Faces: People, Places, and Cultures articles from January 2006

Faces: People, Places, and Cultures archives from January 2006

Mystery photo?(paper cranes )(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... Do you know what this is? Can you imagine how long it must have taken to fold all these paper cranes? The Japanese believe that folding 1,000 paper cranes will bring good health.

High 5.(fascinating facts about Japan)(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... Would you like to ride a bike to school or zoom along at more than 185 miles an hour on the "bullet train"? You can do both during a visit to Japan. Here are five fascinating facts about Japan. 1 How can one thing have two names? Westerners...

Japan.(Japan )(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... Official Name: Japan Location: Japan is an island chain in eastern Asia between the western Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan, east of the Korean Peninsula Area: 145,882 square miles (total for all islands) Population: 127,333,002...

Mount Fuji.(Mount Fuji )
January 1, 2006... Mount Fuji is the highest (12,388 feet, or 3,776 meters) volcanic mountain in Japan. Located on Honshu Island near Tokyo, Mount Fuji is a dormant or resting stratovolcano that last erupted in 1708. It could burst to life again at any time. It...

Japan: nation of tradition, nation of change.(Japan's history)
January 1, 2006... Japan is a bustling and dynamic place. On the streets of Tokyo, you'll probably see kids just like you, hanging out at a McDonald's and snapping pictures with their cell phones. Some kids might be reading the latest manga (mon-ga), or comic...

School life in Japan.
January 1, 2006... Ken Ishi is 15. He is in the third grade of junior high in Japan, which is the equivalent of the ninth grade in the United States. In some ways, Ken's school is similar to an American school, but there are also many differences. One difference...

Youkoso! Welcome!(Japanese language is most closely related to Korean)
January 1, 2006... Japanese has many dialects spoken throughout the country, but everyone understands hyojungo, or standard Japanese. You might already know some Japanese words, such as sushi, soy, and futon. Some say that Japanese is most closely related to...

Ancient drums make modern music.(Musashi Taiko)
January 1, 2006... Natsumi climbs up the yagura platform. It is her turn to play the lone taiko drum at the top. The sun has gone down, but it is still very hot and humid in Tokyo. She looks down at the strings of lanterns glowing in the dark. They are lit to...

Dog of Japan: Hachiko: almost all Americans have heard of Lassie, a collie who was a faithful friend to her young master. In Japan, almost everyone knows the story of Hachiko, a faithful Akita who lived in Tokyo many years ago.(Hachiko )(Akita)
January 1, 2006... The stories about Lassie are fiction, but the story of Hachiko is real. How did a nation come to love this big-hearted dog? Hachiko was born in 1923 in the mountains of northern Japan. An Akita, he was a large dog with a curly tail, a thick...

Way to go ... by bike!(bicycle in Japan)
January 1, 2006... Everybody rides a bicycle in Japan! That includes grandmothers with parasols shielding them against the sun, well-dressed businessmen, and mothers with one or two children on board. Also, policemen, Buddhist monks, students, and just about...

Manga and anime.(comic strips)
January 1, 2006... To witness the birth of manga and anime, we must travel back to the late 17th century and visit a boy named Hokusai. He was a rebellious young student, always in trouble because he talked back to his teachers and challenged the way they did...

Beautiful Bonsai.(Bonsai is the art of growing trees )(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... Bonsai is the art of growing trees in small trays. Trees grown this way are miniature versions of larger ones, such as junipers, Japanese maples, and white pines. Bonsai can be as small as a couple of inches high or as big as about four feet...

Oshogatsu: the Japanese New Year.(Americans and Japanese, the New Year's holiday)
January 1, 2006... "Happy New Year!" shout the thousands of people crowded into New York City's Times Square on December 31 as the ball falls at midnight, officially beginning a new year. People all across America welcome the new year at parties with friends and...

Washoku: eating Japanese-style.(Japanese cuisine )
January 1, 2006... What do Japanese children eat? Check out the contents of their lunch boxes. A seaweed-wrapped slice of fresh sushi shares space with a plum, ohagi (Japanese sweet rice balls), and chocolate chip cookies. Another lunch box holds a container of...

Home, sweet home.(Japanese traditional housing and architecture)
January 1, 2006... Japan, in many ways, is the most modern and technologically advanced country in the world. Yet the Japanese have retained some traditional housing and architecture. If you visited Tokyo, you would find modern buildings that look like those of...

Ask faces!
January 1, 2006... Here is your chance to send us your world culture--and geography-related questions! Each month, our experts will answer several questions from readers like you. Want to know where the world's highest mountain is located? What is the largest...

Face facts.(Cartoon)
January 1, 2006... The Japanese slurp their noodles. The louder the better. It's quite a scene in the very popular noodle restaurants with everyone slurping away. I'M SORRY. I COULDN'T HEAR YOU! WHAT DID YOU SAY!?! OH, WHAT A CUTE LITTLE SLURP THAT WAS!...

Fans' favorites: children in Japan have lots of sports heroes. Here are some of their top picks.
January 1, 2006... Though Shinji Ono plays for Feyenoord, a Dutch soccer team from Rotterdam, he also plays for the Japanese national team in the Olympics, the World Cup, and other international competitions. Injuries kept him off the field for much of the...

Urashima Taro: a Japanese folktale.(Short story)
January 1, 2006... Long ago in Japan lived a young fisherman named Urashima Taro. One day when he was walking on the seashore, he saw some boys hitting a large sea turtle with a stick. "Leave him alone," he told the boys. "Don't be unkind." Ashamed of themselves,...

Japanese Children's Favorite Stories.(Japanese Children's Favorite Stories)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Japanese Children's Favorite Stories edited by Florence Sakade While some of these tales have recognizable western counterparts (though the fate of Little One-Inch is very different from Thumbelina's!), many others are completely different,...

Kira-Kira.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata This novel, a Newbery Medal book, is beautifully narrated by Katie, a Japanese America girl. Kira-kira was one of Katie Takeshima's first words. Her sister Lynn had told her that the Japanese word kira-kira...

The Ainu of Japan.(The Ainu of Japan)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... The Ainu of Japan by Barbara Aoki Poisson On Japan's northern island, Hokkaido, live the Ainu people, the native people of Japan. In this well-illustrated book, learn about Japan's first people--their history, homeland, economy, and...

The Japanese Americans.(The Japanese Americans)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... The Japanese Americans by Tony Zurlo Here is a comprehensive resource book providing all you need to know about the story of Japanese immigration to the United States. The book begins in Japan, explaining the historical situation that led...

Ichiro Suzuki.(Ichiro Suzuki )(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Ichiro Suzuki by David S. Leigh Can a Japanese baseball star make it in the United States? This well-told story tells all about Japan's all-star outfielder, as well as how baseball came to Japan. It includes several photographs, Ichiro's...

Colors of Japan.(Colors of Japan)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Colors of Japan by Holly Littlefield; illustrated by Helen Byers This unique book uses ten colors to describe Japan. Each color is written in Japanese with pronunciation, so you'll learn a bit about this nation's language as well as the...

Families of Japan.(Families of Japan )(Brief article)(Children's review)(Video recording review)
January 1, 2006... Families of Japan Arden Films Take a journey to Japan to follow the lives of two Japanese children and their families from breakfast to bedtime. In this entertaining 30-minute video, you'll see inside two Japanese homes, the food the...

Kids Web Japan.(Japanese schools )(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... On this site you can meet kids who have made the news, visit Japanese schools, find out what Japanese kids like to talk about with their friends, learn how to speak Japanese, and play games online. http://web-jpn.org/kidsweb/index.html

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.(Japan Galleries )(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... The Japan Galleries of this museum have space devoted to two major art forms: the tea room and the bamboo basket. Special programs designed for children include the Family Festival, storytelling, and performances. 200 Larkin Street ...

Japanese American National Museum.(Americans of Japanese ancestry)(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... Taiko drumming, puppet shows, craft classes, book readings, historical walking tours, and more. The Japanese American National Museum is the only museum in the United States dedicated to sharing the experience of Americans of Japanese ancestry....

Say what?(One Last Face)
January 1, 2006... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Say what? Write a caption for this photograph. The best entries will be published in an upcoming issue! Send your captions to facesmag@yahoo.com.