Japanese names are so significant!!!

A few days ago, I met some very nice japanese girls in school. One of them called Nozomi. Her name is the same as the shinkansen train!
She asked me for the meaning of my name- and I didn`t know the answer!!! Mike- what a boring name!
Nozomi explained me, that every name of a japanese person has a meaning. Her name, Nozomi, means " Hope". So I asked her for other interesting japanese first names.
So she told me about her mother`s name, which is Tomomi. The meaning is "beautiful friend"!
Her fathers name is Tsuyoshi, the meaning is "strong". In her family, my favorite name is Kazuko, her Grandma` s name, which means "Child of peace". What a significant name!!!
I want to have a japanese name too!

Too many kinds of shoes in Japan!

Last week I went to a Japanese Beerhouse. They call it Izakaya. It's different to German Beerhouse because you have to take off your shoes when you enter. When i started drinking beer my friend Horst told me I should be careful when i want to go toilet. I said "Horst, du know me for a lange time! I'm always carefull!" Actually I didn't know what he was talking about, because I already drank a lot of beers, ja? But when I came to toilet a was surprised.....The nice man from the Beerhouse gave me some shoes. What I nice surprise I thought. My feet where already cold, so I gladly accepted his present. "Japanese people are just too nice!" that's what I thought when I was on the Toilette. But when I came out and wanted to show my shoes to Horst the Beerhouse-Mann wanted his shoes back! "Eine Unverschämtheit!" i thought. Why is he so impolite? When you give a present to someone in Germany you can't just take it back!!! He then told me the shoes are just for the Toilette.....lol.....ja,ja....whatever....

I guess there are just too many kinds of shoes in Japan

Until next time

The German Mike

ICEC in cooperation with Asahi Nihongo presents:

Big Firework at Ōhori-Park
August 1st (Dressing-Lesson from 1 p.m.)
Place: Fukuoka City Chuo Ward Civic Center
Things you need to bring: Yukata & Obi (a complete set)
Details & important points:

Every year there is a big firework at Ōhori-Park. How would you like to experience this firework wearing a Yukata? If you don’t know how to wear a Yukata, you can participate in a course, where you learn how to wear it, before the event starts.
The Yukata course is for free!
There is just a small fee necessary to pay the rent for the hall!
Everybody is welcome no matter if you are male or female!

Date and Time:
August 1st, Yukata-Lesson: 1p.m. Firework: from around 8 p.m.

Place:
Yukata-Lesson: Fukuoka City Chuo Ward Civic Center → alltogether to Ōhori-Park

Direction to the Fukuoka City Chuo Ward Civic Center:
http://www.city.fukuoka.lg.jp/chuoku/shimin-c/kuyakusho-sisetsu/ch-tyuuousimin/chuosimincenter.html


Yukata-Lesson: for free
Rent for thr hall: 300 yen
Please bring: Yukata & Obi (a complete set)

Males: Please bring your own Yukata since we are not able to adjust the size.
Females: We are able to sell a small amount of Yukata's to you (complete set: 3000 Yen)
There are also Yukata's for rent (Please clean them before you return them).

From 1 p.m. Dressing-Lesson (Males)
From 2 p.m. Dressing-Lesson (Females)
From 3.30 p.m. Dressing-Lesson (Females)

Learn how to wear a Yukata from the Dressing-Professional Master Moshimoto, wear it yourself and go and watch the firework!! :)

Interview about Internship in Japan (Fukuoka) 02

Interview about Internship in Japan (Fukuoka) 01

Status report: My first week as an intern at Asahi Nihongo

My second week as an intern at Asahi Nihongo just started and it already feels like I have been here for ages. Not because it is so boring but because I already experienced so many fun things and met so many interesting people. Doing an internship at Asahi Nihongo does not only give you the chance to experience Japanese working environment first hand, there are also many cultural activities you can participate in. From Ikebana to Karate, Manga class to Calligraphy everyone will find an activity that suits him. The school even organizes tours to Dazaifu where you can visit the beautiful Shinto shrine Dazaifu Tenman-gu and if you are interested in surfing you can even do that. There are also International Parties every week where Japanese Students and Students from all over the world come together to have a good time. Last week we also had a BBQ at the beach.




I still have three more weeks to go and I am looking forward to every single day. If you ever have the chance to do an internship at Asahi Nihongo do not miss that opportunity. ;)

C.Wendlandt

New dress for Staff from Ritter School

We present you our new dress from Ritter School. Every teacher gets a deep blue shirt with a white Ritter Logo. So students from Ritter and Asahi Nihongo can faster recognize their teacher. Our Staff feels very comfortable in their new shirts and they also like to express their team unit with it . Beautiful Staff ^^

Oh, I love you, my Ainiku!

There is another lesson that I had to learn about Japanese language yesterday. There was a new word written in a text, at its beginning. The word called "Ainiku". Ainiku? I thought and tried to translate. "Ai" means "love" and "niku" means "meat". So the meaning of "Ainiku" must be something like "love- meat"... Maybe, the meat that I love?? "Ah, ok, I thought, this must be something like a nickname for the person you like!!
Last night I went out with a very friendly Japanese girl and saw her home. In the bus I wanted to ask her if she wants to become my girlfriend. So I said: " ainiku ni naritai desuka?" She looked at me in a very strange way and asked me to repeat the question. I said it again, but even at the third time just didn` t understand me! So I checked the word in my dictionary... And felt so embarrassed!!! "Ainiku" isn`t a nickname at all!! It means: "unfortunately"

What I learned is: I will never, never translate a word in that way again!

From now on I will check my dictionary first!

Arm Warmers and Whitening Cream

Japanese wear arm warmers when it's hot. When walking through Fukuoka you can see them everywhere. Many Japanese girls wear them, often in combination with an parasol, so that they don't get any tan. Isn't that strange?! While girls all over the world want to be browned, the Japanese girls want to be as pale as possible. They do even have whitening creams! For a foreigner like me it is really hard to believe that people can go out in the heat like this. I often see people wearing jackets, jeans and sneakers, but those arm warmers are the worst. I guess people who are used to the life here have no problem with the heat, maybe they don't feel it at all and so they can go out dressed like it is already late autumn^^

New Teacher

Hello. Nice to meet you.My name is Kaoru Wada.I'm a new teacher at Asahi Nihongo.
Last year, I moved from Utsunomiya in Tochigi Prefecture to Fukuoka.Fukuoka is a nice place.I went to travel round Kyusyu.Kyusyu has many interesting place and things.
I look forward to studying with you in the near future.Enjoy the good times at Asahi Nihongo.

Calligraphy

Beside the tee ceremony, Origami and Ikebana, Calligraphy is a very important part of the Japanese culture. If you like the Japanese language, especially the writing, you should really try to study Calligraphy! Everyone knows, that it is good for practicing Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji- but did you know, that it`s also a lot of fun??!
Your upper body has to stay straight, you should not move your hand while you are writing, only your arm. Then you write with a brush on rice paper and create great memory which you can take home with you and you will never forget!

If you are interested, please join our Calligraphy Course on the

22. 07.2010
from 16: 30 p.m. till 17:15 p.m.
The price is 500 Yen.

We are looking forward to see you there!!

Activity of the Week: Karate

Asahi Nihongo and Akasaki Doujou Present: Karate

You like action? You are into marital arts? You will love Karate!

About:

Karate (空手) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa) west of Kyūshū. The development of unarmed combat techniques in Okinawa was furthered by the so called 'Policy of Banning Weapons’ in Okinawa which was introduced in the middle of the 15^th century. People had to defend themselves without weapons using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands (karate chop). Karate has become one of the world’s most popular martial arts and inspired both Japanese stars (like Sonny Chiba) and international stars (like Jean-Claude Van Damme) in some of their movies. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn the art of Karate first hand from the 4 time Karate Champion Mr. Akasaki Katsuhisa in the land of its origin. Don’t be worried if you have no experience in Karate at all. People of every level and any age are welcome.

When: Friday, July 23^rd (17:30~19:30）
Where: Aqua Resort (ｱｸｱﾘｿﾞｰﾄ) Ropponmatsu 1F 2-2-10, Ropponmatsu, Chuo-Ku, Fukuoka-shi
Note: Please bring comfortable clothing.

Fee: 1500 Yen

Even more trainees ;)

Hi everyone, our names are

Robin and Simone.

Just like Patrick we are from Austria and even in the same class.

This is our first trip to Japan though we’ve been studying Japanese for almost 3 years now.

We like Japanese food and culture, so we feel very comfortable here though we aren’t used to the heat.

But we love the air-conditioning in the public transport and the buildings! :)

We just came on Friday, but we’ve already discovered our favorite place: the beaches in the west of higashi-ku!

In the next few weeks we will write about events and activities in the blog to keep you up to date. Have fun!

New trainee student!

hell^o^/
Hello, my name is Patrick Japp.
I`m from Austria and currently attending the japanese language course at the University of Vienna.

I love everything what relates to japan, especially JPop, latest fashion and culture (*^^)
With the internship program you can gain experiences at japanese companies and with daily routines.

Come and join our internship program!
We are looking forward to see you at Asahi Nihongo.
(^o⌒*)/

New Intern at Asahi Nihongo

Sandra- new German teacher

Hello!

My name is Sandra Proksch and I`m the new German teacher at Ritter School.
Before I came to Fukuoka, I used to live in Cologne and studied at Bonn University.
When I was 16, I lived in Tokyo for one year. I really enjoyed this time!! That` s the reason why I really wanted to go to Japan again. I love Japanese food so much, especially Soba and Yaki- tamago! And going to Karaoke with my friends is my favorite hobby!
My Motto is: Nothing is easier than being busy- and nothing is more difficult than being effective.
I`m really looking forward to the time in Fukuoka and hope to meet a lot of friendly people here! Maybe we will meet here one day?!　

よろしくお願いします!!

Sandra

Escape the Heat !! BBQ Party 2010

Team ASAHI NIHONGO and RITTER SCHOOL prepared and organized an amazing BBQ party at the beautiful beach of Fukuma. Pantai Bangus, a really experienced and well organized marine sports shop was the host of this awesome party.
On a hot and sunny day on the 19th of July, nearly 60 of our students, guests, and staff gathered together to share experiences, anecdotes and languages as everyone mingled, ate, and drank under the hot sun of Fukuoka. Some of us went for a swim, others tried the interesting sport of stand-up paddling for first time , others went on a banana boat ride, and most of us learned and practiced the beautiful dance of Salsa. After a short rain shower, and before the sunset we all posed together to print this memorable moment in a picture, so we will remember this day forever!
Thanks everyone! We had a fabulous time!

Check out the pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/japanese_language_school_asahi/sets/72157624417888811/

Activity

We introduce the school activities of this week.

July 20 (Tue) 18:00~20:00 Manga (Drawing Manga)
July 21 (Wed) 16:30~18:00 Flower Arrangement Class
July 22 (Thu) 16:15~17:15 Calligraphy Class
July 23 (Fri) 17:30~19:30 Karate Class

Please fill out your application form and give it to the front-desk.

Dogs in Japan^^

If you are a dog in Japan you don't only receive your own leash or clothes but also your own buggy. That means dogs in Japan don't have to walk or move through the street. They are treated and carried like a little baby and I think the dogs seem to be lucky and enjoy their life in Japan. How would a Chinese think about it....yummy yummy!!!

"Mosch Mosch"

One of our online lesson students gave us interesting information. She studied Asahi Nihongo in
Fukuoka before and she is now online Skype student, who sent us photos and a menu of Ramen
restaurant in Germany, called "Mosch Mosch". The sound "Mosch Mosch" is similar to "Moshi Moshi" in Japanese when we talk on the phone we say that. And it means including "hello" or "Can you hear me?"

They have not only Ramen but Donburi and there are some Japanese phrases such as "Oi-shi-kat-ta" and etc on the menu. It's fun to see overseas Japanese restaurants like this. If you find interesting news and information in your country, which is related to Japan, please let us know with photos.

Mobile-Rental in Japan

I would like to give you a few hints about mobiles in Japan.
For those who visit Japan just for a couple of weeks,
it's a bit cumbersome to stay connected.

1. Roaming
This means you use your phone with your SIM as you would do inside your home country.
Unless your phone is a 3G Phone with the capability to send at the 2.1GhZ Band, your phone might not work inside Japan. On the other hand usually the home-providers let you pay a fortune for this easement.

2. Buying
This might be the cheapest way to get hold on a Japanese mobile but ...
Due to national regulations it's prohibited for mobile-carriers to sell phones to "unregistered aliens", you need to register yourself. This could take a while for you to get through all all the Japanese red-tape. So it might be only a option for long term visitors.

3. Rent
Personally I know about 4 companies which lend mobile phones to foreigners.
Softbank Global Rental
PuPuRu
JAL's ABC Rental
G-Call

They all have there benefits and disadvantages.
Softbank for instance is nearly omnipresent at all airports (including Fukuoka) and rather cheap (if ordered in advance via internet). But Softbank doesn't allow any type of smart-phones.
This is a advantage of PuPuRu who offers an all around carefree package (including free domestic calls, free mobile internet, free mobile mail, voice box, etc.) for ~16'000Yen (~180USD or ~145EUR) for a 30day plan.

So please inform yourself carefully and choose wisely.


Have Fun in Japan
Jan

Yamakasa Finale!

Early morning of today at 4:59am, Moving Yamakasa started from Kushida Jinja (Shrine) and ran around Hakata area. We organized and went to see it.
This festival has a tremendous impact including the costume and festival itself. There were many people come to watch the final not only all over Japan but abroad. Our students were mpressed. We hope they have a good memory of it. We're sure they must be very very sleepy and we're sorry that they have Japanese lessons as usual. Keep awake until you get home!

New English Teacher at Ritter School

We introduce our new English teacher Annette Suggs. She is from Oklahoma and works since 2007 as an English Instructor in Japan, so she made lots of experiences. Annette starts her work from 18th of August and is looking forward to teach the students of our Sister School Ritter. Her words to live by: "Don't watch and envy others, live your own life!"
Annette, welcome to Fukuoka^^

Interview

We interviewed Patricia-san from Copenhagen in Denmark.

-Why are you interested in Japan?
●I like Anime and watched Japanese Anime. But it's subtitled in English so I wanted to study Japanese and watch Anime in Japanese.

-How much do you think that you can understand by watching Anime in Japanese so far?
●I sometimes don't understand difficult words bu I think I understand 75%.

-How is your host family?
●I like my host mother very much. She is very kind and talk together a lot . She is my Japanese
mother and I'm happy that she says that I'm her youngest daughter.

-Do you go our to eat Japanese food?
●Yes. My friend and I enjoy trying a new place every time. I ask the recommendation and eat it. Once I was recommend 'Tori-sahi'. However I didn't know what it is, I ordered it and I was surprised that it was 'Sashimi' of fresh raw chikien!

Thank you for nice interview, Patricia-san! We're happy that you you enjoy your stay not only with your host family but in Fukuoka. And thank you for showing us your Japanese practice note books, which are impressing.

Dazaifu Tour on Saturday

Do you know the famous Tenmangu shrine or the story of Sugiwara no Michizane, the god of scholarship? On Saturday you have the chance to visit the beautiful landscape of Dazaifu and get to know the history of Tenmangu-one of the main shrines in Japan. Have fun^^

Date: July 17th (Sat)
Time: 10:00-17:00
Place: Asahi Nihongo School

Yamakasa Festival July 15th

Let's go to Hakata Gion Yamakasa!
Hakata Gion Yamakasa is one of the most exciting and important events in Hakata. Several beautiful Kazariyamas (decorative portable shrines and floats) are built and are spread over several parts of the city in a two week period.
It's said that the origin of this festival is attributed to the ritual took place to stop a bad plague spread through Hakata in 1241. The highlight of the festival kicks off at exactly 4:59 am on July 15th when thousands of men from seven districts race through the streets carrying decorative, one-ton floats. This is a contest in which men compete on the time taken to race along a 5 km course, over more or less 30 minutes; although speed is important, they are also required to maintain a graceful and heroic style as they run carrying the floats on their shoulders.

Date: July 15th , (Thursday)
Meeting place: Asahi Nihongo
Fee: Please pay transportation fee by yourself
(200yen-one way)

Program
_____________________________________

4:30 am : Asahi Nihongo School
4:40 am : Leave School
4:55 am : Arrive at Gion station
4:59 am : Festival start
7:00 am : Festival finish
7:30 am : Arrive at Tenjin station

Activity

(Tea Ceremony)

(Dazaifu Tour)

We introduce you our school activities of this week.

July 12 (Mon) 16:30~17:30 Jogging & Walking (at Ohori Park)
July 13 (Tue) 18:00~20:00 Tea Ceremony
July 15 (Thu) 18:00~19:30 Origami Class
July 17 (Sat） 10:00~17:00 Dazaifu Tour

Please fill out your application form and give it to the front-desk.

Warning for all robber

It's so interesting that the Japanese police in Azabu doesn't take care of the victims but of the robber. Here the potential robber can read the consequences of being criminal and gets to know that he would get arrested if he doesn't keep the law. But is a robber actually able to read it right? If he finds a good lawyer he could maybe appeal against the judgment because the burglary information was not written clearly^^

New Teacher♪

Hello!Nice to meet you.
My name is　Fumi Tanaka.
I am a new teacher at ASAHI NIHONNGO.

My　hobby is waching RAKUGO.My favorite RAKUGO actor is Katsura Sijaku.
His RAKUGO is very wonderful☆
And, I like driving.When I take a trip to Onsen (hot spring) in Kyushu,for example Aso, Yufuin,Uresino etc... I drive myself.It make me feel so good.
I love Japanese culture.
Japan has a lot of magnificent traditional culture.
Let's join us!
We look forward to seeing you at ASAHI NIHONGO.

Japanese Schoolgirl & Otaku

Do you know these 2 books called "Japanese Schoolgirl" and "Otaku Encyclopedia"? One of 'Asahi Nihongo' students, Andrew-san edited these books, which are written in English and introduced real update Japanese. Especially "Japanese Schoolgirl" is well sold at Amazon ranking and you can find this book easily at the one of the biggest bookstores in Fukuoka, Junkudo Bookstore. (see photo)

There are many books introduced Japanese food and traditional culture for overseas, but it's very rare to find out these sort of books. Otaku and Japanese schoolgirls are new aspect of Japanese culture.

We checked inside and found very interesting even the Japanese. Why don't you check them by
internet?

Thank- you card for my Hostfamily

I lived 12 weeks with my Japanese Hostfamily in Fukuoka. It was a great time and everybody was nice to me, I really felt like a member of their family. Of course I wanted to thank them for everything and went to a Conbini to buy a special card. There are special cards with nice colored bows. But I choosed a card with a black bow and thought "Oh how decent this card style....it suits to my Hostfamily" and bought this one. I didn't know that this is used to announce somebody's death. When my Hostmother saw it she was like " Oh Mike I'm so sorry, who died? " I got the feeling that I made a big mistake ^^Oh no^^ !! Fortunately my Hostmother wasn't angry...she already knows that I'm a fool!

Interview

We interviewed Vincent-san from Kent in England.

-Why are you interested in Japan and Japanese?
●I'm interested in different culture and Japanese food.

-What's your favourite Japanese food? And do you think that taste of Japanese food is different from England?
●I like Sushi and Ramen. Sushi is much more fresh and Japanese food is more delicious!

-Is this 1st time to come to Japan?
●I came to Tokyo 3 years ago for sightseeing, but this is the 1st time to come to Fukuoka, learn Japanese and do an internship in Japan.

-How do you feel about "Asahi Nihongo"?
●Very good. They are professional.

-Have you experienced something interesting or surprising?
●Yes! When I got on the bus to come to school in the morning I'm surprised moring rush hour on the bus! It's full of people and tightly packed but still people got on the bus. I couldn't move!

It's very Japanese morning situation.^ ^! Have a good time with Japanese lessons and internship, Vincent-san.

Internship Peport, Beverly-san

I am from Houston, Texas in the USA and I majored in mechanical engineering. Since graduating from university, I have worked as a product design engineer in a couple of different companies. One of the companies that I worked in was a Japanese company that produced precision components for manufacturing different products. At this company, I learned a lot about design since I had to talk to a lot of people from different industries and it was there that I started to really get interested in Japanese design in particular. With that interest in mind, I came to Japan to do an internship at a design firm.

I did my internship from April 2010 to July 2010. My main job was to help out with the various design activities in whatever way I could. AddAlpha uses AutoDesk programs to complete their design tasks. For the renderings and perspectives, they use 3ds Max which is a modeling program that I had never used before. After learning the rudiments of this program and learning to read some useful kanji, I was able to create some 3D models for the other designers to use in their scene creation. I also helped create rough sketches in AutoCad of the customer's space for proposed design specifications.

Besides these types of engineering activities, I also helped choose items for the companies showcase/marketing advert. It was a fun experience to go to countless web pages looking at many interesting design ideas. AddAlpha has a large library of interesting design books that I looked through in my spare time. Between this and the time spent talking to my coworkers in the ways that American working culture differs from Japanese culture, I did a bit of translation of some of the interesting or relevant portions that I found. Overall, it was a wonderful experience working at AddAlpha, Inc and I would definitely go back to there to gain more experience in Japanese design.

Activity

(At the International Party)

We introduce you our school activities of this week.

July 05 (Mon) 16:30~17:30 Jogging & Walking (at Ohori Park)
July 09 (Fri) 18:00~20:00 International Party
July 10 (Sat） 09:45~16:00 Fukuoka Tour
July 12 (Mon) 16:30~17:30 Jogging & Walking (at Ohori Park)

Please fill out your application form and give it to the front-desk.

Lucky Alien in Japan

Foreigners staying in Japan for more than 90 days are required to register within 90 days after landing in Japan. So I went to the Immigration Office to get a registration card. The staff at the counter ask me if I want to apply for an "Alien Registration Card". "Oh no, I'm not from outer space, I come from Germany", I answered while loud laughing. I thought she was joking, but actually she was confused. After filling out some forms I really received an ALIEN registration card. Now I feel more not to be of this world than to be a foreigner.^^

Wish Upon A Star"Tanabata Festival"

(from right to left: Lena-san & Birthday girl Carina-san♪)

Tanabata (Evening of the 7th of July) is a Japanese star festival, derived from the Chinese star festival, Qi Xi (The Night of Sevens). We put decorations and wishes on small pieces of paper up on bamboo.

Most of all studens of Asahi Nihongo and Ritter...and stall wrote their wishes in Japanese, English and other languages. The wishes are wide range of variety and international just like our school!
We wish all dreams and all wishes come true☆”・。.♪

Futon in Japan

Last week 3 of my friends from Germany visited me in Fukuoka. Of course I told them before to stay at my place, so they don't need to book a hotel. I also mentioned that I have 4 futon-beds which they can use. They wondered and guessed my apartment must be big. But when they entered my place and saw the traditional futons they got shocked. "Oh Mike"..."didn't you say we could sleep in a futon-bed?", they said. "Yeah, actually this is a traditional futon", I answered. But German futons a completely different from a Japanese one, they look like a real bed and you can't fold them. Oh no, I forget to tell my friends about the differences^^