On the day of Halloween, Shibuya turns to be super CHAOS indeed. There is no “Trick or treat?” at all. Particularly in the place named Shibuya, Halloween is especially for adults’, not children’s

Sometimes, such a situation seems to be little bit strange compared with an American style because Halloween event is originally for the children.

The costumes or makeups are unbelievably high quality. Some people say that they prepare for the day about one month ago. They truly put their hearts into Halloween!

Please look at these pictures just above. Can you guess where? No need to say, it’s the famous scramble crossing in Shibuya. Of course, here is always crowded with rushing people in the ordinary days. But on the Halloween day, we even cannot move because of the people, people, and people there.

From now on, we just want to show you several pictures. They were taken in Shibuya on the Halloween day, and all of the costumes and makeup are full of ideas.

Have you ever seen this character on TV show? They turn to become the famous comedian called “Akemi-chan”. Good face expression, makeup, and costume.

No one doesn’t know this character we guess…yes, Pika-chu! All of their body and face are colored in yellow, Pika-chu color. Just amazing one!

Oh my god…there are uncountable Wallys! Here is no longer Shibuya, the world of “Where’s Wally?”!

Do you want to join Shibuya’s Halloween night?

As you might guess by the title, there are various seasonal foods in Japan. We have already introduced you the concept of Shokuyoku no Aki(食欲の秋) before, today, I would like you to know especially about Saury as seasonal food of autumn.

Saury is called “Sanma (秋刀魚)” in Japan, the letters represent autumn, blade, and fish respectively. As this letter express, autumn is the best season to taste sanma, in addition, their appearance is straight enough to look like blade. This fish have rich fat content, especially in this season, to overwinter. As a result, Sanma became popular dish in this season. People taste the fish grilled only with sault, and drop lemon, rime, Ponzu sauce, and soy sauce, on it.

Historically, this fish has been popular among Japanese people. On the evidence, there is not only Rakugo episode which contains Sanma in its title, but also many novels which write about Sanma in its story.

　

However, nowadays Sanma shortage causes price rise and it became a little bit expensive fish. This is the only problem of this food. I would like to try and eat Sanma until this season ends up.

Daytime with the sun become shorter, the wind become little bit getting cold, the tree become colorful from fresh green.　In Japan, we call it “Aki（秋）” Autumn in English.

We all of Japanese love “Aki（秋）” due to its many attractive points.　Today, we want to share those here.

【Shokuyoku no Aki（食欲の秋）/ Delicious food in Autumn】

In Autumn, we can enjoy a lot of delicious food.　Grapes, Matsutake（松茸）, Samma（さんま）,…… cannot count then down completely.　Since they are grown up under the plenty if sun lights in summer, all of autumn’s seasonal foods are good nourishing.　Actually, according to the survey, 76% of Japanese people gain weight during autumn.　Though we love autumn, at the same time, very complex feeling to it after finding such a fact.

【Dokusho no Aki（読書の秋）/ Reading books in Autumn】

Because of its confortable weather, autumn is the best season to read a book out side, under the blue sky. Surprisingly, more books will be published and sold in the book store in autumn compared to the other seasons.

【Sports no Aki（スポーツの秋）/ Doing sports in Autumn】

Sports festivals are always held in autumn, because of the great weather. It’s not too hot like summer, but not too cold like winter during this season.

As we mentioned a lot before, the autumn is the best for food, reading, and doing sports. Why don’t you enjoy Japanese autumn!!

Hi, this is Cosmos Japanese Language School! We are having calligraphy sessions on every Mondays 19:00-19:40.

Ms.Abe, professional calligrapher, will give you a session for free. Come and Join us!!

We have a message and some more detail information from Abe-sensei below!

—————————————————————————————————————

【Information of the “秋鳳 calligraphy salon”】

“秋鳳 calligraphy salon” is providing the place for foreign people to enjoy Japanese calligraphy.

You can choose your favorite letter(e.g.Kanji), and create your own original calligraphy art using a writing brush.

Since our session is in a small group, calligraphy-unfamiliar students are also welcoming.

Each of Japanese letter has their own meanings, so some students give the art to their friends as a present.

Of course, you can take a session with your family or friends!

＜fee＞

0 yen (will write your favorite 1 Kanji on the special material.)

＜schedule＞

every mondays 19:00-19:40

＜access＞

Glenpark Hanzomon 502, 　Kojimachi 2-12-1, Chiyoda, Tokyo

＜contact information＞

akemi.d.d.d@gmail.com

＜Blog＞

http://waka-1.blogspot.jp/

—————————————————————————————————————

Come and join us!!!

Where will you pay attention to when you walk around the street? According to some article, people tend to look forward and slightly when they walk. Today, I’m going to introduce you the fun of looking on the road in Japan. As you might guess, there are many unique signs on the road such as traffic signs, guardrails, and manhole covers.

If you are already arrived (or lived) in Japan, please looking for manhole covers in the town. Japanese manhole covers has full of variation, because Japanese manholes are designed by each local government. For example, manhole covers, which are draw azaleas, are in Misumi city in Shimane prefecture.

This is because representative flower of the city is azaleas. Likewise, manhole covers in Tokyo is designed with cherry blossom, Kobe prefecture makes manhole covers with its scenery, and the representative bird is in manhole covers in Ikeda Osaka.

　　

Not only manhole covers, but also guardrails have variation in their color in each region. Do you know the default color of guardrail in Japan?  It’s white. However, the color of guardrail is painted in orange on prefecture road in Yamaguchi. This is because these guardrails have been colored to make difference from other prefecture, when the National Athletic Meets was held in there. The reason of choosing orange is that summer orange is representative fruits for Yamaguchi prefecture. This is special color only in Yamaguchi.

As I mentioned above, there are rich variations on the road. If you have a time to travel around Japan, please enjoy finding unique things in that place. And let me know about your findings.

cosmos.jls@gmail.com

As you may already know, Sumo（相撲）is the well-known national sports in Japan. We guess you have ever seen two big Sumo（相撲）wrestlers called rikishi（力士） fight in a ring called dohyo（土俵）. We can enjoy watching Sumo（相撲）both on TV and National Sports Hall（国技館）.

Sumo（相撲）has a lot of techniques to fight against, but if a wrestler（力士） steps out of the dohyo（土俵）or falls down on the ground, he will be loser of the fight.

Well, let me tell you about some famous techniques of Sumo（相撲）here. Greatly famous ones are Yorikiri（寄り切り） and Oshidashi（押し出し）. Yorikiri（寄り切り）is the forcing out, and Oshidashi（押し出し）is the pushing out of the dohyo（土俵）. Also they slapping down called Hatakikomi（はたき込み）, or kifting out called Tsuridashi（つり出し）. Other dynamic techniques are an overarm throw called Uwatenage （上手投げ）and an underarm throw called Shitatenage（下手投げ）.

If you want to be a rikishi（力士）, there is some regulations. You must be at least 173 centimeters tall and weigh 75 kilograms. So they eat a lot to gain weight and also sleep a lot.

By the way, do you know what’s the purpose of sumo wrestlers（力士）’ oicho hairstyle? All of sumo wrestlers（力士）tied up their hair in a certain style called oicho（大銀杏）, but even Japanese people, most of them don’t know the meaning of it. The answer of this question is as follows.

Oicho（大銀杏）’s hair style is not just a matter of aesthetics, but protects the wrestlers（力士）’ heads when they go head-to-head at the beginning of the match or if they fall out of the ring.

Sumo（相撲）is really interesting sport as so far. Why don’t you go to see Sumo（相撲）!!

cosmos.jls@gmail.com