O-MO-TE-NA-SHI English Book 2:Japanese Culture『おもてなし英語』第２編
日本の文化

STUDENT’S BOOK

Copyright © 2015 QQ English

A Letter to the Student
Dear Student of English,
Welcome to Omotenashi English Book 2: Japanese Culture.
Have you ever had any experience of being asked by people fromdifferent cultures about things Japanese such as ‘Kabuki’, and of being
stuck for words? Do you think it was because your English skills need
improving? No! It was mainly because of your lack of knowledge aboutthings Japanese.
This course book covers some of the most frequently asked
questions about Japanese culture. So, once you have digested andmastered this book, your conversations with foreign visitors to Japan
will move smoothly. It can also be useful for Japanese people goingabroad. In fact, at the Training Institute for Diplomats of the JapaneseForeign Ministry in Tokyo, acquiring knowledge about Japanese culture
is a crucially important part of all training before they are sent abroad.
I would like you to review each lesson at home. The book, written
for intermediate-advanced level students, is primarily geared towards
improving speaking and listening skills. In doing so, focused treatmentof pronunciation features is important. If you pronounce English words
wrongly, foreign visitors to Japan will not understand you.
This book contains some Japanese so that you can easily
understand what to do.
I wish you success! Always remember “Practice makes perfect.”Yoshito Miyosawa
RSA/ Cambridge/ CELTAContents
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Unit 6
Unit 7

Unit 8
Unit 9Introduction
Traditional Performing Arts (1)Traditional Performing Arts (2)Traditional Performing Arts (3)Religion in JapanZenZen and Japanese Culture
Tea Ceremony (1)Tea Ceremony (2)Haiku

Unit 10Ikebana
Unit 11
Budo
Unit 12
Traditional Events in Japan (1)Unit 13
Traditional Events in Japan (2)Unit 14
FAQ
Unit 15
Progress test

Unit 1 O-MO-TE-NA-SHI Japanese Culture
Introduction

NA
APJ

CONVERSATION 1

Key words:
・performing arts 舞台芸術

・intangible 無形 の・thrive 栄える・heritage 遺1. Complete the following conversation with words from the box.
A: I think Japan is known for its ______________ culture.
B: Yes. Japanese culture is different from other cultures. And it has been_______________ by the Japanese people for a long time. ___________
performing arts, such as Kabuki, Noh and Bunraku, continue to ____________
in Japan today. These are recognized by UNESCO as ____________cultural____________of humanity.
thrive/ heritage/ preserved/ intangible/ traditional / unique
2.
3.
4.

Listen and check the answers.
Now repeat the completed conversation after the teacher until you 		
mem orize each sentence.
Role playYour teacher plays the role of A and you play the role of B.

1HISTORY OF JAPAN1.

Repeat after the teacher the following key words, which appear in thetext you are going to read.
Key words:
habitation: 住むこと//prehistoric: 先史時代の//millennium; 千年間//

supersede:に取って代わる//unify:統一する// clan:氏族// seize:素早くつかみ取る// topple:転覆する// claimant:要求する人// usher:導きいれる// warlord:軍閥指導者//

descend:陥る// preside: 統括する// seclusion:鎖国・隔離//

autonomy:自治権// reigning:君臨している// monarchy:君主制
2.

Now read the following text “History of Japan” from Wikipedia, the freeencyclopedia, and answer the questions. The time limit is15 minutes.
3.
Human habitation in the Japanese archipelago can be traced back toprehistoric times. The Jōmon period (14,000–300 BC), named after its“cord-marked” pottery, was superseded by the Yayoi in the first millennium
BC. Between the third century and the eighth century, Japan’s many
kingdoms and tribes gradually unified under a centralized government,
nominally controlled by the Emperor. In 794, a new imperial capital wasestablished at Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto), marking the beginning of theHeian period, which lasted until 1185. The Heian period is considered agolden age of classical Japanese culture.

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Over the following centuries the power of the emperor gradually declined
and passed to the military clans and their armies of samurai warriors. Afterseizing power, the Minamoto clan set up his capital in Kamakura and took
the title of shōgun, which literally means “general”. But in 1333 it wastoppled by a rival claimant to the shogunate, ushering in the Muromachi
period. During the Muromachi period regional warlords known as daimyō
grew in power. Eventually, Japan descended into a long period of civil war.
Over the course of the late sixteenth century, Japan was reunified thanks tothe leadership of the daimyō Oda Nobunaga and his successor Toyotomi
Hideyoshi. After Hideyoshi’s death in 1598, Tokugawa Ieyasu came topower and was appointed shōgun by the emperor. The Tokugawa
shogunate, which governed from Edo (modern Tokyo), presided over aprosperous and peaceful era known as the Edo period (1603–1868). The
sakoku policy, literal translation “locked country”, enacted in 1633 by theTokugawa Shogunate prevented foreigners from entering Japan. The samepolicy also prevented Japanese from leaving Japan. The arrival of
Commodore Matthew Perry and the U. S. Navy in 1853 ended Japan’s
seclusion which in turn led to the fall of the shogunate.
The new national leadership of the following Meiji period transformed theirisolated island country into an empire that closely followed Westernmodels and became a world power. Although democracy developed
during the Taishō period (1912–26), Japan’s powerful military had great
autonomy and overruled Japan’s civilian leaders in the 1920s and 1930s. The
military invaded Manchuria in 1931, and from 1937 the conflict escalated
into a prolonged war with China. Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor inDecember 1941 led to war with the United States. In August 1945 the atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made it possible for the reigningemperor to force the military to surrender. The US occupied Japan until 1952.
Under the supervision of the US occupation forces a new constitution wasenacted in 1947 that transformed Japan into a parliamentary monarchy.
After 1955, Japan enjoyed very high economic growth rates, and became aworld economic powerhouse.										(Excerpted (7 January 2016 12:06 UTC)			

from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Japan)

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QUESTIONS

1. How do you call the period which is named after its “cord-marked”
pottery?
2. Where was a new imperial capital established in 794?
3. Which period is considered a golden age of classical Japanese culture?
4. Then what happened over the following centuries?
5. What happened to Japan over the course of the late sixteenth century?
6. How did the Edo period end?
7. What did the new national leadership of the following Meiji period do?

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