This week, let’s discuss two main questions: 1) What are the things that are most important in your life and 2) what, if anything, is missing in your life?
I was thinking about this question after I read a news story about a family that just returned to the US after a 7-year journey around the world on their 43 foot (13 meter) sailboat.
In 2001, Tom and Kathy Crafton were a successful couple living in Alaska with their three children. They both had good jobs but they said they felt like something was missing in their lives. So after taking sailing lessons, they sold their home in Alaska and and most of their belongings and left on a journey with no timeline and no destination. They didn’t know how long they would be gone and they didn’t really care. They said they did it because they wanted to be closer as a family and they wanted to find happiness and adventure.
All in all, they traveled to 23 different countries and sailed over 48,000 kilometers. And now that they are back in the US, they said they feel like life has a different meaning. They said they now appreciate life and their family more and that their journey gave them the opportunity to slow down. They said they miss the adventure but they are forever changed by their journey.
If you want to see a video of their story, please click this video link. （最初の１５秒はコマーシャルが流れます。）
So how about you? What is important to you? Is there anything missing in your life? And if there is something missing, how can you get it? I will look forward to hearing your answers when we speak this week.
Keith//
This week’s vocabulary:
What is missing in your life
人生で何か足りないか？
journey
旅
sailboat
ヨット
belongings
所有物
timeline
タイムライン
destination
行く先/目的地
life has a different meaning
人生が（今までとは）違う意味を持つ
appreciate
感謝する
opportunity
機会
slow down
スピードダウンする
they are forever changed by their journey
彼らは、その旅によって、永遠に変わってしまった。
2010/08/24
2010/08/17
お盆をどのように過しますか？
I took a little break from the weekly question last week because so many students took an O-Bon holiday. But now I am back to work and ready for the dog days of summer.
So let’s start our conversations this week with a few simple questions about O-Bon.
What did you do for the O-Bon holiday?
Do you do the same thing every year?
Do you or does your family follow some traditions for O-Bon?
Do you or does your family eat, drink or do anything special for O-Bon?
Last Saturday, my wife and I went to her hometown and paid our respects to her ancestors. We went to different cemeteries and prayed at the graves of her mother’s side of the family as well as her father’s. In addition to praying at the ancestor’s graves, we also visited the graves of various friends and acquaintances that played important parts in the lives of my wife’s family.
For my wife’s family, like most Japanese families, it is an annual custom to visit the cemetery and pray to and for our ancestors. And in my wife’s family, it is also part of their custom to visit other relatives’ houses in order to pray at their family altars, especially if someone in that family has died in the last year.
After we return from the cemetery, it is customary to eat my mother-in-law’s home-made breakfast, talk and share some laughs. This year, my mother-in-law made black rockfish, rice, pickles, grilled abalone, salad and fresh sliced peaches.
How about you? I will look forward to hearing about your O-bon holiday when we speak next.
This week’s vocabularies:
take a break
休みを取る
O-bon
お盆
dog days of summer
夏中で一番暑い時期
tradition
伝統、慣習
pay respects
敬意を払う
ancestors
先祖
cemetery
墓地
pray
祈る
mother’s side of the family
母方の家族
father’s side of the family
父方の家族
grave
お墓
acquaintances
知り合い
custom
習慣
family altar
仏壇
black rockfish
めばる（魚）
pickles
漬け物
abalone
あわび
So let’s start our conversations this week with a few simple questions about O-Bon.
What did you do for the O-Bon holiday?
Do you do the same thing every year?
Do you or does your family follow some traditions for O-Bon?
Do you or does your family eat, drink or do anything special for O-Bon?
Last Saturday, my wife and I went to her hometown and paid our respects to her ancestors. We went to different cemeteries and prayed at the graves of her mother’s side of the family as well as her father’s. In addition to praying at the ancestor’s graves, we also visited the graves of various friends and acquaintances that played important parts in the lives of my wife’s family.
For my wife’s family, like most Japanese families, it is an annual custom to visit the cemetery and pray to and for our ancestors. And in my wife’s family, it is also part of their custom to visit other relatives’ houses in order to pray at their family altars, especially if someone in that family has died in the last year.
After we return from the cemetery, it is customary to eat my mother-in-law’s home-made breakfast, talk and share some laughs. This year, my mother-in-law made black rockfish, rice, pickles, grilled abalone, salad and fresh sliced peaches.
How about you? I will look forward to hearing about your O-bon holiday when we speak next.
This week’s vocabularies:
take a break
休みを取る
O-bon
お盆
dog days of summer
夏中で一番暑い時期
tradition
伝統、慣習
pay respects
敬意を払う
ancestors
先祖
cemetery
墓地
pray
祈る
mother’s side of the family
母方の家族
father’s side of the family
父方の家族
grave
お墓
acquaintances
知り合い
custom
習慣
family altar
仏壇
black rockfish
めばる（魚）
pickles
漬け物
abalone
あわび
2010/08/03
”ジャパニーズ・ドリーム”は何？
This week, let’s talk about something called the “American Dream”, the stereotypical ideal life and lifestyle in America. Then, let’s talk about what is the “Japanese Dream” for most Japanese (if there is one)?
The phrase "American Dream" was coined in 1931 by an American writer named James Adams in his book, The Epic of America. Part of what Adams wrote was that the “American Dream” was, "a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement...It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." （アメリカンドリームとは、誰にでも、成功への機会は、均等に与えられており、人種や性別、社会的地位に関係なく、勤勉と努力によって、成功を勝ち取ることが出来るものとされている、アメリカ合衆国における成功の概念。最近では、アメリカン・ドリームと言うと、物質的所有を成功の象徴としているが、元々は、社会平等である理想の国づくりを目指したところにあった概念であった。）
When America was founded, this was the American Dream but certainly after World War II, during the baby boom, I believe the American Dream changed to mean something much different, something that has been more about material goods rather than wanting to live in a country where all people are treated equally.
Since the end of WWII, the most common stereotypical image of the American Dream has been:
A big house with a white picket fence
A beautiful wife (for a man) or a handsome husband with a good paying job (for a woman)
Two kids (a boy and a girl)
Two cars
A dog
And enough money to keep up with the Joneses.
Now of course, this is a stereotypical image of America and Americans but this stereotype has been the norm for the last 60 years or so. That popular view is changing with the next generation and as is often the case, when there is a fundamental change in society, there is usually tension, disagreement and often anger. This is where America is today—fighting over the direction of the future of America.
So my question is; Is there a Japanese equivalent of the American Dream in Japanese society? What is the typical dream for families in Japan? What was it for your parent’s generation? How about the next generation? Would you fight to keep the dream the way it is? And what is your “Japanese Dream”?
I will look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions when we speak next.
Keith//
Vocabularies:
American Dream
アメリカンドリーム
（米国建国の理想）
stereotypical
ステレオタイプの
ideal
理想
coin
（語句を）新しくつくる
founded
建国された
baby boom
ベピーブーム
material goods
物質的な所有物
white picket fence
白い杭のフェンス
keep up with the Joneses
隣人たちと張り合う
（例えば、誰かが新しい車を買ったら、それに後れを取らないように自分達も新しい車を買うといった行為に関して使う表現）
fundamental
根底となる
tension
緊張感
disagreement
意見の相違
equivalent
同等のもの
The phrase "American Dream" was coined in 1931 by an American writer named James Adams in his book, The Epic of America. Part of what Adams wrote was that the “American Dream” was, "a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement...It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." （アメリカンドリームとは、誰にでも、成功への機会は、均等に与えられており、人種や性別、社会的地位に関係なく、勤勉と努力によって、成功を勝ち取ることが出来るものとされている、アメリカ合衆国における成功の概念。最近では、アメリカン・ドリームと言うと、物質的所有を成功の象徴としているが、元々は、社会平等である理想の国づくりを目指したところにあった概念であった。）
When America was founded, this was the American Dream but certainly after World War II, during the baby boom, I believe the American Dream changed to mean something much different, something that has been more about material goods rather than wanting to live in a country where all people are treated equally.
Since the end of WWII, the most common stereotypical image of the American Dream has been:
A big house with a white picket fenceA beautiful wife (for a man) or a handsome husband with a good paying job (for a woman)
Two kids (a boy and a girl)
Two cars
A dog
And enough money to keep up with the Joneses.
Now of course, this is a stereotypical image of America and Americans but this stereotype has been the norm for the last 60 years or so. That popular view is changing with the next generation and as is often the case, when there is a fundamental change in society, there is usually tension, disagreement and often anger. This is where America is today—fighting over the direction of the future of America.
So my question is; Is there a Japanese equivalent of the American Dream in Japanese society? What is the typical dream for families in Japan? What was it for your parent’s generation? How about the next generation? Would you fight to keep the dream the way it is? And what is your “Japanese Dream”?
I will look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions when we speak next.
Keith//
Vocabularies:
American Dream
アメリカンドリーム
（米国建国の理想）
stereotypical
ステレオタイプの
ideal
理想
coin
（語句を）新しくつくる
founded
建国された
baby boom
ベピーブーム
material goods
物質的な所有物
white picket fence
白い杭のフェンス
keep up with the Joneses
隣人たちと張り合う
（例えば、誰かが新しい車を買ったら、それに後れを取らないように自分達も新しい車を買うといった行為に関して使う表現）
fundamental
根底となる
tension
緊張感
disagreement
意見の相違
equivalent
同等のもの
2010/08/01
他国の文化からあなたが学んだことは？
In this week’s question, I wonder what (if anything) you have learned from others, specifically, other cultures.
As for me...
Since I first traveled to Japan, I feel very fortunate about my personal perspective: I have been able to see America from the outside looking in and I have been able to be an outsider on the inside of Japan. And the one part about living in Japan that has been the most fascinating to me is the subtlety of the culture and the people. Of course not always, but more often than not, the methodical and reserved disposition is the norm in Japan and perhaps that is why I feel a little more comfortable living here in Ise City than I ever have in the US.
Being an American and especially in my house, since I grew up with 7 brothers and sisters, I learned from a very young age that usually the person who is loudest, usually gets what he or she wants. That idea seems to be quite opposite of life in Japan. And even though here are many things that American boldness and daring has brought the world, for me, when there is too much of it, it makes me feel a little uneasy. Living in Japan gives me a sense of calmness that I cannot always find when living in America.
So how about you? What are some things (if anything) that you have learned from other cultures you have been exposed to?
I will look forward to hearing your answers when we speak next.
Keith//
specifically
特に
fortunate
運が良い（恵まれている）
personal perspective
個人的な視点
from the outside looking in
外側から覗く
an outsider on the inside of Japan
日本の中の部外者
fascinating
惹き付けられる
subtlety
繊細さ
methodical
几帳面さ
reserved disposition is the norm
控えめな姿勢が平均的である
the person who is loudest, usually gets what he or she wants
声を一番上げる人が、通常ほしいものを得る
boldness
図太さ
daring
大胆さ
uneasy
落ち着かない
As for me...
Since I first traveled to Japan, I feel very fortunate about my personal perspective: I have been able to see America from the outside looking in and I have been able to be an outsider on the inside of Japan. And the one part about living in Japan that has been the most fascinating to me is the subtlety of the culture and the people. Of course not always, but more often than not, the methodical and reserved disposition is the norm in Japan and perhaps that is why I feel a little more comfortable living here in Ise City than I ever have in the US.
Being an American and especially in my house, since I grew up with 7 brothers and sisters, I learned from a very young age that usually the person who is loudest, usually gets what he or she wants. That idea seems to be quite opposite of life in Japan. And even though here are many things that American boldness and daring has brought the world, for me, when there is too much of it, it makes me feel a little uneasy. Living in Japan gives me a sense of calmness that I cannot always find when living in America.
So how about you? What are some things (if anything) that you have learned from other cultures you have been exposed to?
I will look forward to hearing your answers when we speak next.
Keith//
specifically
特に
fortunate
運が良い（恵まれている）
personal perspective
個人的な視点
from the outside looking in
外側から覗く
an outsider on the inside of Japan
日本の中の部外者
fascinating
惹き付けられる
subtlety
繊細さ
methodical
几帳面さ
reserved disposition is the norm
控えめな姿勢が平均的である
the person who is loudest, usually gets what he or she wants
声を一番上げる人が、通常ほしいものを得る
boldness
図太さ
daring
大胆さ
uneasy
落ち着かない
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