2007年10月25日木曜日

Homework #2

1.Death and Funerals:

A. Do you have any international friends or a host family? If so, how would you express your condolences to them if a family member died? If not, then how would you express consolences to an American host family if their Grandmother died?

if one of the family members who I knew or met before died, I would express my condolence with my cry or sad face because the expression using with face like smile, cry and sad face is pretty common all over the world. so I think there are no country or somebody who tell us that we can not express my condolences with my face. it is very difficult to go to funerals without knowledge.

the other idea is that if I study or have information about the way of funeral and condolences in their country, I follow it and send flowers because sometimes, they may have some flower we can not bring to funeral like rose in Japan.

B. Have you ever been to a foreign funeral?

No. I have not. but I sometimes watch a part of movie having funerals and it is very different between counties. some people wear black net to hide their face. some other people put many flowers in coffin. there are many kinds of them.

2. The language of Clothes (preparation for next weeks topic):
A.Why are Japanese designer label crazy? Why is what you wear so important?
I do not care about any brand of clothes. I do not think wearing them is important so much. because they are expensive and now, I am a student and have a lot of thing I want to study and learn. so I need a lot of money to do them and no money to waste like buying brand.
However, I care about the material of clothes or the clothes that makes me person what I want to be. because If I wear ragged clothes, people think I am unclean and lazy person. what I wear put my image to others. I care about a look from others.

B.What does “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” mean to you?
It means "Do not judge people from outside. it is important to see and know their inside. "
People often decide others with looks. However, looks does not always fit with their interior.
I think the first impression of people is really important to meet people because good impression makes people feel easy to talk to me and bad one is difficult to talk to me. I mean good impression is somethings I can express from my inside. so it is making a good smile or wearing clean clothes. so I think we can judge people with first impression at fast but we should not judge person with wearing brand clothes or beautiful face or body style that they can not change.

Homework#1-2 Preparation for the next class "Death and Funerals"

2. Preparation for the next class "Death and Funerals"
A,Where do you go when you die?

My body is buried in the soil and under the grave.
My soul go to Heaven or Hell.

B. Explain why do Japanese have death memorial services 1 month, 1 year, 3 years, 7 years, etc. after a person's death?

I think Japanese do death memorial services many times not to forget people who die because we are told that we have to take care and treat our ancestor even if they died. Japanese people think Our ancestor is really significant and important because we think we would have not been born without our ancestor. therefore There are death memorial services not to forget them. Moreover, there are this times of the services because I guess people getting to forget them on this times.



2007年10月19日金曜日

Homework #1-1 Wrapping

1. Reflecting about today's class:
Today we discussed the Japanese concept of "wrapping".
Do you agree with the web site's description?

Yes, I agree with that. I think it is because Japanese people care about the looks from other people so much and do not open to strangers. so we cover most of the things to avoid telling about what kinds of people we are.


What do you do that can be called "wrapping"? Give examples and reasons for your actions.

1. Engawa (Veranda-like porch) and Entrance in my house.

As Mrs. Meiki Said in last class, my family and I welcomed my school teachers only at an entrance or Engawa. some families welcome their teacher to their house and give them a cup of tea. However, some guest hesitate to come into their house or take a cup of tea.
Moreover, the construction of Japanese house is different with other house in other countries a little. Engawa is a good example and also we can see a big bump at entrance to take their shoes off in Japan.
one time, I read this book and it says"it(Engawa) is here that casual visitors can be offered hospitality without violating the privacy of the home---neighbors like myself, perhaps, a policeman on his rounds, or the weary postman. Japanese etiquette requires the extension of courtesies---at least a cup of tea---to any caller. But if invited into the house, a visitor must be received with great formality. The engawa provides the perfect middle ground between these extremes".(28-29)
Japanese people do not usually invite strangers or people who we do not know very well into the house and do not want to look at inside of our space. I think it is also"Wrapping". Moreover, as this article says, there are strict manner in Japan. ex (the way to take off their shoes, to drink a cup of tea, to greet another family members) so it is also for visitor not to invite into the house in Japan.

-Cited words-
Walter Nicholes. 30 Things japanese : Engawa, Yumi express, 1978