Guest Speaker in JPN401: Sushi Chef

In JPN401, the students learned how food can be transformed and adapted in foreign countries.  They looked into cup-noodle, which is eaten all over the world, hamburger fast food in Japan, and sushi, which is loved around the world more and more these days.

As a conclusion to these lessons, a sushi chef from Nakato restaurant, Mr. Tetsuji Nishihara, visited our class and shared his experiences! The talk was full of surprises. He talked about how long it took for him to even touch sushi rice after he started work at a Japanese restaurant, the difficulty he had working at the restaurant in the U.S., what fish is more tasty to eat here than in Japan, his secret to have people more attracted to sushi, and more.

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At the end of the class, the students shared their ideas for new sushi and received feedback from Mr. Nishihara.  You might be able to taste those new sushi at Nakato in the near future!!

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Thank you Nishihara san to come to our class!

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Haiku Workshop

Students in JPN401 organized a haiku workshop for the students in JPN201 and JPN301!

In JPN401, they learned about Haiku in the textbook and also from Dr. Crowley. They also created their own haiku and shared their work in class.

Here is one haiku created by Jun Son from JPN401.

Daimatsu_haiku

 

 

 

Translation:

The spring wind
Blowing away the worries
Pristine state of mind

Meaning:

The spring wind entails the coming of a new season. When embracing the wind, one feels as if it carries away any fear or trepidation, ultimately revitalizing your mental state. The metaphorical comparison between the wind’s blow and one’s worries blown away, and between the new state of mind and the arrival of the new season, is highlighted in this haiku.

 

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At the workshop, they demonstrate their knowledge including the history of haiku, famous poet and rules of creating Haiku. And the participants created their own haiku with the assistance of the students from JPN401. Even though they were given such a short time, all participants were able to create their first haiku or senryu with the great assistance of advanced students.

 

Here is one haiku which a participant, Jinhee Park from JPN201 created.

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She explains about her Haiku, “I tried to express my feeling about the guy that I loved. I used the  seasonal world 秋(Aki, autumn)   and 月見 (Tsukimi, moon viewing) to represent loneliness in autumn.
Whenever I see the moon, I believe he also sees the same moon somewhere in the world.”

 

 

In the end of the workshop, each group chose the best haiku which the participants made and finally Pudi Wang’s Senryu which made everyone laugh was chosen to be the best work of the day. His Senryu was “花粉症 風が吹いたら 泣きたいよ”, which means Seasonal Allergy, when the wind Blows, I want to cry.”

Congratulation Pudi! And Congratulation students in JPN401 for such a success!!

 

Here is a Kansoobun, feedback report by the MC of the day, Yong Jun Kim. (It’s in Japanese.)

俳句ワークショップ感想文

Excellence in Language Studies in Japanese Award

Andres Oliver is the recipient of the Excellence in Language Studies award in Japanese. The ceremony was held on April 29, 2013. Andres started Japanese from scratch at Emory and went to study abroad in Kyoto with a prestigious Bridging Scholarship. He is a double major in Japanese and Creative Writing. He received highest honors in his thesis and Summa Cum Laude in Creative Writing. He is one of the fortunate students to be chosen for Salman Rushdie’s class this semester. His language skills and in-depth knowledge of Japan are truly among the best in our program.  Omedeto! Oliver san.

Extravaganza-Digital Story Screening Event for JPN202 and JPN302

Aside

Extravaganza, digital story screening event for JPN202 and JPN302 were held on April 29th, the last day of Spring semester 2013.

In JPN202, students made digital story movies to introduce their favorite sights or the cultural differences between Japan and their cultures.  Two movies each were chosen from three sections of JPN202. The following are the six finalists. We enjoyed viewing all of the movies!!

  1. Cheng Yue 清水寺(きよみずでら)
  2. Jiang Xinyi ウィリスタワー
  3. Nie Jiayi 張家界(ちょうかかい)
  4. Sun Shine 東京大神宮(とうきょうだいじんぐう)
  5. Wang Sijia お笑い(おわらい)
  6. Williams Denton ルーブル美術館(びじゅつかん)
The winners are:
1st Wang Sijia
2nd Nie Jiayi
3rd Sun Shine


Students in JPN302 made “my story” as their digital story assignment. Three movies were chosen from each section. The following are the finalists we viewed at the event. Some of them were heartwarming and some of them were energetic.  We enjoyed learning about each of you!!
Great job everyone!!

Reflection before Graduation in May 2013

You will read reflections written by students who are graduating in May, 2013. Students with the Japanese majors and minors and students who completed our four year language sequence looked back their Japanese language study and commented on their experiences. Please enjoy reading what our students have learned at Emory and how their study of the Japanese language became an important part of their undergraduate academic experiences.

Zhongyu Ken Zhang

I believe I am one of the few students that are pursuing Japanese major along with a hard science. I came to Emory intending to follow the pre-med track. When I saw that Emory offered Japanese classes, I decided to take these classes because I wanted to improve my Japanese skill. After living in Japan for four years as a child, I had a great appreciation for the Japanese culture and I did not want to give up that part of me. After my taking Japanese language classes and participating in the “Japanese Happy Hour”, I saw tremendous improvement in my Japanese skills and decided to continue and major in Japanese. I believe that understand the language is crucial in understanding a culture. My time as a Japanese major has not only reconnected me with a part of myself and improved my Japanese skill, but also, taught me how to understand a culture, thus, its people. I believe this knowledge of connecting with people would help me with my future career in medicine.

Translation: 私はエモリーで多くの学生が専攻する生物学と少数しか専攻しない日本語 の二つを終了しようとしている。医者になるつもりでエモリーに来た私は日本語のクラスがあることに気付いて自分の日本語を磨くために日本語のクラスを取り始めた。日本で四年間過ごした私は日本の文化を愛し、自分の一部と考えていて、それを失わなかった。日本語のクラスをとり、“ハッピーアワー”に参加続けた私の日本語はさらに上達し、日本語を専攻にする事を決めた。私は文化を理解するためにはその文化に係わる言葉の理解が欠かせないと考えている。エモリーで日本語を専攻している間、私は自分の一部を取り戻し、日本語のスキルを上達させただけでなく、文化、つまり、人の理解の仕方を学んだ。人をより深く理解しようとするすべは必ず私の将来、医者になる夢に役立つだろう。

 

 

 

 

Josephine Duan (A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Highest Honor in Psychology, Summa Cum Laude)

This has been my seventh year of Japanese language study. I have learned about Japanese culture, history and social issues in addition to Japanese language study at Emory. I feel fortunate that I met my teachers and friends with whom I will graduate this May. My teachers always gave us support and helped us to get ready for the job-hunting process and interviews. I am excited about going to work in Japan this October, and will continue to polish up my Japanese. I feel fortunate that I majored in Japanese at Emory. Please accept my sincere appreciation.

Translation: 日本語の勉強はそろそろ七年になります。エモリー大学にいるこの四年間で日本語言語の勉強以外には、日本の文化、歴史、それに社会的な問題についてもいろいろ学びました。学部の先生と同級生たちと出会って本当によかったと思います。先生たちは授業以外でも私たちを支えてくれて、就職活動、面接などの準備や練習をやってくれて本当に助かりました。私は今年の10月から日本で働くことになりましたから、これからも頑張って日本語の勉強を続けて行きます。エモリーで日本語を専攻して、本当によかったです。ありがとうございました。

2013 Speech Contest/2013年のスピーチコンテスト

On March 30 Georgia’s Annual Japanese Speech Contest was held, where several Emory students participated.  The following students participated:

Speech Division: Calvin Tong, Alex Ankar, Jonguk Lim
Recitation Division: Alexa VanDemark, Shumei Zhang, Yue Cheng
Open Division: Nie Jiayi, Sun Shine

Everyone gave wonderful speeches and several students received awards. For the Recitation Division, Yue Chang received the first place award, and Alexa VanDemark received the third place award. For the Open Division, Nie Jiayi received the second place award, and Sun Shine received the third place award.

Thank you to all those who participated and also to those who made the event possible.

Here are some pictures from the event:

2013 New Year’s Cards/2013年の年賀状

Hello everyone,

I know this is very late but thank you everyone for sending the wonderful New Year’s cards, or nengajo.  Emory students, with the nengajo they sent, won first, second, and third place for the GATJ 2013 Nengajo Contest. Congratulations!

Here are some of the cards students made and the results of the GATJ 2013 Nengajo Contest:

  • First Place – Katina Warsham

  • Second Place – Linda Yi Lin

  • Third Place – Jasmine Hensley

Here are all of the nengajou sent by Emory students:

Welcome to the Emory University Japanese Language Program Website

Featured

Welcome to our site to share students’ work from the first to the fourth year Japanese language! The purpose of this site is to give you some ideas of what our students do in class and to create opportunities to share work by our students. Our program offers Elementary Japanese I and II (first year), Intermediate Japanese I, II (second year), Advanced Language and Composition (third year), and Advanced Language and Cultural Studies I to IV (fourth and fifth year). We have about 150 students enrolled in total for 2013-2014. Please click the classes which you are interested in and tell us what you think.

エモリー大学の日本語履修学生による作品集へようこそ!この作品集を通し、皆様に 学生が授業で何をやっているのかをご覧になっていただく機会を作れたらと思います。私達のプログラムでは、初級日本語、中級日本語、上級日本語読み書きのコース、上級日本語文化研究の授業を履修できます。2013年度は、1年生から4年生まで合わせると約150名の学生が日本語を学んでいます。上の1年生/2年生/3年生/4年生をクリックすると、学生の作品が見られます。よかったらどうぞ感想を残してください。