☆Carpet made of plant"tatami"☆

Hello! I'm back!!

This week I searched about a traditional Japanese flooring "tatami". It is a straw matting which is used on the floor in Japanese homes. "Tatami" at first was a thin easily folded straw mat which people used to sit or sleep, but lately, a thick layer of tightly woven straw layer was added and edges covered with cloth. The edge of "tatami" shows how valuable it is, and more it has fine graphics woven, more it will cost. However, "tatami" from Okinawa prefecture which is called "Ryukyu datami" does not have cloth on the edge, and the shape is a regular square compared to a regular "tatami" which is a rectangle.

Recently, in Japan when a new home is built"tatami" is not so frequently used anymore, and wooden flooring is more common. Still, "tatami" is considered as a genuine Japanese culture, and when a traditional Japanese event takes place, people tend to sit on "tatami". In Japan, it is a common sense to take off the shoes before entering a building, and it has been a one of a superior Japanese culture. I think wooden flooring has many advantages, but in the future when I can build a house of my own, I'd like to make a couple of " tatami" rooms.

If you'd like to know some more about "tatami" please visit here or, if you have problem with your tatami, Morita Tatami.co.

??BLOG QUESTIONNAIRE??

This time I asked some questions to a peson who is also writing a blog.



What's your fovorite topic to write?

-I love watching movies, so I like about movies.



How do you feel when you get a comment from someone?

-I feel really happy, even when I get tired of writing, I get encouraged by knowing someone is actually looking at my blog.



How did you get your pics?

-I got it from Yahoo and Google.



How often do you check your blog?

-Hmm,,, twice a month maybe?



Do you look at famous people's blogs?

-Nah,never. I'm not interested in famous people.

☆BLOGYMPIC ２００９☆

Hi. What's up? While surfing on the internet I found some interesting blogs, so for this week I'll introduce some more of them!

No.1Trac of cat ...This blog was full of useful information, and pictures were really good. The article about the wine was really interesting. The reason? is just because I love wine, especially white one :-) YUMYUM!

No.2Sharks In My Mouth ... I chose this because the writer also seems to like watching movies , and the articles were enriched with movie information."The Rocky Horror Picture Show" ?? Hmm, interesting!! I'm sure I found something to do this weekend!!

No.3Upturn★! .... I think these blogs makes me relaxed. Cute pics, and nice articles and atmosphere.

I think people who goes to unversities are gonna have a bigX2 holiday, please take care and have a nice holiday♪

★2009 Bloggy Nominees Award★

This week I'd like to introduce some of the best blogs(at least, from my point of view). If you have time please take a look at them.



No.1 This blog is a little simple, but it is full of useful information. The artical about benefits of laughing is something to look at.

No.2 If you want to know about lakes in New Zealand, this blog is a "must see". You can understand about Lake Taupo like your backyard. Sentences are really natural and friendly.

No.3 Are you planning on a diet?? At least I am ! I've heard of "apple diet","banana diet"& etc, but I've never heard of this "potato chip diet"yet. If you are interested, take a look! I'll take a bag of potato chips instead of my lunch :-)

☆POLO☆in New Zealand

This week I'll talk about a popular sport in New Zealand. In New Zealand horse is a familiar animal to people who live there. For New Zealanders, riding a horse is not a special occasion. At first children start horseback riding with a pony, and as they get better and older, they can practice with bigger horses. Amateurs often sell and buy horses at popular prices, which differs from Japan. In Japan buying a horse is a big business and the owner must be rich to own a horse. For New Zealanders, going on a picnic with their horses are everyday experience. People who own horses mostly has a horse car and they'll often go hunting in winter, shows in the summer.
Polo, which is considered as a noble sport is commonly played in New Zealand. Polo is played by the common people, not by nobleman.The best season for playing polo is in the summer. Members get on a horse and tries to lead the ball into the opponent's goal. Each match(which is called chukkas)lasts for 7minutes, and in a polo game 6chukkas are played. Each person can take 4 horses to a game, and is essential to take at least 2 horses. In Japan it is even difficult to own a horse, and there are only three official registered members. As a result they are not able to establish a polo team, so they mainly join polo games held in Hong-Kong.

Moon Festival

Last week while surfing on the internet I found an interesting event called Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon Festival. It's a traditional harvest festival which takes place in China around mid or late September. It is one of the two most important holidays in China, and has 3000years history. The Chinese thinks circular shaped moon as a symbol of a happy family, and with the harvest close at hand relatives gather and pray for a happy and peaceful life. This is a memorial event for rebellion fleeing from Mongolians in 14th century, and said to be one of the Chinese soldier hid a memo in a cake and succeeded to recapture their castle.
At the festival among "moon cakes"(cake made out of lotus,sesame and eggs) colorful lanterns are sold at shops. Families and lovers will gather to admire he bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and goes to parks and mountains with the lanterns of various shapes and colors and eat the moon cakes together until midnight. Sounds fun! Doesn't it? In the future I'd like to pay a visit to this special occasion! There are also many legends of the Moon Festival, so if you are interested you should search it on the internet.

How About some ♪MOVIES♪

I love watching movies. Especially Action and suspense. This summer I watched many interesting movies, so let me introduce some of them.
The most enjoyable one was "What happens in Vegas". The story was simple, one night a Joey(Ashton Kutcher) and a Joy(Cameron Diaz) meets in Las Vegas and gets too carried away from too much liquor. Next morning they wake up to find out that they got married while they were dead drunk. Both of them decides promptly to divorce but at the same time Jack wins a Jack Pot in a casino. At the press conference Joy insists on her right to get half of the money. As as long they are married Joy can get the half of the money, so they reluctantly start their forged marriage.
I think people who doesn't watch comedy usually can enjoy this movie. I also watched 300, Fool's Gold, Wanted , Veronica Mars and etc.
"Wanted" was also enjoyable. It's directed by Timur Bekmambetov, who is famous for directing many good movies.The story was about an assassin's son taking revenge on his father's murderer. At first he was an ordinary businessman fainthearted, but after he joined a assassin organization he became stronger on his mental and physical side. At last an unexpecting ending is waiting, but you should find it out yourself. After all I think watching a movie is a great way to spend your weekends!