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Title of Assignment:

Japanese Language and Cultural Festival

Lecturers Name:
Puan Siti Hajar Binti Bidin

Section: 11

Date of Submission:
1 NOVEMBER 2016

List of Group Members

ALICE CHAI SWEE YAN


AW 160204

AMIRAH ATIKAH BINTI ROSIDI


AW 160077

NORSYAHIRAH BINTI MD JANI


AW 160045

SAM KAR HONG


AD 160219

YIN KHAR SHIN


AW 160209

Table of Content
No.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Contents
List of Group Members
Table of Content
Introduction
Acknowledgement
Objective
Details of Programme
Tentative of Programme
Job Specification
Budget
Conclusion
References
Attachment

Pages
1
2
3-5
6
7
8-9
10-11
12
13
14
15
16

Introduction
Japan which is named Nippon or Nihon in Japanese is an island country in East Asia.
Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, the East China
Sea, China, Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China
Sea and Taiwan in the south. The kanji characters in the name of Japan means "sun origin", and it
is often called the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshu, Hokkaido,
Kyushu and Shikoku, together accounting for 97% of Japans land area. In 2016, Japans world
th

population rank is 11

with 126 million over people and it is one of the most densely

populated countries in the world. Tokyo which is also called Eastern Capital is the capital of
Japan, the centre of the Greater Tokyo Area and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the
seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial
Family. Tokyo is located at the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu
Islands and Ogasawara Islands.
After the Second World War, Japan experienced rapid economic growth, and puts Japan
as the second largest economic power in the world, with a gross domestic product growth of
about 10% per year for four decades. The rapid economic growth of Japan ended in the early
1990s after the breakup of the bubble economy.
Japanese is the official and primary language of Japan. Japanese is relatively small but
has a lexically distinct pitch-accent system. Japanese is written with a combination of three
scripts: hiragana, derived from the Chinese cursive script, katakana, derived as shorthand from
Chinese characters, and kanji, imported from China. The Latin alphabet, rmaji, is also often
used in modern Japanese, especially for company names and logos, advertising, and when
inputting Japanese into a computer. The Hindu-Arabic numerals are generally used for numbers,
but traditional Sino-Japanese numerals are also extremely common. More than 99% of the
population speaks Japanese as their first language. Shinto and Buddhism are Japans two major
religions. Most Japanese people generally do not exclusively identify themselves as adherents of
only one religion, but rather incorporate various elements in a syncretic fashion.

Japan has two types of festivals which are culture festivals and Japanese festivals. The
cultural festivals are parts of regular lessons in elementary schools, junior high schools, and high
schools, so the students are obligated to attend for graduation. In universities, the cultural
festivals are placed as extracurricular activity. Traditionally, most schools hold festivals on or
around Culture Day (November 3), a Japanese national holiday. Normally it is held on a
Saturday or Sunday sometimes even both. "Cultural festival" (bunkasai) and "university festival"
(daigaku-sai) are common nouns in Japanese, so particular names of cultural festivals depend on
each school. Japanese festivals are traditional festive occasions. Some festivals have their roots
in Chinese festivals centuries ago, but have undergone great changes as they mixed with local
customs. There are many Japanese festivals in Japan such as Sapporo Snow Festival (Hokkaido),
Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival, Lake Towanda Snow Festival, Aomori Nebuta Festival, Mango
Summer Jazz Festival, Cherry blossom festivals, New Year, Doll Festival, Hanami, Anabatic,
Japanese Floating Lantern Festival, Bon Festival, "7-5-3" Festival and Momijigari.
Besides, there are a lot of traditional cultural activities going on in Japan too. For
instance, Taiko (Japanese drums), Origami (Paper folding art), Buyo (Japanese dance), Shodo
(Calligraphy), Cha-no-yu (Tea ceremony) and many more. The culture of Japan has evolved
greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jmon period. Early culture of Japan is
heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in
Classical Chinese. Indian culture and literature also had an influence through the diffusion of
Buddhism in Japan. Eventually, Japanese culture and literature developed into a separate style in
its own right as Japanese writers began writing their own works about Japan. Since Japan
reopened its ports to Western trading and diplomacy in the 19th century, Western and Eastern
literature have strongly affected each other and continue to do so. Origami which is the art of
paper folding is famous at all around the world because with only a flat sheet of paper you can
transform it to a simple finished sculpture.
Japan has many traditional childrens games and toys dating back hundreds of years.
Many originate from the Edo period, when Japan had relatively little contact with the outside
world. The toys simplicity and ease of use, and gorgeous designs have made them popular into
the present day. One of the toys is Kendama. Kendama is one of the 20th centurys quintessential
traditional Japanese games. Even today, Kendama can be found everywhere and national

kendama tournaments are common. Ken refers to the shape, a wooden handle resembling a
sword hilt. There is a spike on the top, and cups on either side and on the bottom. Dama is the
ball, which is attached to the handle with a string and has a hole in it fitting the spike. The goal is
to swing the ball in the air and make it land on the top spike or inside any of the cups. Its said
there are over 1,000 Kendama techniques. Besides Kendama, there are Koma (Japanese spinning
tops), Hanetsuki (Japanese badminton), Daruma Otoshi (The falling Daruma), Tako (Japanese
handmade paper kites), Menko (Japanese card-slapping game), Taketombo (Bamboo helicopter)
and etc.
As we know that Japan is also very famous for its local streets food and seafoods. There
are a variety choice of food and beverage available in Japan such as sushi, tempura, soba, ramen,
udon, yakitori, green tea and many others more. Green tea is one of the most favourite beverages
in Japan. It is different from other country because Japanese green teas are steamed giving them
a more "vegetative" or "leafy" taste. The exception is hjicha, a Japanese roasted tea. Japanese
green teas are categorized by the age of the leaves: young leaves are called sencha and the more
mature, larger leaves are called bancha. Types of tea are commonly graded depending on the
quality and the parts of the plant used as well as how they are processed.
We are going to introduce Hiragana writings, basic Japanese speaking, Kendama and
Origami at our booth on the day of exhibition. Green tea will be served as well.

Acknowledgement
First of all, we would like to thanks our lecturer, Puan Siti Hajar Bin Bidin for giving us
all the guidance and patiently answered all our questions regarding on the assignment. We very
appreciate your efforts on giving us the examples on the activities that we can carry out and
giving us sufficient time to complete our group assignment.
Next, we would like to thank the school authorities for giving permission to us to hold the
exhibition of Japanese Language and Cultural Festival. All the toleration and time given is much
appreciated.
We would also want to show our appreciation to our group members. Thanks for
cooperating well with each other and done all the tasks given perfectly. Without the efforts of all
the group members, we are not possible to make it a success in finishing the assignment and
preparation works for the exhibition.
Last but not least, we will also like to express our gratitude to anyone who helps us but
not mentioned here. Your efforts and concerns have helped us a lot in order for us to complete
the assignment and preparation works perfectly and pass up the assignment punctually.

Objective
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

To expose Japanese Language and Culture to public.


To introduce the unique of Japanese Language and Culture.
Widen our knowledge on Japanese Language and Culture.
Strengthen our Japanese Language speaking and communication skills.
To understand more about the history of Japan.

Details of Programme

We are going to have cultural activities, food and game of Japan at our booth on the
exhibition day. As we all know that Japan is a historical country and it is very famous for its
traditional cultural and language. So, we are going to introduce one of the cultural activities,
which is Origami.
Origami is the art of paper folding, which is often associated with Japanese culture. Thus,
origami is transforming a flat sheet of paper into a finished sculpture through folding and
sculpturing techniques. Japan is also well-known of sakura trees. We are going to use the origami
sakura flowers to build a sakura tree. Public can write their wishes on the paper before that fold
the paper into a sakura flower. In Japanese culture which is tied to the Buddhist themes of
mortality, mindfulness and living in the present, Japanese cherry blossoms are a timeless
metaphor for human existence. Blooming season is powerful, glorious and intoxicating, but
tragically short-lived so it is a visual reminder that our lives too. Sakura is a symbolic flower of
the spring, a time of renewal, and the fleeting nature of life. In Japan, cherry blossom makes
people merry, they will have cherry blossom parties underneath the cherry blossom. Besides, we
also will give out origami kimono and paper crane to public as souvenir for this Japanese
Language and Cultural Festival.
Next, our group is going to serve one of the favourite beverages of Japanese, green tea.
Green tea is a type of tea that is made from Camellia sinensis leaves that have not undergone the
same withering and oxidation process used to make oolong and black tea. Japanese green teas are
mainly made from Yabukita, a cultivar of the camellia sinensis plant. Unlike Chinese green teas
which are pan-fired, Japanese green teas are steamed giving them a more "vegetative" or "leafy"
taste. The exception is hjicha, a Japanese roasted tea. Japanese green teas are categorized by the
age of the leaves: young leaves are called sencha and the more mature, larger leaves are called
bancha. Types of tea are commonly graded depending on the quality and the parts of the plant
used as well as how they are processed. There are large variations in both price and quality
within these broad categories. We are going to prepare a big jar of green tea and serve them in
small cups for the publics.
Besides that, we are going to play Kendama, a type of Japanese traditional toy. Kendama
bears similarities to the classic cup and ball game, and the Hispanic world toy. The principle of
these toys is the same, catching one object with another, where both are joined by a string.

However the modern kendama style takes influences from a diverse range of skills including yoyo, diabolo, juggling and dance. Reportedly, kendama was initially a sort of adult's drinking
game, a player who made a mistake was forced to drink more. The game gained popularity
during the Edo Period (1600-1868). In the early 20th century, the toy had two side cups and was
called a jitsugetsu ball. This translates to 'sun and moon ball', named so because of the ball's
representation of the sun and the cups' likeness to the crescent moon. Today, kendama is popular
in many parts of the world. Kendama is particularly well loved in Japan, where national
tournaments are held and Japanese employers recognise applicants who have attained the higher
rankings as persistent, patient and determined potential employees.
On the language part, we are going to show publics about Hiragana writings. The modern
Japanese writing system is a combination of three character types: logographic kanji, which are
adopted Chinese characters, syllabic kana and in some cases the Latin script which named
rmaji. Kana itself consists of a pair of syllabaries: hiragana, used primarily for native or
naturalised Japanese words and grammatical elements, and katakana, used primarily for foreign
words and names, loanwords, onomatopoeia, scientific names, and sometimes for emphasis.
Almost all Japanese sentences contain a mixture of kanji and kana. Because of this mixture of
scripts, in addition to a large inventory of kanji characters, the Japanese writing system is often
considered to be the most complicated in use anywhere in the world. We are going to show and
teach the publics on how to write Hiragana and speak the basic greetings in Japanese.
In a nutshell, we are going to do origami cherry blossom or sakura, kimono and paper
crane for Japanese cultural activities. Green tea as Japanese beverage will be served and
Japanese traditional toy, Kendama will be provided for them to play. Lastly, on the language part,
we will teach them Hiragana writings and how to speak the basic greetings in Japanese.

Tentative of Programme
Time

Around 3 hours (10.00 am 1.00 pm)

Venue :

Area Pusat Niaga Siswa

Date

Week 11TH

Activities
[Culture]

: Origami of sakura flower and kimono

[Beverage]

: Green tea

[Game]

: Kendama

[Language]

: Japanese Hiragana writings and basic greetings

You can write your wishes and blessings into origami of sakura
flower and kimono

Anyone who is interested in playing


this can have a try on it, we will teach
them how to play and will show them
the tricks and patterns on how to play
it.

Green tea will be served for free.

Hiragana writings will be taught and we will also teach the publics
to speak basic greetings in Japanese Language.

Job Specification
Group Leader
Assistant Group Leader
Secretary
Treasurer
Head of Event

Alice Chai Swee Yan (AW160204)


Sam Kar Hong (AD160219)
Norsyahirah Binti Md Jani (AW160045)
Yin Khar Shin (AW160209)
Amirah Atikah Binti Rosidi ( AW160077)

Job Scope
1. Group Leader :
Ensure every group member submit their proposal
Ensure the preparation for the exhibition is good
Ensure every group member do their duty and job respectively
2. Assistant Group Leader:
Help each other during the preparation for the exhibition
In charge of the game session during festival exhibition
Help group leader to ensure the preparation is run well
3. Secretary:
Help each other during the preparation for the exhibition
Compile all the files of the proposal
In charge of the origami paperwork during festival exhibition
4. Treasurer:
Help oneself during the preparation for the exhibition
Collect money to buy the ingredients needed during festival exhibition
In charge of the language session during festival exhibition
5. Head of Event:
Help oneself during the preparation for the exhibition
Ensure everything is going well during festival exhibition

Budget
No.
1.

Content
Green Tea

Price ( RM)
15.00

2.

Paper ( Origami, Decoration)

8.00

3.

Kendama ( Japanese Traditional Toy)

5.30

4.

Photostat Fee

3.00
Total

31.30

Conclusion
In a nutshell, we have learnt a lot about Japanese cultural activities,
specifically in Origami. At first, some of us do not how to make an origami
cherry blossom, kimono as well as paper crane. We watched YouTube tutorial
videos and learned it together so that we can teach the publics on the exact
day on exhibition. It is indeed a very fun and interesting activity to be carried
out during leisure time. We also knew about the history of Origami and
stories related to it too.

In addition, we are exposed to Japans traditional toy, Kendama. It is


our first time playing Kendama. We have learnt the tricks and patterns of
playing Kendama and we think it should be preserved so that our next
generation also has the chance to play it. We feel that Kendama is way more
interesting than playing games on computers and phones.
Since we are going to teach and show the publics about Hiragana
writings, we have done some practises and preparation before the exhibition.
This makes us to be more familiar with Japanese language and how to write
it in a correct order. We also teach them how to speak in Japanese too. We
are going to introduce and teach them the basic greetings that we have
learnt during lecturer classes.
Besides, we all are actually green tea lovers, and this exhibition gives
us to chance to share what we like to others. As we know that green tea is
very famous in Japan and it is honoured that we can taste it together in the
Japanese Language and Cultural Festival exhibition.
Last but not least, we are so glad that we involved in this festival
because we can introduce Japanese language and culture to those who are
not so familiar with. We hope that Japanese language and culture can be
preserved so that our younger generation has the chance to experience it
too.

Reference
I.

Wikipedia (2016), Japan.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan

II.

Wikipedia (2016), Japan festivals.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_festivals

III.

YouTube (2016), Origami of cherry blossom


-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQGoVx8xMdM
-http://anu-origami.blogspot.my/2012/02/origami-cherry-blossom.html

IV.

YouTube (2015), Origami of kimono


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bf257vamXw

V.
VI.

Wikipedia (2016), Kendama


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendama
Blooming of Cherry blossom and symbolism
-http://www.festival.si.edu/blog/2014/significance-of-sakura-cherry-blossom-traditions-injapan/
-http://notwithoutmypassport.com/cherry-blossom-meaning-in-japan/

VII.

Wikipedia (2016), Green tea


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_tea

VIII.

Wikipedia (2016), Japanese Writing System


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_writing_system

Attachment

Green tea

Origami Cherry Blossom

Kendama

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