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Enjoy Simple Japanese! ** ① Say “hi” to Japanese.
Habari za asubuhi? Ohayou gozaimasu. (おはようございます)
Habari za mchana? Konnichiwa. (こんにちは) ★The most common one!
Habari za usiku? Kombanwa. (こんばんは)
Asante sana Arigatou. (ありがとう)
★★★ Malindi, Kenya | May 2014
HABARI ZA JAPAN Published by Sayaka MATSUDA e-mail: [email protected]
ay 14, Japan national team manager
Alberto Zaccheroni has announced
his squad for 2014 World Cup in Brazil
over 12 June through 13 July.
Shinji Kagawa who is playing Manchester
United has chosen as expected but the
manager gave him candid advice because
he scored no goal in the Premier League
this season.
“If this was a country like Brazil, Kagawa
would not have been chosen,” said the
manager, but he knows Kagawa is the most
popular player in japan and expectations
among supporters for Kagawa are quite
high even now. “I’ll fully support him to
draw out his all abilities.”
Zaccheroni has complete confidence in
Keisuke Honda, who is also in a tough
position in a competitive club, AC Milan. “I
hope he’ll show his personality and power
on the pitch as per usual .”
Japan has gone to the FIFA World Cup 4
times before and this is now the 5th
chance.
Team-best mark is the final 16 (in 2002,
2010). This summer Japan may take
advantage of team’s attacking strengths to
achieve a great victory and surprise a
grobal audience.
M
CULTURE
BOYS’ DAY AND
MOTHER’S DAY
COME IN MAY
P. 2 - 3
GREETING
IS “CHING-CHONG”
CORRECT FOR
ASIAN PEOPLE?
P. 2
FOOD
JAPANESE CUISINE
WINS UNESCO
HERITAGE STATUS
P. 3 - 4
TOPICS
Japan's national squad 2014 new uniform | Football Shirt Voltage.com
Zaccheroni has picked a trusted
squad for the 2014 World Cup
Japanese supporters packed into a stadium | Futta. NET
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Is “Ching-chong” correct
for Asian people?
hen you see someone who comes
from Asian country on the street,
how do you greet him/her? Hello, Jambo,
Ni-hao... or by any chance, you don’t say
“Ching-chong,” do you? Some Kenyan
people regard “Ching-chong” as a kind of
greeting for Asian people especially for
Chinese, but actually it is not a greeting but
an insult. It makes Asian feel very badly
and disappointed with Kenyan.
Imagine that someone who has different
color from yours judges you by the color of
your skin and says some discriminatory
words such as “Black monkey.” How do
you feel about that? Needless to say that is
not a greeting and probably makes you feel
angry or disrespected. Actually, many Asian
people have equated “Ching-chong” with
“Black monkey.”
A wrong perception creates a great deal of
misunderstanding between races. If you
have been considering “Ching-chong” as a
kind of greeting until today, stop saying it
and start taking a polite attitude for your
Asian friends from now on. You should just
say hi in your usual way like “Mambo?” or
if you want to greet foreigners in their
mother tongue, just ask them. They’ll be
happy to teach you that and also behave
respectfully toward you.
KABUTO, suits of armor | photohito.com
Boys’ Day and Mother’s
Day come in May
n May, 2 special days are celebrated in
Japan. Every May 5th
is Boys’ Day and
the second Sunday is Mother’s Day. They
gives Japanese people prime opportunities
to find how important family is.
On Boys’ Day, families with boys put up
KOINOBORI (cloth carp streamers which
are flown on a tall pole) outside and display
KABUTO (suits of armor, often replaced
by warrior dolls) inside the house in hope
of healthy growth of the boys.
In Japan, carp are taken as a symbol of the
strength, courage and patience to
accomplish major goals because they are
believed to be fish capable of climbing up
stream against rapid currents. Therfore
Japanese pray that boys in the house will
take after carp and live their lives strongly
W
I
1 Kenyan shilling =
1.16 Japanese yen (At the date of May 16, 2014)
WETHER IN JAPAN
average temperature in May, ℃ (rainfall, mm)
TOKYO 18.9 (137.8)
OSAKA 19.7 (145.5)
HIROSHIMA 19.3 (177.6)
FUKUSHIMA 16.6 (92.6) SAPPORO 12.4 (53.1)
OKINAWA 24.0 (231.6)
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on Boys’ Day.
This day is called "Tango-no-sekku" (端午
の節句 ) and treasured japanese age-old
tradition which was introduced from China
around the middle of 6th century.
Japan, as in most countries of the world,
has Mother’s Day (母の日, Haha-no-hi).
It’s a special day to show respect and
appriciation of mother's daily hard work.
Sending a Mother's Day card is not too
common in Japan, but giving red carnations
(a simbol flower of Mother’s Day which
means purity and sweetness) is a popular
custom. Until around the middle of May,
you can find every flower shop and super
market filled with a lot of carnations, all
over Japan.
Kids often give their dear mom some help
such as cleaning, cooking, washing dishes
and draw pictures or make some cute crafts.
Even adults, on this day, take her to a trip,
restaurants, shopping and so on.
Most Japanese are so shy that they
normally feel a little embarrassed to
express their feelings in front of their
mother, but on Mother’s Day, they can say
“Arigatou” (means thank you) truly.
With the serious concerns of aging society
with a falling birth rate, Japan faces a
change of family relationships in recent
days. It seems like parents position their
child as the most important thing than it
used to be. They give a lot of love and
money freely to their children because
many of them have an only one or two
children in japan. And that makes them
ponder about old age – in post-retirement
years, who will take care of them?
In this context, Boy’s Day and Mother’s
Day increase their presence as the chance to
think about family relationship.
Carnations with “Mama, thank you for always” | photo AC
Japanese Cuisine wins UNESCO heritage
status.
“Washoku” ―traditional Japanese cuisine― has been added to UNESCO’s Intangible
Cultural Heritage list in December last year. The panel valued the tradition with a sprit of
respecting nature associated with cuisine.
The government stressed that Washoku is nutritionally well-balanced and thus
contributes to healthy, long life (actually, Japan has the world's highest longevity rate) in
its proposal to UNESCO. With this resistration, Japan hopes that washoku enhances its
global recognition, attracts more foreign tourists and boosts exports of the country’s
agricultural products.
Unfortunately, the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which was triggered by the March 11,
KOINOBORI, carp streamers | Freebies DB
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2011 earthquake and tsunami, invites the mistrust of japanese food products. The
government is also hoping that the UNESCO designation will help recovering the status of
the safety of Japanese food.
Wahoku is visually beautiful by its color and arrangement, low-cholesterol and no doubt
delicious. Why don’t you try it?
The average Japanese diet From upper left, in a clockwise; ・OTSUKEMONO (Japanese pickles)
・HIJIKI NO NIMONO(simmered seaweed)
・HIYA-YAKKO (chilld TOFU)
・OMISOSHIRU (miso; soybean paste soup)
・SAKE NO SHIOYAKI (grilled salmon)
・GOHAN (rice)
Japanese use CHOPSTICKS to eat. They are held in the dominant hand, between the thumb and
fingers, and used to pick up pieces of food.
Editor’s Note, May 2014 posted by Sayaka MATSUDA
HABARI ZA JAPAN, which is published by a Japanese volunteer who has worked in
Malindi, Kenya since February 2014, came out this month as a new monthly magazine.
It is distributed for free. The editor aims to give interesting topic on Japan to Kenyan
people and connect the Asian world with African world more closely.
For better contents, any idea of what Kenyan wants to know about Japan and other
Asian countries is wanted at all times. If you have any request or advice for this
magazine, please feel free to contact me. Thank you. (E-mail: [email protected])
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