End of the Year!

Photo from: Toshikoshi Soba Recipe

I hope everyone has been having a wonderful wrap up to 2019! It's been a great honor to be a part of JFLA family for half a year so far and I am looking forward to 2020 and being able to participate/improve advocacy ideas for Japanese teachers and students.

Whenever the end of the year comes for me, I think of toshikoshi soba. Toshikoshi is passing the year/year-crossing in Japanese and written as 年越し. Soba is そば and it's buckwheat noodles. It's usually eaten end of the year as the noodles symbolizes longevity and breaking free from the past. It's a nice way to start the new year and this time around, the year will be 2020! Looking forward for more ways to connect to Japan and hopefully, finding more and more wonderful things to showcase on this blog to share to everyone :). 来年もよろしくお願いします！

2019 Kanji of the Year!

I hope everyone is having a great wrap up for this year! 2019 is hastily coming to an end and before we know it, it'll be 2020 and start of a new decade! It's exciting to be in a time where technology and accessibility is readily available to study and be exposed to Japan and the Japanese language anytime and anywhere! I hope The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles continues to connect teachers and students to Japan and we hope to continue to do so for 2020.

Yesterday, there was news that mentioned the kanji 'Rei' from Reiwa, was chosen as 2019 kanji of the year! We were able to witness the change in era this year and see the excitement towards the new era. The video and more details of previous kanji of the year is listed on the link below!


https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/12/12/national/rei-reiwa-era-name-japan-kanji-year/#.XfKHLehKiM8

Thinking of a kanji for yourself to sum up your year is a fun and great activity to look back at what you accomplished for the year and see what kanji you have learned so far!

I hope everyone has a great holiday season and a great remainder of 2019 :).