Week #5:  "Amefuri" from Japan

Music Video

Background

This week's folk song is "Ame Ame ", a popular children's song from Japan.

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Photos

Mt. Fuji

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Tokyo at night

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Map

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Music in Japan

Food in Japan

Traditional Japanese foods include:

•  plain white rice
• main dish (fish or meat) 
• side dish (often cooked vegetables), 
• soup (often miso soup)
• pickled vegetables
• noodles called soba (made with buckwheat or udon (made with flour)
• sushi and sashimi (raw fish)
• tempura (deep fried in batter)

Sports in Japan

Sumo wrestling is Japan's national sport.  Baseball, although originally from the USA, is also very popular,in Japan.  Martial arts, such as judo, karate, and modern kendo are also very popular.

Sumo wrestling explained

Language:

Japanese writing uses 3 characters:
1. kanji
2. hiragana, and 
3. katakana

How to speak Japanese

Song Lyrics

"Raining, Raining"

Raining, raining
How it's raining
Rain a little more
Mother's bringing my umbrella
It can rain and pour
Pitter, patter, pitter, patter
Drip, drop, drop

Pitter, patter, pitter, patter
Drip, drop, drop

in Japanese:

Notes*"Pitch pitch, chap chap, run run run" is the sound of rain.

Amefuri (Rainy day)

Ame ame fure fure kaasan ga
Janome de o-mukai ureshii na
Pitchi pitchi chappu chappu ran ran ran

Kakemasho kaban wo kaasan no
Ato kara iko iko kane ga naru
Pitchi pitchi chappu chappu ran ran ran

Ara ara ano ko wa zubunure da
Yanagi no nekata de naiteiru
Pitchi pitchi chappu chappu ran ran ran

kaasan boku no wo kashimasho ka
kimi kimi kono kasa sashitamae
Pitchi pitchi chappu chappu ran ran ran

boku nara ii n da kaasan no
ookina janome ni haitteku
Pitchi pitchi chappu chappu ran ran ran

Bullet Train

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• Geography: Japan is a country made up of a group of islands off the East Coast of Asia.
• Capital: Tokyo is the capital of Japan
• Climate: Most of Japan has 4 seasons (winter, spring, summer and fall) but the weather varies depending on the region.

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• The origins of Japanese music came from China over 1,000 years ago.  Over the years, however, it changed and developed it's own style and instruments
• Popular traditional Japanese music instruments include the shamisen, the shakuhachi and the koto

JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT SLIDE SHOW:
Scroll over image and click "Play"

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Sushi

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Tempura

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Sumo Wrestling

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