Happy New Year

As I am spending the time with my family watching TV and talking about nonsense, I’d like to take some time thinking back this year.  Since Laura and I started the Japanese cultural group in 2011, we had steady growth in our group members. The year 2012 has been very active year for the group, and we accomplished many activities.  In addition to monthly Japanese speaking table, we had following cultural events in 2012:

Feb 3 – setsubun / bean throwing 
May 6 – children’s day / koinobori
July 20 – tasting at Sushi Pirate
Aug 25 – obon
Nov 4 – bunka no hi / culture day
Dec 2 – nabe / hot pot dinner
Dec 31 (planed) – toshikoshi / new year’s eve 

We would not be able to have such great turn out without you all.

I like to thank you to everyone, and additional thank you to people who hosted the events or brought great foods to share.  I appreciate if you can continue supporting the group and help us host events, cook cultural foods, and bring ideas on what we can do to make the events more fun and meaningful.  

Happy New Year to you all

ゆく年くる年

Christmas and New Year is around the corner.  It's getting cold and we had some snow just in time to prep for the white Christmas.  Everyone, please have great holidays and eat lots of warm foods.  The Japanese Nabe party was awesome.  We should do it again.  I'll be spending the お正月(oshougatsu) in Japan.  I hope you have some great time getting together with your family as well.  See you next year!

The picture from the Nabe Party.

December Japanese Speaking Table

Thanks to Shuei for hosting a fabulous Nabe Party last night.  We had three kinds of nabe, two kinds of oden, and snacks galore including sushi, squid, onigiri, and more.  Everyone had a good time tasting new and familiar foods and drinks.

The next Japanese Speaking Table will be moved to Sunday in order to accommodate a few more interested participants.

Sunday, December 9
3pm
Root Note Cafe

All levels are welcome to come and practice speaking Japanese.

Nabe, the winter goods

As it reaches toward the end of the year, we may have only few times to get together as a group.  In December, we have an exciting Nabe (Japanese style hot pot) party hosted by Shuei.  We can experiment different flavors, but I'm especially interested in kimchi nabe.  Nabe is a typical winter food in Japan.  We can warm up by eating delicious nabe and mingle with family and friends.  That's priceless.


tag: la crosse wi japanese la crosse japanese club japanese cultural group japanese people japanese language japanese la crosse wisconsin

November Japanese Speaking Table

November's edition of the La Crosse Japanese Club's Japanese Speaking Table is coming up soon.

Saturday, November 10th
3 to 5pm
Root Note Cafe

All levels are welcome to come practice Japanese.
The theme this month might be birthdays, as Saturday just happens to be Laura's!

Curry and Culture

Thanks to all who came out to celebrate Culture Day!  We started out slow with two kinds of curry, but quickly filled up with yudofu, chirashi zushi, mochi, and pumpkin dip.  With the movies of Miyazaki in the background, we learned how to make origami cranes and practiced our calligraphy skills.  Laura gave lessons on the koto, and everyone who tried could play "Sakura, Sakura."

Rumors of the next event being a nabe party were circulating, so tentatively mark your calendars for December 1, and we'll get the specifics out as soon as we know.

Culture Day Potluck

November 3rd is Bunka no Hi (Culture Day) in Japan.
We're going to celebrate by having a potluck and doing some cultural activities.

Saturday, November 3
Noon to 3pm
Laura's house (see facebook event for address, or contact Laura or Hozumi)

Please bring a dish to share.  It doesn't have to be Japanese food.

We'll try these fun cultural activities:
origami
calligraphy
koto lessons
tea ceremony
and more!

Feel free to invite anyone interested in learning about Japan.
See you there!

○○の秋 (~ no aki)

The hot and dry summer has passed and the cold winter is on its way.  And of course there is this beautiful season, fall.  In Japan, fall is considered as the best season to strive for anything you like to do.

○○の秋, which means Autumn of [blank], is a common phrase used around this season in Japan.

There are two circles because you typically fit two kanji characters to make it meaningful for your goal/ambition/hobby/life, etc, but it does not have to be two characters.

The typical phrases used are:

読書の秋 (dokusho no aki) = Autumn of Reading

芸術の秋 (geijyutsu no aki) = Autumn of Art

スポーツの秋 (supootsu no aki) = Autumn of Sports

食欲の秋 (shokuyoku no aki) = Autumn of Appetite

What is your ○○の秋?

Japanese Speaking Table: October

Come out to the Japanese Speaking Table this Saturday (Oct. 13) at 3pm at the Root Note.  We'll chat about fall and perhaps play some Japanese word games to learn new vocabulary.

Feel free to bring any questions you have about Japanese language or Japan as well.  We're always willing to  help out!

How was your moon viewing day?

November 29th was jyuugoya 十五夜, the Harvest Moon. We also call this day otsukimi お月見 , literary meaning "moon viewing".  Due to everybody's schedule, we could not get together for this date, but I hope you had a great night and enjoyed viewing nice full moon.

tag: japanese la crosse wi japanese club cultural group meetup japanese people language culture la crosse wisconsin japan

Japanese Speaking Table: Introductions

Our September Japanese Speaking Table is this weekend!

Saturday, Sept. 8
Root Note (4th Street, La Crosse)
3pm

This week we'll start off by practicing self-introductions.  Come prepared with a few sentences about yourself, or just wing it.  We'll learn new grammar and vocabulary from each other's descriptions of hobbies, jobs, and quirky facts.

If you don't know how to introduce yourself yet, no problem!  We'll teach you the necessary phrases and how to modify them to your own situation.

All levels of Japanese are welcome.

Obon Season - Late-Summer Get Together

We had another nice potluck & movie night, featuring the obon season this time.  Typically in Japan, late summer involves with summer festivals, yukata, yatai (vendor foods), and fireworks. We didn't have fireworks, but some of us wore yukata, and we all enjoyed the foods and watching Japanese documentary.   We also had Shuei's family and friend visiting from Japan. In fact, they just arrived here in Wisconsin on the night before, so I hope the jetlag wasn't getting them too bad. Thank you all coming and hope to see you again soon!

Obon Potluck and Movie, August 25

While the Obon holiday is officially the 15th of August (or July in some parts of Japan), we are going to celebrate on August 25th with a potluck and movie night.

Come dressed in yukata if you have one, and we'll try some bon odori (traditional dance), eat some good food, and watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

Obon Potluck and Movie
Saturday, August 25
6pm
Hozumi's house (see facebook event for address)

Sushi, Ahoy!

Members of the Japanese club gathered for sushi at the Bamboo House in Onalaska a few months ago.  Last month we tried out the new Pirate Sushi in downtown La Crosse and welcomed new members to the group. Another meeting will be announced in a few weeks, so check back often!

Why Japanese love manga/anime

Here is my self-claimed reason (excuse) on why Japanese love manga/anime.

Before Chinese characters were imported from China into Japan, Japanese did not have written language. Japanese tried to learn how to write using Chinese characters, it was very difficult for them. Japanese then tried to invent different ways of writing, such as creating kana letters, to make it easier for Japanese, but written language was still used only by a small percent of high class Japanese. Several hundred years after Chinese characters were first imported, Japanese were finally ready to learn how to write. They created text books and used in schools to teach students. Since they did not know how to read/write, the text books used many pictures to help understand the written context. This is how manga started in the Japanese history. So in history, manga was actually text books!

ようこそ

Welcome to the La Crosse Area Japanese Club!

We are a group of community members in the La Crosse Area who have varying interests in Japan, from language, to culture, to food, and more.  We gather once or twice a month to practice speaking Japanese, celebrate Japanese festivals, eat Japanese food, watch Japanese movies, and generally expand our knowledge concerning Japan.

Anyone is welcome to attend our meetings.  To learn more about our past events, visit our facebook site.  New events will be posted both here and on our facebook pages.