¡úReport of Afternoon Tea Concert
Performance of erhu, a Chinese string instrument, was held on afternoon at Midorigaoka Bunkakaikan on February 29 (Sun).
This concert was the forth and the last MIFA PR event conducted throughout Meguro City in FY 2003. About 80 participants visited to the venue.
They enjoyed the performance and the talk in relaxing atmosphere, having Chinese jasmine tea and sweets which Ms. Miki Imai, erhu performer, has bought from China. The performed tunes were rich in variety: such as Chinese traditional music, Western classic music, and standard violin pieces. The spectator realized erhu's peculiar rendition and tone. Moreover, when participants asked various questions about erhu to Ms. Imai, and she answered to them as she were in a Q&A session in her lecture on erhu. We could catch a glimpse of Chinese culture through this musical event.
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¡úGet to know the world; Mongolian Students offer a live account of "Mongolia, My Country"
On Saturday. October 18, at Shakai Kyoikukan in Meguro Honcho, Mongolian students gave a talk on "Get to Know the World: Mongolia, My Country".
The students showed a video that they produced and narrated called "The diary of a trip to Mongolia" .
They served Mongolian tea and sweets. Then the audience tried a quiz about Mongolia with questions like,
"Do people in Mongolia use chopsticks, or why do the toes of Mongolian shoes bend upwards ?" The questions were pretty difficult, though to those who answered correctly prizes were given. They also enjoyed the game "Snakes and Ladders" using dice made of sheep-bone, "Shagai". All 34 participants had a great time.
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| Usuful Tips about Mongolian Life By Erdembat¡¡ |
| Greeting | Greeting in Mongolian Language Ta targan tavtai saikhan namarjij baina uu? (in fall) or Sain baina uu? (How are you? in daily use) |
| Location | Central Asia, between Russia and China |
| Population | 2,700,000(2,694,432)= one fiftieth of Japan |
| Total land area | 1,565,000Km2 (20th largest country in the world, the largest occupancy of the land per person in the world ,the area is 5 times of Japan) |
| Capital City | Ulan Bator (as big as one ward in Tokyo, has 21 prefectures, one third of population live in Ulan Bator) |
| History | Mongolia has a long history like China. But the valuable historical documents have been lost in the many wars and stolen
by other countries thus not many remain. The Mongolian Empire, once covered half the size of the world, but lost its power due to long civil wars. Then the
country was occupied by China for more than 300 years. In 1921, Mongolia declared independence from China, led by the Russian Revolution in 1917. Using various
diplomatic pressures, Mongolia finally joined the United Nations in 1961. Since 1921 for 70 years, Mongolia had grown to be the second Communist country. When the former Soviet Union collapsed, Mongolia started its new government system of capitalism. (The Cabinet system was adopted.) In the 1990s Mongolia was having a hard time with an ecomonic depression. Gradually Mongolia has been recovering from it with the finacial help from Japan and other friendly related countries. |
| Language | Mongolian |
| Letters | Cyrillic Alphabet |
| Money | tuguriks |
| Festival | The biggest festival: Nadam lasts for 3days from July 11th. |
| Person | The most popular person: Chinghis Khan |
| GDP | 4,700,000,000 dollars |
| Mountain | The highest mountain: Nairamdal(40,374m) |
| Lake | The second most beautiful lake in the world : Khovsgol |
¡úPanel Discussion "Think about Japanese Society and Culture with Foreign Students"
Date: July 12, 2003 (Sat)
Place: Ohashi Library(Conference Room)
There was a panel discussion with the theme of "Think about Japanese Society and Culture with Foreign Students".
Panelists from China, Korea, Ukraine, Germany and Bangladesh spoke about the difficulties of finding apartments in Tokyo and also ambiguous expressions in the Japanese language.
The audiences' lively questions made the discussion interesting and enriching.