TOP　>　Culture and People of Japan

This section features Japan today. It presents topics of interest to overseas elementary and secondary school students from two points of view (culture and people). Please read “Concerning Copyright” before using the photographs in this section.

Resource No.	Topic	Overview	Categories	Class Ideas
New! 24	Shodo: An Old and New Form of Self-Expression	Calligraphy done with a brush and sumi ink—shodo—is a familiar part of Japanese life. Introduced from China around the eighth century, over the centuries shodo evolved in distinctively Japanese ways, becoming firmly rooted in the culture. Many people today aspire to improve their handwriting and take private shodo lessons as well. Shodo involves not just improvement of technique, but the pursuit of beauty and understanding of the self. It is a pursuit with a long tradition that has won renewed attention today as a means of self-expression.		J / E / C
	Aika	Sharing the Fun and Fascination of Shodo
	Aika	自己紹介 / 好きな言葉 / 書道の魅力 / 私の家族
23	“Koshien” as Big Stage for High School Students	The dreams of young baseball players all over Japan focus on the Koshien stadium, where Japan's National High School Baseball Championship is held every summer. The stories of high school baseball players' personal growth through their training for the Koshien championships have always been a great source of drama and inspiration. As we will see in this article, high school students in Japan compete in national tournaments in many other fields as well.		J / E / C
	Shoko and Akane	Fashion Lovers Have a Go at National Competition!
	Shoko	自己紹介 / 好きなもの / 将来の夢
	Akane	自己紹介 / わたしの高校
22	Go-Tochi Boom: We Love Local	The term go-tochi ご当地-“this place” with the honorific prefix go—seems to be everywhere lately. Why such a boom? What sorts of things are the most popular? Let's look at the go-tochi boom and the backdrop that has shaped it.		J / E / C
	Fuyuki, Natsuki	Promoting Our Hometown Through NPO Activities
21	Cell Phones for Communication and Enjoyment	Cell phones have become an essential communication tool for almost everyone today. Their diverse functions have made them more than just a tool of communication. How are cell phones used among students in elementary school, junior high school, and high school?		J / E / C
	Akane, Izuho, and Lisa	What We Have Gained, What We Have Lost
20	Living with the Environment in Mind	Recently we have become keenly aware that climate change, destruction of the ozone layer, and other environmental problems can directly affect our daily lives. In order to combat them, people have to work together at the national and local levels and must create systems for finding solutions through cooperation that transcends national boundaries as well. Equally important is awareness and action on the part of each individual to protect the environment and conserve its resources. In this issue we introduce various efforts being made in Japan, particularly by ordinary people as part of their daily lives.		J / E / C
	Keita and Asuka	Ecocon: Connecting for the Environment
19	Dreams and Career Planning	When Japanese students think about their future, what kinds of occupations do they seek? What kinds of careers do they choose? Career education is recently attracting a lot of attention in Japan, and students from elementary school through graduate school are being encouraged not only to learn about different kinds of occupations but also to better understand themselves and their aptitudes so that they can make informed choices. We report on career-related trends among Japanese students.		J / E / C
	Shiori	Music or English: My Search for a Career to Use Both
18	Games for Cross-Generational Enjoyment	Digital games, once designed to be played mainly by young children, have expanded to a cross-generational, international phenomenon. People are beginning to discover new ways to use digital games for purposes other than play, such as for teaching and study. What games, including digital games are people of different generations in Japan enjoying?		J / E / C
	Hiroshi, Atsushi, Isami, and Kita	Here the four students, Hiroshi, Atsushi, Isami, and Kita, devoted digital game players since they were little, talk about what it is like taking their first steps into the real world of digital game development.
17	Volunteer	Interest in volunteer activities has recently been increasing in Japan. Many people are involved in volunteer activities, finding through them not only a way to contribute to society, but many personal rewards as well.		J / E / C
	Sean	Finding Ways to Help Others
16	Photography	Photography has become a much more familiar art with the spread of digital cameras and cell phones with built-in cameras. An increasing number of people now think of photography as a handy means of expression and a routine part of their daily lives.		J / E / C
	Midoring	Midoring has been taking photographs in her high school photography club for three years. She explains what was in her mind when she is taking photographs, and what kind of photographs she really wants to take.
14	Animals	Dogs, cats, and other pets, as well as farm animals such as cows and horses, are familiar parts of our lives. With the advent of zoos, moreover, animals that were once seen only in the wild can now be observed quite close-up. We all go through life with various relationships to animals. We report on the relationships between people and animals in Japan through a close look at the country's zoos and pets.		J / E / C
	Saki	Saki, who is eight years old has become very friendly with the monkeys, and her relationship with the monkeys has been featured numerous times on television, their heartwarming interaction leaving a deep impression with viewers. Saki and her parents talk what Saki learned from her relationship with the monkeys.
12	Robots	In Japan, research and development of humanoid robots is active and advanced. And not only researchers but an increasing number of amateurs, too, are enthusiastic about making robots.		J / E / C
	Toshihide, Hiroshi, Ryosuke, Yusuke	The Robocon (Robot Contest), a national contest for technical college robot-building teams, is the focus of the passions of talented young people who devote their energies to creating hand-made robot devices. The members of the robot contest team of the Tokyo National College of Technology talk what they learned from the experience.
11	Traditional Games	What children do for fun has changed dramatically since the video game appeared. Recently, however, traditional games are gaining attention because they help develop children's physical agility and strength, foster perseverance and concentration, and develop balance without them even knowing it.		J / E / C
	Tario	Tario, a third-year university student, belongs to the kendama (cup-and-ball game) club at his university. He talks about how fascinating the game is, and about his experiences in Mongolia where members of his club visit every year.
09	Soccer	The quadrennial FIFA World Cup was held in Germany from June to July 2006. In Japan, enthusiasm for the World Cup was evident from specials that ran on television and in magazines before the tournament even began. In fact, it is only recently that soccer has attracted this much interest in Japan.		J / E / C
	Yuki	I Love Soccer!
02	Convenience Stores	Thirty years have passed since konbini first appeared in Japan as shops providing food and daily sundries at any time, anywhere. Today, they have become an established part of people's lives.		J / E / C