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(the featured picture is Kihtisu animal year brush)
Hi Everyone,
It is December.
And it will be an entrance exam season soon.
In this blog,
I want to talk about the Japanese school system.
It is
6 (elementary school)
3 (junior high)
3 (high)
4 (university)
It is compulsory to graduate from Junior High school.
Inevitably, a student needs to take an entrance exam for High school and University.
It is January, February and March when students take an exam.
It is once a year, therefore, students study hard under a huge pressure.
And if they fail in the exam, they will have a
‘Ronin’ 浪人 year.
Ronin is originally a samurai who lost his job.
In the Tokugawa era, Tokugawa Shogun often gave a hard time to a lord who did not obey the Shogun and sometimes deprived him of the territory.
Especially, early in the 1600’s, many lords who supported Toyotomi, the rival of Tokugawa, were broken by the shogun.
A samurai who lost his lord had nowhere to go.
They wandered around a town and did nothing.
The Ronin word comes from the Edo Period.
Students, who fail the exam, spend an entire year to prepare for an entrance exam.
Very hard year and needs self-discipline, but they can only study for a whole year.
It is hard. And big pressure,
but
I like what a teacher of one preparation school said,
‘How many students are allowed only to study in the world?’
Yes it is the privilege of those Ronin students that they don’t have to work, earn money and help their parents.
Many children in the world have to work and earn money to support their parents.
What those Japanese students do:
Only to study.
In fact, I had one year of Ronin, and I am still thankful to my parents.
I still feel I was spoiled.
And many Japanese students are spoiled.
They need to know this .
And the same can be said to many adults in Japan who always complain about living in Japan.
I am spoiled! I recall this word for myself all the time.
One of my motivations to work.
Thank you for reading,
Toshiya
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What do you think favorite dishes are among Japanese?
Maybe these TV survey results are not very different from what you think.
If you travel to Japan, I want you to enjoy Japanese dishes of many kinds.
Food here is not so expensive as you might be imagining. You will not regret travelling to Japan for food)
These are rankings of the dishes Japanese like:
No. 5 Grilled fish (Yakizakana)
This is daily food, we eat more fish than meat.
Japan consists of many islands, and fish has been always main dishes. We still eat it almost every day.
Well, Unagi is my favorite though it gets expensive year by year. Unagi is not daily food now, but we eat it on a special occasion. Still good! I bought this Unagi at supermaket)
Grilled Mackerel is a typical breakfast for Japanese. It is not so expensive but healthy.
No 4 Miso soup
At breakfast for most families.
We are raised by miso soup so kids remember it as mother’s taste. Married men still like ‘mothers’ tastes’ more than their wives’,
and women call them マザコン Mother’s boys, and want them to change but…
Mothers are strong! Maybe everywhere in the world?
No.3 ramen
No.2 sashimi
No.1 sushi
These three are known to most of you and I would recommend you to try them in Japan, and compare them with those in your home country.
Sushi has been expensive, but ramen is not. Especially we have cup ramen which also tastes well.
But Conveyor Belt sushi makes sushi not special anymore these days. Sushi bento(last pictures) can bought at less than 1000 yen for lunch.
Oh Natto is not here, it was ranked 20th, so even for Japanese, Natto is difficult to eat at first.
Personally, I try to eat more miso, natto, tsukemono (Japanese pickles ) these days as those fermented dishes work well inside a body.
Sake is aslo fermented, but I am so weak at it that I drink Amazake !
Please try)
Thank you for reading,
Toshiya
Fude Japan (Makeup brushes from Japan) 