issue 17

iJapanese Newsletter

23rd March 2015

What year is this? It’s 27. It’s 2015 isn’t it?
When you ask Japanese people what year it is, they will say 27.
In Japan, they use their traditional dating system and this year is "Heisei 27nen". (平成27年:nen’ means ‘year’)n evening ofLet’s enjoy a fue!
Japanese cuisin

The era name system was a common
tradition of most East-Asian countries. It wasoriginally derived from Chinese Imperial
practice, although the Japanese system isindependent from the calendar systems.
Unlike other similar systems, the Japanese
era name is still in use.

away onthe 7thJanuary
during the64th year of his reign. "Heisei gan nen” wasthe rest of the year. So this year 2015 is"Heisei 27 nen".

The Japanese traditional calendar system iscalled ‘gengoo’(元号) which has beenused since the seventh century.
The first era name ‘Taika’(大化), it wascreated in 645 by Emperor Kootoku (孝徳天皇 Kootoku-tenno) acceded to the throne.
Since then, era names have been used
continuously up through the present day.
The system of giving a name to the periodof a Japanese emperor's reign, but alsomany earlier emperors decreed a new era
upon any major event, such as natural
disaster or augury of good, celebration,
major political incidents and so on.
Around 10th century, gengoo was changed
quite often. Some emperors changed 7or 8times during their reign, some changed itwithin less than one year. Emperor Nijo (二条天皇 Nijo-tenno) changed gengoo 5times even his reign was only for 7 years.
From the era down to the present era
Heisei, there are 247 gengoo!

Era names had been selected by theemperors, but today it is the cabinet thatdecides era names. "Heisei" was the first
selected under this new system.

However, as of the Meiji Era (1868–1912), it
was determined that the practiceassigning one era names to the reign ofeach Emperor permanently. Era namecommences the day the Emperor ascends
to the throne and ends on the day of theEmperor’s death.
In modern practice, the first year of a reign(元年 gan nen) starts immediately upon theemperor's ascension to the throne andends on December 31st. Subsequent years
follow the Western calendar.

For Japanese people, gengoo is wellrecognised, it can be shared distichal
events and they can also turn back thepages of their personal life with a feeling of
nostalgia, such as ”time of showa”. So
there is more to it than mere system ofnames.

For Example, "Showa" (昭和) began in 1926
when Emperor Hirohito ascended until his
death in 1989. The year 1989 can bereferred to as “Showa 64 nen″ or “Heisei
gan nen″ (平成元年) as the Emperor passed

Although the Western calendar is widely
known and used today in Japan, thesystem demands that dates be referred toaccording to their era and it is required formost official documents. For example,
when getting your Japanese driver’s
license or filling out forms at the City Hall.
You might be familiar with such as JR train
tickets and might have been confused.
Japanese calendar
follows the Year,Month, day format,
so “23rd March2015” will be
printed “27, 03, 23”(26th July 2011)
on the ticket.

Would you like to know which era you wereborn?
Here is the conversion.
http://www.sljfaq.org/cgi/date.cgi

By NorikoiJapanese Newsletter issue 17

Page 2 of 4Student from iJapaneseInterview with Richard Farrugia sanHi everyone, my name is
Richard and I have been
studying at iJapanese for a
touch under a year now. I
work at RMH as a Clinical
Coordinator (a Nurse) with
the Orthopaedic
Department, doing patient
screening, research andsome IT support.
My introduction to Japancame through the mediumof Tele Vision when I was young. So long ago that it wasn’t
through Anime (although I did – and do - watch that to) but
an old black and white program that was run on Saturday
mornings, The Samurai, known as Onmitsu Kenshi in Japan. It is
about a Master Swordsman posing as a Ronin to help protect
the Shogun. At that rather impressionable age, I found I washooked on the history, setting (even if it was a little stylised),and, of course, the pretty girls in Kimono’s.
In my middle high school years I was fortunate to meet aJapanese Exchange student, Izumi Hanari, who was able tosource video tapes (yes, I am old) of the show in Japanese.
Even though I couldn’t understand it, it actually made it better
hearing the cadence of the Japanese language, and I washooked. Of course watching it with Izumi chan didn’t hurt!
From then on I had a desire to learn the language, but justnever quite got there, so, after 2 previous trips to Japan, acouple of Japanese girlfriends and meeting many Japanesecolleagues, I decided to take the plunge last year, and started

at iJapanese Language and Culture School.
Why iJapanese? Well, I had looked around and, before
moving to Moonee Ponds in 2010 almost started going to aschool out near Thornbury, but the class times never fitted inwith my work schedule. So, when I decided I was going to start
last year, I looked online and checked a few schools in theinner Melbourne / CBD region. I liked the reviews of iJapanese,the flexibility of class times, and that it also looked at theculture, not just the language, as some schools do. I contacted
Noriko sensei, visited the school and liked the setting, so here I
am. Learning at iJapanese is a fun and very supportiveenvironment. Now I just have to work harder, so Yumiko sensei
can maintain her sanity :)It is my hope to return to Japan next year, to see more of thatfabulous country, and catch up with former teachers who
have returned home… and indulge in more of the wonderful
Japanese cuisine, which is good here, but spectacular there.
Favourite city to date? Kyoto, without a doubt, and I will
always visit there, but Osaka and Hiroshima were great, andI’d love to go to Okinawa one day. Suzuka is also a great F1
race, even if the 2004 race
I went to was a touch wet
as a result of Typhoon
activity. Japanese will alsocome in handy in anotherfavourite holiday spot,Hawaii. Hmm, lot’s oftravelling ahead.

A JapaneseJapanese word
notknow
existsAwordyouyoumaymay
notknow
existsKuuki Yomenai or KY(空気読めない/くうき よめない)“A person incapable of reading the air.”Not that you could ever hope to read air but it’s a term use todescribe a person who is unable to read the sounding
atmosphere or a social situation around them.
In more ways than one, KY can be representative of theJapanese culture. Why, simply because Japanese people
tend to avoid direct confrontations and tend to be indirect
when spoken, they wish to avoid embarrassment to you, to bepolite and to allow you to save face. This has shaped the verysocial dynamics of Japanese society to bring you the very
important physical behavior, know as “body language”. Body
language is important part of Japan, to notice a subtle clue isan important tool to surviving the complexity of Japanesebusiness and social environments.

A person with a lack of common sense can also be label as
KY.
Embarrassing those around you, having bad manners or justplain mysteries behavior is a recipe for being labeled a “Kuuki
Yomenai” especially if you are unaware of it. If you are able tocreate enough of a nuisance around you, you may even belabeled as a Super Kuuki Yomenai (SKY for sort). Commonly theolder generation feel this way about the younger generation
as SKY because of there general incompetents or clueless of
their own soundings.
KY and SKY boils down to pure common sense. As mostpeople grow older and gain life experiences, it becomeseasier and easier to read social situations thus peoples bodylanguage but sadly some people just never develop thiscognitive ability.

By Phillip

www.iJapanese.com.auiJapanesePage 3 of 4

5th Anniversary

This month we are excited to be celebrating our 5 year Anniversary!
We are often asked why we decided to start iJapanese?
Well… when we first came up with the idea to start a Japanese school we were sitting on a park bench. We did not think too
much about how to properly do it; we just had an idea and passion to do so. At that time in our lives, Phillip wanted to dosomething new and challenging and Noriko was interested in managing her own Japanese tuition school.
So we said, ‘Why not? Let’s do it!’ and just like that, iJapanese was born.
Like all things in life, nothing is ever easy. So we are proud of ourselves to be announcing our 5 years anniversary and would
like to thank you all for your support over the years.

Introducing Our New Teacher
Hajimemashite!
My name is Mihono, and I’m a new teacher at iJapanese
Language & Culture School.
I’m from Yamaguchi which is between Hiroshima and Fukuoka.
A lot of people and tourists pass through, but almost no one
stops by to visit. However it is actually a very nice place to visit.
My name, Mihono, is a rare name. I have never met anotherperson who has same name in my entire life! I tend to likeunusual things, but to be honest I didn’t like the sound of myown name. Because it sounded too feminine. So I made anickname that sounds like a boy’s name, then my friends
called me by this nickname all through childhood until I wentto University. My old school friends still use that nickname to thisday. But since I asked my father the meaning of my name I
have grown too really like it. My name’s Kanji (Chinesecharacters) are 美 帆 乃. 美 is beautiful, 帆 is sail and 乃 hasvery little meaning but is part of my father’s Kanji so my twosisters and I have the same Kanji in our names. My father said
to me “we can see the sail even though it’s so far way in theocean”, and so that is the kind of person he intended me tobe.

I used to play the trombone andconduct for a long time, so music
and arts is part of my life. Also I
like playing soccer, Shogi(Japanese chess) and studying/teaching Kanji. If you would love
to play Shogi or talk about Kanji
please let me know (I bought aShogi set from Japan.)Mihono Imai

I was a Japanese teachingassistant at a university inCanada and a high school in
New Zealand for one year each.
Now finally I’m a Japanese teacher at iJapanese in Australia! It
was always my biggest dream to live and teach in Australia. So
I’m truly happy about working here at iJapanese! And I reallylove and enjoy teaching and studying Japanese. Actually
everyone gets ” ? ” when I say I’m studying Japanese, but hey!
Japanese people need to study Japanese too!
My teaching motto is “ENJOY”. Hope you love and enjoy
learning Japanese at iJapanese with us!
Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!!

www.iJapanese.com.au

Page 4 of 4Japanese Name - How do they name their children?
As Mihono tells about her name in her self-introduction, there isan own special meaning in each Japanese names.
In this article, I am going to talk more about Japanese names.
In any country, a name may be one of the important elementsof your personality. A name not only represents youridentification, but sometimes affects the impression of yourcharacter.
In Japan, too. Moreover, giving a name in Japanese might bemore complicated than in any other language.
You have already known that we use three different writingsystems. So some names are written in Hiragana, some inKatakana, some in Kanji and some in mixed characters such as
キヨ子(Kiyoko : Katakana and Kanji).
When we name a child in Kanji, we have to consider themeanings that each Kanji has. Because many Kanji have thesame sounds but each of them has different meanings. For
instance, there are so many ways to write my name “Yumiko”
in Kanji, such as “弓子”, “佑実子”, “祐未子” and more. However,
the meanings are really different from each other.
Talking about my name, Yumiko is“由美子” in Kanji. My parents gave
this name with their hope that I
would grow up in a relaxedenvironment and be beautiful
inside.
As Mihono talks about her name,some names use the same Kanji as
the one in their parent’s name.

name as a singer or even a popular game character.
However, some Kanji have been always popular among
parents. For instance, “心” (kokoro) means Heart and “愛” (ai)means Love.
Recently, parents tend to give their child a really unique anduncommon name. We call this kind of name “Kira kiraneemu” (キラキラネーム/ literally means ‘sparkly name’).
For instance, parents give a name “心” to their child and theycall it “ハート” (Haato : Japanese pronunciation of Heart). Also
when it comes to a name “心愛”, they call it “kokoa” (ここあ).
Yes, its pronunciation is same as cocoa in English. Each Kanji
doesn’t have anything to do with cocoa, though.
There are a lot of other kira kira name inJapan. And some are really difficult toguess their pronunciations.
Here are more examples of kira kira namebelow.
・騎士(ないと: Naito) means knight.
・光宙(ぴかちゅう: Pikatyuu) means one ofthe popular characters in Pokemon.
・三二一(みにー: Minii) means Minnie Mouse.
・宝冠(てぃあら: Tiara) means tiara.
Still the meanings of each Kanji are important. But it seems
people give more priority to differentiate their child from othersby the name sounds than by the real meanings of Kanji.
Do you have any kira kira name in Australia?

oBy Yumik

Also, naming trends are sometimes influenced by theentertainment industry. Parents may choose the same nameas a famous actor or actress. Also they may choose the same

LANGUAGE EXCHANGE MEETING
Providing cultural activities, we encourage our students to interact between
different cultural ties and as a result they creating an exciting and enjoyable
language exchange meeting.

iJapanese Language & Culture School
Suite 3 Mezzanine Level, 257 Collins Street
0401 886 629
Info@ijapanese.com.au