My grandma

The author (left!)

My maternal grandma was very elegant and she always wore a kimono. She sewed kimonos by herself, and made some beautiful kimonos for me as well, which includes a special one for my coming-of-age ceremony.

She married a military officer, who was held as a detainee for seven years in a Siberian internment camp. That must have been a very difficult time for her, with three children during and after the war, but unfortunately I never had any opportunity to listen to her recollections.

I remember her sitting still and sewing a kimono in the sunshine with a beautiful picture, more than two tatami-mats in size, hanging beside her. I also remember her back when she was about to go out, which was quite often. She was a member of the Red Cross Society, LDP, Women's association and so on. She also learned traditional Japanese dance and did some volunteer work; she liked reading historical novels, such as Eiji Yoshikawa's. She always wrote as well, so she was always quite busy and seemed to get involved in something all the time.

She liked eating good food and drinking a little sake and enjoyed the company of friends. She was very pleased with my marriage and welcomed my husband so much whenever we visited her, and she gave him the full treatment with her generosity - so he liked her very much as well.

My grandma enjoyed her life in many ways with a lot of friends, she always did something fun and she was always beautiful. I would love to be like her!

Holiday plans to penfriends

 Hi Bill and Bill's family,

Hello, long time no contact. Thank you for your e-mail about coming to Japan. We planned your travel course below and we'll enjoy staying with your family, if you like.

We're going to Kyoto and Osaka after staying in Tokyo for two days. Do your family like amusement parks? We're going to the Tokyo Disneyland in Tokyo and the Universal Studio Japan in Osaka. Then we're going to take a Japanese traditional experience in Kyoto.

It'll be very hot in Japanese summer, especially in Kyoto. In addition, we're going to wear a kimono which is unique Japanese clothes and take a walk in the town. So we'll get very hot and might be tired.

You should have a lot of suncreem and wear shoes to walk easily since we're going to walk a lot outside.

We're looking forward to meeting.

Best regard

Takeshi

Japanese icons

Nanako's page

In class last week, my brother and I studied about American icons, like the Hollywood sign and the Statue of Liberty. this was easy because we lived in America and we visited lots of places. We loved living in America, and going to school there. We have lots of friends in America.

Yuto's page

For homework we found some pictures of Japanese icons:

• Maiko
• Sensu
• Shamisen
• Kimono
• Sushi
• Sumo
• Shinkansen
• Samurai
• Ninja
• Kabuki

I think sushi is the most iconic symbol of Japan. What do you think?

Nanako (9)

Things to see & do in Japan

Mt. Fuji and Shinkansen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In Japan, you can visit Tokyo Disneyland, Mount Fuji and Matsumoto Castle. They are famous places.

photo by Jim George

You can ride on bullet trains. Because it is very fast. You can eat sushi. It is very good. People like playing go and cards. You can buy kimono and models of Matsumoto Castle.

Nanako (7)

Lucky or unlucky things in Japan