Guoping’s Blog

At the end of the year, every one seems very busy in Japan, and they called the December siwasu, because long time ago, they think teacher must finish the work before the New Year, and teacher always have lots of work to do. So the teacher must walk quickly to save times.

The winter holiday will begin next week, all of my friend were so excited, and they are talking about their holiday travel. Some one will go to the shrine, for example the Ise shrine, the Ise shrine is very famous in Japan, and it is in the mie prefecture. Japanese usually go to shrine at the last day of the year and waiting for the first bell ringing at the midnight. After that they enter the shrine to prayer for the New Year. At this time the train and the bus are work for 24 hours, and you could see people come from every parts of Japan. In Japan, they called this Hatsumoude.

Before the New Year, the Christmas also one of the biggest festival in Japan, and at the end of November, the super markets and the restaurants were decorated with the Christmas trees and the shining lights. The Christmas carol also could be heard at the same time. Christmas is filling in air and spread everywhere. In the west, At Christmas, people look forward to family gatherings, delicious dinners and presents wrapped in colorful paper. Christmas sweets are another thing many people love; all of this has merged into the Japanese culture.

Sitting beside the window, although it’s very cold outside and the wind is so strong, I am enjoying the sunshine; and it makes me feel at ease. Look back the whole year; everything goes to fast, sometime I thought it must be in my dream; and when I got up, I will come back to my hometown, find that I still in my room, and I could smell the breakfast cooked by my mother.

The New Year is coming; I wish all friends of mine merry Christmas and happy New Year. Please take care.

As a foreign student in Japan, I usually talk with Japanese friends, and I could get much information about Japan. But sometimes, Japanese also did not know their country very well. Today I read the overview of Japan, on BBC news.

Japan has the world’s second-biggest economy, but it remains a traditional society with strong social and employment hierarchies – Japanese men have always tended to work for the same employer for the whole of their life.

But this and other traditions are under pressure as a young generation more in tune with western culture and ideas grows up.

Japan’s relations with its neighbours are still heavily influenced by the legacy of Japanese actions before and during World War II. Japan has found it difficult to accept and atone for its treatment of the citizens of countries it occupied.

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