fortune and protect them against bad luck and a special ritual called “Yakuyoke no Daijya(厄除けの大蛇)” is held there every September.

an old shrine in Tokyo

I share some photos of an old shrine (= jinjya 神社) in Tokyo.
My father took the photos in January.

Copyright(C) 2013-2014 MIJC – All Rights Reserved.

MIJSC (Mingle Internationally Japanese Simple Cooking) no.3

MIJSC (Mingle Internationally Japanese Simple Cooking) no.3
Friday, January 31, 2014, 6:00pm – 9:00pm
At International learning Center in Oregon State University

Menu:
☆ Japanese Hokkaido style Ramen
☆ crepe with organic fresh fruits

Copyright(C) 2013-2014 MIJC – All Rights Reserved.

MIJSC Japanese Simple Cooking lesson No.3

Friday, January 31, 2014, 6:00pm – 9:00pm
At International learning Center in Oregon State University

Menu:
☆ Japanese Hokkaido style Ramen
☆ crepe with organic fresh fruits

I used the crab from Oregon, white fish fillet from Oregon, shrimps from Oregon and Japanese Katsuobushi – dried bonito, Japanese Wakame – seaweeds for the special soup of the Japanese Ramen noodle, and some vegetables such as leak and asparagus. I forgot to bring corns yesterday but in Hokkaido – the northern part of Japan, their Ramen is made with a lot of sea foods like this and green asparagus, corn and Japanese leak, seaweeds, and finally butter as the topping. I used butter as the topping just before eating it as well. In the area, especially sea foods and asparagus, corn and dairy such as butter are very special. So, I tried to create a special Hokkaido style Ramen using Japanese ramen noodle I bought at an Asian market here. Oh, for the Hokkaido ramen soup, don’t forget Japanese Miso (I used two types of Miso this time)! We enjoyed cooking together and talking about these ingredients and so on until over 10:30pm as usual..:) I will share some photos later..