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This week in the year 12 Japanese ab initio class we have focused on certain aspects of Japanese culture. Two things we looked at were the traditional Japanese clothing, Kimono, and the sacred festival of Tanabata, the star festival.

The star festival originates from a Japanese legend of two lovers, Orihime and Hikoboshi, being kept apart from each other every day of the year apart from one day, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. On this day the lovers are so happy that they can meet each other that they grant wishes to people who prayed for them. Now-a-days this festival is celebrated by people writing wishes on pieces of paper and hanging them on bamboo. In the class we wrote wishes, that ranged from IB grades to World Cup winners and hung them on some bamboo with decorations. Hopefully all our wishes will come true!

We also learnt about the Kimono. Our teaching assistant, Mrs Naoko Munro, is trained in the teaching of Kimono as well as putting on the traditional clothing. We learnt about its origins, how they looked through the ages, how they are made and how they are put on. Mrs Munro then dressed us in Kimonos and we had to describe, in Japanese, how we felt in the Kimonos. It was really great being so immersed in Japanese culture and having the opportunity to try something that we may not be able to do again.