数え歌 Kazoe Uta ～ Counting Song that go straight to your heart

Hey guys! Still remember the previous post about Nichiyou Sankan? In that post, I mentioned about class perfomance, right? So, now I want to talk about Taro's class perfomance song which I love so much~

The song's called Kazoe Uta which mean, "Counting Song". Like its name, it's a song about counting, but what make me fall in love with this song? Of course because the lyric~

At first it just start with Japanese counting "ichi, ni, san, shi, go roku, nana", but after that, the lyric start to get serious! And the melody... it just pierce through your heart... It really a beautiful song ❤

I love all of the lyric, but here's some of my favorite lyrics!

Kazoeru dake de, uta ni naru

Just counting will make a song

Koe wo awasete, anata no koe ga niji ni naru

With voices in unison, your voice became a rainbow

Sekaijuu ni aru kazu wo, issho ni utaetara ii ne

It would be great if we can sing all the number in the world together

Anata no kuni no kazoe kata, utaeba hora, egao ni naru

If you sing your country's way of counting, it will make a smile

Tomodachi ya kazoku no you ni, utatte hora te wo tsunagou
Like we're friends or families, if we sing it while holding hands

Hedatari mo nani mo nai, kono hoshi wa tsunagatteru

There's no barrier or anything, this planet is connected

It just like the song tell me that even when I go back to my country, it's alright because we're all connected and we can still meet again. I know it just a coincidence, but it's the most wonderful coincidence I ever had! This song made me believe I will meet my dear host family again someday soon!

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Let's Make a Tofu!

So guys, I couldn't tell you how lucky I am... When I was in Japan, I had this chance to make tofu from SCRATCH! It's really a fun experience I want to share with you! 

My host family and my friend's host family bring us to a cooking class and let us experience how to make tofu ourselves!

Well, I won't tell you how to make it because it would made a loooong post. I'll just put the recipe pictures so you can read it yourself ♪

I didn't take that many picture because I was busy making tofu (lol). But here's some picture took by my host mother and cooking teacher!

After we made the tofu, we cook it and made a korean food that's looks like nabe and eat it together. It's so delicious!!

 Last but not least, the teachers gave us a T-shirt!

I clearly can't forget this amazing experience! I'm really grateful my host mother brought me and my friend to this cooking class 💕

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けん玉 Kendama ～ Meet My Soulmate

Who didn't know about this traditional toy? It often appear in Japanese anime, manga, or dorama. If you don't know this toy, maybe you're not familiar with Japanese culture. 

When I was in Japan, I meet this little guy who later became my soulmate (lol). The kids in my host family have 2 of this and they let me and my friend play with it. The momment I play with this guy, I fell in love with him (lololol).

Kendama is Japanese traditional toy named after its component, ken (sword: refer to the spike) that has a spike and 3 cups, 小皿 (smal cup), 中皿 (middle/bottom cup), and 大皿 (big cup), and dama (ball). The ball is attached to the sword by a string and has a hole that fits with the spike. 

image source

So, how to play it? Simple, you just pull the ball upward, so it either land on the cups or on the spike. Yeah, sounds simple but it actually very very hard. You need to controll the ball and balance it in the cups. Amateur usually begin with a trick named moshi kame (named after a song that usually used while playing this trick). moshi kame is a trick where you just move the ball between big/small cup and bottom cup over and over. Once you've mastered it, you can move to other tricks which I'll show some video of me play some of it.

1. ふりけん - furiken

2. 飛行機 - hikouki

3. 日本一周 - nihon isshuu

4. 世界一周 - sekai ishhuu

Oh yeah, I bought this kendama for ¥2,300. A bit pricey I know, maybe there's a cheapter one out there, but I can't find it anywhere else... so I'll take it. I heard there's a cheap plastic kendama at hyakuen store, but I prefer the wood one even it's a bit expensive thank you :)

Ok, that's it for my post about my soulmate, kendama~ tell me if you want a detailed post about the tricks so I can made one!

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鍋 Nabe ～ Simple, Warm, and Delicious!

Late November in Japan started to get cold. The season is slowly changing from Autumn to Winter. That's why many Japanese people starting to eat warm food more, including my host family! And one of the food we usually eat is Nabe!

Nabe or Nabemono is basically food boiled in a pot. You can put anything in Nabe (well, except sweets, of course). My host family usually put meat, vegetable, mushroom, and udon. Nabe is served in dining table with portable stove to keep it hot. The seasoning is very simple. Just shoyu, salt, and sugar. As an Indonesian who usually eat food with many spices, I think I wouldn't be so good, but I was wrong. It was really delicious! Not only it tasted good, it also warmed my body.

I've eaten nabe 3 times when I was in Japan. Two times home-made and once in a restaurant. The restaurant we went is specialize in spicy Nabe, so the nabe has many spices in it. It was really good! Although it's not spicy at all (lol). We also have nabe party in our house with other host family!

Nabe in cold weather is the best!

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日曜参観 Nichiyou Sankan ～ Let's Take a Peek on Parent's Visiting Day

Hey guys♪

Have you ever read about parents visiting day on manga or anime? If you have, do you know what it's called in Japanese? It's called... Nichiyou Sankan (日曜参観) or Jugyou Sankan (授業参観)! This event is held so that the parents could inspect their child progress in school and inspect the school itself.

Sooo, in Study Tour program last month, I've got a chance to participating in this event! I was so excited! 

When I arrived at school, I was really surprised because Japanese elementary school is huge! I said that to my host mother, but she said, "there's more school bigger that this school". Wow! I think I can't be more surprised than this.

First, we watched class performance in gymnasium. We only watched 6th, 3rd, and 1st grade (Taro's class) performance because we need to go to 4th grade class to observe Eiko. All the performances were good. I was surprised that even the 1st grader know how to play pianica. I mean, ALL of them playing it. There's none of them who just standing doing nothing like in my school back then.

After watching class performance, we made a short visit to Taro's class and then, we go to 4th grade class. It was a computer class. I thought we will just standing and watching, but the teacher allowed me and my friend to play computer game with Eiko. Well, it's not exactly a game, it's a game made for typing practice. The game was fun because I can learn some kanji and vocabulary!

And that was the end of my first experience attending Nichiyou Sankan.

Nichiyou Sankan is really fun and full of surprise! I'm glad I have a chance to attend it 💕

ps: I can't show our face for privacy and safety reason

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Here's the adventure begin!

Last month, I participate in Japan Study Tour held by Japanese Literature Department in my university, collaborating with Wakayama University. It was 10 days and 9-night trip from November 22nd until December 1st. I always wanted to go to Japan so, I think this is a good chance. Besides, in this trip, we will be staying in a homestay! It's really a plus point for me because I can interact more and practice my Japanese.

Me and my friend get a really great host family! They have 3 children, 2 daughters and 1 son, that really friendly and weird in a good way! I can't tell you their real name, so I'll made up some fake names that absolutely has no connection with their real name. Aiko (13), Eiko (9), and Taro (7). 

I'm really grateful that they become my host family. Because of them, this study tour gets more and more fun!

In this study tour program, I got sooo many experiences that I can never forget, and I will share some of it with you guys! So, stay tune!

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