Anna Obiols & Subi JAPAN. On the way to school

Transcription

1 Anna Obiols & Subi JAPAN On the way to school

2 JAPAN On the way to school Anna Obiols & Subi

3 Haruka lives in a small flat in a large city in Japan. But she prefers to call it the LAND OF THE RISING SUN. Just like every day, she gets up early to go to school. Her mother puts away the FUTONS, the mattresses that are used for sleeping in a wardrobe and prepares breakfast. 2 3

4 Before leaving the house, she takes her BENTO, the box that contains her lunch. Today, Haruka will eat SUSHI (rice and raw fish) at school and she will eat it with CHOPSTICKS. She also takes her brother s goldfish-shaped kite with her. The teacher asked the children to bring a special object to show their classmates. 4 5

5 Haruka heads towards the subway. The kite is flying above her. Before reaching the subway, she passes in front of a SHINTOIST TEMPLE, the traditional religion of Japan. The religion coexists with BUDDHISM, the other majority religion of the country. 6 7

6 Then she goes through a large park. The cherry trees are starting to blossom and the kite becomes tangled in the SAKURAS, the magnificent trees in blossom. After quite a while and several attempts, she manages to untangle the goldfish from the branches. Then she speeds up her pace to avoid being late for school. 8 9

7 Near the exit, there is one of the CASTLES built during the time of the SAMURAIS, the warriors of ancient Japan. She often plays at being Samurais with her brother Kento. With the kite in one hand and an imaginary sword in the other, Haruka crosses the park as if she were a warrior

8 When she leaves the park, she takes a large avenue and crosses it in front of a workshop where KIMONOS are made, the typical tunic-shaped clothing of Japan. Her aunt works there, so Haruka looks in between the BIOMBOS at the entrance to greet her and wish her a nice day

9 When she reaches the entrance to the subway, she goes inside. As she goes down the steps, she places the kite inside her backpack and takes out the MANGA COMIC that she is reading. The station is full of people. But Haruka is so absorbed in her reading that she doesn t notice the crowd

10 While she takes the subway to school, her father is going to work in the SKINKANSEN, the high-speed train. When Haruka goes out into the street, there is a great hubbub: Skyscrapers, offices, people going from one place to another. She puts the comic away and takes out the kite

11 She always tries to pass in front of the restaurant where her lucky cat is, MANEKI NEKO. It is gold colored, which symbolizes good fortune. Each color has a different meaning

12 20 As she walks along thinking about the meaning of the colors of the lucky cats, she passes in front of a theatre where they are rehearsing for a CHINESE SHADOWS show with traditional instruments: The KOTO, a horizontal harp with thirteen silk strings and a SHAMISEN, a three-stringed instrument rather like a banjo. 21

13 Haruka continues walking with the koto melody in her head. She stops at the red traffic light and while she waits for it to turn green, she observes how the kite she is holding moves about. When she lowers her gaze, she sees two GEISHAS pass in front of her. How pretty they are! She follows them with her gaze until she loses sight of them

14 She crosses the other side of the street with her kite and passes in front of an enormous shop window full of televisions. Today, they all show images of SUMO 24 WRESTLING, because a grand final 25 is being held. In Japan, it is a professional sport with a long tradition. Haruka observes how Komusubi, one of the fighters tries to force his rival outside the combat ring. Go on, get him out! She encourages through the glass.

15 Then she realizes that it s time to go into class. Luckily, the school is right there. She runs a little to gain some time and as she catches her breath, she puts the kite away in her backpack. At the entrance, there is a sign with the name written in KANA, the Japanese writing. Japanese is quite a difficult language, as it is written in IDEOGRAMS, drawings that represent words or ideas

16 During the break, Haruka and her friends play JANKEN, a game like our rock-paper-scissors game, with ORIGAMI figures made from folding paper, or MIKADO, a game that puts the skill of hand movements to the test and consists in removing the thin sticks without moving the others

17 Today Haruka has to explain the object she has brought from home. She chose the kite in the shape of a goldfish that was given to her brother when he was born. Tomorrow, the 5th of May is the boy s festival, KOMODO-NO-HI. Kento and all the Japanese boys will fly their kites. In the land of the rising sun, there is also a festival dedicated to girls: HINA MATSURI, which is celebrated on the 3rd of March. Although she is a girl, she loves watching the sky full of flying goldfish and she can t wait for tomorrow 30 to try and spot her brother s kite among the thousands 31 of kites that will be in the sky.

18 AMERICA EUROPE ASIA Tokyo AFRICA AMERICA JAPAN AUSTRALIA in the world Japan

19 Learning more Japan is an archipelago situated in Asia. It consists in about 3,400 islands, most of which are volcanic. The ground often moves because of the volcanoes and earthquakes. Fortunately, the buildings are specially constructed in order to withstand them. Japan is known as the land of the rising sun, which is why its flag is white with a red circle in the center, which represents the rise or origin of the sun. The official language is Japanese. It is very difficult to write, as it is comprised of KANJI, characters of Chinese origin that have become integrated into the Japanese language and two types of Japanese signs: HIRAGANA, which are used often and KATAKANA that are used to write proper names, place names and words of foreign origin. 34 The capital city is Tokyo. Curiously, it is business, which is why it has several airports. 35 the most populated city in the world. A great It also has ports, because Japan has one of the number of people live there, over thirty million. most significant fishing fleets in the world. The official currency of Japan is the yen. It is a country with a great variety of flora and fauna as a consequence of the climate and relief. The cherry trees, bamboos and red and white plums have become traditional symbols. With respect to the animals, a large variety of tropical fish, turtles and sea serpents are found there, as well as the crested eagle, flying fox, raccoons, deer, the Mandarin duck giant salamanders and macaques There are a lot of companies in Japan. Technologies such as automobile manufacturing, electronic equipment and robots are particularly important. The country is highly active in terms of international We should highlight the Sapporo snow festival that is celebrated every year. Statues and sculptures carved from ice fill the city center for a week and tourists from all over the world come to visit. Japan has a thousand-year-old culture, which is rich in myths and legends. Among the traditional arts that have been maintained, there are ikebana (the arte of floral arrangement), pottery, tea and kabuki (traditional Japanese theatre) Geishas are Japanese women who dedicate their lives to cultivating the traditional arts of the country. A good geisha must master music, dance, story telling and poetry They take great care of their appearance. They wear very elegant dresses (kimonos) and always have perfect make-up and hairstyles. During the 18th and 19th Centuries, there were a lot of geishas. They still exist today, but in decreasing numbers. Some Japanese curiosities The numbers 4 and 9 bring bad luck. The invention of folding fans was attributed to a Japanese manufacturer, who had the idea after observing how the wings of a bat moved.

20 Author: Anna Obiols Illustrations: SUBI -Joan Subirana- Design and layout: Gemser Publications, S.L. Gemser Publications, S.L El Castell, Teià (Barcelona, Spain) ISBN: XXX-XX-XXXXX-XX-X Printed in China All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microfilm, xerography, or any other means, or incorporated into any information retrieval system, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the copyright owner. We, Subi and Anna, have always liked traveling very much. When we travel, Subi always carries a drawing pad in his backpack and Anna has a notebook and pen. He takes photographs with his heart, which guide the scenes he has to draw. She describes with her gaze what her heart tells her to feel. The Land of the Rising Sun has inspired us so much that as well as writing and illustrating the story you have in your hands, we have adapted some magnificent Japanese stories for the theatre. While Anna tells them, dressed as a geisha, Subi draws them with light and shadow, in the oriental style.