MIA NEWS 173ed., Oct. (4)Miyakonojo International Association

Miyakonojo International Association
6-21 Himegi-cho, Miyakonojo-shi,Miyazaki-ken, Japan 885-8555
TEL 0986-23-2295
FAX 0986-23-3223
http://miyakonojo-mia.com
E-mail mia@btvm.ne.jp

A Trip to China & Harbin - Sakurada Izumi (MIA Member)
Do you know of the three major
We left our baggage behind and quickly departed once
winter festivals of the world?
more.
They are Canada’s “Quebec WinterThe first thing I had upon arriving in Harbin was 铁锅炖Festival” (AKA Carnaval de Qué大鹅 (Tiě guō dùn dà é), which consists of an entirebec), Japan’s “Sapporo Snow Festigoose stewed in a large iron pot with corn flour breadval”, and China’s “Harbin Internastuck around the inside of the pot. Served steaming
tional Ice and Snow Festival”.
hot, it warms the body right up, and is absolutely deliThis time around, I would like tocious. This is a local specialty that absolutely cannot be
introduce you all to the “Harbin
passed up during the winter, and made for a fulfilling
International Ice and Snow Festifirst day for my daughter and myself.
val” in my home country of China.
The following day, weTwo years ago, my daughter asked
picked up our car andme “what would a world of ice be Ms. Sakurada (left) headed to China’s largest
and her daughter. Siberian Tiger Park.
like?”“Shall we go to the frozen lands ofThere are around 100 of
China’s north and find out?”
the world’s largest tigers“Yes, let’s go, I wanna go!”(all Siberian tigers) living
And so, we bought some tickets to China’s Harbin City. in this park. Here, you canThis would be our first time back in two years.
find your bravery once more. There are also some rareFirstly, allow me to give a simple explanation as towhite lions, as well as some black jaguars. You canwhat kind of area Harbin City is.
even feed them!
Located in the central southern area of China’s HeiWhen the weather is good, you can witness the speclongjiang province, a province which borders Russia,
tacular sight known as the “Frost Tiger” (Often seen
Harbin has since ancient times been adorned with tiearly in the morning, tigers so perfectly covered in frost
tles such as “the Paris of the Far East” or “the Moscow that they shimmer white). My first thoughts when I sawof the East”. It is the coldest metropolis amongst all
it was “if we sit here and watch, my daughter can get
the major cities of the world. The city itself consists of a her school research project done!”
fusion of Chinese and Western Gothic architecture,
The end of the day comes quickly in Harbin during themaking it appear as if it were a different country entire- winter. At around 3PM, the streets go dark.
ly.
Before heading toAlong a street reminiscent of the main promenades ofthe festival grounds,
Europe, you can partake of authentic Russian cuisine.
we went andBy the way, my favourite amongst the local fare would
stopped in at St.
Sophia’s Cathedral.
have to be 红肠 (Hóng cháng, lit. Red sausage or intesThe cathedral istines), which is made from pork intestines stuffed insymbolic of Harbin
the style of Foie Gras.
in its Russian archiThe day to leave finally arrived. From Miyakonojo totecture. You canFukuoka, Fukuoka to Shanghai and onwards to Harbin.
also head inside to
Looking down upon the expanse of land that is Harbin,observe the interior.
my daughter exclaimed “it looks just like a world ofsnow, let’s hurry up and land!” When we finally did set Finally, we headed to the long-awaited festival grounds.
foot upon the land covered in snow and ice, it was as if The first thing that surprised us upon arrival was that,
Mr. Wind, Ms. Snow and Mr. Ice came to greet us with even though we had arrived particularly early, there
were already a lot of people beginning to gather.
a hearty “Welcome!”
The festival is held outdoors, and the temperature at
We got into a taxi and made our way towards thethe time was around -30 degrees. Our breath, eyelashstreets of Harbin. First and foremost, our eyes weredrawn to the red flowers we found blooming on either es and eyebrows were all tinged with frost. Of course,side of the street. What kind of flower, I wondered, was we made sure to be dressed in warm layered clothing
before heading out.
blooming so beautifully amidst the cold of -25 deOnce within their expansive grounds, beyond the manygrees?
ice sculptures present, there was a giant ice-carving
After around 40 minutes, we arrived at the hotel thatstage more than 100m long (by far the most popular
was our accommodation in the heart of the city. Thearea), horse-drawn carriages, and a maze of ice to chalinterior design of the hotel and rooms was very muchlenge, all of which were very enjoyable. When we sawof the European style.

MIA NEWS 173ed., Oct. (5)the giant ice sculptures, it was as I we had been transported to the world of “Frozen”. The snow sculptures
were lit up by LEDs, changing the world us to one of acolorful fantasy land. Captivated by the beautiful scenery around us, we forgot entirely about the cold.
In order to create this city of ice, 200,000 cubic metersof ice is necessary. This ice is taken from the Songhua
River near Harbin city. In recent years, as a side effectof global warming, it seems that the amount of ice
available is decreasing. Additionally, there is also themid-winter swimming tournament held in the Songhua
River each year.
Well then, what did you all think? If you have thechance, try and visit this wonderful world of snow andice, I insist! Try everything that’s on offer! And ofcourse, if you decide to go, just make sure you comeprepared for the cold!

meant “Red Eyes”. This fish is of the same species as
those found in Japanese fresh and salt water rivers, but
can grow to over 1m in length and is on the endangered species list. This fish is only found in places
where nature abounds, and has recently only beenspotted in Miyazaki Prefecture and Kochi Prefecture
rivers. As Australia’s
aboriginal inhabitants
continue to harvest
from these natural
habitats, I was once
more convinced of just
how abundant Australia’s nature really is!
General Information◇ MIA News Trivia, Round 2!
In similar fashion to last year, due to the unfortunate
cancellation of this year’s World Beer & Trivia Night,
we’re here to present you with a few quick questions tokeep that grey matter healthy! We’ve added sometougher questions into the mix this time, so best ofluck! You can find the answers upside-down on the lastpage!
1) How many sports were participated in during the2020 Tokyo Olympics? (Not the number of events, but
it’d be impressive if you knew that too!)
Aussie Bites!
2) How many countries does China share a borderwith?
This month’s Aussie Bite comes from Mr. Takamichi
3) What is the second-most populous nationality in
Miura! Thank you very much!
Miyakonojo?
4) How many active volcanos are there around Japan?
Around 25 years ago, when I headed to Melbourne in5) What is the greatest time difference between 2 locaorder to run the ”Melbourne Marathon”, I went sighttions in the world?
seeing both before and after the race; I was excited to 6) “The Knights of the Round Table” is one story regardsee all of the unique animals such as kangaroos, koa- ing King Arthur, the knights and their quest for the Holylas and wombats at the zoo, but the most exciting and Grail, as well as the establishment of ancient Englandmemorable experienceas found in the Tales of King Arthur. Where was thiswas joining a tour to see
round table located?
the “Penguin Parade”.
7) The human brain is an extremely complex organ,
That being said, this wasconsisting of countless neurons, and even more synapnot a group of captive
ses that connect these neurons together. Roughly how
penguins that weremany times more synapses are there compared to neutrained to perform a parons?
rade, but rather a group
8) Do you know which areas have time differences ofof wild penguins that would come ashore of the even45 minutes? There are 3 of them!
ing and return to their nests. Around 30cm in size and 9) Which country has the second most Nobel Prize win20 – 30 in number, avoiding their natural predators,ners?
these penguins would wait until darkness approached 10) Which ancient Greek goddess has the “Owl ofto waddle up all at once to their nests in the grass from Knowledge” as a symbol?
the foreshore, before once more waddling back to the 11) If you fill a pool with a substance like custard, youwater together once more; they were just so cute! So
can run over its surface! It’s still dangerous to stop insoothing to look upon! The fact that you could go andthe middle though! What is the formal name for thesesee penguins in the wild just a short distance away
types of substances?
from a major city like Melbourne was incredible!
12) At present, what is the fastest recorded internet
Also, on the way home, we stopped by a souvenir store speed?
where I bought some aboriginal art. When making my 13) Did you know that the sun is also rotating? Howselection, I saw a piece depicting a large fish being cap- long does it take for one full rotation at the equator?
tured, and as I have a penchant for buying fish-related 14) The earth’s prime meridian passes directly throughthings, I bought it and took it home with me. The dethe city of Greenwich, located at 0 degrees east/west
scription of the piece read “BARRAMUNDI”, and when I (or longitude 0). This line also happens to pass throughlooked up the word, I found it was about a fish, andMIA NEWS 173ed., Oct. (6)General Information

three oceans! Can you list all three?
15) There are a number of “ends” to each match ofcurling. What is the last stone thrown in an end called?
16) The Olympic 10km swimming race is certainlyquite the distance, but what is the longest distanceevent swum at the FINA world tournament?
17) How many kanji are in the Jōyō kanji (everydayuse) list?

everyone who comes and participates!
Location:
Miyakonojo City Hall 1st Floor Foyer
When:
Jan. 14th (Fri) ~ Feb. 28th (Mon) 2022
Inquiries:
Miyakonojo City Hall
Community & Culture DivisionInternationalisation Promotion OfficeTEL:
0986-23-2295
More details as we get closer to the event!

So, how did you do? Hopefully this will keep you going
until we can hold our Trivia night next year! Fingerscrossed that we can!

Movies info

Quiz Answers:◇ Bonchi de Travel!
Miyakonojo City’s three CIRs want to hear about yourepisodes in Australia, China & Mongolia! We’d love tohear about your experiences in each of these countries,
and we also want to hear about all of the places you
want to travel to in the future!
For those that manage to write a particularly popular
piece, there might even be a special prize…? You’ll
have to wait and see! There will definitely be gifts for1) 33 Sports, 339 Events2) 14, sharing #1 with Russia!
3) Vietnamese (with Japan being the most populous, of course!)4) 1085) 26 hours (Kiribati and Baker/Howland Islands)
6) (The castle of) Camelot
7) Roughly 200-2000 times (a single Perkinje cell can have up
to 200,000 connections!)
8) Australia’s Eucla, New Zealand’s Chatham Island, and Nepal.
In fact, Tokyo and Eucla’s time difference is just 15 minutes!
9) England, 2nd to Japan!
10) Athena11) Non-Newtonian fluids12) Approximately 319Tb/s (40TB/s)
13) 25 days (at the poles, it’s around 30 days!)
14) Antarctic, Arctic, Southern Pacific15) The Hammer16) 25km17) 2136
We look forward to having you with us for our next Trivia Night!

◇ It’s Time For A Cooking Adventure!
MIA will be holding cooking classes held by each of thethree city CIRs. We hope that you can join us for somedelicious food and fun time together! Please note thateach of these sessions will be held in Japanese only.
① Mongolia
Date: December 11th (Sat)“Tsuivan” (Similar to Japanese Yakisoba!)② China
Date: December 12th (Sun)“Sweet & Sour Boiled Pork Bone-on Spare Ribs + Japanese Yam & Cloud Ear Mushroom Stir-fry”③ Australia
Date: December 18th (Sat)“Lamingtons + ANZAC Biscuits”
Doors open at 9:20AM for a 9:30~11:30 class. This will
be followed by an exchange session before cleanup.
Location:
Machinaka Kitchen near Marumaru
Library, along the No. 10 road.
Cost:
600 Yen for members
900 Yen for non-members
For inquiries or to sign up, please call MIA directly. Limited spaces available. Please bring a pen and apron.
We look forward to seeing you there!

C-Plaza Cine-port (Tel: 0986-24-2571)

17-9 Nakamachi, Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Map-Code (GPS): 117 488 540*55●Eternals (Japanese Dub)
●Ron’s Gone Wrong (Japanese Dub)
●Rogo no Shikin ga Arimasen (Japanese)●Dune 2021 (Japanese Sub)
●Daughter of Lupin (Japanese)●007: No Time To Die (Japanese Sub)

●Masquerade Night (Japanese)*The 1st of every month is ¥1,100 for everyone.
*Every Wednesday is ‘Ladies’ Day’, all ladies ¥1,100.
*The cinema is closed every Tuesday.
*For session times visit: http://movie.walkerplus.com/th286/
schedule.html (Japanese)