Natsubate 夏ばて

It has been hot in Japan. We say Supper hot summer "mousho" 猛暑 This summer is "mousho".

We sometimes ask my friends in summer. "Natsubate 夏ばて shiteru ?" Natsubate means weariness from the heat in summer. And Losting our appetite because of the summer heat and "natsubate"is often used as same meaning.

When we have lost our appetite in summer, we eat light meal or foods that supply energy for us.
Representative light meal is cold Japanese noodle,  Soba or Somen. It is so simple to eat. It is eaten with "Mentsuyu" 麺つゆJapanese soup base. 
Eel (Unagi  うなぎ)  is representative food that supplys energy in summer.  I like both. 
I have good appetite anytime. However, I sometimes lost my appetite in hot summer like this year. 

I have necessary foods in hot summer. They are Edamame 枝豆 (boiled green soy-beans) and Suika すいか(watermelon) And it is important to supply water and salt content in order to suffer heatstroke. 

What do you eat to keep our energy and prevent natsubate in your countries?  
 
  

初心忘るべからず (Remember Your Original Intention)

A Happy New Year !　あけましておめでとうございます

How did you spend at first day of 2012 ?

I am planing what is my aim in this year. It is my health. We can do anything if  we are healthy. What should we do to keep my good health

 1. Don't eat too much.  
 2. To have good posture.
 3. Get some exercise, walking, running, playing table tennis (this is a recent boom for me)....

As to No.2, I recently read a book that written by Japanese Noh player. I have seen a performance of noh once when I was a student. However, it is traditional performing art and we rarely see it in daily life. The motion and posture of Noh performance is good to health. Some noh players can play until old age. The secret of their health is the motion and posture. This book is useful for me.

A Japanese phrase is written in the book. It is 初心忘るべからず Shosin wasuru bekarazu. It is a phrase of Zeami 世阿弥 who was aesthetician for Noh. This original means "Remember your original intention." However, there are three meanings in it. I knew at first time.

初心忘るべからず　Shoshin wasuru bekarazu

I decided that it is my slogan in 2012. Don't be afraid my first challenge remembering my original intention.

The site of Noh 能       

Onomatopoeia

How do we explain slight difference or situation to other people in our conversation ?  I think Japanese often use onomatopoeia and it is easy for us to explain things, feeling, atmosphere or situation concretely.  Especially there are a lot of onomatopoeias of repeating one word twice. We can understand several shades of meaning more clearly. 

We can express actual sound by onomatopoeia.
 Pan Pan , Pata Pata : a pat or hitting something
 Don Don : beat a drum 
 Bun Bun : the sound that bees are humming 
 Gishi Gishi,  Mishi Mishi : the sound that something ginds   

For example, When we want to say softness of feather or cushions, we say  "it is so Fuwa Fuwa. ふわふわ. Or when we have dizziness, we say " my head gets Kura Kura くらくら, Gura Gura ぐらぐら, Fura Fura ふらふら." Impression of the situation changes by differences of initial letter. We imagine  "Kura Kura" and "Fura Fura" is slight dizziness but Gura Gura is heavy dizziness. We can express slight differences of dizziness

These words are a few of abundant onomatopoeia. Expression is different by each people, however, it is convenient to give many information and express various situations.