Apparently, around 45,000 people visited Japan Day 2019 last weekend. It was indeed so so so crowded! 先週[せんしゅう](= last week)のJapan Day 2019 には、45,000人が訪[おとず]れた(= visited)そうです。確[たし]かに(= indeed)、本当に混[こ]んでいました(= was crowded)！ There were quite a few food stalls there. I did not eat much as there were so many people and long queues there… However, I managed to have takoyaki (tako means […]

There was a taiko (= Japanese drum) and shamisen (= a Japanese musical instrument) concert in Japan Day 2019. That was powerful and exciting! Japan Day 2019 では、太鼓[たいこ](= Japanese drum)と三味線[しゃみせん](= a Japanese musical instrument)のコンサートもありました。とてもエキサイティングなコンサートでした！ Lucky you, people in Hamilton!; that taiko master, Kenji Furutate (see in the above picture) will come to Hamilton later this […]

A big Japanese event called Japan Day 2019 was held in Eden Park, Auckland yesterday (its official website is here: https://www.japanday.org.nz/). There were food stalls, live music/dance stage, a book store, travel agency booths, sake/wine (the vintners are Japanese) tasting desks and so on! As you can see in the photo above, many many many […]

It is the season of stone fruit in New Zealand. Plum, a kind of stone fruit, is called sumomo in Japanese – in this case, it seems that su means sour and momo means peach (implying that plum is a sour version of peach!). 今、ニュージーランドはすももがおいしい季節[きせつ](= season)です。「えっ、すももって何？」と思った人、いませんか。すももは、英語でPlumです。酸味[さんみ](= sourness)が強[つよ]い(= strong)桃[もも](= peach)、ということで日本ではすももと呼ばれているらしいです。漢字は、李[すもも]です。 Before coming to New Zealand, I […]

New Zealand Herald featured Iwami Ginzan, Shimane Prefecture in their Travel section last week. I do not think I had seen Shimane in this type of context before. I guess people’s interest towards Japan has really increased now because of RWC2019, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2021 World Masters Games! 先週のニュージーランド・ヘラルド紙[し]に島根県[しまねけん](= Shimane Prefecture)の石見銀山[いわみぎんざん]についての記事[きじ](= article)がありました。これまで、旅[たび](= […]

Have you had a good summer holiday? Or are you still in the middle of it (the photo was taken at Mt Maunganui)? The new semester is now approaching and we are gearing up for… ORIENTATION WEEK 2019! We are all looking forward to meeting new and returning students soon on campus! Please access to […]

もう2月になりました。最近[さいきん]ここに何も書いていません。でも、すしを食べるので忙しかったから、じゃないですよ(写真[しゃしん]はずいぶん前に東京[とうきょう]で撮[と]りました)！ とにかく、これが2019年の最初[さいしょ]のポストですし、最近陰暦[いんれき](= Lunar Calendar)で亥年[いどし](= Year of Pig)が始まったばかりですから。。。　明けましておめでとうございます！ It is February! I have not made any post recently… It is not because I was busy with eating sushi (the photo was taken in Tokyo a while ago)! But anyway, this is my first post for 2019 and the year of pig has just started; so I […]

The University of Waikato will close at 5pm today and reopen on the 3rd of January. A few divisions remain open to help our students/future students for their enrollment etc.; so please do make an inquiry during this period!　ワイカト大学は今日の午後5時で閉[し]まります。1月3日にまたオープンします。でも、全部[ぜんぶ]が閉まるわけではありません。来年のコースや入学[にゅうがく](= entry)の質問[しつもん]などがあれば、どうぞ問[と]い合[あ]わせ(= inquiry)をしてくださいね。 You can see beautiful red flowers in New Zealand now (see the above photo) […]

The University of Waikato has graduation ceremonies this week. It is nice to share this wonderful moment with friends and family. 今週、ワイカト大学は卒業式[そつぎょうしき](= graduation ceremony)の週です。すばらしい瞬間[しゅんかん](= moment)を家族[かぞく](= family)や友だちとシェアするのはいいものです。 We all wish our graduates a bright future!  卒業生のみなさんのすばらしい将来[しょうらい](= future)を祈[いの]っています!