Malindi, Kenya | May 2014 HABARI ZA JAPAN · こんばんはHabari za usiku? ... Japanese use CHOPSTICKS to eat. ... people and connect the Asian world with African world more closely.

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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])