| |
Dear Language Enthusiast,
Greetings from Transparent Language! Every so often we send out this free newsletter
with topics of interest to Japanese language enthusiasts. Since the introduction of the
newsletter last year, we have received dozens of letters from readers with positive
feedback and suggestions. We are delighted that the newsletter has been so well received
and are grateful for your insightful comments.
This month's newsletter compares the Japanese winter season to the current economy.
Sincerely,
Transparent Language
www.transparent.com
Japan in the Coldest Season:
Japanese people have always appreciated the four seasons. According to the ancient
calendar, February was called kisaragi, which literally means "wearing more
clothes." As this expression suggests, February is the coldest month in Japan.
Kisaragi is perhaps the best metaphor for today's Japan and its people. Since the
so-called bubble economy burst in 1993, Japan has been submerged in the harshest economic
recession it has experienced since the end of World War II. Even though the world's second
largest economy was expected to play an important role in rescuing other nations from the
wide-spread Asian economic turmoil, Keizo Obuchi, the prime minister from the Liberal
Democratic Party has continued to betray everyone's expectations from the IMF to the U.S.
and from China to his own nation.
As most economists suggest, the only option Japan has is to overhaul its economic
system. To catch up with the international competition, Japanese companies must adopt an
American management style and give up many of their conventional policies such as lifetime
employment. Some people fear that Japan will become like America - a society of winners
and losers, with a rapidly increasing crime rate. Without knowing what to do next, the
majority of Japanese are apprehensive about the big changes to come.
On the other hand, some things never change in Japan. Kisaragi is also the best season
to witness one of Japan's ancient cultural traditions: the Omizutori Festival in Nara, one
of the oldest Buddhist festivals, is a dynamic pageant of fire and water. Priests,
carrying pine torches high over their shoulders while sparks from the torches shower the
audience, circle the veranda of the Nigatsudo (February Hall), one of the many buildings
of the Todaiji temple, designated a national treasure. The main event of the festival is
to ladle aka, holy water, from the well. Started in 752 AD, the festival has never been
interrupted, even by a single year, and it has never changed.
q
Fortunately, there is another traditional event in kisaragi, a less serious one. It's
called setsubun and is a favorite among children. Unlike omizutori, this is one everybody
can enjoy. On February 2, people scatter roasted beans in and out of their houses, saying
" Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi" (Goblins are out, happiness is in). Then they eat
the number of beans that equals their age plus one, wishing no ills and no evils. Begun in
the 12th century, this annual event has been maintained by Japanese people for centuries.
However, this year some may have replaced the chant with a more appropriate one,
"Recession wa soto, prosperity wa uchi."
New Product Announcement!
Transparent Language is proud to announce the arrival of JapaneseNow!, the newest
addition to our line of Language learning software. From basic skills to conversational
fluency, JapaneseNow! gives you what you need to learn Japanese. Participate in real
dialogs with native speakers, play games, practice pronunciation, and much more.
JapaneseNow!'s variety of interactive skill-building activities will help you quickly
master conversational Japanese. In order to simplify the new learner's task,
transliterated texts represent the sounds of foreign language by using the Roman Alphabet.
Available April 15th.
JapaneseNow! is the premier learning tool in which to teach yourself a foreign
language. We have included some tips to help you get the full use out of your language
software.
Tips for JapaneseNow! users:
1. To play the video for an entire Title, select any word in the first Segment of the
Title, then choose "Video / Segments". To stop the video at any time, choose
"Video / Stop."
2. To practice vocabulary, look at an illustration in an Illustrated Title and try to
name as many objects as you can in the foreign language. Type your answers in the Notes
tab. To go to the previous or next Illustration, click the previous and next buttons below
the illustration.
|
