From: KIDSPHERE Mailing List kidspherecis.pitt.edu
Date: Wed, 01 Jun 1994 18:04:00 +0900 (JST)
Subject: RE: Questions about Japan
Hello, friends,
I am a 19-year-old college student at a women's college in Japan. This is my first experience of sending an e-mail. My teacher introduced you to us and I try to answer your questions though I am not so good at English.
This is the most difficult question. Suibokuga are pictures painted in India ink. Their special characteristic is the method of shading the India ink and making strong and weak strokes, and the atmosphere changes with the quality of the paper on which they are painted. Also it abhors superfluos strokes of the brush and unnecessary splashes of ink. It is interested in the essence of the subject matter, usually mountains, rivers, plants, animals, etc. Various shades of black and gray on the white background stimulate the imagination of the viewer far more than real colors. The white space left untouched does not represent emptiness in its literal sense but embodies all meaning and possibility, thus playing as important a part as the painted object itself. As in many other Japanese arts and traditions such as haiku poetry and tea ceremony, the deep-rooted preference for simplicity and subtlety is seen in suibokuga.
Soroban are instruments used for calculation. The typical Japanese abacus has a rectangular frame which contains 23 or 27 parallel vertical rods divided by a crossbar into two sections. The upper section of each rod has one bead, which is worth of 5, and the lower section four beads, worth 1 each. Rods to the left of a point chosen by the operator designate units of counting, 10s, 100s, and so forth, while rods to the right of the point indicate decimal places. You can do any calulation (adding, subtraction, multplicagion, division) by moving the beads in both sections.
I'll introduce to you a recipe for tempura sauce. We usually call it "tentsuyu" in Japanese. For five people : Soup stock with katsuobushi(dried bonito) 150 - 200cc Syoyu(soy sauce) 50cc Mirin(sweet rice wine usded as seasoning) 50cc First boil soup stock. Then add to syoyu and Mirin. Daikon-oroshi(grated white radish) is often served to garnish the sauce.
Do you mean a kind of Japanese monkey? Monkeys are very poplular among Japanese people. They are children's favorites in zoos. But there are some "unfriendly" monkeys. Here is a Japanese folktale about a monkey, titled "The Battle between the Monkey and the Crab":
A sly monkey trades his persimmon seed (kakino tane in Japanese) for a crab's rice ball. The crab plants the seed, whichs grows into a large tree. The monkey climbs up the tree and takes the ripe fruits for himself but throws green ones at the crab and kills it. Later the monkey is avenged by the crab's children, aided by such their friends as wasps, chesnuts, and a walking mortar.
I don't know for sure about it. But red and white are thought as lucky colors in Japan. We call them "kouhaku"(red and white), which are used for happy occasions such as a wedding celemony, where we hang some curtains with red and white stripes, and we eat kouhaku manju(rice cakes colored red and white. So I think Daruma dolls are red.
I am interested in introducing Japanese culture to other countries. So I enjoy exchanging letters with foreign friends. I would enjoy hearing from you all. You can ask me (or my classmates) any questions about Japan. We will try to answrer.
Student from Chubu University Women's College
Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 09:14:00 EDT
Sender: KIDLEADR KIDLink Coordination KIDLEADR@NDSUVM1.bitnet
Subject: Re: SOCIAL STUDIES CONNECTIONS (INDIA)
Well I am not responding from India. For the simple fact, in India, even though network exists, kids in schools have not started using it. I hope the good Lord will provide me an opportunity to handle this and meet the right people when I visit Inida in March 1995. Until then your kids are welcome to ask me any questions on India. If the question relates to Hinduism or Islam religion or if the question is about North India, I can find some friends here who can answer the questions for you. M T
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 1994 07:50:40 +0200
Sender: Special KIDLink Projects KIDPROJ@VM1.NoDak.EDU
Subject: Message from South Africa 23 March.
Hi everybody this is the THE DSG news- room. In
the past two weeks South Africa has been the center of turmoil with
the uprising in Bophutatswana and the findings of the Goldstone commission. ....
The country is also preparing for the first democratic elections. In the meantime we are isolated from what is happening in the rest of the country because we are in a boarding school. We will be at home for the elections though!!!!!
I live in a town in the Transkei. The Transkei is a independent homeland , soon to become a part of South Africa again. This is a very small town where not much happens. My father owns a number of businesses in town. We usualy go to the Wild Coast Sun for vacations. Most people never stay around for vacations at home. The Transkei itself does not have much unrest.
If you would like to know anything about the Transkei or myself, don't hesitate to write.That will be all from the DSG news room this week.'Till next week...
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 1994 12:27:38 +2
Sender: Special KIDLink Projects KIDPROJ@VM1.NoDak.EDU
Subject: Message from South Africa.
Just a message to reassure you all that the people from the Eastern Cape have not been physically affected by the recent massacres in Johannesburg and surrounding districts, though many of us worry as parents and close relations live in the affected areas
........Our school closes in 2 weeks and all our pupils will be returning home. However, I will be coming in occasionally to check up on things, and will keep in touch on their behalf.
Thank you for all the wonderful responses we have had. These have motivated the students greatly.
Have a peaceful Easter
