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3月 30, 2017 0

Calligraphy, Origami and mini tour:)

She did almost full course of Wakalture!!
First, I showed her 2 shrines around my area and taught how to rinse hands and mouth then to pray.

This is Kanda Myojin Shrine.

Then did a beginners Calligraphy class:)
She picked a word “open-minded” but unfortunately there is no Japanese to translate nicely.
So I asked why she chose it to look for the best word for her.
Then found this word 新 means new. I thought she want to be or she is open-minded to this travel, different culture and new things:)
 
I was surprised at her Calligraphy skills. She has a good balance and learns quickly!!
Her balance was good already so I taught the techniques for writing beautiful strokes.
Then after few practice, she got it!! It’s not easy but somehow she did it O.o
I wonder if she keeps learning Calligraphy then gets so well!!

See how much she’s improved!!

After she enjoyed and I was surprised, she made few Origami craft such as jumping flog and crane.

She is taking a photo of 2 cranes. One is regular size of crane (pink one on the right) and the other one is tiny little crane (Yellow one on the left)!!


The end, I’ve got this present from her♡
She is from Vancouver so that she brought me Maple syrup!!:D
Thank you so much for it and fun time!!

3月 23, 2017 0

Won a prize and had an award ceremony!

Throwback to the last summer 😛
I participated in an exhibition held in Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum for the first time in 11 years.
I used to join it when I was a student and have won the grand prize.


This is what I wrote. It’s more than 2 meters!! Takes 40 minutes to finish writing.
Calligraphy can be very tough sometimes.

This is the ceremony. It’s been a while to be commended in front of many people so I was very nervous 🙁
After seeing my teacher’s smile, I felt a bit better though!!
She is so special for me:) I can’t imagine my life without her!!
 

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
http://www.tobikan.jp/en/

3月 21, 2017 0

Izakaya night with Hub Japan

I joined one of Hub Japan’s activity “Support for spending time at local Izakaya that has no English menu” !!

There are many nice restaurants where we(Japanese local) go in Tokyo.
Unfortunately, most of them have no English menus. So we take you there to help you!!
Also  we can talk about our culture:)
The guests of that day were from America!!

First we went to an Izakaya in Shinjuku. We ordered Oden which eaten in winter.
 
Then we took them to Omoide Yokocho.

Omoide Yokocho is close to West exit of Shinjuku station. There are narrow alleys and small restaurants. We decided to stop by a Yakitori restaurant.
They show you what they have not menu, the actual food so that you are able to understand easily and order what you want.
It was interesting to eat and drink in a tiny restaurants!!

We’re ordering from what they’re showing us!

After that, we went to Golden gai as well!! It was a bit of walking to get to East side of Shinjuku.
There are also narrow alleys like only one person can walk. Many small bars are there too.
Most of bars charge 500 yen to 1000 yen for the seat.
But we’ve found one they don’t charge for tourists:D

We had few drinks and enjoyed their atmosphere!!
It was quite different experience for me too. I felt like I was back to 70’s or 80’s!!

If you feel bored going to regular restaurants while you’er in Tokyo, visiting Omoide Yokocho or Golden gai is probably a good choice:) 

3月 15, 2017 0

New activity, Tea Ceremony!!

Another Japanese traditional culture, 茶道(Sado) Tea ceremony is now available only for participation of Wakalture!!

  

Since I have not enough knowledge and experience to teach Tea ceremony, I asked my Calligraphy teacher to do the experience class with her daughter for participation of Wakalture. Her name is Bisui. Bisui sensei(teacher in Japanese) is originally a teacher of Tea ceremony. And her daughter, Emi, knows about it very well and speaks English as she’s also lived in Australia. 
茶室(Cha-shitsu) is a room for Tea ceremony. In the room, there is always Japanese Calligraphy on the wall and flowers(華道, Kado, Flower arrangement) like the picture below. This 3 traditional cultures are always together in the room. This is the reason she started learning Calligraphy too.

茶室(Cha-shitsu)

There are many places that you can experience Tea ceremony (Calligraphy as well) but you should check if they are licensed. Wakalture only want to show you the real Japanese culture.
Bisui sensei has classes only for Japanese speakers who want to keep learning Tea ceremony not for tourists to experience. But as she and her daughter are very friendly and like to communicate with tourists they’ve decided to help me:)

What do you do at Tea ceremony class? 

1, Watch Otemae, the act of making a tea then get instructions about Tea ceremony.

2, Try traditional beautiful Japanese sweets 🙂 It changes depending on the season. It was in Spring and Cherry blossom season! Looks so pretty and tastes great too!! 
 
3, Try 抹茶(Matcha), green tea that they make for you. Tastes a little bit bitter that’s why you eat the sweets before drinking tea. You will know how good is the combination of bitterness of green tea and sweetness of sweets!!

They teach you not only how to drink but also the reasons. You may be surprised at the reasons:) 
 4, Time to make your own green tea!! As I mentioned, the school isn’t for tourists they use real utensils. Also charcoal which is different from BBQ one, used only for Tea ceremony. Some of them are very expensive:P

They were a little bit nervous to make green tea by themselves at first. But see this nice smiles:D They succeeded to make it!! We were so happy to see their smile:)

★Women only★
You can wear Kimono in this class!!


Sizes are limited but if you like, she can dress you up!! Hair as well:)

Other activities→Activities

Click HERE  to book the Wakalture Experience!!

Host of Tea ceremony class:)

My teacher on the right and her daughter on the left.

3月 10, 2017 0

Be a local

wakalture-SNSpost
Hub Japan is where you can find opportunities to meet local people and have local experience:)
It’s close to my purpose that I’ve started Wakalture Experience!!
To meet local people is the easiest and fastest way to know about Japan!! You feel it!!
As I’ve met lots of awesome locals while I was in Australia and Canada, I became to love these countries a lot!!
So I hope you will meet nice local Japanese when you are in Japan then become a Japan lover!!

Wakalture and Hun Japan would love to help you!! 

All Wakalture’s plans are in their web site (https://hubjapan.io/experiences)

Please read this article!! They wrote about me and Wakalture:)
Japanese calligraphy & Udon cooking classes in Akihabara, Wakalture

They have many articles about Japan like things to do/see/eat in Japan:) You should check them out before coming to Japan it’s very useful!!

Hub Japan
https://hubjapan.io/

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