I imagine many Japanese people are busy today cleaning. Not me! I prefer to wait until Spring when I can open all the windows, let the fresh air in, and get the dust out. I vacuum behind the furniture, wash the windows, dust everything off, and make everything "spic-and-span". American people call it "Spring Cleaning". By the way, where have all the Christmas decorations gone? I went out last night and couldn't find any anywhere! American people are quite lazy about putting them away. Sometimes, you can find Christmas decorations still hanging in the end of January!
One thing I love about Japan are the taxis. I like how the door opens and closes automatically. They are always super-clean inside and out, the driver is dressed neatly and even wears white gloves. Compared to American taxis, I feel like I am riding in a limousine! It is quiet and relaxing, I don't have to worry about if the driver is going to cheat me, nor do I have to worry about leaving a tip. Good job, Japanese people!
I was surprised to find during my first Christmas in Japan that Japanese people eat Christmas cakes. I had never heard of Christmas cakes before I came to Japan. Apparently, it is a British tradition. In the U.S. we don't have Christmas cakes, but instead have fruitcake. However, it is not very good and no one wants to eat it. Sometimes when we do Secret Santa at a Christmas party, someone brings fruitcake as a joke. Secret Santa is when people bring gifts without names written on them to a party. They are placed on a table and then given out later at random. Every one laughs when one person opens their gift and finds....fruitcake.
One of the best things I like about Christmas is the music. Christmas songs are a great way to study English because you can hear them everywhere when you go out. Every time when you walk into a store and hear a Christmas song, you can sing along. When I was in elementary school, I sang in the chorus every year for Christmas. We had an electric piano at home. My mother would play Christmas songs, and I would practice singing. She was very strict and made me sing the same song over and over again. The most difficult time was when I had to sing a Christmas song in German! Unfortunately, I don't remember any of it now.
Here are some of my favorite Christmas songs with lyrics. Practice your English and enjoy Christmas!
Did you see the movie, "Bohemian Rhapsody"? I finally saw it. I thought it was really good. My favorite character in the movie was the man called "Miami Beach". It was so funny. After watching the movie, I watched the actual Live Aid concert on YouTube, and it was even better than the movie. The only part I didn't like in the movie was the kissing scene. Definitely not my cup of tea.
Anyway, I was moved by his passion for music and by his ability to connect with his audience. If you haven't seen it yet, you should go and see it. I give the movie two thumbs up!
One of my favorite Christmas songs is "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer". There is a story that goes with the song. It is about a reindeer who is ostracized by the other reindeer because he has a bright, shiny, red nose. But in the end, it is because he is different that he becomes the hero and saves Christmas. It teaches us an important aspect of American culture; that being different makes you special and important.
There is a claymation movie that is played on TV every year around Christmas.
By the way, do you know the names of all of Santa's 8 reindeer?
Do you know what today is? It is the day of the 47 Ronin. There is a big festival held in Sengakuji on December 14th every year. Sengakuji is the site of the graves of the 47 Ronin. When I visited, my clothes became covered with the smell of incense as there was incense burning at each of the 47 graves. During the festival, a bunch of people dressed up as Samurai and marched down the street to re-enact the scenes from long ago. I remember thinking how cool they looked as they came up the road. In the front of the procession, one of the samurai was carrying something tied to the end of a long pole. It looked like a lunchbox to me, but it was actually the head of their enemy.
There is also a really cool Hollywood movie about the 47 Ronin starring Keanu Reeves.
If you have time today, you should definitely check out the festival at Sengakuji!
Today, when I got on the train, I did as I usually do. I checked my email and replied to any messages. After that, I opened my laptop to get to work on my blog. However, today it was so nice and warm on the train and it gently rocked back and forth. There was the soft murmur of conversation in the background. I felt like a baby in a cradle as I slowly dozed off.
Now, I just woke up and found that the train is about to arrive at Kamiooka, so I am rushing to write something for today's blog. Sorry it is so short, but maybe it is better than nothing.
- decorations
- huge
- garland
- contain
- around the corner
Let's get started!
There was one large box that contained our Christmas tree. Many other families chose to have a real tree, but my family always had an artificial one. When I was little, it seemed so huge to me, but after I had grown up, it didn't seem so big at all. Actually, it was only about 4 or 5 feet tall, but it was special to me. It had been in my family my whole life.
Just after Thanksgiving had passed and all the turkey was eaten, the feeling that Christmas was just around the corner started to settle in. It was time. I was excited as I helped my mother bring in the large cardboard boxes from the garage that contained all the Christmas decorations.
Every year I would help my mother decorate it. There were so many different decorations that covered our tree, it is amazing that it could hold all of it. Glass bulbs of blue, red, gold, green and silver reflected the christmas lights which wrapped the tree. Little ornaments were hidden here and there among the leaves, along with candy canes that were hung on the garland. A red cloth covered the bottom of the tree, and a star with an angel was placed at the top.
At night, we would turn off all the lights and watch Christmas shows on TV next to the beautiful sight that was our Christmas Tree.
New words & phrases:
- decorations
- preparation
- fond
- intricate
Let's get started!
In Japan, many people refer to the lights hung as decorations as "illumination". However, I have always known them as "Christmas Lights". They are hung along with all the other decorations in preparation for Christmas. Almost everyone decorates the outside of their houses with Christmas lights, and it becomes a kind of competition as everyone has pride in their decorations.
My father was really into this. He would spend a whole week intricately decorating our house with lights. Every year we would go to the store together and decide what new lights we should buy this year.
During December, many times on the way home from somewhere in my family's car, we would drive around looking at everyone's decorations. It is such a fond memory.
There was one house in my neighborhood that really stuck out. They had so many lights that they had to start preparing 3 months in advance. They opened their home until 10 pm and let anyone come inside to visit their house as they had decorated the inside as well.
- past time
- play catch
- driveway
- die-hard fan
Let's get started!
Baseball is known as "America's favorite past time", but it seems to me that baseball has become a Japanese sport. When I was a child, I always played basketball with my friends after school. My next door neighbor had a goal in his driveway, so I was there almost every day. On the weekends, sometimes we would play American football. However, I don't remember playing catch very often.
Japanese people seem to really love baseball. There are many fans among my students, and even a few die-hard ones. I have never been to a professional baseball game, but after listening to them talk about their love for baseball, it makes be wanna go check it out. Maybe I will go see the BAYSTARS.
One thing I like about living in Japan is that everyone is always smiling. Well, almost everyone. It makes me feel good.
Sometimes when I feel a little down, I see a mirror on the train platform that reminds me to turn my frown upside down. I always thought it was so strange that there are mirrors on the train platform. I thought maybe so the ladies could prepare their make-up before getting on the train, but that doesn't seem to work.
Sometimes western people misunderstand and think that Japanese people are being fake, or not being sincere. But I don't think this is the case. We have a saying in English, "One bad apple spoils the whole bunch". So, when one person in the group has a frowny face, everyone else will tend to have one too, So, remember to smile and spread some cheer. What goes around comes around!
- printing company
- serious
- forty-something
- in the blink of an eye
Let's get started!
I remember turning 6. I was sitting at the kitchen table in front of my Superman birthday cake that my mother made for me. I looked at the clock and thought to myself "I am half-way now". It seems like yesterday when I was 19. I remember at that time thinking that I wanted to be older. Older men had money, looked cooler, and had girlfriends. I was still living in Florida. I had just started college, scuba-diving, and had my first serious girlfriend.
Then, it seemed like the next day I was 23. I was living with my girlfriend in Rhode Island, worked at a printing company, and then I joined the Navy. Then suddenly, I became 30. I was an instructor in the Navy now. I had already lived in Japan, studied Aikido and Japanese language, and had a lot of experience on a Navy warship. I felt like I was becoming a serious-minded adult now.
A few days passed, and now I am forty-something, ha ha. I now have my own English school in Japan and can dance Argentine Tango and Salsa. Life passes in the blink of an eye.
