School subjects, Adjectives, and More Hiragana.

Wow, the first quarter is already behind us. It seems hard to believe how fast we are moving along.

This week and last week, we covered the school subjects and how to describe the subject using an adjective, and how to describe their school teachers using an adjective.

I was very glad to hear that most of the students said "NIHON GO WA OMOSHIROI DESU." (Japanese class is interesting.) or "NIHONGO WA TANOSHII DESU." (Japanese class is fun.)

The adjectives they learned to describe the school subjects are:

OMOSHIROI "interesting"
TANOSHII "fun"
TSUMARANAI "boring"
MUZUKASHII "difficult"
YASASHII "easy"

Most of the students said that "KAGAKU WA MUZUKASHI DESU." (KAGAKU is diffucult.) and "REKISHI WA TSUMARANAI DESU." (REKISHI is boring.) What are "KAGAKU" and "REKISHI"? Ask your child!

Then, I introduced how to describe their teachers using other adjectives, such as KIBISHII (strict), YASASHII (nice/kind), OKASHII (funny), and HEN (weird).

Everyone told me that "SUUGAKU NO SENSEI WA YASASHII DESU." (The math teacher is nice.) Gee, how come not me!

Also, we covered more hiragana:
た /TA/, ち /CHI/, つ /TSU/, て /TE/, と /TO/,
だ /DA/, ぢ /JI/, づ /ZU/, で /DE/, ど /DO/,
な /NA/, に /NI/, ぬ /NU/, ね /NE/ and の /No.

Finally, it was wonderful to share this past Thursday with parents who joined their son/daughter in the class. I appreciate your involvement. If you are interested in sharing your feedback regarding Thursday's visits, I would love to hear about your experience.

Thank you for your continued support!
ARIGATOO GOZAIMASU!

counting from 11 to 100, months of the year, and hiragana さ, し,す,せ & そ

This week, the students learned how to count numbers from 11 to 100, months of the year, and hiragana さ, し, す, せ, and そ.

Counting in Japanese is actually really easy. In order to count up to 99, all you need to know is the Japanese terms for 1 through 10.

one = ichi
two = ni
three = san
four = yon/shi
five = go
six = roku
seven = nana/shichi
eight = hachi
nine = kyu /ku
ten = juu

Above ten, you would say something to the effect of "10 and 2" to stand for "12." Therefore:

11 = "ten (and) one" = "juu ichi"
12 = "ten (and) two" = "juu ni"
13 = "ten (and) three" = "juu san"
14 = "ten (and) four" = "juu shi" or "juu yon"
15 = "ten (and) five" = "juu go"
16 = "ten (and) six" = "juu roku"
17 = "ten (and) seven" = "juu nana" or "juu shichi"
18 = "ten (and) eight" = "juu hachi"
19 = "ten (and) nine" = "juu kyu"

For numbers from 20 through 99, you would say something like "3 tens and 6" to mean "36."
Therefore:

36 = "3 tens and 6" = "san juu roku"
43 = "4 tens and 3" = "yon juu san"
71 = "7 tens and 1" = "nana juu ichi"
99 = "9 tens and 9" = "kyu juu kyu"

In Japanese the months are simply numbered from one to twelve. For example, January is the first month of the year; therefore it is called "ichi-gatsu."

January=====ichi-gatsu
February====ni-gatsu
March======san-gatsu
April=======shi-gatsu
May=======go-gatsu
June=======roku-gatsu
July=======shichi-gatsu
August=====hachi-gatsu
September==ku-gatsu
October====juu-gatsu
November==juuichi-gatsu
December==juuni-gatsu

As you guess, "gatsu" means 'month.' Quite simple, isn't it!

Also, the students learned more hiragana, one of Japanese phonetic characters. This week, we covered hiragana さ/sa/, し/shi/, す/su/, せ/se/, そ, /so/, ざ/za/, じ/ji/, ず/zu/, ぜ/zee/, and ぞ/zo/.

The mark ゛, resembles a quotation mark placed at the top right corner of a hiragana character, (daku-ten in Japanese, colloquially ten-ten "dot dot"), is a diacritic sign used in the Japanese hiragana syllables to indicate that the consonant of a syllable should be pronounced voiced; thus by adding a dakuten marker ゛, an unvoiced consonant such as s or z is turned into a voiced consonant such as さsa → ざza, しshi → じ ji, す su → ず zu, せ se → ぜ ze, and そ so → ぞ zo.

Have a wonderful weekend.

SUMO

This week, the students learned about sumo.

Sumo is a competitive contact sport where two wrestlers (rikishi) attempt to force one another out of a circular ring (dohyo) or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan and is still very popular there today, being the only country where the sport is practiced professionally. In contemporary history, there has been a significant minority of non-Japanese rikishi, with a few even achieving the top rank of yokozuna (grand champion).

The basic rules of sumo are simple: The wrestler who either first touches the floor with something else than his sole or leaves the ring before his opponent, loses. The fights themselves usually last only a few seconds and in rare cases up to one minute or more.

At the top of the sumo wrestlers' hierarchy stands the yokozuna (grand champion). Once a wrestler reached the rank of yokozuna, he cannot lose it anymore. However, he is expected to retire as soon as his results are starting to worsen.

Most elite wrestlers are highly trained athletes and between about 20 to 35 years old. Besides working out, the wrestlers are eating large amounts of food and go to bed right after eating in order to gain mass. The wrestlers are living in special sumo stables where the rules are very strict, especially for beginners.

The students watched a documentary "Sumo East and West.” This is a feature documentary about the cultural changes facing Japan as more and more foreigners enter the ancient Japanese sport of sumo wrestling. I highly recommend this film, if you are interred in sumo. For more information about the documentary, visit its website at http://sumoeastandwest.com/

Okay, it’s SUMO TRIVIA time!

Question:

What is yokozuna? Who is yokozuna right now and where are they from?

Answer:

Yokozuna is the highest rank in sumo. The name literally means "horizontal rope" and comes from the most visible symbol of their rank, the rope (tsuna) worn around the waist. The rope is similar to the shimenawa used to mark off sacred areas in Shinto, and like shimenawa serves to purify and mark off its content. The rope, which may weigh up to 20 kilograms, is not used during the matches themselves, but is worn during the yokozuna's dohyo-iri (ring entrance ceremony).

The two currently active yokozuna are:
Asashoryu, the 68th yokozuna, from Mongolia, promoted January 2003
Hakuho, the 69th yokozuna, also from Mongolia, promoted May 2007

Question:

Who was the first American who entered the world of professional Japanese sumo and where was he from?

Answer:

TAKAMI YAMA (Jesse Kuhaulua) from Maui.
Jesse Kuhaulua was born in Happy Valley, Maui, Hawaii in June 1944. In 1964, at the age of nineteen, Kuhaulua left Hawaii for Tokyo, and became the first American to enter the world of professional Japanese sumo.

In March of 1964, Kuhaulua made his debut under the name of Takamiyama and began what would be a twenty year career. In 1968, Takamiyama was promoted to the Makuuchi division representing the highest level of Japanese sumo. Before his career was over, Takamiyama achieved the rank of sekiwake, the third highest in sumo, and established records for most consecutive tournaments (97) and most consecutive bouts (1425).

The highlight of his career occurred in 1972, when he defeated Champion Ashaikuni to win the Emperor’s cup and become the first foreign-born sumotori to win a championship. Upon his victory, a Japanese ambassador read a congratulatory message from President Richard Nixon, marking the first time that English words were spoken to a Japanese sumo audience.

Takimiyama retired in June 1984 with a record of 689-774, took the elder name Azumazeki Oyakata, and opened his own sumo stable in Tokyo. Among his recruits were fellow Hawaiians Konishiki, and eventual Yokozuna, Akebono. During his career, Takamiyama stood 6’4” tall and weighed 452 pounds.

Question:

Who was the first American who achieved the rank of ozeki (champion)?

Answer:

KONISHIKI (Salevaa Atisanoe)

Salevaa Atisanoe was born in Nanakuli, Oahu, Hawaii in 1963. In 1981, at the age of 18, Atisanoe was spotted by fellow Hawaiian Jesse Kahaulua (Takamiyama) and was persuaded to move to Tokyo to begin a sumo career under the tutelage of the American champion.

In July of 1982 Atisanoe made his debut under the name of Konishiki and began what would be a tumultuous, but rewarding 15 year career. Konishiki charged through the junior divisions achieving the juryo rank in under one year and gaining a promotion to the elite makuuchi division in less than two years. Less than three years later, in 1987, Konishiki became the first American ever to achieve the rank of ozeki (champion).

Konishiki continued to compete for another decade, but despite winning three championships, was never able to achieve the rank of Yokozuna (Grand Champion).

Konishiki retired in 1997 with one of the best records in sumo history, 733-498. At his peak, Konishiki stood 6’ tall and weighed 626 pounds. His weight and girth earned him many nicknames, including “meat bomb,” and “dump truck.”

A naturalized Japanese citizen, Konishiki continues to live in Japan where he is a pursuing a singing career and is involved in several charities and humanitarian foundations.

Question:

Who was the first non-Japanese who attained sumo’s highest rank of yokozuna (grand champion) and where was he from?

Answer:

AKEBONO (Chad Rowan) from Oahu.
Chad Rowan was born in Waimanalo, Oahu, Hawaii in May 1969. In the late 1980’s, Rowan was discovered by a friend of Jesse Kuhaulua. He was initially thought to be too tall and lanky to make a good sumotori, but in 1988, at the age of eighteen, Kuhaulua brought Rowan to Tokyo to begin training.

Rowan made his sumo debut under the name Akebono in March 1988. Within two years, Akebono had reached the top makuuchi division. In May 1992, Akebono won his first tournament and was promoted to ozeki – equaling Konishiki as the highest ranked foreign sumotori in history. Akebono went on to win four of the six 1992 tournaments as well as the first tournament of the following year. As a result, In January 1993, after a mere 30 matches, Akebono attained sumo’s highest rank of Yokozuna and became the first foreigner and only the sixty-fourth sumotori in history to achieve the status of grand champion.

Akebono went on to win a total of 11 tournaments in his 13 year career, ranking 7th on the all-time list, and compiling a record of 566-198. Akebono retired from Sumo in 2001. At the time of his retirement, Akebono stood 6’8” tall and weighed 514 pounds.

Question:

Who was the second non-Japanese yokozuna?

Answer:

MUSASHI MARU (Fiamalu “Fia” Penitani)

Fiamalu Penitani was born in Somoa in 1971 and moved to Hawaii in 1981 at the age of ten. In 1989, he was recruited and brought to Japan by former Olympic gold medal wrestler Date Jiichiro and began training with the Musashigawa stable.

Penitani made his sumo debut under the name Musashimaru in September 1989. In July 1991 Musashimaru was promoted to the professional level of Juryo. Musashimaru’s career advanced rapidly as he ascended to the top makuuchi division in November of the same year and by the following May had achieved the rank of sanyaku. Two years later, in 1994, Musashimaru became an ozeki. Although Musashimaru went on to set a record for competing in 52 consecutive bashos without a losing record, he was not able to achieve the back to back wins necessary to ascend to the rank of Yokozuna (grand champion) until July 1999. Upon finally accomplishing this feat, Musashimaru became only the second foreign-born Yokozuna and the sixty-seventh grand champion in the history of the sport.

Musashimaru has been the consummate champion, suffering only one season with a losing record since his entry into sumo in 1989. His career continues to thrive and he recently won the May basho for his 11th tournament victory, equaling the total previously set by Akebono. As of June of 2002, Musashimaru is in the midst of a major streak, having won three of the last four bashos. Musashimau is 6’3” tall and weighs 509 pounds.

Congratulations! You are a sumo expert now!

Numbers

This week, we covered numbers.

There are two ways of writing the numbers in Japanese, in Hindu-Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3) or in Kanji numerals (一, 二, 三). The Hindu-Arabic numerals are more often used in horizontal writing, and the kanji numerals are more common in vertical writing. Also, some numbers, such as 4, 7, and 9, have multiple names.

一
1.
Pronounced ‘ichi’ (rhymes with ‘peachy’).
一 is written as a single horizontal stroke, like an Arabic one, but on its side.

二

2.
Pronounced ‘ni’ (like ‘knee’).
二 is, you guessed it, 2 ‘one’s – again, on their side.

三

3.
Pronounced ‘san’ (like ‘sun’).
三 ‘one’s – on their side.

四

4.
Pronounced ‘yon’ (more like ‘yong’ actually) or 'shi'.
Getting a little trickier in terms of shape. Ignore the bits inside and just think of it as a four-sided object.

五

5.
Pronounced ‘go’ (a very short sound).
五 is conveniently made up of five lines.

六

6.
Pronounced ‘roku’ (pronouncing it as ‘loku’ is actually closer to native pronunciation).
This is a character you’ll just have to commit to memory!

七

7.
Pronounced ‘nana’ or ‘shichi’ (“shee-chee”).
A badly twisted 7 ?

八

8.
Pronounced ‘hachi'.
Another very simple character. With only two strokes, it is not to be confused with ‘ni’(2).

九

9.
Pronounced ‘kyuu’ (just like the letter Q) or 'ku'.

十

10.
Pronounced ‘juu'.
A simple cross shape: a neat ending to a sequence that began with a horizontal line.

After the students mastered how to say numbers (from 0 to 10) in Japanese, they learned how to say thier own phone numbers in Japanese.

When Japanese people read telephone numbers, they avoid similar sounds and short sound. SHI(4) and SHICHI(7) sound alike. ICHI(1) and SHICHI(7) sound alike. Therefore, they use YON for 4, NANA for 7 and KYUU for 9.

Also, single character numbers are lengthened to distinguish each number more easily (i.e., NI(2) to NII, GO(5) to GOO).

So, 927-6541 is read as KYUU(9) NII(2) NANA(7) ROKU(6) GOO(5) YON(4) ICHI(1).

Ask you child what is his/her phone number in Japanese, s/he should be able to say:
"My phone number is XXX-XXXX." in Japanese!

Speaking of numbers, in the Japanese culture, certain numbers are considered “bad luck” or “good luck,” much like the number 13 is considered bad luck in Western culture.

The “bad luck” numbers in Japanese are 4 (SHI) and 9 (KU).

The number four is considered inauspicious because it is pronounced the same as the word for death (SHI). Therefore, one should not make presents that consist of four pieces. In some hotels and hospitals the room number four is skipped.

Also, 9 is bad luck number in Japanese culture because it is pronounced the same as the word for suffering (KU).

Eight is considered good luck because of the mountain-like shape of the kanji for eight 八. Mountains are regarded with reverence in Japan. Also, the character 八 resembles a fan shape, which is considered lucky because it suggests spreading out, growing and increasing, as in mounting good fortune.

Also, in Japan there are certain things one does not do because they are thought to cause bad luck. A few examples are:

Stick chopsticks into the rice: Do not stick your chopsticks into your food generally, but especially not into rice, because only at funerals, chopsticks are stuck into the rice which is put onto the altar.

Give food from chopstick to chopstick: This is only done with the bones of the cremated body at funerals.

Sleeping towards the North: Do not sleep towards the North because bodies are laid down like that.

Whistle in the night: If you whistle in the night, a ghost will come to you.


Another productive week!
SAYOONARA

PS: Are you going to Led Zeppelin Reunion Concert at London's 02 Arena on November 26?

I wish I could go...

KORE, SORE, ARE & HIRAGANA CONSONANT か、き、く、け、こ

This week, students learned how to say "This is XXX." in Japanese, and hiragana か/ka/, き/ki/, く/ku/, け /ke/, こ/ko/.

The Japanese word for "this" is KORE, and "is" is DESU. Also, in Japanese, "WA" is placed after whatever is to be marked as the topic. (A topic marker topic marker is a grammatical particle found in not only the Japanese but Korean languages used to mark the topic of a sentence. ) Since Japanese word order is SUBJECT, OBJECT, and VERB order, "This is XXX." would be "KORE WA XXX DESU."

Then, students learned how to form a question from a statement sentence. Making a question in Japanese is quite simple. In Japanese, the word order of a question is the same as for statements, except that KA is attached to the end of sentence. So, "Is this XXX?" would be "KORE WA XXX DESU KA." Easy, right?

Also, students learned how to say "What is this?" in Japanese. "What" is NAN in Japanese, so you just place NAN to OBJECT. Now we have "KORE WA NAN DESU KA." which means "What is this?" Please notice that there is no question mark "?" in Japanese because the sentence-ending particle KA indicates a question.

In addition to KORE "this", students learned SORE "that", and ARE "that one over there."
Like English, KORE "this" refers to something near the speaker, SORE "that" refers to something near the listener, and ARE "that on over there" refers to something distant from both speaker and listener. However, those KORE "this", SORE "that", and ARE "that one over there", cannot be used for people except for people in pictures and photos.

By the way, Japanese /ra/, /ri/, /ru/, /re/, /ro/ sounds are produced so that the initial "r' sounds somewhat like a combination of the English "l" and "r" sounds. Japanese people have difficulty distinguishing English "l" and "r" sounds. Ask your child the story about a Japanese tourist who went to a restaurant in Hawaii, and ordered rice at the restaurant.

Moreover, students more hiragana, one of Japanese phonetic characters. They learned か/ka/, き/ki/, く/ku/, け/ke/, こ/ko/, が/ga/, ぎ/gi/, ぐ/gu/, げ/ge/, and ご/go/.

Please notice the diffiece between か and が, き and ぎ, く and ぐ, け and げ, こ and ご.

゛resembles a quotation mark placed at the top right corner of a hiragana character. The mark ゛(daku-ten in Japanese, colloquially ten-ten "dot dot"), is a diacritic sign used in the Japanese hiragana syllables to indicate that the consonant of a syllable should be pronounced voiced.

Finally, students will have their second test on Monday, September 10 for Period 3, and Tuesday, September 11 for Period 6.

Have a wonderful weekend!

SAYOONARA

Bowing, Greetings & Japanese vowels

I thank you for taking the time to meet me at Parents' Night on Wednesday. I am excited to be teaching your child this year! I wanted to catch you all up on this week's topics in the Japanese class.

Frist of all, students learned how to introduce themselves with proper bows, using:
HAJIME MASHITE. "How do you do?"
WATASHI WA -name- DESU. "I am -name-."
DOOZO YOROSHIKU. "Nice to meet you."

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!

Surely, Japanese think 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".

In addition to practical conversations, students have started to learn how to read and write hiragana, one of Japanese phonetic characters. In this week, they learned 5 Japanese vowels: あ, い, う, え, and お.

/a/あ is pronounced like a in father. "ah"

/i/い is pronounced like i in machine. "ee"

/u/う is pronounced like ue in Sue. "oo"

/e/え is pronounced like e in ledge. "eh"

/o/お is pronounced like o in obey. "oh"

Finally, students will have a test on Tuesday, September 4th.
They should have the study guide for the test.

Have a wonderful weekend! and SAYOONARA .

lunar eclipse: taken on Tue, August 28 in Waimea.

NIKON D-100, Nikkor 300mm, Kenko 1.5X teleconverter

* Luner eclipse is "GETT SHOKU" in Japanese, which means "Eating moon."

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.

GEOGRAHY:
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, 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 LANGUGAGE:
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-INRODCUTION
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!

Have a wonderful weekend!