Taboos Related to Chopsticks

Today's topic is about taboos when we use chopsticks here and how to hold them.

We are familiar with using chopsticks, but we have some taboos related to the use of them.

Please remember not to spoil the good atmosphere at the table.

1, Touching foods Unnecessarily

Don't touch foods unnecessarily from one to another without eating.

2. Pull Plates or Bowls to you

Don't pull a plate or bowl toward you with chopsticks.

3. Licking

Don't lick chopsticks to clean many times or scoop up attached food into your mouth.

4. Sticking

Don't impale food with chopsticks.

5. Stirring

Don't stir in a plate or bowl to pick up favorite food.

6. Dropping something liquid

Be careful not to drop something liquid like soup.

7. Pointing at someone

Don't point at someone with chopsticks.

8. Setting in foods

Don't stick and set the chopsticks in food, as on upper picture.

9. Laying chopsticks across plate or bowl

Don't lay chopsticks across a plate or bowl.

10. Passing Foods

Don't use your chopsticks to take something from someone else's chopsticks.

This way of passing things relates to Japanese funerary custom.

《Additional Explanations about Number 9》

We often place chopsticks across the plate at home, and not many of us pay attention to keep it in mind.

You will see some people fold a chopsticks’ paper holder and make the place to put them on at a restaurant. Let’s see the following a photo.

And this is the signal to finish eating, the lower one.

How to hold chopsticks

Please check whether you can use chopsticks well while looking at the below pictures.

Could you pick up something and use them well??

今回はお箸のマナーと持ち方について、紹介したけれど、日本人ならほとんど知っている話だと思うので、別の話を書きますね。
ついに、言ってた三番目の5年生のクラスが学年閉鎖になりました・・・。
我が子の班では、うちの子以外、みんな休んでいるという状況の中、何故か元気で通っている末っ子。
今日もう少ししたら帰ってくるけれど、果たしてもう貰っているんだろうか。
中学生も、高校生もテスト期間中や、間近なので、この時期からインフルエンザになることは絶対避けたいなあ。

今日の予定していたマラソン大会は、閉鎖中のクラスのみ延期らしいです。
今日すっごく天気が良くて、マラソン日和なのにねえ・・・。　　

Class Closedown due to Influenza

My daughter is a  5 grade student at an elementary school. 
Her school is a small one though it's in a suburb of my city, it has only 10 classrooms and 1 special class. The 5th grade has only 1 class, 24 boys and 9 girls.

A disease of influenza has been spreading in Japan for these days. We can listen to the news on TV well. High level of influenza activity has been reported here.

If there are many absences in a class, it's closed for 3 days according to the school standards.

Her class had 5 absences today and extra 2 students went back home because of getting a fever.

If all of them keep staying away from school, it will be closed tomorrow.

Only 2 classes including her class have not been closed yet. She is looking forward to the good news very much, because she is still fine and can be absent from school. 
But in the case of a close down classsroom, kids can't go out and should stay at home during the period.

If a classroom is closed, any events at school about the class are postponed to another day.

There is a marathon race this Thursday, which is one of big events at public elementary schools for parents to visit and observe in winter.

Students from the 3rd to 6th grade run 1300 meters around there at her school.

While driving today, I saw 6th grade kids practice running in the tomorrow's course.

When I asked my daughter what she did at the time after coming back home, she answered to get home economics lessons. They learned the difference of the brightness among many places around the school by measuring with a tool.  

She taught me the amount of the brightness, some figured "lux" on the ground, but I forgot the number... Haha.

I’m imagining how she would look like after coming back home tomorrow, she must be with a lot of smiles, I think.

皆さんのお子さんの学校では、学級閉鎖になっていませんか？
三番目の学校は、小規模校で1年から6年まで合わせて１０クラスと支援学級の１１クラス。そのうち学級閉鎖になっていないのは、２クラスだけ・・・。
そして、うちの子の学年は、２４人の男の子と９人の女の子の１クラスなんです。学級閉鎖＝学年閉鎖なんですね。

うちの娘は、今か今かと学年閉鎖になることを期待しながら、毎日学校に行っていました。
今日帰って来てすぐに、「今日のお休みは５人で、昼から２人熱で帰って行ってん。もし明日も７人お休みなら、学年閉鎖になるねんて～」と喜んで報告してくれました・・・。
本人元気で学級閉鎖になることが、子どもにとっては嬉しいことですよね・・・。

もし学年閉鎖になれば、明後日に予定されてるマラソン大会は、そのクラスだけ延期ということになります。
なかなか仕事を休めない親にとってみたら、都合つけてみたものの延期となるのは、とても残念ですよね。
今日、学校の近所を車で通った時に、６年生がマラソン大会の練習をしていました。
その中、娘の学年を探したけれど、担任は居ても子どもは居ない。
帰宅後、娘に何をしていたのか確認したら、家庭科の授業で、色々な場所で明かりの違いについて測定していたと言っていました。
運動場は○○ルクスだったよ、と教えてくれたけれど、肝心な数値を忘れてしまいました（笑）

さて、明日はどんな顔で娘が帰って来るのかな。

Studying in the Living Room or in Kid's Own Room

I'm thinking about that which is better for children to study, in the living room or in their own rooms.

Japanese TV programs sometimes talk about where is better for kids to study. They reported living rooms are better for kids’ results here.

My son has his room and 2 daughters have 1 room to be used by both of them.

They can study in their rooms but they study in the living room while listening to music with earphones by themselves.

Someone studies at the desk in the living room, the others lie down on the floor or sitting at the table.

We take off our shoes at the entrance, and we put on a rug on the heating floor in the living room. So it's very comfortable to lie down and easy to fall asleep there.

Especially, my older daughter, who is the 2nd grade in a Junior high school, sleeps well whenever I see her lie down there, though she will have the last important tests at the end of this grade a week later.

However, when I ask her if she are alright to keep sleeping, she will get very nervous and angry with me. And it's the best for her to find out she should study and prepare for the tests by herself. So I'm just watching her to do everyday.

I'd like to tell you some about school systems in Japan.

Our education is compulsory up to the end of a junior high school, unless parents (and kids) want a private one. And our schools start from April and finish March here.

So my older daughter can go up automatically by the end of next March, or 3rd grade of a junior high school. She will have to take entrance tests of high schools next year.

Private schools' tests are held in February and Public ones are in March.

People can decide on which schools' tests they will take according to their records.

She will have 1 year left to take tests. I expect her to start the engine someday and not to regret her goal, haha.

子どもの勉強する場所について、リビングが良いのか、自分の部屋が良いのかとテレビで議論されているのを耳にします。
私もどちらがいいのかなあって、わが子を見ながらよく思います。

うちは長男だけ一人部屋で、下の二人の女の子たちは、二人で大きめの部屋を使わせています。ところが、みんなリビングに集まって、各自ヘッドホンを付けながら、一人はリビングに置いてるパソコン机で、他の二人は寝転がってしたり、座卓で勉強したり・・・。

ところが、寝転がってやっている長女を見てると、よく寝ること、寝ること・・・。
今中二なんだけれど、学期末テストの一週間前だというのに、誘惑に勝てずお気に入りの曲を聴いてよく睡眠しています。
こちらが何か言うても、中二病にかかっている娘の気をいら立たせるだけだし、基本、自分で危機感を持って貰いたいという考え方なので、口にしません。
来年の受験に向けて、いつかはエンジンがかかってくれると信じているし、後悔だけはしないようにと願っています。

ま、床暖って気持ちが良いよねえ・・・寝たくなる理由はわかるんだけどね。

Japanese Yard beside a House, My Family's Yard

Japan is a small county and our houses are adjacent each other.
But we want to grow vegetables and flowers in our yards for our health and fun.
I will show you some of my family's yard, though we don't have many vegetables and flowers in this cold season.

This is our family's yard, surrounded by houses and some of vegetables and fruits here.

Yard with my dog

A little grown up Broccoli 

Cabbage

 

Spinach

Green peas

Strawberries

A kind of small oranges named "kinkan", which is good to prevent a cold.

Green onions

 

This is green onions, the bland of them is named "Iwatsu-negi" in Japanese.
It's famous for the softness and much of white sticky, and we can eat all of them, both white and green parts of them. My mother came from the area of its production, Hyogo prefecture.

And my daughter imaged and draw a character while watching our green onions.
It also has white sticky in her picture. Could you find it out?
There are on the back and from its mouth, haha.
I was surprised at notebooks she uses at school, where there are many her creative characters.
Her classroom teacher told me she could use the class time well, but I wonder if it's good I will accept his sayings.
I like her pictures, because all of them are smiling.

我が家の畑を紹介、でもこの寒い時期だから余り植わってないのだけど、岩津ねぎと5年の娘が考えた岩津ねぎのゆるキャラを紹介しま～す。
下仁田ねぎのように、このブランド名は通ってないけれど、白い部分も青い部分も柔らかくて、ドロッとした白いとろみもたくさん含まれてて、すごくおいしいです。
我が家の岩津ねぎを見ながら、娘が絵を描いていました。
最近、自分で新キャラを作り出すのにはまっているみたい。
とろみもちゃんと描かれている・・・二か所、どこにあるか分かりますか？
正解は背中と口でした。
学校で使ってるノートを見てビックリ、あちこちに自作のキャラクタが描かれてる・・・。
先生からは「空き時間をうまく利用出来ています」と言われたけれど、それを鵜呑みにしていいのかな？？