aWa life
Totally-not-Cursed
Hina Dolls

Most beautiful Hike of the
Shikoku Pilgrimage?
Japanese Lesson

June 2024

Representing Kaiyo
at Asan Circuit

Nihongo Know-it-all:
Japanese Weekdays

# 403

1

Awa Life is a Monthly Publication of the Tokushima
Prefectural International Exchange Association

Hey folks! June’s rolling in, bringing with it those long-awaited summer vibes. From sweltering days tobalmy nights, it’s that time of year when Tokushima comes alive in its own unique way.
As we gear up for another month of adventures and surprises, let’s take a moment to appreciate thelittle things – whether it’s slurping down cold noodles to beat the heat or catching the vibrant hues of
the hydrangeas in bloom.
What are you most looking forward to experiencing in Tokushima this month? Personally, I can’t wait torelax on the beaches, feeling the sand between my toes and the sea breeze on my skin, a perfect way
to escape the summer heat.
For all of those who like writing, please feel free to submit an article to us at any point in time aboutbasically anything. There are a few limitations though, such as you can’t write about religion, politics,
commercial activities or businesses or anything that we deem inappropriate. But, other than that, we
would be more than happy to receive articles about anything and everything including but not limited
to concerts, lectures, other events, culture, sports, community group information or anything cool that’s
happening in your local community.
We highly appreciate all of your articles and we love reading them. So if that writing bug of yours isbuzzing about, grab a pen or a computer and write and send away! Please send all submissions to ouremail:

awalife@gmail.com

Your editor,
RasmusTokushima Prefectural International Exchange Association (TOPIA)
1-61 Terashima Honcho Nishi, Tokushima City 770-0831 JAPAN, Clement Plaza 6F
Tel: 088-656-3303 Fax: 088-652-0616
http://www.topia.ne.jp/
Download a PDF file of awa life or view the online version by going to TOPIA's website!

Editor:Rasmus Burgmer
Contributors This Month:
Mauve Spillard, Tony Lu, Yoko Aoki, Qin Yao, Mako Kobayashi

2Contents

Pg. 2-3: Totally-Not-Cursed Hina Dolls
Pg. 3-4: Welcome Message / Hiking Tairyuji
Pg. 5:

Representing Kaiyo at Asan Circuit

あ

わ

わ

し

Pg. 6:

Tokushima Culture and Reading Corner: 阿波和紙

Pg. 6:

Nihongo Know-it-all: Weekdays

Pg. 7:

Japanese Lesson

Pg. 8-9: Events and Memoranda
The Totally-Not-Cursed Hina Dolls
By: Mauve Spillard

T

his Spring season, enjoying a unique
Japanese festival tradition meant overcoming
one of my lifelong fears: Dolls.

daughter of theabout the age

The Hina Doll Festival, otherwise known as
Girls’ Day, is a celebration with a startlingly long
history, reaching all the way back to the 1600s.
This extensive history undoubtedly plays a partas to why so many different styles of the dolls
exist, as tradition and crafting methods changed
overtime, and there is no better place to see eachand every style than the “Big Hina Festival” at the
Katsuuracho Doll Cultural Exchange Center.

Most of thedolls on display
were actually
donationsm a d e b y
To k u s h i m a
citizens, butthey also hadsome seriously
antique dolls
on a special
display that I’malmost completely certain will haunt my dreams
for years to come. The one in the photo above inparticular, my friend and I agreed, gave us sucha feeling of being watched that we didn’t linger inTraditionally, the dolls are displayed as tokens ofgood fortune and protection for any young girls
in the family, set out to absorb any bad luck or
misfortune that would otherwise be sent their way.
This continues and new additions are typicallymade to the doll display each year until thefamily reachesof ten.

Does thism e a nthe dolls
harbory e a r s
worth ofaccumulatedb a dluck andmisfortune
inside ofthem until
they are finallydiscarded
and possibly set
upon a pathof revenge? Maybe. I tried not to think about it.
Especially not when surrounded by hundreds andhundreds of them like I was at the Katsuuracho
exhibition.

3

front of the case for very long.
Underlying terror and childhoodnightmares personified aside,
the exhibition itself wasincredibly impressive. Tokushima
doll culture is already quite
recognized with the staple art of
Ningyo Joruri Puppet Theater,
but walking through a hall withliterally hundreds of dolls andseeing for yourself that no twoare exactly alike gives you a
particularly deep appreciation
for the handcraft of doll making.
From the startling expressions
painted in their eyes, down tothe absolute miniscule stitchingof their intricate clothes, it makes for a stand out
exhibition.
It also makes a fun pass time to weave individual

stories for the dolls, and as unique and expressive
as each of them are, it comes quite easily.
This guy in particular is in sucha clear state of misery, one canonly assume he is agonizingly
entreating a forgetful foreigner
to take their shoes off before
entering the giant Hina Doll Rave,
lest he get punished by his lordon the top shelf.
W h i l e t h i s y e a r ’s “ B i g H i n a
Festival ‘’ exhibition has now
come to a close, if you didn’t get
the chance to visit, be sure tokeep it in mind for some next year
Spring shenanigans. And maybe
make sure you don’t go alone. Or not.
That’s on you.

Hello Tokushima

H

By: Qin Yao

ello Readers, Nice to meet you! My nameis Qin and I am from the city Changsha in
Hunan, China. I am the new Chinese CIR for
Tokushima Prefecture and cannot wait to share
my experiences with all of you.
On April 8th 2024 I boarded a train from myhometown Changsha to get to Beijing. As I waswatching the beautiful landscape fly past thewindow I could not help but feel nostalgic already.
From now on I was going to leave my hometown
and family behind and head towards the unknown
country Japan. At the same time I was also
full of excitement. Japanese was my major forboth undergraduate and graduate studies andyet I was not able to study abroad due to covid
restrictions. So this time I was finally able to seize
the opportunity and embark on this adventure to
start a new chapter of my life in Tokushima.
The next day after arriving in Beijing I met up
with the other Chinese CIR and we flew to Tokyo
together. That is where we had a 2-day-longorientation. This was truly a great experience,as I was able to learn about Japanese law anddisaster prevention, gained skills for interpretingand translation and we also had the opportunity totalk to many senior Jets. I think what I learned in
the courses will be really useful for my job.
All of us CIR have gathered to promoteinternational relations and exchanged our own
impressions and opinions as well as introduced
our own cultures in Japanese.

On the afternoon of April 10th, I arrived inTokushima and was immediately fascinated by its
unique atmosphere. The blue ocean, traditional
Japanese buildings, beautiful townscape androads lined on both sides with whirling sakura
trees...It was my first time in Tokushima but
somehow, I already felt at peace.
The prefecture also has so much to offer in terms

4of cuisine. Awa-Chicken, Tokushima-Ramen, Iyasoba and much more.
From now on, I want to see all the beautiful
sceneries and taste all the delicious food ofTokushima while I aspire to continue to grow, takeon new challenges and give it my all for the sakeof Sino-Japanese friendship.

The most Beautiful Hike of the Shikoku Pilgrimage?
By: Rasmus BurgmerA

lot of you probably have already been to
Tairyuji, temple number 21 of the Shikoku
Pilgrimage, as it is easily accessible by cablecar. But did you know, that the hike there from
“Kakurinji” is considered to be one of the mostbeautiful parts of the whole pilgrimage? When I
learned about that I was immediately intrigued tosee it for myself. Having heard that doing all of it
in one trip is supposedly very challenging me andthe 2 friends I convinced to join me chose to start
halfway through the route and only hike up anddown “Tairyuji-Mountain”.
The trail to climb up
the mountain starts inthe middle of nowhere,
goes up pretty steep
right from the get go,leading you deep
into the midst of abeautiful bamboo
forest. The bamboo
trees accompany
you for about anhour after which theflora changes to thetypical Japanese cedar forest. Your view is mostly
obstructed which makes the few times you do
actually catch a glimpse into the valley below
all the more rewarding. The path in itself is wellmaintained but still felt barely used and in fact we
did not encounter a single other person on thewhole hike, allowing us to completely become
immersed in Tokushima’s wilderness.
After about 3 hours we had reached the top andwere greeted by the breathtaking view of theancient temple being encompassed in pink andpurple, as the cherry blossom where in fullbloom that day. That meant however, thatthe temple area was crowdedwith people, which we
tried to avoid,

so we hiked a little further to the statue of Monk
Kukai, from where we could enjoy a beautiful viewof the surrounding mountains and were even able
to see as far as the ocean.
Looking at the map, we realized that we still
weren’t at the highest point of the mountain, afact we couldn’t just let slide. So we gathered
our last strength and climbed up along the ridgeof the mountain to reach the hight of 618 meters
and were rewarded with...nothing. The viewcompletely blocked by trees and only a smallstone indicating that we reached the top.
Even still, definitely a hike worth doing! And nexttime I’ll do it from the very beginning.

I

5

Representing Kaiyo at Asan Circuit

recently took part in a track day, an event where
people can take their cars and spend the day
driving around a race track at a pace well beyond
what’s accepted on public roads. I went with acouple of my friends high up into the mountainsof Miyoshi to Asan circuit, a small track that was
hosting the event.
It all started as a conversation back in February
I had with a friend working at the local garage,
who moved to Kaiyo from Kanagawa prefecture
a couple ofyears ago. He
revealed thatsomeone at
the local petrol
station that I
coincidentally
also go to wasplanning to go
to a track day
at Asan circuitin April. As
someone whosees hundredsof cars passby while on thejob, he wasvery aware of the existence of a covert petrolhead
community in town, and wanted to extend theinvitation to others. So, my friend from the local
garage said he and his wife would be going, andasked if I would be interested in joining.
While I had been to a track day before and wascertainly keen for another chance to drive in anunrestricted fashion, my main rationalization
was that I had read somewhere before that Asan
circuit was instrumental in propagating car culture
throughout Tokushima prefecture, so I was reallyexcited see what it was all about.
Before I knew it, our party had turned into adiverse hodgepodge of individuals consistingof, in addition to the aforementioned people, auniversity student who graduated from the local
high school in Kaiyo, another person who came

By: Tony Lu

from Wakayama prefecture on the day of theevent and myself, a Chinese-Australian dude.
Fast forward to the day of the event - the 13th ofApril. We arrived at around 8 AM after a grueling
4-hour drive through highways and precarious
mountain roads. Shortly after getting there, someserious machinery started showing up, most ofwhich “clunked” and “cracked” as they rolled in.
Most had absolutely nothing in the interior except
for a steering wheel, a gear shifter and a seat.
Over 40 cars
had turned upby 8:30, andour cars, whichwere relatively
standard bycomparison,
faded into thehomogenous
sea of “other”
hotted up cars.
After seeing
the types ofcars at thisevent, I could
tell that thiswas clearly
the kind of event where people, especially thecompetitive ones, bring nothing but their best.
We also had to sign a bunch of forms after
arriving. One was for participating in the “mock”
race segment of the event. I was somewhat
skeptical of the use of the word “mock”, andwondered if it was an attempt by the organizersof the event to keep it fun and casual, or if it was
actually a euphemism for something along thelines of “elbows out”.
Considering how my car and my skills as adriver stacked up against others, I mulled overparticipating in the race....

To be continued in next month’s
Awa Life

6Tokushima Culture and Reading Corner
By: Mako Kobayashi
あ わ わ し

せい き

はじ

つく

阿波和紙は、8 世紀の 初めごろから、作られたと
あ

わ

し

て

す

つく

阿波和紙は、「手漉き」という

そんな
かみ

わ

げんりょう

て

紙の 原料をかみ

手でいわれています。

かた

つく

作り方で

つく

すくって、紙を

て

す

き かい

つか

作られます。「手漉き」とは、機械を
あ

わ わ

し

作ることです。阿波和紙は

つよ

使わず、

うす

みず

薄くても

水に強く、破れにくい

やぶ

とくちょう

という特徴が
あ

わ

わ

あります。

し でんとうさんぎょうかいかん

あ阿波和紙伝統産 業 会館では、そんな

わ

たいけん

あ

さまざまな体験が
す

かたち

あ

かいかん

て す

作ることが

できます。体験 教 室では、
たいけん

はがきを

さ ぎょう

けんがく

作業を

見学

き

さくひん

海外から

来たアーティストの

作品や

さくひん

み

作品 を

見ることも

あ わ わ

できます。

じ かん

つくる体験や、 ３時間で

なんまい

何枚も

購入できる

し

阿波和紙

こうにゅう

お土産を

たいけんきょうしつしかいがい

わ し きょうしつ
み やげ

しょくにん

手漉き職人の

和紙 教 室ののわ

つくつくる体験などです。

この会館では、そのほかに
こ

わ

じ ぶん

自分で

たいけん

好きな形の阿波和紙をかしできます。たとえば、阿波和紙のわ わ しできたり、過去にわ

阿波 和 紙 を

いちどう

スペースも

ありますので、一度い行ってみてください。
Vocabulary List
あ わ わ し阿波和紙

Awa Washi Paper

げんりょう

き かい

原 料 ingredient

機械 machine

うす

すくう

to scoop

たいけん

体験

first-hand experience

けんがく

見学

薄い

thin

とくちょう

特 徴 trait

きょうしつ

しょくにん

教 室 course

職人

か こ

inspection

やぶ

破れにくい hard to tear

過去

さ ぎょう

worker作 業 task

piece/work

お土産 souvenir

さくひん

past

作品

み やげ

Japanese Weekdays
Nihongo Know-it-all
By: Rasmus
Before the Meiji-Restoration (1868-) and Japan opening its boarders to western influence, Japan
did not use the 7 days a week system and instead calculated the days based on the lunar calendar,with each day of the month just receiving a numeral name.
Then in the effort to modernize, the western calendar was implemented in Japan and the weekdays
became what they are today. Did you ever wonder how they came up with the names?
In western history the names originate from the seven celestial luminaries, visible with the naked
eye: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars, each of them named after Roman
gods. Although the English names have since changed (through the impact of nordic mythology
and christianity), most romance languages still reflect those origins.
As those gods did not play any part in east-asian history, the Japanese, inspired by their Chinese
neighbors, had named the planets after the elements, which they then adopted in labeling the daysof the week too.
火：fire水：water
木：wood
金：metal
土：earth
日：sun
月：moon
すい よう びFor example, wednesday in japanese is “ 水曜日 ”. Literally translated to “water-luminary-day”, orrather “mercury-day”.
So in a sense, some 1500 years after its collapse the Roman empire had and influence on alanguage spoken at the other end of the world. Unglaublich wa?

7

「お／ご

～ください」

Japanese Lesson

By: Yoko Aoki

Let’s learn about a sentence pattern that uses honorific expressions (keigo).
The following pattern of a honorific prefix with 「～てください」 is often used in public spaces like train stations,airports, hospitals and department stores. Learn it and become able to understand instructions or recommendationsin those places.

１ Verb Building
Verbs of group 1 and 2: 「お＋ ○○ます ＋ ください」
はい

はい

の

例） 入 ります→ お入 りください
す

す

捨てます→

の

飲みます→ お飲みくださいのお捨てくださいかの乗り換えます→かお乗り換えください

Verbs of group 3: 「ご＋ ○○します ＋ ください」
ちゅうい

よやく

ちゅうい

注意 します→ ご注意ください
かくにん

よやく

予約くします→ ご予約ください

かくにん

確認 *します→

ご確認 ください＊「confirm」

き

み

き

ね

The verbs 「します・来ます」 as well as other verbs whose base consists of one syllable only, like 「見ます・着ます・寝でます・います・出ます」cannot be build in this pattern.

２ Example sentences
いそ

の

もの

じゆう

と

お急 ぎください。（Please hurry up）, 飲み物 は ご自由に お取りください。（Please help yourself to the drinks）のみこちらから お乗りください。（Please enter from here）, パスポートを お見せください。（Please show your passport）
あぶき

危 ないですから、お気をつけください。（It’s dangerous, so please be careful）
かいりよう

８ 階 レストランへはこちらのエレベーターを ご利用ください。（Please use this elevator for the restaurant on the 8th floor）
こ

サービスカウンターまで おいでください／お越しください。 （Please come to the service counter）
れんしゅう【 練 習 】 Let’s practice transforming 「～てください」 into「お／ご ～ください」
じゅうしょ

なまえ

か

１ こちらにご 住 所 とお名前を書いてください。

しゅうまつ

す

２ いい 週 末 を 過ごしてください。

ま３ こちらでしばらく待ってください。

あぶ

ちゅうい

４ 危 ないですから、 注 意 してください。

答え；
３

こちらで

1 こちらにしばらくお待ちください , ４

ご住所とお名前を危ないですから、ご注意ください。

お書きください , ２

いい週末をお過ごしください ,Events & Memoranda

8

Tokushima Market, Indigo Fair
とくしまマルシェ「藍フェア」

Blue Tokushima
Full of energy! Full of charm! Food tasting, andmeeting people on the boardwalk This months
Tokushima Marche’s featured features an “Indigo
Fair.”
In preperation for the annual “Tokushima Indigo
Day” on July 24th the marche will display indigo
products. Come and experience a variety of Awa
Indigo and nurture your “Love for Awa”.
Let’s use this opportunity to also get to know theculture of indigo-food
When: June 30th (Sun) 9:00 -14:00
Where: Shinmachi Boardwalk
Inquiries: Tokushima Market Secretariat

とくしまブルー
元気いっぱい！ 魅力いっぱい！ 食と人と水辺を味わう産直市！ 6 月開催のとくしまマルシェ注目のフェアは「藍フェア」。
7 月 24 日の「とくしま藍の日」に先立ち、とくしまマルシェ に藍商品が並ぶ。たくさんの阿波藍にふれて、あなたの“阿波愛”をはぐくんでみては。この機会に食藍という文化にも注目しよう。
日時 6 月 30 日（日） 9:00 ～ 14:00
場所 しんまちボードウォーク
お問い合わせとくしまマルシェ事務局
Tel：088-678-2117

Tel: 088-678-2117

Kurokawadani Firefly Festival
黒川谷ほたるまつり
Every year in June, the so called “firefly town”
hosts a festival.
On the day of the event, there will be nightstalls, foodtrucks, live music, an excitingraffle, andmany other events for both
adults andchildren to enjoy.
W h y
don’t you come and see a thefantastic
fireflies in satoyama this june?
When: June 15th 17:00 - 21:00
Where: Miyoshi City Firefly Park

毎年 6 月の中旬に源氏ボタルが飛びかうホタルの里で、ほたるまつりを開催！
当日は夜店やキッチンカー、
音 楽 ラ イ ブ、
豪華抽選会など大人も子供も楽しめる
催しが盛り沢山。
ぜひ初夏の里山に幻想的なホタルを見に行きませんか？
日時 6 月 15 日 17:00 ～ 21:00
場所 三好市 ホタルの里公園
お問い合わせほたるまつり実行員会

Inquiries: Firefly Festival Committee
Tel: 070-2392-4154
HP: https://hotarumatsuri.wixsite.com/mysite

Tel：070-2392-4154
HP：https://hotarumatsuri.wixsite.com/mysite

9

Events & Memoranda
Tokushima Hydrangea Map 2024
徳島県あじさい案内図 2024

Counselling Service at TOPIA・トピアの相談窓口
TOPIA provides consultation on everyday life, education, labor, medical institutions, and disasterprevention; and information on sightseeing spots to overseas residents and visitors. When necessary,
we will refer you to the appropriate organization that can assist with your needs.Counselling is available
in English, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese. Please note that although every effort will be made,we may not be able to deal with all cases.
Japanese, English, Chinese: Everyday, 10:00 - 18:00 (closed during the New Year's holidays)
Vietnamese: Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, 10:00 - 14:00
Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, 10:00 - 18:00 (closed during the New Year's holidays)