Ayumi's English room

culture

Unique writing brush made out of Kazura

Hi, it’s Ayumi. I’ve been very busy as a writer but I’m happy to start writing an English blog again! Today, I’d like to share about a unique writing brush in my region. Kazura writing brush Calligraphy is one of the arts in Japan. In calligraphy, we usually use a writing brush and charcoal ink. The writing brush is made out of animal hair, such as that made of goat and horse. However, the writing brush that I’ll introduce today is made out of a plant called Kazura. This brush is highly appreciated by calligraphers because it can express distinctive lines. What is Kazura? Kazura is a kind of climbing plant, growing and wrapping around a tree. Kazura’s vine has rich fibers and it can be used as a brush tip by hitting and loosening. The characteristics of Kazura writing brush The Kazura brush tip is harder than an ordinary brush. It absorbs a lot of charcoal ink but the line is easy to fade. Even calligraphers can’t control the moving of the brush tip. That’s why it’s said the Kazura writing brush provides them opportunities to learn a lot of things technically and mentally. Calligraphy performance by Ayumi It’s […]

life

Japanese kitchen garden

Hi, it’s been a long time! This time, I’d like to share about my kitchen garden. My kitchen garden I’m growing summer vegetables in planters. On the other day, I harvested cucumbers. These were all fresh and delicious. A flog and a gecko I found a fat flog in an olive tree. I saw him morning and evening on the same day, the same place. Every evening, geckos appear on the kitchen windows of my house. We’re looking forward to seeing them because they are so cute! I like their dance. Their tail wiggles when they spot their favorite bugs! My town I was born and raised in a big city, but now I live in the countryside. I got used to living here and I love my place.The video below is the town I live in. I hope you enjoy the video.

life

Experience of Rice harvesting in a Japanese traditional way

My son and I had the experience of Rice harvesting in a traditional way. It was hard work but fun! I’ll share our experience in this blog. Instructions were given beforehand It was cloudy on that day and it was the best day for the rice harvesting, because it’s still hot on a fine day at the beginning of October in Fukuoka prefecture. Twenty-two people got gathered including 12 children and also 2 people from Israel on that day. Some of them have experienced rice harvesting and some of them haven’t. I had never ever used a sickle. But I didn’t need to worry. The detailed instructions of each process were given before starting our task. Because of that, even my 9-year-old son could do it. Reap sticky rice plants This is the rice field that we would reap. Look at the color of rice plants! It’s gold! How beautiful! These are sticky rice plants. Sticky rice is the rice used for making mochi. We have been reaping rice plants by the sickle for several hours, and we have been putting them on the ground one after another. It was hard work. Good job, my son! As you can see, […]

life

Fireworks display in Japan

Long summer vacation was over! I’m relieved because I can concentrate on things what I have to do. During the summer vacation, I had to adjust my work schedule to my son. School started from today. I hope everything back to normal. Fireworks festival in Japan Fireworks display is a summer tradition in Japan. Here in Yukuhashi-City, the annual fireworks display was held on August 31, 2019, by Imagawa River. My family was walking around to look for a good spot for watching fireworks. It was so crowded the pathway along the river, I could only see people’s back. Hahaha…, amazing! In the end, we found a good spot, but it was on the slope and difficult to sit stable. There are some people tried to sit behind me, but they slid and kick my behind and left! lol, Of course, they apologized me before leaving. I didn’t mind it, because I knew sitting still was so difficult! Here is the video of the fireworks that day. It was 30 minutes show but I edited it and shortened to 4 minutes. I hope you’ll enjoy the fireworks!

life

Typical Japanese kid’s summer vacation

My son is 9 years old. His summer vacation has just started. Do you know what Japanese summer vacation is like? Today, I’ll introduce a typical Japanese summer vacation for elementary school students. 40-day-vacation, too long! The vacation is so long. It continues for about 40 days. Children usually bring a lot of homework back home. It’s the parent’s responsibility to make children finish all of their homework by the vacation ends. I want my son to manage homework properly, I created a chart for him. I hope he sees this chart and does homework spontaneously. Let’s see how it will work! Up to now, it hasn’t been working though. lol How we get Chinese characters Can you imagine how Japanese children learn Chinese characters? Typically, children start to learn reading and writing from 6-7 years old, the 1st grade of elementary school. First, they learn from Hiragana and Katakana (both are the basic Japanese characters), and next, they start to learn Chinese characters. I think you know there are countless Chinese characters. In Japan, students learn those from which the most frequent use. The number of Chinese characters students learning are 80 pieces in the 1st grade, 160 pieces […]

trip

Traveling to Vietnam at the very first time – Hanoi and Ha Long Bay

This article is about my travel to Vietnam that highlights Vietnamese cuisine and sightseeing spots I recommend. Traveling to Vietnam! I had traveled to Vietnam with my family at the end of March. This was the first time visiting Vietnam for me. Everything I saw there was awesome and unforgettable. Foods were delicious, the hotel was good and accommodating. All memories in Vietnam are beautiful for me even though I’d got influenza right after coming back home. I’d stayed in Hanoi 2days and went to Ha Long Bay for the 3rd day. I made a short video showing some pictures in Vietnam. I hope you’ll enjoy it! More informations about Hanoi Old Quater and Ha Long Bay The followings are more informations about Hanoi Old Quater and Ha Long Bay. I ate delicious foods and visited interesting places! Cuisine in Hanoi We found a good restaurant by the Hoan Kiem Lake. The cuisine and a night view were excellent. Most popular Pho restaurant in Hanoi is here The cut lime into one-fourth and sliced red pepper are served with pho. First, taste the pho broth and if you like, squeeze lime and add some red pepper and condiments in the […]

craft

My first blog

Hi, my name is Ayumi. I’m the author of this blog. I started this blog to brush up my English skills. Why? I live in Japan and I don’t have many chances to use English in my daily life. I really want to have fluency in my English, especially writing and speaking. This blog will give me good opportunities to write things in English. I will also upload English videos in this blog. I’ll post mainly about my life in Japan and other things that I’m interested in. I’m so excited! I hope that many people around the world will visit my blog and leave some comments and feedback. See you soon! Bye. The following is my first video “How to make a bookmark with Origami”.