こうよう

こんにちは、みなさん。

きょうは、かいたとおりにこうようについてかきます。こうようって、autumn leaves といういみです。日本のこうようはとてもきれいです。

京都のこうようはとくにゆうめいだそうです。
これは、だいとくじというおてらでとったしゃしんです。

 Because the colours were supposed to be especially beautiful this weekend, we had a lot of tourists in Kyoto! People come especially to view the もみじ trees like this one: their leaves are shaped like the Canadian maple leaf, and they turn a really beautiful red in the autumn.

You would think that "autumn-leaf viewing" is something you can only do during the day, but actually there are a lot of temples that open for "light ups" during November. This is where the temple opens for visitors at night and puts spotlights on the もみじ trees.

 I went to a temple called 'Koudai-ji', where they had this light display and autumn-themed picture in the zen garden. ひとがおおかったですから、わたしはこれをみるようにたちならびました！

 こうようだけじゃなくて、たけのはやし（bamboo forest）もありました。

どうおもいますか。イギリスのこうようよりきれいだとおもいますか。こうようをみにいくことについて、どうおもいますか。

みんなさんは、いつかあきのときに日本にきったら、ぜひこうようをみにいってください！

つぎのブログのことなんですが、そろそろクリスマスですね！ですから、つぎは日本のクリスマスについてかきたいとおもいます。たのしみ！

As always, please leave any commenst or questions in the box below!

よんでくれて、ありがとうございます。

学祭

こんにちは、皆さん！
このブログが遅くなって、すみません！

きょうは、だいがくの学祭（がくさい, school festival）についてかきます。

日本では、まいとしがっこうとだいがくにがくさいがあります。

The school festival is a time where all of the school's or university's clubs get together and run a stall, or put on a show. The entire campus was full of stages, food stalls, and even a flea market! If you went into the buildings, some clubs were using the rooms to run a cafe, or to let people try on kimonos. There was even a haunted house-themed room. (I didn't go in, I was too scared >.<)

This is where the a cappella clubs were performing. I'm sorry I couldn't get a better angle, but it was so packed!

This is the flamenco club's performace at one of the main stages:

And some of the food stalls:

とてもにぎやかでした。そして、たべものもおいしかったです。

The school festival is a really big event in the university's year. Everyone comes out to show their support, and some people brought along their families too. I'm so glad I got to experience one! こんなイベントをたいけんできて、よかったです！

Just one last picture - it's the adorable mascot for the school festival on one of the signs by the main stage. かわいいですね。

つぎに、こうようについてかきたいとおもいます。「こうよう」って何のことか、皆さんしっていますか。

As always, please leave a comment and let me know what you thought of this post. You can also leave me suggestions for things you'd like me to write about.

よんでくれて、ありがとうございます。

えんりゃくじ

こんいちは、みんなさん！

きょうは、えんりゃくじというお寺(おてら,temple)についてかきます。

えんりゃくじは、京都のちかくにあります。ひえいざんという山のうえにあります。

Enryakuji is actually one of the most important places for Japanese Buddhism, because it was built when the capital of Japan was still Kyoto.

I'm writing about it today because I went on a trip to visit it last week! You have to go up to the top of the mountain, but then there are over 100 different buildings to see. You can't go in to all of them (and you wouldn't have time to, anyway!), but it's very fun just walking around up there.

This was the view of the mountains as I went to the meeting point in the morning. さむかったですよ！

To get to the top of the mountain, first we had to take a train to where the cable car station is. This is the train we took. かわいいですね。The announcements were all in Thomas's voice too. My friends were really surprised when I told them the Thomas the Tank Engine is British, they all thought he was a Japanese character!

 This is the ケーブルカー we took; the mountain is really, really steep! Apparently you can sometimes see monkeys in the forest, but sadly we didn't see any...

 This is the view of Lake Biwa from the station at the top. Everything was pretty hazy, you culd barely see where the lake stopped and the clouds began.

 こんぽんちゅうどう：This is one of the most important temples in the complex. It has a flame that hasn't been put out in 1200 years, ever since the temple was founded. We couldn't take pictures inside, but it was very pretty, especially the garden. There was also a very friendly monk who was chatting away to everyone - it was my first time meeting a real Buddhist monk!

 だいこうどう：This is a study hall, it had lots of religious books and also paintings of many important Buddhist monks, stretching right back in time.

 にあいどう：We went further up the mountain and past these two temples that are connected by a walkway. They looked a little abandoned, so I was really surprised when our tour leader told everyone to quieten down and we could hear monks chanting inside. Apparently no one actually lives there, but they still go up there to pray. とてもさむかったですから、わたしもあそこにすみたくないですよ！



しゃかどう：これもきれいでしたが、さむかったです！



 Around the courtyard by Shaka-do there were lots of these little statues. I asked a friend what they were for and he said they're probably lucky, and the aprons would be for purity. He also joked that the aprons kept them warm up here on top of the mountain. (Did I mention it was cold yet? A couple of times? It was cold!)

 ひえいざんのちず

では、みんなさん、どうおもいますか。ぶっきょう(Buddhism)にきょうみがありますか。
ぜひおしえてください！
As always, if you have any comments, questions, or a topic you'd like me to write about next, please leave it in the comments below!

よんでくれて、ありがとうございます。

たべもの

こんにちは、みんなさん！

きょうは、たべものについてかきます　（＾－＾）

I think I said when I came to your class in the summer, but one of the things I was most looking forward to about Japan was the food, and it did not disappoint!

So you all know what sushi is, and of course I’ve been to eat some already ~

This is a picture from a trip we made to the local conveyor belt sushi restaurant; it’s kind of like Yo! Sushi in the UK, but much cheaper! One plate is 100 yen, and I was full after only four. (You can see that some of my friends ate a little more than that, though!).

 If you haven’t been to a restaurant like this before, you sit down next to a little conveyor belt full of small plates of sushi, and just pick up any plate that you think looks tasty. Then at the end, the waiter or waitress counts up how many plates you had, and works out how much you owe them. I was a little confused the first time, so I was glad that I had some Japanese friends to help me out!

I’ve also eaten some ramen already. Have you heard of ramen before? It's a kind of noodle soup. とてもゆうめいな日本のたべものですよ。

This is the “curry ramen” I had out at a restaurant:

 

 

Of course, a lot of students eat instant ramen because it’s very easy to make. I’ve got some too, it’s soy sauce flavoured:

 

 

(As you can see on the packet, soy sauce is actually called しょうゆ in Japanese, I was pronouncing it wrong for the first week)

In any case, you shouldn’t just live on ramen, it’s not very good for you!

The other food that I’m really enjoying is the bento (べんとう、弁当）boxes that you can buy in the supermarket. This is one that was reduced because the shop was closing soon (the shops are very strict when it comes to having fresh food for the bento boxes, so you can get good deals if you go shopping later). This bento box includes えびてんぷら (deep-fried shrimp) and すきやき (sweet beef stew).

 

 

Sticking with supermarket food, I really like the おにぎり (rice balls) that are available everywhere. They're a little like sandwiches. You shape the rice into a ball or a triangle, put a filling like tuna or chicken inside, then wrap it with のり (seaweed) to eat it.

 

 

Finally, this is a strawberry-flavoured KitKat! You can get a lot of different flavours of chocolate here, including matcha green tea flavoured, but so far this is my favourite.

みんなさん、どうおもいますか。日本のたべものをたべたことがありますか。？？どうでしたか。

You can post a reply in the comments below. Also, please leave a comment if there’s anything you’d like me to write about next time! I still have a lot of Japanese food to discover, so I'm sure I'll be writing about it again soon.

よんでくれて、ありがとうございます！

 

 

よろしくおねがいします

こんいちは、みんなさん~
Welcome to my blog! I hope you all had a good summer holiday. I've been in Japan for two weeks now and it's really fun! とてもたのしいですよ。
Remember we talked about what sort of thing you'd all like to know about Japan? Well, hopefully I'll write something that will interest everyone. This week, though, I thought I'd just tell you a little about arriving here in Kyoto.

I'm living in a dormitory (寮りょう) and this is the view:

どうおもいますか。わたしは好きです^.^

りょうのちかくにはえきがあります。

 The trains are actually trams, and they're really fun to ride. This area is very pretty, and apparently in the spring the cherry trees blossom and tourists come expecially to ride the tram - you can see why:

Source: The Keifuku Line

Sticking with the cherry blossom (さくら) theme, this is a local bus we saw in the city centre, きれいですね:

The other way I've been getting around is by bike. よくじてんしゃでいきます。The dormitory rented me one so it was also super cheap ^^ Everyone in Japan seems to have a bicyle, so I'll do a post just about them another time, but first, here's mine (だいすきです ^.^)

I hope you're all enjoying the first few weeks at school! Stay tuned next time for a post about food in Japan!
こんどは、たべものについて書こうとおもいます。

よんでくれて、ありがとうございます。