Have you ever felt that what is common sense to you is not the same for everyone? If you’ve ever been abroad, I’m sure you’ve thought about it. Today I’d like to share some stories from my own experiences.

Taking photos at museums

In Japan, we are not allowed to take pictures at a museum. Anyone who gets too close to a painting will receive a warning from museum staff. In America, taking photos at a museum, or even during a show like Cirque Du Soleil, is allowed. The video I took at the show enabled me to not only preserve the memory but to share it with my friends when I returned home.

No ticket gate at train stations

Japan’s train system is highly sophisticated. The ticket machines never make mistakes. When I visited Vancouver, Canada in 2004, there were no ticket gates at any of the Skytrain stations. You buy a ticket, but no one ever checks it. I thought, “Canadians are very trusting people.”

Egg whites

Like many Japanese, I love TKG (raw egg over rice). Eating raw eggs is part of Japanese culture but not in every country. Some Canadians don’t eat egg yolks. Believing the egg white is a healthier choice, some people make scrambled eggs using only the egg whites. You can even buy just “egg whites” at the supermarket.

Garage sales

A garage sale is similar to a flea market with one exception. Flea markets are held in public places. Garage sales are advertised in newspapers or on flyers hung on utility poles by families who hold the sale in their driveway or on their front lawn. 

Traveling exposes us to cultural differences and is a great way to expand our horizons.

Photo Credit: Tim Sevage @pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Quiz 

Q1. Do you think the author has a positive or negative view of taking photos in a museum or at a show in Canada?

A. Good because you can preserve memories.

B. Bad because you will receive a warning.

Q2. Why does the author think ‘Canadians are trusting people’?

A. They don’t eat egg yolk.

B. There are often no ticket barriers at stations.

C. They like maple syrup. 

Q3. How are garage sales different from flea markets? 

A. They usually take place on private property

B. They sell car parts.

C. You can buy egg whites.

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Q1 A

Q2 B

Q3 A

Have you ever heard of Boxing Day? It's a national holiday celebrated the day after Christmas Day. It is usually the 26th of December, initially in the United Kingdom and in several countries that previously formed parts of the British Empire, such as Romania, Hungary, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Scandinavia. Because it is a national holiday, people get together for meals, spend time outside, or relax at home. We can also say that Boxing Day is a day for many sports such as horse racing and football. The name of the holiday “Boxing Day” is said to have derived from three things. First, it's a reference to holiday gifts for servants. The master would give them a 'Christmas Box' as a Christmas present, and they would go home and hand it over to their family. Second, it's a reference to charity drives. A box to collect money for the poor is placed in churches on Christmas Day and opened on Boxing Day. Third, it's a nautical tradition. Great sailing ships when setting sail would have a sealed box containing money on board for good luck. The box was given to a priest if the voyage was a success, opened on Christmas, and the things inside the box were then given to the poor. 

Boxing Day is also a day for shopping. I am going to explain how I spent Boxing Day when I lived in Australia as a university student. I spent the daytime just relaxing, having conversations with friends, and cooking together. After dinner, it was time for us to go shopping. Famous shops such as David Jones, Myer, and almost everywhere had special sales. Every product was on sale at almost 50 to 80 percent discount. I had never seen that kind of discount in my life. Thursdays are a special day for night shopping, stores being open until 7 pm, instead of 5. However, this Thursday during the Boxing Day Sale became a very special time of the year, and stores were open until midnight. It was an unusual scene to see many young people go there at night. Me? Of course, we went shopping and had fun buying lots of stuff such as shoes, perfume, tea, cookies, cosmetics, and bags. I do miss the time when the moon lit up the way we walked on a summer night. It is a special memory for me hanging out together with friends during the university break.

Photo Credit: Giftpundits.com @pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Q1. According to the blog which of the following is not a reason for the name ‘Boxing Day’?

A. It is the day gift boxes were given to servants

B. It is the name of boxes used to collect money for charity

C. It is the day people watch boxing on TV

Q2. According to the blog what kid of discounts do shops in Australia offer on Boxing Day? 

A. 50-80%

B. 25%

C. 10%  

Q3. What time did the stores close on Boxing Day in Australia when the author was in Australia?

A. 5pm

B. 7pm

C. 12am

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. C 

Q2. A

Q3. C 

Ask many Japanese people to name famous or important shrines and the list will be very familiar: Ise Shrine, Itsukushima Shrine, Heian shrine, Yasukuni Shrine, Izumo Taisha, Fushimi Inari. One shrine that very few will mention is Omiwa shrine. Few people will mention it, and many don’t even know about it. That is surprising because it is likely the oldest shrine in Japan.

Omiwa Shrine, sometimes called “Miwa Shrine,” is located in Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture. It’s very easy to find because the shrine is on Mount Miwa and a giant 32-meter torii gate marks the entrance. Access is very easy as there is a Miwa Station on JR’s Sakurai line. 

How old is Omiwa Shrine? Nobody really knows. The shrine is so old it is difficult to find an exact date of origin. There are records of Omiwa Shrine being an important shrine back in the early Kofun period (around 300AD), so it might be older than that!

Looking at Omiwa shrine there are many familiar sights. Torii gates lead to the main shrine area, and there are small side-shrines, a prayer hall, and other buildings. What is a little unusual is that there is no main hall. The main hall is usually the key feature of a shrine, it’s where the kami (deity) is housed. However, Omiwa shrine is so old that it was used before this tradition even started. The entire Mount Miwa is the home of the kami (deity). 

Many people enjoy sightseeing and visiting famous places in different parts of the country. Many of the historical sites are beautiful to look at, and you can enjoy them for themselves; however, some of them have stories that can make them even more interesting.

Zuiganji Temple in Sendai provides a good example of this. It is connected to the famous warlord Date Masamune, who paid for it to be restored. Its rooms are beautifully painted with a variety of designs. In one of these rooms, the paintings meant something more.

The walls (and sliding doors) of the Hawk Room (Taka no Ma) are decorated with paintings of hawks and other birds in natural surroundings showing trees, rocks and water. This was the room where Masamune’s followers would wait when he was visiting the temple.

Hawks were a popular motif with the samurai. They represented the ferocity and strength of the warrior. These paintings had additional meanings – it is believed they were meant as instruction for Masamune’s followers, explaining how samurai should behave.

The paintings contain puns – a kind of joke where a word has two meanings – as well as straightforward illustrations of sayings or proverbs.

One painting shows a hawk catching a duck. This is a pun, because the word kamo, means both ‘duck’ and ‘to be made a fool of.’ The hidden meaning is ‘Samurai should not allow themselves to be made fools of.’ 

Another painting shows a hawk catching a kind of bird called an egret or heron. In Japanese it is called sagi. Of course, sagi has another meaning – fraud, so this is a pun that means ‘Don’t get involved in fraud.’ 

Another part of the paintings shows a pheasant being chased by a hawk. There is a saying in Japanese: ‘If the pheasant didn’t cry out, it wouldn’t get shot.’ This probably means you should not speak if you don’t need to. Good for the samurai, but not so good in English class.

Finally, there is a picture of a hawk staring at a rabbit. Maybe there is another one we can’t see. This illustrates the saying: ‘If you chase two rabbits, you won’t even catch one.’ This means you should focus on one thing at a time, rather than try and multi-task. This may be good advice, but it seems more and more difficult in today’s busy world. Who knows? Maybe Date Masamune’s samurai felt the same way.

Photo Credit:

(No attribution required from Pixabay.com)

Blog Quiz

Q1. What does the author find particularly interesting about Zuiganji Temple?

A. It is surrounded by beautiful countryside.

B. The paintings contain hidden meaning.

C. You can learn about the ferocity of the samurai.

Q2. What is a ‘pun’?

A. A soft sticky type of bread.

B. A play on words. 

C. A small duck.

Q3. According to the author, how can Samurai teachings be applied to today’s modern world?

A. Stay silent when you are hunting animals.

B. Speak more in English class.

C. Try to focus on one task at a time. 

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. B

Q2. B

Q3. C 

In 1803, as the story goes, fishermen working in the sea off Ibaraki prefecture spotted an unusual looking vessel in the sea. Curious they towed the vessel to shore. It was like nothing they had ever seen. Circular in shape they report it as being 3.3 meters high and 5.45 meters across, and ‘resembling a wooden rice pit.’ The lower part appeared to be covered in polished metal while the upper section had windows of glass or crystal protected with strong iron bars and sealed with some kind of tree resin.

The nervous fisherman peered inside and were amazed by what they saw. The inside of the vessel was adorned with texts of an unknown language. There were soft carpets on the floor and two bed sheets. They found a bottle containing 3.6 liters of water, as well as some cake and meat. 

Most surprising of all there was a young woman. She was about 20 years old and roughly 150 centimeters tall. She is said to have had a face of indescribably beauty with soft pale skin. Her red hair was very long with light streaks of what appeared to be either fur or white powder. She was dressed in long and flowing garments of a smooth unknown material.  

The men tried to talk with the girl, but she spoke a language they had never heard before. She seemed calm other than she was clutching a small box of a mysterious light-colored material. The box was approximately 60cms across and appeared to be of great value to the woman. No matter how hard the fisherman tried she would not let anyone come near the box. 

It appears that her arrival caused disquiet among the local villagers. It was decided that her presence would be disruptive, so she was put back onboard her vessel and once again set to drift in the sea. 

It is always good to be making more friends. University is probably THE best time in your life to make lifelong friends. At university, we have constant encounters in class and on campus with many people in our peer group. The people we connect with the most we can then easily spend more time with and deepen those relationships. Many of those close friends will be people who are with you all through your life.

Meeting people at university is natural and not that different from meeting people at high school but then there was COVID-19. Suddenly we must do it all online and the rules are a bit different and a bit harder. Here are some hints to help you.  

First, turn on your camera when you can and when it is appropriate. Most importantly, pay attention to your body language on camera. Smile and make eye contact by looking into the camera. Try to have a relaxed body posture. Ask yourself, “Do I seem approachable and friendly?” Offer greetings to others and ask questions when you can. 

Keep the conversation going 

Once you have made a connection in class with others you can make friends outside of class. Privately offer YOUR contact information to others you want to be friends with so you can talk outside of class. Don’t be too disappointed if someone doesn’t follow up. They are probably just busy, and your effort is still appreciated. If someone offers you their contact information, try to follow up soon even if it is just to say it was nice talking to them. 

Don’t give up 

Blog Quiz

1. According to the blog, why is it more difficult to make friends now?

A.    Because the social rules in university are different from high school.

B.    Because Coronavirus means we must interact online.

C.    Because people don't try to make friends anymore.

2. According to the blog, what does 'invite dialog' mean?

A.    Share information about yourself, ask questions and make comments.

B.    Organize a party.

C.    Arrange an online study group.

3. According to the blog, how can you keep a conversation going?

A.    Go to the pub.

B.    Ask for someone's phone number.

C.    Privately offer your own contact details.

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

1. B

2. A

3. C

The Internet wasn’t always so popular as it is now. In the early years of the Internet, it was really a very exclusive platform for people to use. Even after it moved from research and academics into the public, it was still only for those curious enough to try. My older brother and I had connected to a local bulletin board system (BBS) using a dial-up modem that was annoying for the family because it used our one telephone line (we eventually got a second phone number for the computer). 

Those times were much more experimental and friendly than what I’ve seen in recent years. You knew that the other person you were talking to was a human being, and the owner of the BBS even hosted some get-togethers in the real world for people who used it. There weren’t people trying to attack and insult others because of tiny differences, but most often things were just talked about. Part of that is because the software wasn’t ready for the general public, but I also think it attracted a smaller group of people whom genuinely cared about what the Internet could be used for.

This slowly began to change as software improved. Chat rooms became a common feature with easier interfaces, and people who couldn’t handle the technical requirements earlier now had access. The Internet became more of a tool to connect people, but it also challenged what was comfortable for most people. That’s when I began hearing more about people who would eventually become what we know now as trolls. While this wasn’t new to me since I had already developed an understanding of the Internet, it began to turn me off a little bit to what the Internet was becoming.

During college, even though the university had cable Internet access (a revolution at the time), I was less attracted to it. Computers also became an expensive business, so the friendliness of building computers was complicated by convenience. After graduating, I worked in developing countries, and getting the newest, most expensive computers seemed silly. I continued to have technology as a part of my life, but I found the changes made to the Internet less interesting than how they were in the beginning.

Now, the Internet is tightly woven in the fabric of society, especially because of more recent events. In the past it was more of an optional, leisure time outlet for people, recently the Internet’s role as a tool seems to have been made more important. The idea of technology just for the sake of more technology seems less interesting when people just need it to work. In a way, things have returned a little bit to the way things were in the beginning because the Internet is taking a more fundamental role in society. It isn’t easy, but, to some extent, the life side of it makes the “tech” side of everything less obvious. Tech is being replaced by living.

Photo Credit: Burst@pexels.com

Blog Quiz

1. According to the blog what is a ‘troll’?

a) An ugly mythical creature who lives under a bridge

b) A person who intentionally upsets people on the internet by posting inflammatory messages

c) A small spade used for gardening

2. How did the author’s experiences in a third world country change his view of technology?

a) He realized there were more important things in life than having the latest technologies.

b) He decided to donate all his money to charity

c) He became more interested in travel than technology

3. According to the author why is technology becoming less obvious?

a) People can’t understand technology

b) People who build computers aren’t friendly

c) Technology is taking a more fundamental role in society

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

1. B

2. A

3. C

“What is a typical dish from your country?”

Food is a great topic when meeting people of other nationalities. The question above is good for breaking the ice and can lead to interesting discussions. Japanese people have many answers to choose from when hearing this question; sushi, tonkatsu, okonomiyaki, tempura, udon… These are undeniably good examples of Japanese cuisine.

What is interesting is the deceiving nature of the question. This is because the person asking might think it means the same as asking “What food is typically eaten in your country?” Indeed, for Japanese people, the dishes mentioned above could answer either question, so the distinction between the two questions could seem unimportant; however, the point of answering is a little problematic for me.

I am often asked the first question “What is a typical dish from your country?” when Japanese people are getting to know me, and they likely expect an interesting answer that can teach them something new. However, it is tricky because my quick and simple answer cannot carry over as a reply to the second question (like it does for Japanese). Why is that?

The reason is because I am from Canada. What is typical food in Canada? Well, a quick and simple answer is pasta, pizza, hamburgers, steak, dumplings, curry… and sushi! However, surely those are unexpected responses for a Japanese person to hear—especially those who have not been abroad. I am not Italian, German, American, Chinese, Indian, or Japanese. I am Canadian.

The point of difference between “from your country” and “in your country” is what I wish to address, and this can also nudge into the spotlight the feature of the so-called Canadian mosaic.

There is a story I like to tell whenever I get asked about Canadian food. When I was young, after school I often went to a friend’s place. Depending on the day or friend, I might stay for dinner, and over a span of years this amounted to a wonderful introduction to international cuisine because everyone I knew was either an immigrant or a child of immigrants. One day I might eat homemade Indian food. On other days it might be homemade Italian, Chinese, British, and—especially in my hometown of Edmonton—Ukrainian food. Then when it was my friend’s turn to visit my house, my mother would cook Cuban food.

I am not joking when I say that the food I ate as a young Canadian varied among such delicious dishes as homemade spaghetti, Chinese-style dumplings, Ukrainian-style dumplings, curry with naan, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding (from Britain), and fried plantain (a Caribbean dish).

True Canadian food? Look that up on {Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_cuisine]} and I cannot say that I experienced—as far as typical food is concerned—what is listed as examples: poutine, salmon jerky, Montreal-style bagels, ginger beef, and butter tarts. I look forward to trying all those when I return, though. I hear they are more available now than when I was young.

Photo Credit: Social Soup@pexels.com

Blog Quiz

1. What does the author’s first question usually mean?

A.    What is the most popular food in your country?

B.    What food is commonly eaten in your country?

C.    What food represents your country’s cuisine?

2. Why did the author eat many different cuisines when he was young?

A.    Because there were many restaurants with foreign cuisine in Edmonton.

B.    Because he didn’t like typical Canadian food.

C.    Because his friend’s families were immigrants.

3. Which of these dishes would the author like to try on his next visit home?

A.    fried plantain

B.    salmon jerky

C.    Yorkshire pudding

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

1. C

2. C

3. B