Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Answers to Emi's Questions

One of my favorite people posted these questions on my comments and I wanted to take the time now to answer them! Thanks Emi for asking!

1) What is the life of a child (ages 6-12)in Japan like, from what you have observed?

The life a child in Japan seems to be very similar to that of a child in the states. Go to school, come home and eat, homework, and then off to bed.

2) What sports are in Japan?

Japan has many of the same sports that are in the states. But some are more popular than others. Baseball is a very popular sport and tennis is increasing in popularity. Basketball and Football are not so popular.

Tamasei (the school where we work) has a LARGE variety of sports that are imported. Basketball, Volleyball, Softball, Tennis, Rythmic Gymnastics, Dance, Cheerleading, Badminton. I think there are others but I am drawing a blank. Tamasei also has a traditional sports club known as Kendo (Japanese sword fighting with swords made from bamboo). Here are some pictures of a Kendo match we saw while we were in Nagano-ken at the Matsumoto Castle festival. P.S. These are not Tamasei students.

Getting ready for the match.


The fight is on!

3) What are the hot things to do in Japan?

Hmm....this is a good one. I think anything to do with friends. This includes going out to eat and hanging out and talking for a long time. (you can do that at restaurants here, where as in the states you eat and leave quickly) Free time is rare for adults in Japan. The Japanese work long hours sometimes seven days a week. College students mostly like to go out with their friends. One thing that is popular among young girls is Pulikula. This is a really fancy picture booth where you get to take fun and crazy pictures and then decorate them on a computer in all sorts of crazy ways afterward. The states should really get one of these things. Check out the example below. It's a lot of fun!

1) The Booth 2)Collection 3)The Decorating Monitor 4)Finished Product





4) What do they like to do during free time? (If they get any.)

For housewifes they like to go and chat for a long time with their friends or go shopping. For the men it is usually sleeping, golf, or using their free time to do more work.
A recent thing is for couples to go play tennis together with other couples.

Thanks for asking! Please feel free to ask more if you got 'em!!

3 comments:

Emileigh Latham said...

Thanks Abby, very interesting people.
I will be thinking of some more questions.

Emileigh Latham said...

Had a lot of fun seeing ya'll on Skype. Such fun!

Unknown said...

I found yor blog by chance and enjoyed very much. Brought back many memories...

Well, I spend my high school years at the campus where you work!! After Tamasei, I started higher eud in US and now I am working on my PhD. It has been 8 years...??

So, who knows, one of your studnets may be working on PhD in English 8 years later!

Misato