【 沈み行く満月になろうお月様 】

The majestic view of Tokyo tower during winter illumination in Keyakizaki avenue.

清水の舞台から眺める景色もまた良き。

自宅付近からの撮影。
葉が落ちた木々の間から見えるお月様がとても幻想的な夜でした。

岩槻城跡公園
雨上がりのリフレクション。
水面に写り込んだ景色が、まるで絵画のような世界を作り出していました。

雪の日の集団登校。カラフルな雨具が雪景色に映えていました。

雪国のドンド焼き

正月の浅草仲見世。毎年、沢山の初詣客で賑わいます

初雪の降った公園に冬の朝日が差し込んで、木々の長い影がとても美しかったです。

新潟県の山村で行われたドンド焼きの火の始末。「すみぬり祭り」も行われたので顔が炭で真っ黒です。雪が降る中、昔ながら姿が印象的でした。

日本各地で見られる小正月の行事「すみ塗り」。「すみ塗り」は、賽の神を燃やしその年の豊作と無病息災を祈願する奇祭です。写真は、新潟県松之山温泉の「婿投げ・すみぬり」祭りを心底楽しんだ地元の人々です。

「ジュエリーアイス」
北海道十勝川を覆いつくす氷が太平洋に流れ出し、
河口の大津海岸に打ち上げられる氷の塊が美しく輝く自然現象です。

「ジュエリーアイス」
北海道十勝川を覆いつくす氷が太平洋に流れ出し、
河口の大津海岸に打ち上げられる氷の塊が美しく輝く自然現象です。

突然の冬に季節見失っております?
秋っぽい葉っぱが落ちてたり
綺麗に芽吹いて緑な葉っぱが出てきてたり
太陽の光で不思議に光ってたり
これからどんどん寒くなって引きこもりなりそー?

The beautiful minami alps. While travelling to matsumoto we git this beautifully view of minami alps from limited express train.

Stopped by Saizeriya for lunch and got a cod roe and shrimp doria (たらこと海老のドリア).

Saizeriya is always a great place to stop by for lunch as it's generally quick and cheap.
It was a set meal so it came with a soup and salad as well, but I forgot to to photos of those.
The soup was a sort of consommé soup and was nothing special, but it tasted good and was all-you-can-drink so that was pretty nice. I ended up getting a few cups of it.

The shrimp and cod doria was great and I love the nori on top - plentiful and tastes great.
The best part is all of this was only ¥500 so it's really reasonable, as you'd expect of Saizeriya.

Just thought I'd share this today, nothing too special

メリークリスマス！！

【雲無き夕刻】

Was in Kanda the other day for an errand and stopped by this place called "Soba Dokoro Kameya" (そば処 かめや) outside of Kanda Station.

It says "立食い" which means "standing noodles," but I didn't actually see any places to stand and eat so maybe it just meant that it was simple and quick like a standing noodle shop.
I've never actually experienced what it's like to eat at a standing noodle restaurant (and actually stand while eating) but I think I prefer sitting anyways.
I like to relax when I eat so I suppose that's why, but I should at least try it once, who knows, I might like it.

Anyways, the place seems really affordable. I ordered the Ten Tama Soba since it was the most popular dish and it tasted great.
The soup was really good and the egg was perfectly cooked.
The texture of the noodles was also perfect.
It's definitely a place to check out if your in the Kanda area and looking for some noodles.

I think they may only be open during the morning and night, but I went around 4pm so maybe they close around that time to prepare for dinner.

【小路】
少し山を散策
橋が架けられ
その奥には
見事に紅葉が彩られていた

During this Christmas time Minatomirai area of Yokohama is not only well decorated with lights but also there is a laser show, and a christmas market. The whole area looks heavenly beautiful.

Visited a Chinese restaurant in Akabane called Maraeki (麻辣駅, Malaeki?) over the weekend and got some spicy Szechuan noodles (四川風麻辣麺). The photo looked really good and they had tan tan noodles as well but I wanted to try something different.

Unfortunately, I was not the biggest fan of the flavor. I think the noodles were great, and the bok choy tasted good as well, but for me the soup wasn't exactly what I was expecting.
That being said I don't think it's that the flavor was bad, just that it simply wasn't for me.
I enjoy spicy ramen, and the "麻辣" part of the name is "mala," apparently a spicy, numbing sauce made of Sichuanese peppercorn, chili pepper, and other ingredients simmered in oil.
I went in not knowing this and paid the price I suppose.
The noodles weren't actually that spicy in my opinion, but like I said, the flavor just wasn't for me.
I think for anyone who enjoys Chinese food though it's a great place as it's quite affordable and the other dishes we ordered (fried rice and xiaolongbao (steamed buns)), although not pictured here, tasted great.

[English／日本語]
Yesterday, the Kanji characters representing Japan for this year were announced. This event is held every year. Incidentally, this year's kanji was "gold. Why do you think this kanji was chosen? The reason lies in the fact that the Olympic Games were held in Tokyo this year. Japan won more gold medals than any other country in history, which is why they chose this kanji. So what else was popular this year? Let's take a look at Japanese culture through what was popular this year.

Maritozzo
Maritozzo is a pastry that originated in Rome, Italy. It is a round loaf of bread with a lot of cream in between, and is eaten as breakfast in Italy. This year, Maritozzo has become a big hit in Japan. Many cafes and convenience stores lined up their stores with Maritozzo, and many people queued up to buy Maritozzo. In Japan, it is not uncommon for sweets from other countries to become popular in this way. For example, last year it was tapioca from Taiwan, and before that, macarons from France. It is said that Japan is an island nation with a strong desire to learn about the cultures of other countries. Perhaps this is reflected in the food we eat.

Movie Box Office Revenue
In this year's global box office ranking, live-action movies from China and the U.S. are ranked from first to fifth. So, is it the same for Japan? The Japanese box-office ranking is completely different from the global ranking. From first to fifth place, all live-action movies are based on anime or manga. Last year, the anime "Demon Slayer" rewrote the top spot in the all-time box office ranking. Although there are many teenagers who visit theaters, there is not that big a difference in the age of the audience. This means that people of all ages are watching anime movies. That is how widespread anime and manga are as a culture in Japan.

The Real Two-Way / Showtime
The words "real two-faced" and "showtime" were nominated as buzzwords this year. These two words refer to Shohei Ohtani, who is active in the American big leagues. In this way, words related to baseball players are often chosen as buzzwords. When it comes to sports in Japan, many foreigners think of sumo wrestling. However, few people know that baseball is actually the most popular sport in Japan. When I tell this to foreign students, they often say, "I thought soccer was more popular than sumo." Do you share the same opinion?

In this article, I introduced some of the things that were popular in Japan this year. I would like to continue introducing them in the next issue. By the way, our school holds an event to introduce what is popular in our country. It is a good opportunity to learn about the trends in different countries and to understand different cultures. Please let us know what's popular in your country.

昨日、今年の日本を表す漢字が発表されました。このイベントは毎年行われているものです。ちなみに、今年の漢字は「金」でした。みなさんどうしてこの漢字が選ばれたと思いますか。理由は今年、東京でオリンピックが開催されたことにあります。日本は史上最多の金メダルを獲得したため、この漢字になったそうです。では、今年は他に何が流行したでしょうか。今年流行したものから日本の文化に触れてみましょう。

マリトッツォ
マリトッツォはイタリアのローマ発祥のお菓子です。丸いパンの間にクリームがたっぷりと挟まれているもので、イタリアでは朝食として食べられています。このマリトッツオが今年は日本で大ブームになりました。多くのカフェやコンビニなどでマリトッツォがお店に並び、多くの人がマリトッツォを購入するために行列を作りました。日本ではこのように他の国のお菓子が流行ることは珍しいことではありません。例えば、去年は台湾のタピオカ、その前はフランスのマカロンなどです。日本は島国で他の国の文化を知りたいという気持ちが強くあると言われています。それがこのように食に表れているのかもしれませんね。

映画の興行収入
今年の世界の映画の興行収入ランキングをみると1位から5位まで中国やアメリカの実写映画がランクインされています。では、日本も同じでしょうか？日本の興行収入ランキングは世界のランキングとはまったく違う結果が出ています。なんと、1位から5位まですべてアニメや漫画が原作の実写映画になっています。去年にいたってはアニメ「鬼滅の刃」が歴代興行収入ランキング1位を塗り替えました。映画館の利用者年齢は10代が多いこともありますが、年齢別に見てもそこまで大きな差はありません。つまり、すべての年齢の人達がアニメ映画を見ていることになります。それほど日本ではアニメや漫画が文化として浸透していると言えるでしょう。

リアル二刀流／ショータイム
今年の流行語として「リアル二刀流」と「ショータイム」という言葉がノミネートされました。この２つの言葉はアメリカの大リーグで活躍している大谷翔平選手を意味するものです。このように野球選手に関する言葉が流行語に選ばれることはよくあります。日本のスポーツと言えば相撲などを想像する外国人は多くいます。しかし、実際日本で多くみられているスポーツが野球であることを知っている人は少ないです。この話を留学生にすると、「相撲以外だったらサッカーのほうが人気だと思った。」「野球ってどんなスポーツなのかよく知らない。」と答えます。みなさんも同じ意見でしょうか？

今回は今年日本で流行したものをいくつか紹介しました。次回も引き続き紹介したいと思います。ちなみに本校では、自分の国ではやっているものを紹介するイベントを行っています。色々な国の流行を知ることができて良い異文化理解の機会になります。ぜひ、みなさんの国で流行しているものを教えてくださいね。

【遠目に見る紅葉】
近くで見ると
少し色褪せていた紅葉も
遠目に見れば
とっても綺麗でした。

最近モノクロ写真たち

This beautiful christmas tree is situated inside the "Mark IS" shopping Mall in Minatomirai area of Kanagawa prefecture.

『圧倒される戸隠の雪景色』

長野県にある戸隠神社奥社の巨大な杉並木はいつ来ても圧倒されます。
早朝に来た時には−8°と寒いですが、この杉並木を見た瞬間に寒さを忘れ思わず立ち止まって見てしまいます。

【清水寺】
ライトアップ。

A very beautiful christmas tree in the minato mirai area of Kanagawa Prefecture.

Went to Ootoya for lunch today and got a nice Alaska pollack set meal with vegetables pickled in black vinegar (すけそう鱈と野菜の黒酢あん定食).

Cost 920 yen and it tasted great. I really like Ootoya because it's a nice place if you're looking to eat some traditional Japanese food and I'm surprised it's actually not more popular.

The food is always great and you even get to choose the types of rice you want and how much. It's pretty reasonable cost-wise considering what you get as well.

The ordering system is really convenient as well. With the electronic ordering tablets it's easy to add something to your order and they have English as well so if you're not confident with your Japanese you don't need to worry about it