Tuesday, April 04, 2006

He might be a sakura.



It's the best season for (sakura, cherry blossoms) now in Tokyo.


In this season, a lot of people drink and eat under sakura trees in the park or river side.
It's getting warm but still quite cold outside especially in the evening, but people try to drink in the park with coat and scarf. (^ ^;)

The event is called 花見 (hanami).
(Just in case... 花見 (hanami) is seeing cherry blossoms and 花火 (hanabi) is fireworks.)
I did hanami last weekend with my friends, too.
Do you have similar event in your country?
Do you sometimes drink outside even if it's cold!?

By the way, there is another meaning for the word "Sakura".
Another sakura is usually written in katakana and describes people.
When people are trying to sell something, if there isn't any customer, people usually don't care about the shop.
But if there are many customers, you could be interested in the shop.
So shops sometimes hire people who pretend customers.
The people are called サクラ (sakura).
They are called sakura because sakura trees seem very gorgeous and the flowers fall soon.
The people try to do same thing.

The way of using the word "sakura" is popular in Japanese.
Try to use the word when you talk with your Japanese friends.
Like...
"Wow! That store is very crowded!"
"Well... maybe some of them are sakura, don't you think so?"

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:04 AM

    I have seen a video of you in www.youtube.com. I liked your blog, very nice.
    You seam to be a great teacher, but unfortunatelly for me , I am too far to take class with you ( I live in Brazil , South America)

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  2. It is unfortunate that such a nice word is also being used to describe somewhat unethical business practices.

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  3. > Stefano Scripnic

    Thank you very much for your comments.
    My student made that video for me...
    Do you think that's a good idea?
    Actually, I'm ashamed to see my video a little. (>_<)
    Do you study Japanese in Brazil?
    I wish you lived in Asia at least so that maybe we could make weekly lessons! (^o^)


    >Ole' Wolvie

    I agree with your idea.
    I think sometimes people are trying to use any good culture or custom for their business too much.
    Maybe that's happened in a lot of countries, but I guess especially in Japan! :(

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  4. Anonymous10:22 PM

    hello Akiko!
    It's difficult to wright in English.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you for your comments in English. (^ ^)
    Hope you enjoy my blog!

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  6. Where's this video?!! I want to see! :)

    I enjoyed hanami this year, but the weather was quite cold...

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  7. >Life in the superStructure

    >there was also lots of trash

    That's true.
    I saw so many trash in hanami area, too.
    Even though there was a sign "Don't leave trash".
    That's terrible...

    >Hanami is bad for the "Japanese Spirit".

    What does it mean!?
    Because of the trash problem?

    By the way, I didn't think about making quiz with youtube.com !
    (Actually, I haven't used that site by myself yet.)
    It seems interesting.
    Thank you. (^ ^)


    >Tom

    I felt quite cold when I went to hanami, too.
    Especially this year, it was colder I think.

    Also the best season for hanami is very short and it's not easy to guess when it is exactly.
    So it's difficult to make the plan for hanami, isn't it?
    I almost respect people who have huge hanami party on weekend...!

    ReplyDelete