Tokyo Olympics 2020

As you all know, the 2016 Olympics in Rio are already underway so I thought that this would be a good time to write about the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

How many times has Tokyo bid for the Olympic games?

Tokyo has bid for the Games 5 times in total. 

1. Tokyo first bid for the 1940 Summer Olympics and won but unfortunately could not host the Games due to WWII. 
2. Then they bid for the 1960 Games but they lost to Rome. 
3. 1964 however, was a successful bid and became the first Asian country to host the Olympic Games. 
4. As Tokyo wished to host again, they bid for the 2016 Games but they lost to Rio. 
5. And finally, four years later, they won the bid for the 2020 Olympic Games.

But Tokyo is not the only city that has bid for the Olympics. 

• Osaka tried to host the 2008 Olympics but lost to Beijing
• Nagoya tried to host the 1988 Olympics and lost to Seoul
• Sapporo was given the 1940 Winter Olympics but as WWII broke out, they never hosted it
• Sapporo tried again in 1968 but Grenoble won
• Third time lucky, Sapporo got to host the 1972 Winter Olympics and became the first Asian country to do so.
• Soon afterwards, Sapporo tried for the 1984 and lost to Sarajevo
• In 1998, Nagano won the bid to host the Winter Olympics.

That's a lot of bids.

On September 7, Tokyo won the bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games. Hooray!

Construction work

For the Olympic stadium, they are demolishing the old stadium that was used for the 1964 and build the 新国立競技所 (New National Stadium). Demolition finished in October 2015 and the construction of the new stadium will start this in 2017, to be ready for the Olympics.

Most venues for the sports have been used in previous Olympics, 11 new venues will be built

The Heritage zone is an area where old venues that were used in the 1964 Games will be used again. The Tokyo Bay zone however is a place for future modern development.
5 venues will be in neither zone, most of the venues are the ones that need more space like golf and the football matches.

The events

As well as the usual events, baseball and softball will make a comeback and 4 new events will take place: surfing, karate, skateboarding and sport climbing.

The Olympic logo

As you may have heard, the original Olympic logo had to be changed as it looked too similar to the logo for the Theatre de Liege. So the new logo created by Asao Tokolo is meant to show "the refined elegance and sophistication that exemplifies Japan" according to the Tokyo Emblems Selection Committee. The three regular quadrilaterals are meant to symbolise the "different countries, cultures and the ways of thinking" and the idea of "unity in diversity" according to the organisers

The Olympic mascots

At the time of writing, the mascots for the 2020 Olympics have not been announced but will be updated when it is.

Gooooo Japan! Please leave in the comments what you are looking forward to in the current Olympics or in Olympics to come. 

April

April is a very important time in Japan. Firstly, it marks the start of the new school year, the cherry blossoms are in flower and it's the start of new life!

Early April is the best time to see the cherry blossoms in flower. Many people at this time go to see the cherry blossoms. They go to do 花見 (hanami) which literally means to look at the flowers. This usually involves a picnic party, food and drink and alcohol. Hanami is a tradition that has been going on for a thousand years.

Hanami in Ueno
By I took this photograph. (Self-photographed) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Hanami checklist- how to enjoy hanami

• Make sure that the area that you wish to hanami allows hanami. 

Some places do not allow hanami even if there are many cherry blossoms

• Find a toilet beforehand

Some hanami sites have toilets but not all of them. And even if there is a toilet, it will be very busy. Places such as some supermarkets and covenience stores will have toilets but you should buy something to show your appreciation, perhaps something small like a pack of gum or tissues?

• Make sure you take all of your rubbish home

Most hanami sites do not have rubbish bins and it is better to leave the site tidy as you found it

What about taking some plastic bags?

• Have all the items you need for a good hanami

You can definitely get all of the following for 100 yen each in a hundren yen store

A picnic mat would be very useful for putting the food and drink on. The ground may also be damp, and it's not very nice sitting on the damp ground

Take some bin bags with you, for the rubbish

Some wet handwipes may be useful.

Some department stores such as Isetan will sell special hanami lunch sets but most people make their own picnic.

Please write in the comments about your hanami expiriences. I hope that you enjoyed this post ＼(^o^)／

Setsubun festival

On the 3rd of February, every year, there is a festival called Setsubun (節分).

On the evening of the festival,  Japanese families do mamemaki (豆まき). This is when, a wooden container is filled with roasted soy beans and then they throw the beans around the room whilst shouting 'Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi' (鬼は外、福は内) which roughly translates as 'Goblins out, good fortune in!' This is to drive out bad fortune and evil and keep good fortune and happiness in.
Afterwards, you eat the same number of beans as your age. So for example if you are 7, you eat 7 beans. But this may not always be possible because if you are, for example 89, there may not be enough to have 89 beans. Eating too many soy beans is not be too good for you as they contain a substance that is not good for us in large quantities, so watch the amount that you eat! Also, there have recently been articles in the news that the beans are a possible choking hazard for children under the age of 3. Here is the article. So sadly, not everyone can take part in the festivities.

The roasted soy beans and the goblin masks
By katorisi (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

This is usually a fun event for families especially if there are young children as someone dresses up or wears a goblin mask while the others throw roasted soy beans at the goblin.

I hope all of the setsubun celebrations go well and everyone has good fortune for the rest of the year!

If you would like me to write about a certain topic, please leave it in the comments!

New Years Eve in Japan

Here in the UK, you don't really so much for New Years Eve apart for staying up until midnight. However in Japan, New Years Day is a very important time.

New Years Eve

• The japanese word for New Years Eve is 大晦日 (ōmisoka)
• Running up to this day, people will be cleaning their houses. This is to purify the house and welcome the God of the Coming New Year who is called 年神様 (toshigami-sama)
• Some people decorate their houses for New Years Day. I made an origami wreath and some origami decorations

New Year's day wreath

Kadomatsu 門松

Not many people in Japan set up a kadomatsu because of the lack of space outside of the house. It is seen as just a decoration. However, I have found some information on how and when you should set up a kadomatsu if at all possible. 

• This is a decoration made out of bamboo sticks and pine branches.
• The kadomatsu is placed in front of the house to welcome spirits and Toshigami-sama into the house
• You must set the kadomatsu up or the god Toshigami-sama will not enter the house and bring happiness
• The word literally means pine gate (門-gate 松-pine)
• You should not set it up on the 31st December because it is impolite and implies that you have rushed through the process and finished it at the last minute
• Also you should not set it up on the 29th December because it is considered an unlucky day
• You can take the decorations down from the 7th January. However, you should'nt take the decorations down before then because Toshigami-sama stays until the 7th so it would be considered impolite

Kadomatsu
By Nesnad (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Kagamimochi 鏡餅

• Kagamimochi is a decoration made out of two rice cake balls and an orange. The largest rice cake ball goes on the bottom, then the smaller rice cake ball goes on top and then finally, the orange goes on the top.
• The name literally translates as Mirror rice ball because it looks like an old round hand mirror.
• They are supposed to be placed around the house, each area of the house has a corresponding Shinto God.
• You can easily buy kagamimochi covered in plastic from the supermarket. It needs to be protected with plastic otherwise it spoils easily.
• On the 11th January, you can eat it. This day is called the Kagami biraki which literally means openening the mirror
• The mochi is then broken and eaten in a soup.

Kagamimochi
By Juni from Kyoto, Japan (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Toshikoshisoba 年越し蕎麦

• This is the food that is eaten on the day before New Years day
• Buckwheat noodles are usually eaten hot on this day but the toppings can vary.
• What my family has is vegetables and prawns fried in tempura.

The toshikoshi soba that we had

I hope that you have a brilliant New Year! Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016!

Halloween!!!

After the Japan finished in the Rugby World Cup with a win against USA, I ran out of things to write about. Since it's nearly Halloween and I had no idea what to write about, I looked on the internet to see if and how Japan enjoyed Halloween. Here we go!

Halloween is not a national holiday but many people do celebrate it. When you hear the word 'Halloween', what is the first thing that comes into mind? Trick or treating? Sweets? Dressing up as scary things like ghosts and skeletons? For Japan, it's the dressing up. Otherwise known as cosplay (コスプレ)

Cosplay

Cosplay is an abbreviated term for costume play where people dress up and act like a fictional character. The term came from Japan but the concept of costume play actually started in the USA. Just because the term came from Japan, it does not necasserily mean that it is a Japanese or Asian hobby.

Some cosplayers in the USA
By The Conmunity - Pop Culture Geek from Los Angeles, CA, USA (Professor McGonagall, Harry Potter, Severus Snape) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Many young people find cosplaying enjoyable and some even start planning and making their costume months in advance

This year, there will be a MAG festa (a manga, anime and game festival) in Nakano, Tokyo on Halloween. It was first held last year and it attracted 50000 participants so this year, it is predicted that many cosplayers will come this year too! They can prepare in the changing rooms provided and join the parade and cosplay related events

The REAL Super Mario Cart
By MIKI Yoshihito (MARIO CART.) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Sweets

As Halloween gets more popular, there are more Halloween themed sweets around. For example, Krispy Kreme Japan has 4 different monster themed doughnuts. Also Kit Kat has released pumpkin flavoured kit kats which is very exciting. The snack that I really want to try is the pumpkin pudding flavoured Caramel corn. Caramel corns have a similar consistency to cheese puffs or Wotsits and they are extremely delicious and slightly addictive. Yum! ＼(^o^)／

Mister Doughnut doughnuts
By Karl Baron (Mister Donut halloween donuts) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Kawasaki Halloween parade

The most famous Halloween parade is in Kawasaki, Kanagawa prefecture. Parade participants walk along the 1.5km course near the JR Kawasaki station and the La Citadella shopping center and show off their hand made costumes. I hope you enjoy Halloween. Please write in the comments about how your country celebrates Halloween.

Kawasaki Parade
By Danny Choo from Tokyo, Japan (Kawasaki Halloween) [CC BY-SA 2.0 v(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Sports day

In October, Japanese schools have Sports day! This was to commemorate the first Olympic Games in 1964, Tokyo which was held on October from the 10th to the 24th.

Usually, the Olympics are held in the summer but that year, the weather conditions were not suitable for atheletes from hot and cold countries. The summer months are too hot and humid to compete, spring was unstable weather wise and early autumn is the height of the typhoon and rainy season. Mid autumn was the best time because, the typhoon season is over and there is more sunshine. Thanks to this, the Opening Ceremony was staged underneath a cloudless sky.

Fun fact: Tokyo has hosted the Olympic Games two times and will next host it in 2020!

The teams

Here in England, you may be in a house with a team colour and name. In Japan however, there are only two houses, the Red house and the White house. Very creatively named. The colours of those houses should be fairly obvious. 

The events

The events vary from school to school but here is a list of some events

• Team dancing
• Track events
• Relays
• Throwing small balls into a tall basket
• Pushing a large ball
• Tug of war

If you are Japanese, please write in the comments what events you did when you were at school
もしあなたは日本人だったら、学校の運動会でどのイベントをやったかをコメントに書いてください。

What!?

This is about the Rugby World Cup match with Japan going against South Africa. If you do not want spoilers, watch the match first and then come back, ok?


Are you back? Ok, lets begin!
Just to say, this is just a post that is expressing my confusion
On Saturday 19th September, the Brave Blossoms played against the Springboks in the Rugby World Cup. Japan is not a Rugby team that is considered strong at all, they have never won a match in the World Cup.


They won 34-32! What!?

I was camping with school when I found out. A teacher came over to tell us the suprising results of the match and there was a massive whatsplosion at the campsite. No one expected it. No one could have predicted it. As I am Japanese, you would think that I would be really happy that Japan won but I spent five minutes just thinking "What!?" and trying to take in what had happened.

Japan is not generally amazing at sports that involve strength apart from gymnastics. The average body size is just not adapted for sports that mainly use strength. But after watching the match, they did do more than their best against the two time world champion, South Africa.

I am looking forward to their next match against Scotland, this Wednesday. Perhaps this was the start of many wins against other teams? Go Brave Blossoms!!!🏉🌸🌸🌸

Japan festival ♪───Ｏ（≧∇≦）Ｏ────♪

Hi guys! I thought that I would tell you about the Japan Matsuri. If you go to Trafalgar Square in London, on the 19th September, you can eat Japanese food, see taiko players and take part in many Japanese activities. Here is a poster about the details:

I hope that you are able to go and get a snapshot of Japanese culture.