Konnichi Wa Club Spring 2009: Nihongo ga hanaseru youni narimasu youni

Are you fascinated with Japanese comic books and animated movies but wondered “just what are they saying” or “why are they doing that”? Ever wanted to try Sushi but were intimidated by the menu? Now is your chance to break the barrier and learn about the culture and the language of Japan.

Japanese culture has had a far reaching influence for a long time and in recent years the interests in its arts, teachings and language have increased. The old culture of Samurai's and Shogun's has made way for a vast growing economy with a Pop culture generation that is attracting new comers from all over the world
This semester you will learn the basics of the Japanese language and will participate in Japanese culture through the hands on experience of martial arts, origami and Japanese cuisine, just to name a few

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Today is our first Konnichi Wa 2009 club meeting

January 21, 2009: Today is our first club meeting for the Konnichi Wa 2009 Japanese Culture and Language Club.

We learned many things today such as the 3 different alphabets that are used in Japan; the Hiragana (seen on the left) the Katakana (used for foreign words and names) and Kanji (which originated in China but was adopted by both the Koreans and Japanese for use in their written languages). We also met each other today for the first time and learned why we are all in this club together.

I am the club leader my name is Liana Winkler or Liana Sensei (Leader/ teacher as we learned today). I was a teacher in Japan for several years. I lived in a small village (Cho) named Iwaizumi-Cho, in the county (Gun) of Shimohei-Gun, in the state (Ken) of Iwate-Ken. I loved living in Japan. It was peaceful, fun, unique, and a great learning experience. I had the opportunity to study traditional Japanese dance and even performed on TV with my dance group. My favorite foods were Ume-Boshi Onigiri (a rice ball sandwich with a pickled plum paste center) and Mochi (green tea powder) Ice Cream.

I hope you all have the time to follow the Konnichi Wa 2009 Spring Blog (check back each week for new blog posting by club members and great Japanese links) and experience the culture and language of Japan along with us.
Ga Matta!
Posted by Grand Duchess Winkler at 1:13 PM