1. My Country, Japan By Airi Wednesday March 12 th 2008

2. Flag Symbol of Japan is our flag. On the center of flag there is Hi-no-maru which is circle of the sun. This flag symbolizes the sun. It became our national flag in Meiji Restorations in 1868. It have been Japanese flag for centuries.

3. Religion Shinto and Buddhism are the most common religion in Japan. Many people consider themselves as both of them. They don' really show that they are Buddhism now a days. The average people follow the religious ceremonies such as birth, weddings,funerals, also visiting shrine or temple on new years and other festivals.

4. Festivals Most common festival in Japan is New year. At new year everybody goes to temple to make a wish. Also most of the shrines have their own festival called "matsuri". They have this matsuri several times in year. For example mikoshi is one event. It is portable shrine carried by dozen of people. There are more of this festivals.

5. Famous place to visit There are many temples in Japan. One of them are called Kimiidera "dera" means temple. It is very beautiful to see early-blooming cherry blossoms. If you heard country Japan you might think of Mt. Fuji. Mt. Fuji is the tallest mountain in Japan.You can see it from many places it is in place called Yamanashi.

6. Traditional foods Sushi; We put raw fish on vinegered rice. There are many kinds of fish such as tuna, salmon, octopus shrimp, squid and more. Lots of people like to eat sushi. There are many sushi shop. Noodle; there are four main noodles in Japan. One of them are called Soba it is gray and it is made of grain. The other kind is Udon it is white and thick. There are cold ones and hot ones. Somen is summer Udon it is cold and every body eats in summer time. Last one is Ra-men it is typical noodle in Japan. There are many tastes and vegetable in. There are more kinds of traditional food but these were most common traditional food.

7. National activities Kendo; When we play kendo we use stick called “shinai” it is made of bamboo. We use to play kendo and long time ago they used real katana which is like long knife. Kendo is like fencing. We hit each other. To do kendo we wear four bogu which is like armor. Four parts is called; Men ( helmet)‏ ` Do ( shelter for stomach)‏ Kote ( hard glove)‏ Tare ( hard belt)‏ When we put on those bogu we put it over the clothing called Hakama. Also, when we put shinai on the floor we can not step on it or lean on it. If you do this it is very rude.

8. National activities #2 Shodo; Shodo is Japanese calligraphy. Shodo means “the way of writing”. Most of Japanese children learn shodo when they are in elementary school Also, it is popular between adult. When we do shodo we use many materials. This is what they are called; Shitajiki (black soft mat to put under the hanshi.)‏ Bunchin (a metal stick to keep the hanshi still with weight.)‏ Hanshi (special thin paper for calligraphy.)‏ Fude (brush, there are fat one to write main characters and thin one to write artist’s name. Thin brush also be use when you are writing main characters.)‏ Suzuri (Heavy black container for the ink.)‏ Sumi (Solid black ink which you rub in water in the suzuri to make black ink to write with.)‏ Normally we write kanji which is Chinese letter when we are doing shodo.

9. Samurai Samurai was member of Military. Which is Japanese warriors. Samurai used weapons such as bow and arrow, spear and guns. Their symbol was the katana (sword). After the fight some samurai chose to suiside (seppuku) by cutting their abdomen rather than being caught.

10. Dress Japanese people wear Kimono or Yukata just at special time. We wear Yukata just at New year when you go to Jinja which is temple. We wear Kimono in winter time and Yukata at summer time. There are also festival wear called happi. It is for summer festivals and men wear them normally.

11. Flower Cherry blossom is Japanese national flower. It had been celebrated for many years. There are many kinds of cherry blossom is Japan. They just opens for couple of days. We can have fun having picnic under the cherry blossom tree. It is very beautiful sight if you will see cherry blossom in Japan.

12. Language We speak Japanese in Japan. But all the Japanese is different accent. There are accent called Kansaiben, Tottoriben, Nagoyaben, Oosakaben and more.

13. Bibliography http://www.houstonbudo.com/KENDO.HTM http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2095.html http://www.city.wakayama.wakayama.jp/english/sightseeing/places/temples.html http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e629.html http://www.jref.com/glossary/mikoshi.shtml http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2011.html http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2127.html http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2270.html

14. Thank you for watching!