request .... THANK YOU!!!

Belldandy16 · Post by **Belldandy16** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:05 pm

Hi!
my school is doing what's called a "Multicultural night" and long story short all of the classes have to pick different countries to write about and showcase. Its really cool, the kids all dress up and some classes perform, and they dress the class rooms up too (like one year someone built a giant palm tree in front of their classroom! 0_0 i wish i had pics to show you it was so cool) . Well a friend of mine got Japan and id like to help her figure out some things to do...

quick question to everyone...

when you think of Japan, what's the first thing you think of? or what do you think they have in Japan that they have nowhere else on earth?

also, for anyone living there (or if someone here has some) ... could someone send me one yen?
yeah here i am begging for money now.

LOL
i just want to see if i can show the kids here what it looks like (i know i can show it on the computer but ya know its different than actually having the physical object in your hands).
or maybe even just a postcard from there to the class would be wonderful.
oh one more thing, does anyone know on the internet how to make a kimono?

thanks so soooooo much!!!!
sorry im in a rush, im in class right now and shouldnt be on the computer. ...

edit.. oh the MC fair is on the 14th of May

cutiebunny · Post by **cutiebunny** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:24 pm

When I think of Japan, I think of the flowering blossoms on the cherry trees in the springtime and the lovely orange 'tori' that they have at Himeji Island. It's an orange buddhist gate outside the island and probably one of the most common images shown when companies advertise this country. It shouldn't be too hard for a class to construct one, either out of wood scraps, paper or styrofoam. I guess it depends on the age of the children involved, but I would think that a nice tori and maybe some cherry blossoms would be a perfect setting for Japan.

You might be able to get yen through your bank if you specially request them. It takes about 2 weeks for the bank to receive your order, but they can obtain coins and currency for you.

iwakuralain16 · Post by **iwakuralain16** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:34 pm

what a mark up
http://cgi.ebay.com/coin-5-yen-japanese ... dZViewItem

LOL

ReiTheJelly · Post by **ReiTheJelly** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:35 pm

I think of kimono, cherry trees, and Mt. Fuji.

I have some yen I can send you. PM me with your address.

Belldandy16 · Post by **Belldandy16** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:48 pm

oh thank you so much!!!
pm'd

and thanks so much everyone for your input (and for the ideas, CB!)..

if anyone has any other ideas for us to do id really appreciate it (we try to go all out as much as we can...or can afford.. its kinda a competition btween all of the classes).

my teacher friend had the idea to recreate mt fuji in the courtyard.... trying to think of how to do that. styrofoam probably..

Belldandy16 · Post by **Belldandy16** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:41 pm

cmon, please guys i need more info... when you think of Japan what comes to your mind?
thank you!

jcaliff · Post by **jcaliff** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:51 pm

The first thing that comes to my mind is the school I taught at in Kochi. Not real helpful I'm sure.

Things that in my mind, are the things I automatically associate with Japan are Mt. Fuji, koi (carp), sakura (cherry blossoms), kimono, and jinja (shrines). EDIT: Oh yeah, and Samurai and Ninja!!

Things they have no where else on earth? 4 seasons! Just kidding. Okonomiyaki. I spend a lot of time daydreaming about eating at okonomiyaki restaurants.

graymouser · Post by **graymouser** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:57 pm

Sake, sushi, miso, teriyaki - OK its lunch time and I'm hungry.

Katanas, tea ceremony, Japanese style gardens, koi, origami, rice farming, electronics, automobiles, bullet train, weird toilets, and tori gates.

I am sure I could think of more stuff, but that's a few more.

Post by **Kaona** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:56 pm

Pocky

jcaliff · Post by **jcaliff** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:17 pm

I was thinking some more about this. Doing a project on the country as a whole (any country for that matter) might be overly broad. I don't know if they're allowed to focus on one sort of topic like "food" or "cultural activities" (ikebana or dance or bonsai etc) or "history" and so on. One thing that is fun for kids is traditional playthings. I've seen great exhibits in the past featuring kites, kendama, menko, otedama, takeuma, and stuff like that. Especially fun if it's interactive.

Belldandy16 · Post by **Belldandy16** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:22 pm

jcaliff wrote:The first thing that comes to my mind is the school I taught at in Kochi.

wow! you actually taught in a real japanese school?

may i ask, is it much different than schools here an america (well yeah i can imagine its quite different heh,

, but what's the main thing that you can see is a big difference here than there?)

jcaliff wrote: Not real helpful I'm sure.

oh no! that actually sounds really fascinating!

id love to pick your brain if you dont mind

its really hard because these children are impoverished and God knows they get NO outer culture whatsoever so anything that can give insight into anything beyond their world would be just wonderful. they have the books on japan but they are from the 80's

and arent really that in depth. there's also the internet but... believe me, there's only so much you can get from that... esp when the kids really dont know how to use the computers (hey and im not exadurating here, they REALLY dont even know the basics of computers... i was shocked when i had to go in one day and help them find things on the computers... *going into rant mode* they didnt know what google was, they didnt know how to get to websites... oh man.... *sorry, getting off the soapbox here*.....

jcaliff wrote: Things that in my mind, are the things I automatically associate with Japan are Mt. Fuji, koi (carp), sakura (cherry blossoms), kimono, and jinja (shrines). EDIT: Oh yeah, and Samurai and Ninja!!

koi! i forgot about koi! hmmm... gosh that would be so cool if we could have like a mini koi pond... i was thinking of making a sakura tree (since i saw someone made a palm tree last year).... hmmm... but that might be too much. hmmm.

jcaliff wrote: Things they have no where else on earth? 4 seasons! Just kidding. Okonomiyaki. I spend a lot of time daydreaming about eating at okonomiyaki restaurants.

heh! yeah we only have two seasons here where i am... fall (two months) and summer
(hot HOT summer X-p)
what type of restaurants are those?

graymouser wrote:Sake,

oooohhhh.... wonder if the principal would figure out what it was if we didnt tell her..

hehehehehe... *belldandy thinks she needs her job though*....

graymouser wrote: sushi, miso, teriyaki - OK its lunch time and I'm hungry.

oooh, this is great! we need some kind of food to feed to the parents... up to now all i could think of is ramen.

graymouser wrote: Katanas, tea ceremony, Japanese style gardens, koi, origami, rice farming, electronics, automobiles, bullet train, weird toilets, and tori gates.

I am sure I could think of more stuff, but that's a few more.

oh what are katanas?

ooooh! origami! i think i know of someone that can do origami... ill have to ask her to make me some... thanks!!!

Kaona wrote: Pocky

Poke you?

heheh. sorry bad joke

what is pocky?

jcaliff wrote:I was thinking some more about this. Doing a project on the country as a whole (any country for that matter) might be overly broad.

i know.

but we actually have to do the country as a whole.

its a big thing for our school (and actually for the whole district itself believe it or not... ALL schools have to do some type of multicultural thing. like i said, these kids get no outer culture what so ever so the schools do this to introduce them to other nations in this world). so we try to do it with as much fun stuff as possible... thats why i was asking everyone here for their imput. there's only so much you can get reading a website about japan but none us have been there. i knew quite a few people here have so i needed as much of their imput as i can get too.

jcaliff wrote: I don't know if they're allowed to focus on one sort of topic like "food" or "cultural activities" (ikebana or dance or bonsai etc) or "history" and so on.

we have to just touch on those subjects. We need one food to present to the parents, one dress (ya know, one form of traditional wear), and anything else to showcase the culture as best we can.... but like you said, this is a BROAD subject (so thats why we get over a month to plan this... its a really big deal for our school).

jcaliff wrote: One thing that is fun for kids is traditional playthings. I've seen great exhibits in the past featuring kites, kendama, menko, otedama, takeuma, and stuff like that. Especially fun if it's interactive.

yeah, id love any and all ideas!
what are kendama, menko, otedama, takeuma?
oh i hope im not offending with all my questions.

id really like to learn myself!

THANKS SO SO SOOOOOO MUCH EVERYONE!!!
any more ideas/thoughts/awnsers to my questions of what do you think of when you think of Japan would be great!!!

MGarza145 · Post by **MGarza145** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:01 pm

Aside from the traditional landmarks and traditions of Japan. What also comes to mind is the recent and modern style in especially Tokyo.

I like to think of the Harajuku area. It's always neat to see the gothic lolita and cosplay clothing. I know Tokyo is a fashion capitol, so perhaps many of the designers absorb inspiration from the different colors,patterns, and combinations of outfits.

Here's a picture I found:

http://media.photobucket.com/image/Hara ... juku08.jpg

Perhaps showing pictures of all the neat outfits might be of interest?

Hope this helps!

syan · Post by **syan** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:30 pm

Cherry blossoms, samurai, oragami, kimono, geisha

Belldandy16 wrote:
Kaona wrote: Pocky
Poke you?

heheh. sorry bad joke what is pocky?

It's a snack food - a biscuit stick dipped in chocolate or some other flavor. A guilty pleasure of mine too.

Coconut and blueberry are my favs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocky

Belldandy16 · Post by **Belldandy16** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:52 pm

omgosh ive seen that! oh and ive had it too! heh, this is so funny, every once in awhile i do duty in the lunch room (i just walk around and make sure the kids behave in the lunchroom) and one time this kid had that and im like "what is that?" (never saw it before)... and he said "cookies" and im thinking... wha? LOL ive never seen stick cookies before ... and he was like "you want one?" and i said sure and tasted it and it was really good!
i had the strawberry kind and its really good!

thanks for your pm, syan! i responded to it.

kizu · Post by **kizu** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:03 am

The first thing I think of when it comes to Japanese food is street food like Yakitori, Yakisoba, Takoyaki...
Then I think of the odd stuff like "Natto", "Fugu" and those plastic foods those little eateries like to display behind glasses. They actually look quite real everytime I would pass them. I was younger then and didn't know what they were and I was thinking "Why is that food out like that? How many days has it been there?". LOL.

Then I think of pachinko... Those places that always looks like they were fun but always such a mystery because I wasn't allowed to go in one to even look. But then I was always allowed to loiter in the game parlors... Back then video games were still 2D and was a big deal. I like the UFO catchers and those candy game machines that you drop a token into to push the candy off the platform. Of course there was always that other machine that you drop your token into and try to push a ton more tokens off the platform. Hehehe.... I suck at those games.

Then I think about the dollar stores littered close to the gates of the base... and the odd "night life" there too. When I was younger I walked out to a familiar mall kind of late at night (don't ask how and why I ended up there)... Kind of like an open air mall with a ton of little shops... Ummm -bad- idea, the place was -transformed-... Let's just say I was -freaked- out.

Also when I think about Japan, I think about the coral reefs that just suddenly disappear from under your feet. Of course I think of sea cucumbers too... There seems to be a very healthy fascination with snakes... I remember going to this wildlife place where there were tons of snakes in two very large -open- containers. I kept thinking OMG if I fall in there I will die (I have a fear of snakes and vampires heh)! Then there were these things that freaked me out when we used to visit around the more remote parts of the area... There were "tombs" everywhere (like where they should not be) and little men statues... LOL... Of course it's only now that I know that the tombs were actually shrines, doesn't necessarily mean someone is buried there (apparently you can have several resting places)... And the little statues were Jizo statues I think. LOL...

Someday I'd like to go to a Hanami (flower viewing)... But I'm more of a fall person and I want to see golden momiji trees or maybe fiery red ones.... *sigh*

The japanese people I met were really great. There's a lot of times I'd be loitering around kind of "lost" and someone would come and start talking Japanese apparently trying to help me. Then I say something stupid like, "I don't understand. English only please." LOL... And we'd both get a good laugh out of it. If they speak a little English, they tell me I look like a Japanese. LOL. I find older Japanese country folk more social, I use to get sugar canes from some... City folk seem to hide in their houses quite a bit, but our neighbors back then were nice.