Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2024 i Faces People, Places, and World Culture for Kids and Children

There is no other place is the world quite like Tokyo. A fast-moving and dynamic city, it is the most populated metropolis in the world. Here are five facts about it to get you started. 1 Long before it was the world’s largest metropolis, Tokyo was a small fishing village called Edo. It became an important shipping and trading center. The emperor renamed the city Tokyo in 1868. 2 Do you love cats? In Tokyo, you can visit a cat café. Enjoy a beverage and spend time with some feline friends. These types of cafés are popular in the city, where there is little space for pets. 3 A lunch box that takes 10 years to make? Crafting traditional bento boxes by hand can involve applying up to 30 coats…

To say that Tokyo is unlike any other spot in the world would be an understatement. Here is a list of just a few of the things you will find in this special place. Tokyo is filled with cat cafés—restaurants where patrons can grab a bite to eat while playing with cats. Cat cafés became so popular that other animal-themed cafés were opened throughout Tokyo. They feature many animals including dogs, birds, rabbits, snakes, goats, and even hedgehogs. Apartments in Tokyo are so small that most people are unable to have their own pets. When it comes to popular forms of entertainment in Tokyo, nothing can compare to pachinko, the Japanese version of pinball. Pachinko parlors are located all over Tokyo. They are loud, brightly lit, and filled with rows…

Have you ever popped into a restaurant or shop and been greeted by a seated cat figurine with its paw up in the air? These cats, known as maneki-neko, are found all around the world but are native to Japan. In Japanese, maneki means “beckoning,“ or gesturing for someone to come or follow. Neko means “cat.“ Business owners place the cats in their shop entrances in the hopes the cats will bring good luck—and paying customers. For this reason, English speakers often refer to them as “Lucky Cats“ or “Welcoming Cats.” To people from Western countries, the waving gesture looks like a “hello.” But in Japan and other Asian countries, an upright arm with fingers moving in a scraping motion is a way to say, “Come here.” While the name…

January New Years New Years is the biggest holiday in all of Japan. Usually there is a traditional family dinner, and many people go to local temples for the joya-no-kane, a sacred bell-ringing ceremony. People line up to ring the giant temple bells and wish for good fortune in the New Year (and to get rid of bad karma from the old). Many stores sell a “Lucky Bag” or “Happy Bag,” which are bags full of goodies. Part of the fun is that you won’t know what’s inside until you have opened your bag. February Setsubun This traditional event marks the official beginning of spring, according to the Japanese lunar calendar. It is not a national holiday, but Setsubun is widely celebrated across Japan and is one of the favorite…

AT A GLANCE Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is the largest city in the world by population. Many millions of people live and work in this Asian metropolis. Tokyo is a modern city with a long history, which can be seen in its mix of building styles. Temples and skyscrapers sit side by side. In fact, hundreds of shrines can be found throughout the city. Tokyo also has many one-of-a-kind buildings. The city’s people are hardworking, but they also like to have fun. Tokyo residents like to spend their time off going to cat cafés and baseball games. Tokyo is truly a world-class city. It has something for everyone. Enjoy great food. Visit beautiful gardens. Check out “Electric City” and its stores of electronics and video games. Ride super-fast trains.…

Long before it was the world’s largest metropolis, Tokyo was a small fishing village named Edo. Archaeological evidence indicates that humans have lived here for more than 10,000 years. But it wasn’t until the 15th century that Edo became an important shipping and trading center. Canals and waterways were dug to channel fresh water into the city, and estuaries and marshes were filled with dirt to create livable and farmable land. Japan’s powerful warrior class migrated to Edo, and it became home to the shogun, the country’s military dictator. Although the emperor was Japan’s leader, the shogun held the real power during this time. Edo became Japan’s capital in 1603, and shoguns from the Tokugawa family ruled Japan for the next 250 years. Although this was a period of peace…

It is not uncommon to see large men clothed in cotton kimonos and wooden sandals strolling down the streets of Tokyo’s Ryoguku district on the east bank of the Sumida River. These men are sumo wrestlers, athletes who participate in Japan’s national sport of sumo wrestling. Japanese sumo wrestling began about 2,000 years ago when tournaments were held at shrines and temples. Sumo wrestling was both spiritual and sacred, and matches were performed to entertain and please the gods. It evolved into a spectator sport in the 1600s and was centered in the Ryoguku district, Edo’s bustling entertainment and commerce center. The Ryoguku district has remained the sumo wrestling capital of Japan. Many sumo beya (stables), facilities where wrestlers live and train, are located there. Promising wrestlers are sent to…

Tanukis (tan-NEW-kees) are well-known animals in Japan. Show any Japanese three-year-old a picture of the wild mammal that looks like a cross between a raccoon and a badger, and they will recognize the porky shape and signature black-eye mask of the Japanese raccoon dog. The tanuki looks and acts like a raccoon in some ways (it washes its food and can climb trees). But it is actually a member of the dog family. Characteristics and Behavior Tanukis are round and stout, with short black legs. They have black, tan, and gray fur. Underneath their eyes, they have distinctive black marks that look like the mask of a raccoon. Like raccoons and coyotes, tanukis are omnivores (they eat plants and animals) and scavengers (they also eat dead things). That means that…

If you’re taking your lunch to school or work in Tokyo, or if you’re eating in a restaurant, your meal is probably in a bento box. Bento means “convenient” and is an individually boxed meal. But a bento box is more than a lunchbox with sections for items such as rice, meat, or fish, and pickled or cooked vegetables. It symbolizes historical tradition and culture and serves as a display case for the food and a demonstration of the care of the preparer. While there are different stories about how long the bento box has been in use, one story traces the word bento to the Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga in the 1500s. Oda Nobunaga handed out meals in bento boxes to people in his castle. Early boxes were made…

It’s one of Japan’s most famous landmarks, looming 12,380 feet (3,773 meters) into the sky just west of Tokyo. Its snowy white peak forms an almost perfect cone shape—an image celebrated in Japanese art for centuries. It is also one of Japan’s most revered holy sites and its biggest tourist attraction. Incredibly, it is made up of not one but three active volcanoes. In 2013, the United Nations designated it as a World Heritage Site. This famous landmark in Japan is Mount Fuji, or Fuji-san in Japanese. Mount Fuji supposedly gets its name from fuji, the term for “fire” used by Japan’s Indigenous Ainu people. The mountain was formed millions of years ago as three successive volcanoes—the Komitake volcano, then the Kofuji volcano, then Fuji, which is the youngest—formed. Each…

Characters Narrator 1Narrator 2Narrator 3TanukiFoxSonSoldier 1Soldier 2 The tanuki, also known as the Japanese raccoon dog, looks like a raccoon but actually belongs to the Canidae family, along with dogs, wolves, and foxes. In Japanese folklore, a tanuki-like creature has been described as a shape-shifter and trickster. Narrator 1: Hunters had killed almost all the wild animals in the wood. The only three creatures left were a gray-furred tanuki; his wife, the fox; and their little son. They lived in the thickest part of the forest, high up on the mountain. Tanuki: Fortunately, we are very clever beasts, or we would be dead like the rest of our friends. If we hear the twang of an arrow or see the glitter of a spear, we stand still. We will NOT…