Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2018 i Faces People, Places, and World Culture for Kids and Children

1. Long before it was the world’s largest metropolis, Tokyo was a tiny fishing village called Edo. It became an important shipping and trading center. The emperor renamed the city Tokyo in 1868. 2. Do you love cats? In Tokyo, you can visit a cat café. Enjoy a beverage and spend time with some feline friends. These types of cafes are popular in the city, where there is very little space for pets. 3. A lunch box that takes 10 years to make? Crafting traditional bento boxes by hand involved applying up to 30 coats of a sealant called lacquer. Each layer had to dry and be polished before the next could be applied. Modern bento boxes are often made from plastic or other materials. 4. There is a special…

The portable, go-to lunch in many parts of the world might be a sandwich, but the Japanese reach for onigiri, a delicious and healthy rice and seaweed snack. Parents pack them in bento box lunches, street vendors sell them warm, and convenience store shelves are lined with many different grab-and-go varieties. Onigiri is a compact, triangular rice ball stuffed with meat or vegetables and wrapped with a kind of dried seaweed paper called nori. Classic onigiri varieties include baked salmon, tuna and mayonnaise, sour pickled plums (ume), seasoned vegetables, and salted cod roe (tarako). The recipe below features salmon, but just like a sandwich, the options for fillings are endless. Whatever way you make them, they are sure to be delicious. Ingredients 2 cups sushi rice* 1/4 to 1/2 lb.…

Manga and anime are a cultural phenomena in Japan and around the world. Manga (maw-nnnn-gah) are Japanese comics, and anime (onn-nee-meh) are Japanese animations for film and TV. Their distinctive creative styles, depth of storylines, and longevity of storytelling set them apart from anything in the United States. The United States didn’t catch manga and anime fever until about 30 years ago, but the art style had been flourishing in Japan and much of the world since the 1950s. MANGA EVERYWHERE The unique comic characters of manga and anime surround you in Tokyo and the rest of Japan—on billboards, buildings, advertising, public art, clothes, backpacks, jewelry, store windows, buses, trains, taxis, and more. Tokyo’s Akihabara district is known as one of the top otaku (those who are passionate about manga,…

The tanuki (a.k.a. the Japanese raccoon dog) looks like a raccoon, but actually belongs to the Canidae family, along with dogs, wolves, and foxes. The tanuki is well known in Japanese folklore for being a shape-shifter and trickster. CHARACTERS: Narrator 1, Narrator 2, Narrator 3, Tanuki, Fox, Son, Soldier 1, Soldier 2 Narrator 1: Hunters had killed almost all the wild animals in the wood. The only three creatures left were a gray-furred tanuki, his wife the fox, and their little son. They lived in the thickest part of the forest, high up on the mountain. Tanuki: Fortunately, we are very clever beasts, or we would be dead like the rest of our friends. If we hear the twang of an arrow or see the glitter of a spear, we…

Tokyo is the capital of Japan and the largest city in the world. Millions of people live and work in this Asian city. Tokyo is a modern city with a long history. That history can be seen in the mix of building styles. Temples and skyscrapers sit side by side. In fact, hundreds of shrines can be found throughout the city. And Tokyo also has many one-of-a-kind buildings. The city’s people are hardworking. They also like to have fun. Tokyo residents like to spend their time off going to cat cafes and baseball games. Tokyo is truly a world-class city. It has something for everyone. Enjoy great food. Visit pretty gardens. Ride super-fast trains. Meet manga artists. Tokyo has it all. Official Name: Tokyo Metropolis Location: Tokyo, the capital of…

To say that Tokyo is unlike any other spot in the world would be an understatement. Here is a list of just a few of the things you will find in this special place. Tokyo is filled with cat cafés—restaurants where patrons can grab a bite to eat while playing with cats. Cat cafés became so popular that other animal-themed cafés were opened throughout Tokyo. They feature many animals including dogs, birds, rabbits, snakes, goats, and even hedgehogs. Apartments in Tokyo are so small that most people are unable to have their own pets. When it comes to popular forms of entertainment in Tokyo, nothing can compare to pachinko, the Japanese version of pinball. Pachinko parlors are located all over Tokyo, and they are loud, brightly lit, smoky, and filled…

It is not uncommon to see large men clothed in cotton kimonos and wooden sandals strolling down the streets of Tokyo’s Ryoguku District on the east bank of the Sumida River. These men are sumo wrestlers, athletes who participate in Japan’s national sport of sumo wrestling. Japanese sumo wrestling began 2,000 years ago when tournaments were held at shrines and temples. Sumo wrestling was both spiritual and sacred and matches were performed to entertain and please the gods. It evolved into a spectator sport in the 1600s and was centered in the Ryoguku District, Edo’s bustling entertainment and commerce center. The Ryoguku District has remained the sumo wrestling capital of Japan. Many sumo stables (beya), facilities where wrestlers train and live, are located there. Promising wrestlers are sent to live…

Tanukis (tan-NEW-kees) are well-known animals in Japan. Show any Japanese three-year-old a picture of the wild mammal that looks like a cross between a raccoon and a badger, and he or she will recognize the porky shape and signature black eye mask of the Japanese raccoon dog. Although the tanuki looks and acts like a raccoon in some ways (it washes its food and can climb trees), it is actually a member of the dog family. CHARACTERISTICS AND BEHAVIOR Tanukis are round and stout, with short black legs, and black, tan, and gray fur. Underneath their eyes, they have distinctive black marks that look like the mask of a raccoon. Like raccoons and coyotes, tanukis are omnivores (they eat plants and animals) and scavengers (they also eat dead things). That…

If you’re taking your lunch to school or work in Tokyo, or if you’re eating in a restaurant, your meal is probably in a bento box. Bento means “convenient” and is an individually boxed meal. But a bento box is more than a lunchbox with sections for items such as rice, meat or fish, and pickled or cooked vegetables. It symbolizes historical tradition and culture, and serves as a display case for the food, the care of the preparer, and the care in its contents. While there are different stories about how long the bento box has been in use, one story traces the word “bento” to the warlord Oda Nobunaga in the 1500s. Oda Nobunaga handed out meals in bento boxes to people in his castle. Early boxes were…

It’s one of Japan’s most famous landmarks, looming 12,380 feet into the sky just west of Tokyo, its snowy white peak an almost perfect cone shape. Its image has been celebrated in Japanese art for hundreds of years. It is also one of Japan’s most revered holy sites, its biggest tourist attraction, and is actually made up of not one, but three active volcanoes. In 2013, The United Nations designated it as a World Heritage Site. What is this famous site, that has been part of Japan’s culture for hundreds of years. It is Mount Fuji, or Fuji-san in Japanese. Mount Fuji supposedly gets its name from the term for fire, “fuji,” from the indigenous Ainu people of Japan. The mountain was formed millions of years ago as three successive…

Have you ever popped into a restaurant or shop and been greeted by a seated cat figurine with its paw up in the air? These cats, known as maneki-neko, are found all around the world, but are native to Japan. In Japanese, maneko means “beckoning“ and neko means “cat.“ Business owners place the cats in their shop entrances in the hopes the cats will bring in good luck, as well as paying customers. For this reason, English speakers often refer to them as “Lucky Cats“ or “Welcoming Cats.” To people from Western countries, the waving gesture looks like a “hello,” but in Japan and other Asian countries, an upright arm with fingers moving in a scraping motion is a way to say, “Come here.” While the name maneki-neko implies this…

It seems that every month of the year, there is something to celebrate in Tokyo. Let’s join the festivities! January New Years is the biggest holiday in all of Japan. Usually there is a traditional family dinner, and many people go to local temples for the joya-no-kane, a sacred bell ringing ceremony. People line up to ring the giant temple bells and wish for good fortune in the New Year (and to get rid of bad karma from the old). An exciting part of this holiday is that it is one of the two times a year that the royal family greets the public at the Emperor’s Palace. Many stores sell “Lucky Bag” or “Happy Bag”, which are bags full goodies. Part of the fun is that you won’t know…