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Nekojarashi　No.23　January/February 2000

This is the year of the dragon.

This year 2000 is the year of the dragon. In the western world, a dragon reminds people a huge fire-breathing snake-like creature. In China, the fictitious "dragon" in legends is one having a snake's head, deer's antlers, rabbit's eyes, cow's ears, salmon's scales, hawk's claws and tiger's paws -- it somehow makes us feel happy.

I'm sure it will be a good year!

World Art Exhibition

There will be a WORLD ART exhibition for foreigners living in Nagano-ken (and any close and interested neighbours). This exhibition is an opportunity for people of different cultures to share themselves and their ideas through art.

Application closing date: before February 2000
For further inquiries please contact:
Michelle Salmon, phone 0265-76-5324 Mashe Quinn, phone 0265-83-3728

1st Exhibition	Komagane	24-25 February.
2nd Exhibition	Ina	10-11 March

Dates subject to change.

The Legends of Suwa -- The Dragon and Omiwatari

In the book titled "Folk Tales of Shinano" (old name for Nagano Prefecture)", there are many tales told of dragons, such as, a long long ago, a dragon lived in Lake Suwa, or a dragon (Ryu-jin: Dragon God) lived up in the sky above the Suwa area, controlling the rain. They say that's why there are some names relating to a dragon such as Tenryu river ("Ten" means "heaven" and "ryu" means "dragon"), Tatsuno-machi ("Tatsu" also means "dragon"). The Suwa region in the ancient times was said to be the kingdom of Gods.

Now I will tell you a legend of Suwa which is about Omiwatari (God's crossing the lake). Omiwatari indicates a phenomenon you may see on Lake Suwa in the midst of winter when the surface of the lake is entirely frozen up. 4 or 5 days after, the frozen surface expands until the part almost along the center line of the surface breaks and the broken parts are pushed up against each other. This happens in the middle of the night, and in the morning you see a line on the lake surface which looks like a path crossing the lake. In recent years, we usually had a warm winter and you can hardly ever see this phenomenon. People in the old days said it was the path made by a god crossing the lake, but why? The story goes like this. A long time ago, there was a couple of gods. The goddess couldn't stand the harsh cold winter in the north part of Suwa and decided to go and stay at Shimosuwa which was warmer until the winter was over. But one night the god felt so lonely that he couldn't help going to see her across the lake and thus the path was made. That's Omiwatari. Ti's a smile-provoking story, isn't it?

People

I am Rafael from Brazil, a Brazilian of Japanese descent.
I am sixteen years old and lived in Chino, going to Chino High School.
I have now been in Japan for four years. At first I was not good at Japanese at all. But I got many Japanese friends, and they and my teacher helped me, so I picked up Japanese little by little. Now I am so good at speaking but weak at KANJI.
I have no girlfriends, and I wish to make friends with a nice girl. My favorite things are to go to the pool in summer and to enjoy skateboarding. I am crazy about snow boarding now. I often hang out at Chino station.

What is this?

Fujimi has tow skiing grounds which are made not by nature but artificially.
One is "Fujimi Kogen" at the foot of Mt. Amigasa, and another (the other) is "Fujimi Panorama" at the foot of Mt. Nyukasa. They were opened in December.
Now you can get fine view of the snow-covered surface.

From Tatsuzawa you can have a unique view of "Fujimi Panorama." It looks like an animal. What is this? In Japan, it's characterized by its pot belly.

Answer:

Tanuki, a raccoon dog

Raccoon dogs run away with local firm produce in summer. In winter, they go back to the mountains, "Fujimi Panorama" may be his silhouette enlarged. ... Of course, it is only fantasy.

Learning Japanese

Nabe Bugyo

Nabe stands for a dish served in a pot as well as a pan.

Bugyo means a public servant. with a samurai family in feudal times in Japan. What does NABE-BUGYO mean?

The most popular Japanese food in winter is Nabe-Ryori which is a Japanese style hot pot cooked at the table, including Yose-Nabe, Sukiyaki and Yudofu. Now, have you (ever) heard of "Nabe-Bugyo" at the Nabe table? The word "Nabe-Bugyo" can be separated like this (the above):

Nabe-Bugyo is a person who gives all kinds of directions for example, "This is just right for eating now," "Now is the time to put this into the pot," and so on, when we eat and the cook Nabe at the table.

The word has a laughable tone. Nagging? No, this is a kind person.

Suwa Dialect

If you make friends with the local people around here, you will know they are very friendly. But most of them usually avoid company and they are not good at doing things in public. Such a nature might be symbolized by the following two examples of dialects.

Osyoshi, Hikke

<< a conversation between some old women as an example >>

A: Omee Taisyogoto umeenaa meedeni dete yarya iidani

B: Umakaneesa Oraa osyoshiwa

A; Omeesamawa hikke danae

Osyoshi, to be embarrassed, to be shy
Hikke, to be an introvert, to not be sociable

A: You are good at playing the Taisyo-goto. Would you please play it for some other people?

B: No thank you. I'm embarrassed about playing in public.

A: You are an introvert, aren't you?

Easy Easy
Snacks around the World

Name: Pavlova ( as in the ballerina Anna Pavlowa)

Ingredients

4 egg whites, a few drops of vanilla essence 1 and half tea spoons of malt vinegar, 12 table spoons of sugar 200 cc of heavy cream, 2-3 table spoons of sugar

Instruction

Whip egg whites with vanilla and vinegar until stiff. Add sugar in three parts (first 1/3, then 1/3, then 1/3) whilst beating.
Put in dish and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degree Fahrenheit (180 degree Celsius) 50 minutes at 300 deg. F (150 deg. C)
Turn on to plate and remove paper. Cool then cover with whipped cream.
Try decorating it with slices of Kiwi fruit to make it New Zealand style!

What is Chinese?

China is known as the country of kanji (Chinese characters), which number more than 50,000 with 6,000 of those in daily use. If you, a Japanese, go to China, you might be able to understand signs on the street and communicate with a Chinese by writing. You are lucky. But you should know that some kanji often have different meaning in China from those in Japan.

Japanese meaning		Meaning in Chinese
Tegami (a letter)	--.>	toilet paper
Kisya (a train)	--.>	a car
Musume (a daughter)	--.>	a mother
Aijin (a lover)	--.>	a husband or a wife

Now some daily use kanji in China have simplified. It became easier for all Chinese to read and write kanji. Some kanji in China have different shapes from kanji in Japan.