Koizumi and Tsurara are going to take an early summer vacation.
We are planning to come back around July or August.
See you around then! :)

Koizumi and Tsurara

Natto is a traditional Japanese food.
It is made out of fermented soy beans and has a unique, strong aroma.
Therefore not all Japanese like the smell and some don't even eat it at all.

People from western part of Japan are not big fans of it and they sell natto with less aroma there.

Try it when you come to Japan or when you find it at your local Japanese shop.

Now we are back! :)

We found a shop with a funny name in Japan.


Writer: Tsurara from Helsinki Finland

Many Japanese people send new year greeting cards, so called "Nengajyou". Typically they have pictures of animals on them. For example this year they have dragons on them. The Japanese word for dragon is "Tathu". Next year's animal will be the snake. Each year the animal changes to one from a group of 12 animals. That group of animals is called "Eto (Chinese zodiac)".

Eto is used as a year's name. For example this year is 2012, we can also call it "Mizunoe Tathu". Mizunoe means water or earth. There are 60 variations of years' names.

However many Japanese people seldom use Eto as years' names today. Some people use it for fortune telling.


Koizumi

Due to health reasons, we will not post an article this month.
See you next month, hopefully.

Writer: Tsurara from Helsinki Finland

Due to preparations for Bounenkai and the New year's day we are going to skip next months' articles.

We wish you nice Christmas days and a Happy New year!

Koizumi and Tsurara

The other day I went to Nara National Museum. Once a year visitors are given the opportunity to see the national treasures at that museum. The exhibition's name is "Shosoin ten". (Ten means exhibition)

Shosoin is the name of an old treasure house belonging to Tōdai-ji temple. It was built about 1250 years ago. There are plenty of items in the warehouse, for example beautiful mirrors, silks, old aromatic trees and so on. Today Shosoin holds more than 9000 treasures.

However these collections usually are not open the public. Around 70 selections are shown once a year in autumn.

Nara National Museum has explanatory notes in English. If you visit Nara in autumn, you can see beautiful scenery and precious treasures.

NARA NATIONAL MUSEUM


Koizumi

Last month we went to see colored leaves at the Japanese garden in Helsinki.
It was nice, cherry leaves had turned red and birches were fully yellow...

Wait, birch trees are Finnish :D :D





Writer: Tsurara from Helsinki Finland

Many Japanese anime fans have recommended me to watch a certain anime series this year. The series name is Steins;Gate. It is originally a video game. Below is a short summary of Steins;Gate's story.

Okabe Rintarou -- who calls himself Hououin Kyoma, a mad scientist. One day he and his friend who is a hacker built a strange microwave which could send e-mails to the past. When someone received instructions via the e-mail in the past, it could change history in the current time. Okabe and his friends were in high spirits due to their success. For the experiment, they continued to send e-mails many times. However they changed the world history too much, and so Okabe intended to restore the world as it was for his most important friends.

The characters in Steins;Gate are described as Japanese otaku people so I think it might be difficult to understand the story and behaviors for foreigners. However the story is very interesting.

Now Steins;Gate continues. The latest news is that Steins;Gate is going to be made into a movie. Nobody knows the film's story yet. I’m looking forward to seeing it!


Steins;Gate (TV series / Japanese)
Steins;Gate (Game / Japanese)


Koizumi

Ginga is very popular in Finland. :)
I guess it is not only the drawings and story but also
because many people like dogs...
or, that's just a guess ;)



Writer: Tsurara from Helsinki Finland