Originally, hatsumoude had been called "toshigomori". It was a custom that the head of family stay in the shrine from night on New Year Eve to morning on New Year's Day for prayer. In Meiji period, toshigomori had divided into "jyoyamoude" that was done at night on New Year's Eve. Also "ganjitsumoude" that was done in morning on New Year's Day. So "ganjitsumoude" is the original form of today's hatsumoude.
Kei Nishikori
Kei Nishikori (born on December 29, 1989) is a Japanese professional tennis player. He is from Matsue in Shimane. He graduated from Nogi elementary school, Kaisei junior high school, and Aomori-yamada high school. He is right-handed.
In September 2014, Nishikori was the US Open first runner-up. He participated in the ATP World Tour Final in 2014. His career-high ATP Ranking is 4th in the world.
He began tennis when he was five years old. He has achieved a national Triple Crown at 11 years old and he was trained in the United States from 13 years old. He turned professional when he was 17 years old and he won his first professional tournament at 18 years old. He injured his elbow in 2009, but he returned the following year. As of August 2015, he is ranked number 4 in the world.
Omamori
There are many types of Omamori.
Sutoku
He struggled with Goshirakawa-Tenno (his brother) for political leadership. This political battle is called Hogen no Ran. He was defeated and was banished to Sanuki.
After Sotoku's abdication and exile, he devoted himself to a monastic life. He copied numerous scriptures and offered them to the court. Fearing that the scriptures were cursed, the court refused to accept them. Snubbed, Sotoku was said to have resented the court and, upon his death, became an onryō. Everything from the fall in fortune of the Imperial court, the rise of the samurai powers, droughts and internal unrests were blamed on his haunting.
Other legends say he changed into an Ootengu (greater tengu). Along with nurarihyon, the nine-tailed kitsune Tamamo-no-Mae and the oni Shuten-dōji, they are often called the four greatest yōkai of Japan.
Funassyi
Funassyi (pronounced "Funasshi") is an unofficial mascot of Funabashi City, Japan. He is a rock-star in a pear costume. Funassyi's main purpose is to promote Funabashi City. He is a singer, dancer, and a talking pear. He was a mascot which a Funabashi resident started. Now Funassyi is a famous yuru-chara (a category of mascot characters) of Japan. However, Funabashi City has not yet approved him as an official mascot.
He talks in high-pitched falsetto voice. He shouts "Nasshi" at the end of his sentences. He often says "Hyahha-" in a strange voice.
Kumamoto-Castle
Kumamoto Castle is one of the most famous Japanese castles. There are a lot of ginkgo trees, so some people call it Ginkgo Castle.
1-1Hommaru, Chuo-ward Kumamoto, Kumamoto, 860-0002, Japan.
We can get to there in about 10 minutes bus or streetcar ride from JR Kumamoto Station. The one-way fare is 150 yen.We can also get to there in about 40 minutes the airport shuttle bus ride from Kumamoto Airport. The one-way fare is 730 yen.We can also use cars. There is a lot of parking just next to the castle. But we must pay 200 yen for two hours.
Kumamoto Castle was completed by Kato Kiyomasa in 1607. He was the first lord of the castle. After that, the lord of the castle was Hosokawa tribe for 240 years. In 1877, Kumamoto Castle was almost destroyed by the effect of Satsuma Rebellion. In 1960, the tower was repaired.
The outer stone wall of Kumamoto Castle has particular structure. It is called Mushagaeshi. It can prevent enemies from climbing stone walls because it curves out at the top.
Cookpad
Cookpad is the largest Internet recipe site in Japan. It was started in 1997 by the Cookpad company. They have a database of over 1.5 million recipes. Members can add their recipe in Cookpad. Other Cookpad users can make comments about recipes they have tried. Recipes are categorized. Users can look for the recipe they want to know. They are also able to look for popular recipes and search by seasonal keywords.
Now, 96.5% of cookpad users are women and 75.3 of them are married. Cookpad opened the recipe site in English, Spanish, Indonesian and Arabic. In Japan, premium members are increasing steadily and sales of smartphone advertising is going up steadily. Cookpad recently purchased Shahiya.com in Lebanon for $13.5 million. Shahiya has over 3 million monthly users, 90% of whom are women. Shahiya serves over 1 million users a month in Saudi Arabia alone.
Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were a series of British laws regarding taxes on corn. These laws were passed in the 1800s. The laws were passed to favor and protect British land owners. Lord Liverpool passed them in 1815: If the price for corn was below 80 shillings per quarter, importing corn was forbidden; if the price was above, there were no import taxes. In 1822 and 1828, there were small changes. The laws caused many protests, and they were phased out under the government of Robert Peel, in 1846. Despite this, over one million people starved in Ireland, between 1846 and 1849. This famine is known as Irish Potato Famine today.
Economists, such as David Ricardo were against the Corn Laws. Ricardo believed that overall, protectionism made corn too expensive for the economy as a whole. He also believed that with the laws, the protection of agriculture was too big. He wrote about these ideas in his work called "On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation "from 1817". "Thomas Malthus was in favor of the laws; in his opinion, they helped the agriculture of the country, and would not lead to the country depending on others.
Fugitive Among Us
Fugitive Among Us is a 1992 American crime drama television movie. It was directed by Michael Toshiyuki Uno. It was shown on CBS.
The movie was filmed in Dallas, Texas. It is based on the true story from the nonfiction book "And Deliver Us From Evil".
A policeman is obsessed to convict a rape suspect.
Arbaeen
Arbaeen (, "forty"), Chehelom (, , "the fortieth [day]") or Qirkhi, Imamin Qirkhi (, "the fortieth of Imam") is a Shia Muslim religious observance that occurs forty days after the Day of Ashura. It honors the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad. Imam Husayn ibn Ali and 72 companions were killed by Yazid I's army in the Battle of Karbala in 61 AH (680 CE). Arbaeen or forty days is also the usual length of mourning in many Muslim traditions. Arbaeen is one of the largest pilgrimage gatherings on Earth. Millions of people go to the city of Karbala in Iraq. The pilgrims include Shia, Sunnis, Christians, Yazidi and other faiths.
Artur Erikson
Artur Eriksson, born 5 March 1918 in Skutskär, Sweden, dead 5 August 2000 in Gagnef, Sweden, was a Swedish singer and preacher. He was active within the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden. Except for Christian songs, he also sang songs were Dan Andersson's poems had been set to music. A major succes was "Till min syster", which charted at the top 10-chart Svensktoppen for 12 weeks in 1970.
Northwich
Northwich is a town and civil parish in the county of Cheshire, England. The town is about east of Chester and south of Warrington. Northwich has been named as one of the best places to live in the UK according to the Sunday Times in 2014. The town also made the list in 2013.
The area around Northwich has been famous for its salt since Roman times. Then the town was known as Condate. Mines dug under Northwich began collapsing in the late 19th century. Buildings began to disappear as they sank into the mines below. Several of the deep mines have since been filled in under a £28 million project finished in 2007.
X64
x86-64 is the general name of a series of 64-bit processors and their associated instruction set architecture. These processors are compatible with legacy x86 software.