Kanagawa-prefecture translation
Kanagawa-prefecture
The port city, Yokohama
Around the end of the Edo era, started trading goods with other countries on a wider scale. As one of the ports, ships loaded with goods went in and out of, Yokohama developed.
What do you think was the top products shipped from japan to foreign countries? The answer is raw silk thread. Raw silk thread is spun from the cocoons made by silkworms, it’s the thread silk is made from (lit.: it’s the silk’s thread). On the other side, the top item brought from foreign countries to Japan was textil made from cotton. After that came weapons made for battles bought from foreign countries.
When Yokohama opened its port, people from foreign countries gathered there and settled down. A lot of Chinese people came as well, valueing their own culture, building houses and built food stalls. That’s how the Yokohama Chinatown came to be.
Today, if you go under the gate of the Chinatown, there are no less than 500 shops. A very good smell is coming from each shop. Gyoza, fried rice, meat filled steamed buns… All of these originally came from China.
Questions:
❶ Make the sentences about the development of Yokohama correct, fill in the blanks.
❷ At around the end of the Edo era, what was the top product brought from Japan to foreign countries? Fill in the two characters.
❸ Make the sentences about the beginning of the Yokohama Chinatown correct. Fill in the blanks.
Niigata-prefecture translation
Niigata-prefecture
A protected animal, the crested ibis (has the funniest latin name, Nipponia nippon)
Do you know the bird named “toki”(crested ibis)? They make muffled cries like “Taaa”, “Gwaa” or “Kakka” and similar, and fly with their necks extended like a stork or a crane.
Long ago there were a lot of toki accross Japan. However their numbers gradually decreased, wild toki went extinct.
On the Sado island of the Niigata-prefecture there are a lot of wild toki. Today there is the “Sado toki protection center”, carefully raising the toki brought from China. It would be nice if you could see wild toki again, huh?
Questions:
❶ What kind of birds are toki? Fill in the blanks.
❷ Compared to long ago, how did the number of toki change? Circle the correct one!
ア It increased
イ It decreased
Toyama-prefecture translation
Toyama-prefecture
What’s a mirage?
“Mirages” are when something that isn’t there, seems like it is, it’s a natural phenomenon.
When the difference between the temperature of the sea or ground and the air
temperature is big, the light is bent in the atmosphere.
In the Toyama-bay visible from the city Ouzu of the Toyama-prefecture, every year several times, most years around 20 times, mirages appear. In reality, it’s the view of far away buildings and the like, that appear stretched and turned upside down. Mysterious, isn’t it? (I chose mysterious, because I like it)
Questions:
❶ What is the natural phenomenon called, when there appears to be something that isn’t there? Fill in the 5 characters!
❷ How do far await buildings appear in the Toyama-bay? Circle the correct answer!
ア Their shape changes
イ Their number changes