Religion

   

     It's said that Japanese people are poltheistic. For example, we believe in Shinto, Buddhism, and Christianity, etc. But we don't care about what religion we believe.  We incorporate elements of various religions in a syncretic  fashion known as sinbutsusyugo (神仏習合). Most people believe in Shinto and Buddhism in Japan. Small Shinto altars are found in many homes.My family also believe in Shinto and Buddhism.

☞These pictures are from my parents' home.


☞This is a household alter. We call it kamidana. (神棚) . A God is worshipped here. Sometimes we put out little plates of something like fruits and vegetables here. In particular, during the end of the year and the New year we put out rice cakes, sake (we call it omiki), etc. And we have to exchange it every morning and evening. We pray before breakfast and dinner. This is one of my family's traditional customs.

Pop culture②

     

      Cooking at home has a high popularity. We call it uchisyoku(内食) or nakasyoku(中食). Deu to this dipression people who cook at home and save  money have been incleasing recently. So, there are a lot of cooking at home-goods. For example, Lekue, mukki, tagine pot with glass lid etc... These goods make it possible to save time. I think such goods make cooking interestig ＾＾♪ Many television stations broadcast such items.

Pup culture①

     Mobile phone adoption in Japan is 92.4% (March, 2011) according to a survey by the Cabinet Office. (http://www.esri.cao.go.jp/en/stat/shouhi/shouhi-e.html) In particular, smart phones are extremely  popular nowadays. In Japan 'iPhone 3g' started to sell in July 2008, and then 'iPhone 3GS' started to sell in June 2009. After that Japanese mobile phone companies, such as Docomo and AU by KDDI, started to sell smart phones. The number of people who use conventional mobile phone is far larger than that of smart phones. However, the number of smart phone users has been increasing recently. Because smart phones are useful in business and job hunting, they are popular among the young people (20~44). (http://www.auncon.co.jp/corporate/2011/20110223.pdf)

      I think one kind of the pop culture in Japan is the smart phone. We call it 'sumafo' ＾＾*/

    

People①

     I went to the small Dango shop again and asked some questions about Morioka. The old man who has lived in Morioka since he was a child said "I likie Morioka because the four seasons are clearly defined in Morioka. I think spring is the best. In Morioka we have a hard and long winter, so people tend to long for the spring. That's why we like the twitter of birds, cherry buds, and the greenery." After the interview, he introduced me to a man who is a leader of  a neighborhood association. We call such a person tyonaikaicho(町内会長).

                                     ☟at the だんご shop

              ☝a sesame dango and soft rice cakes stuffed with bean jam (anko)
                                 　 They are very tasty ＾＾*

   I visited the leader's house and asked some questions about Morioka.
1: What is the fascination of Morioka?
➔ A fine view. Morioka has a  lot of natural features, such as Iwatesan,kitakami river,etc In addition it also still has reminder of being a castle town.
2: What is a distinction between today and the past?
➔ The speak dialect. There were many geisya around Honcho-street and Hachiman area at one time. They used to spoke Morioka dialect, but now there are few people who speak Morioka dialect. Especially young people don't know it, and they speak the standard language.
3: What fascinates you about Morioka people?
➔ Moriokan people have lots of heart. Morioka was a castle town and agriculture was very prosperous in past days, so the traders and the farmers used to live close together. That's why people are warm and generous.
     After the interview, he gave me some materials and information about museums. I'd like to visit there.

                                                ☝brochures of museums

My neighborhood②（My friends)

    




　　　
　　　These are my friends and a professor. We belong to Prof. Matsubayashi. Our major is second language acquisition. Girls only~♪＾＾*　

My neighborhood①

     I went to a small dumpling store near my house. An old cupple runs the store. I love their handmade dumpling, we call it dango ＾＾*. (Dango is one of the traditional Japanese sweets and it is made from rice. )I asked the old women about the impression of Morioka. She said she loved Morioka because Norioka still has a rich natural environment and people are very kind. She's from Hachinohe, Aomori prefecture, but she likes Morioka better than Hachinohe. I asked permission  to take some pictures of her, but she refused. So I took a picture of sign! I'm going to visit there again to listen to the old man's talk.