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【No. 0442】Baumkuchen Day

Mar 4, 2016 21:06
Today, March 4th, is Baumkuchen day.

This is derived from the fact that Baumkuchen have been manufactured and sold since March 4th, 1919.

Today is also the sewing machine ( which is called "mishin" in Japan) day, because "mi" means "three," and "shi" means "four."

Furthermore, today is a sash(sasshi) day, a magazine(zasshi) day, and a three sisters(san-shimai) day("sa" and "za" means "three," "shi" means "four" in Japan).

However, most Japanese people don't think that March 4th is a special day.

I think that one of the reasons is because March 3rd is a special day as Dolls' Festival for Japanese.

Japanese set up a lot of dolls, and wish girls both health and growth on March 3rd.
  • in Diary
  • 2 min read

【No. 0441】Year-End Accomplishment Report Meeting

Mar 3, 2016 21:51
Today, I conducted the accomplishment report of my venture activity at the year-end meeting.

Since this presentation was the compilation of my student life, I was a little nervous, but it went smoothly.

In the social gathering, I presented commemorative gifts to teachers and staffs who supported me, and conveyed to them my sincere appreciation.

When I saw one of them had tearful eyes, I almost cried too.

Also, many of them gave me words of encouragement, so I was impressed.

I'd like to push forward confidently toward my new goal.
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【No. 0440】"Iro-iro" And "Sama-zama"

Mar 2, 2016 19:38
Today, I will talk about the difference between the Japanese phrases "iro-iro" and "sama-zama."

Both of them have almost the same meaning like "various," and you can replace them in most cases.

"Iro" of "iro-iro" means "color," and "iro-iro" had used for flowers or fabrics as the meaning of "colorful."

However, currently it came to have the meaning of "various."

On the other hand, "sama" of "sama-zama" means something like "state," and "sama-zama" is a more formal expression than "iro-iro."

Also, you can write both of them in Kanji, but to use Hiragana is recommended due to readability.
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  • 2 min read

【No. 0439】Tasks in Tokyo

Mar 1, 2016 23:53
Today, I took a day off from work, and went to Tokyo.

This is because I had to make documents for next fiscal year.

There were a lot of people, so I felt depressed.

However, my mother visited me today.

She bought supplies for my new life, and treated me to a delicious lunch and dinner.

It was really helpful, and I'm filled with gratitude.

She is youthful, cheerful and lovely.

My mother is my pride.

【No. 0438】Leap Year

Feb 29, 2016 12:54
Today, February 29th is a leap year.

I can write this sentence only once every four years.

I'll do my best so that I write "today is a leap year" on Lang-8 again.

The leap year has been established to correct deviations of the calendar, because one year is not 365 days, but about 365.2422 days.

In addition, in the Gregorian calendar, there are two other rules to correct subtle deviations due to leap years; if the year is divided by 100 then it's regarded as a common year, but if the year is divided by 400 then it's regarded as a leap year.

On the other hand, in the modified Julian calendar, if the year is divided by 100 then it's regarded as a common year, but if the remainder of the year when divided by 900 is 200 or 600 then the year is regarded as a leap year.

Both of them are very accurate calculation methods of the calendar, but the modified Julian calendar is more accurate.
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【No. 0437】Shikato (Disregard)

Feb 28, 2016 13:35
Today, I will tell you about the Japanese word "shikato(シカト)," which means "disregard."

Since "shikato" is mainly used by young people, it is often thought of as a youth slang expression, but it exists from of old.

This word is derived from a picture of hanafuda that is Japanese playing cards.

In the hanafuda, there are four cards for each month that seasonal flowers are drawn.

In these cards, although autumn leaves and a deer ("shika" in Japanese) are drawn in October of a 10 points card ("10" is called "ju" or "to" in Japan), the deer doesn't see the autumn leaves and looks away.

From the looks of it, the word "shikato," which means "disregard" was made.
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【No. 0436】Scholarships in Japan

Feb 27, 2016 10:09
Today, I will talk about a weird scholarship system in Japan.

Japanese scholarships are divided into three major categories, "benefit scholarship," "interest-free loan type scholarship," and "interest-bearing loan type scholarship."

Currently, about 60% of Japanese college/university students are using these scholarship systems.

However, the allocation of the benefit scholarship is very small, so almost all students have to borrow scholarship loans.

Furthermore, about 85% of them seem to borrow "interest-bearing loan type scholarships."

We call all these systems "scholarships(奨学金)," but I think that the loan type scholarships are just "student loans."

It can be called "debts."

It's not rare that Japanese people who went on to doctoral courses have debts of 10 million yen (90,000 dollars) when they graduate.

In fact, I heard many people are suffering from the repayments of the scholarships.

I think we should allocate more national budget to education fields.
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【No. 0435】The Reason Why Seawater Is Salty

Feb 26, 2016 13:48
Seawater contains salts, and about one-third of produced salts in the world is made from seawater.

According to the Japanese old tale, since a millstone that continues to produce salts sunk into the sea, the sea water became salty.

However, the true reason is because the seawater was strongly acidic in the ancient times.

The acidic seawater and the acid rain melted rock strata, and mineral seeped into the sea, then the seawater became salt water.

Currently the feed rate of salts is almost commensurate with the removal rate of salts, so the saltiness of the seawater is constant.
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  • 4 min read

【No. 0434】The Meaning of "Unique"

Feb 25, 2016 15:11
The word "unique" is one of foreign words that are often used in Japan.

It is said that "unique" was derived from "unus," which means "one" in Latin, and it has several meanings such as "individual" or "sole."

However, somehow many Japanese misunderstand the meaning of "unique."

If we say "he is a unique person (彼はユニークな人だ)," the meaning will become something like "he is a funny person (彼は面白い人だ)."

In my opinion, Japanese confuse the meanings of "unique（ユニーク）" with "humor（ユーモア）."
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【No. 0433】A Dog Person and A Cat Person

Feb 24, 2016 19:06
Dogs and cats are very popular as pets.

I heard the number of dogs and cats kept as pets are almost the same.

However, according to a questionnaire survey, the ratio of dog persons is around 60%, while cat persons is around 40%.

Also, there seems to be some good trend in dog persons.

For example, the questionnaire result showed that dog persons have more friends on SNSs, and are more liked by various people.

Especially for men, an average annual income of dog persons was about 10,000 dollars higher than cat persons.

On the other hand, the number of cat videos is overwhelmingly larger than dog videos.

I like both dogs and cats.
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【No. 0432】Fujisan (Mount Fuji) Day

Feb 23, 2016 17:56
Today, February 23 is the Fujisan Day.

The reason is because we can read "2" as "fu(tatsu)" and "ji," and "3" as "san."

This day was established by Shizuoka Prefecture and Yamanashi Prefecture, where the Mount Fuji is located.

In many public schools in Shizuoka Prefecture, today seems to be a holiday.

Also, there are a lot of events related to Mount Fuji in various places.

It sounds fun, but there is almost no event in other prefecture.

Actually, I just found out the day today.
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【No. 0431】A Tanuki's (Raccoon Dog's) Sleep

Feb 22, 2016 10:00
Today, I will write about a Japanese proverb "a tanuki's sleep (tanuki neiri)."

"A tanuki's sleep" is to pretend to be asleep when you feel bad.

The tanuki (raccoon dog) is a very timid animal, and pretends to be asleep (or loses consciousness) when it senses danger.

Since the figure looks like a pretended sleep that deceives humans, we made the proverb "a tanuki's sleep."

For the same reason, there is an expression "play possum" that means "a pretended sleep" in English.

Also, there is another expression "a fox's sleep."

The reason is because foxes are sly and it's thought that they deceive humans.

By the way, I heard that there are little expressions like them except English and Japanese.
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【No. 0430】Kaminari-sama (Mr. Thunder)

Feb 21, 2016 12:57
In Japan, there is a popular belief that Kaminari-sama (Mr. Thunder) falls from the sky and picks your belly button.

Therefore, we are taught to hide our belly buttons when we hear a peal of thunder.

It might sound strange, but there are rational reasons.

When a thunderstorm comes, especially it is due to a cold front, it causes an extreme drop in temperature.

For this reason, you have to cover your belly button so as not to cool your stomach.

It is said that this belief was created to prevent children from catching a cold.

Also, there is also another reason to avoid lightning strike by hiding your belly button and lowering your head position.
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【No. 0429】Mysterious Biology of Giant Panda

Feb 20, 2016 12:25
Today, I'd like to tell you about mysterious biology of pandas, especially giant pandas.

It is said that the name "panda" is derived from "bamboo" in Nepali, and as the name indicates, pandas eat mainly bamboos.

However, pandas' digestive organs are ones of carnivorous animals such as bears, so the bamboos are not digested enough.

In addition, since bamboos have less nutritional values, pandas have to eat massive amounts of bamboos to supply energies.

Also, to excrete when the digestion is insufficient is associated with sharp pain, so pandas seem to become limp after the excretion.

For these reasons, pandas spend 55% of the day on their diets, and 40% of the day sleeping.

Although this might sound really bad efficiency, there is an advantage.

Bamboos never wither even if ice age comes again, so pandas can survive while the ice age.

By the way, it's not really know the reason why pandas have white and black pattern hairs, unlike in the case of zebras.
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【No. 0428】Graduation Research Presentation

Feb 19, 2016 18:39
Today, the graduation research poster presentation of senior students was held.

Since I have supported some studies of some students, I was also a little bit nervous.

However, they all had done well, so I was relieved.

There were also various interesting studies, the day rolled by quickly.

I was encouraged to do my study more diligently from today.
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【No. 0427】Handing Out Pocket TIssues

Feb 18, 2016 18:02
Today, I will tell you about handing out pocket tissues, which is referred as one of Japanese cultures.

In many streets in Japan, a large amount of pocket tissues are handed out for free every day.

A flyer is included in the pocket tissue, but it's an normal tissue.

If you live in a big city in Japan, it's not difficult to get 10 packs of pocket tissues a day.

I heard that pocket tissues are handed out in Taiwan and Germany too, but it seems to be rare in the world.
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  • 2 min read

【No. 0426】The Height of Mount Fuji

Feb 17, 2016 15:37
Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan, and most Japanese people love this mountain.

Today, I will introduce information about the height of the Mount Fuji.

In 1885, the height of the Mount Fuji was 3778 meters.

However, the Great Kanto Earthquake struck in 1923.

As a result of the re-measurement three years later, the height became 3776 meters.

After that, we seemed to reinforce the summit part of the Mount Fuji with concrete, so as not to decrease the height any more.

For this reason, currently the height is still 3776 meters.
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【No. 0425】Bonuses and Mochi (Rice-Cake) Payments

Feb 16, 2016 14:37
Most Japanese companies pay bonuses to workers twice a year, apart from regular salaries.

The average amount of the bonus in Japan is about 1 million yen (8,720 dollars) a year, but it could fluctuate greatly depending on the company.

The bonuses are over 3.5 million yen (30,520 dollars) in leading companies, while they are 0 yen in small enterprises.

As a result of searching about the bonuses in overseas, I found that many countries seem to pay bonuses once a year.

In some countries, companies pay 13 months' salaries, and this extra part seems to correspond to bonuses.

By the way, some Japanese companies pay "mochi payments (rice-cake payments)," in addition to bonuses at the end of the year.

The reason why we call it "mochi payments" is that we often eat mochi during the New Year holidays, but it is just something like "otoshidama(New Year's gift money)."

Although mochi payments are around tens of thousands yen (300-500 dollars) in many cases, the Liberal Democratic Party seems to pay 1 million yen to each assembly member as mochi payments.
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【No. 0424】Wisdom Teeth Extraction

Feb 15, 2016 14:51
Today, I went to a dental clinic, and got my two wisdom teeth out.

The number of extracted wisdom teeth became four, so now there is no wisdom tooth in my mouth.

Since anesthesia is working, I don't feel any pain now, however after a while, the anesthetic will wear off and I will come to feel some pain.

(When I was writing this post, I came to ache, haha.)

I'm scared because it was very painful when I had my wisdom teeth pulled out two years ago.

Anyway, I never want to go dental clinics.
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  • 10 min read

【No. 0423】Working Hours in Japan

Feb 14, 2016 15:51
I sometimes find an opinion that Japanese work too long on the Internet.

Previously in Japan, since there were some famous phrases, such as "Monday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Friday" and "can you fight for 24 hours?," I had an impression that we work long time.

However, it was also said that Japanese don't work hard, they just work long time.

In order to solve this problem, recently Japan introduced a 5-day work week system, and increased the number of national holidays.

The current number of national holidays in Japan is 16 days, and the number is the third largest in the world.

However, I think two problems remain, working overtime for no pay and vacation deprivations.

Unfortunately, many Japanese companies don't seem to meet the Labor Standards Act.