Learn about Christmas vocabulary
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sakura: おはよう東京。さくらです。 (Ohayō Tōkyō. Sakura desu.) |
| Peter: Good morning Tokyo. Peter here, and we are back again. Okay what we are going to do today is we are going to have survival phrases 2 and these are phrases that will get you through Japan. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: Now before that, we had a big week, a very, very big week. So we are going to have a bit of a wrap up today. This was our first week and we had episodes every day. We hope that you enjoy them and we hope that it was very, very good material for you to get better. Now today is the day before. |
| Sakura: Day before Christmas. |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Christmas Eve as we say. |
| Sakura: All right. |
| CULTURAL INSIGHTS |
| Peter: And yesterday, the 23rd was also a holiday in Japan. Could you just tell us a little about that holiday? |
| Sakura: Well it's the Emperor's birthday. |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Sakura: And well, literally it's the Birthday of the Emperor and it’s usually – it’s a national Holiday. So we usually have our day off. |
| Peter: Yes but we were here recording. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: For everybody out there. So how about giving us the Japanese name of that holiday? |
| Sakura: 天皇誕生日 (Tennō tanjōbi) |
| Peter: Okay and break it down. |
| Sakura: (slow)てんのうたんじょうび (Tennō tanjōbi) |
| Peter: Okay now I noticed there are two words in here. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: Okay can you give us those words. |
| Sakura: Okay first one is 天皇 (Tennō) |
| Peter: Okay one more time nice and slow. |
| Sakura: (slow)てんのう (Tennō) |
| Peter: And what does this mean? |
| Sakura: This is the emperor. |
| Peter: And one more time please. |
| Sakura: 天皇 (Tennō) |
| Peter: Okay emperor and how about the second word. |
| Sakura: 誕生日 (tanjōbi) |
| Peter:m What does this mean? |
| Sakura: This is “birthday.” |
| Peter: Yes okay one more time please nice and slow. |
| Sakura: (slow)たんじょうび (tanjōbi) |
| Peter: Yes, birthday. So yesterday literally it was the emperor’s birthday. |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: Okay so we had a nice day off yesterday. Well most of Japan had a nice day off yesterday. I am sure many people enjoyed themselves. Now tomorrow is another holiday, correct? |
| Sakura: Right. |
| Peter: Can you tell us about Christmas in Japan? It’s a bit different than in Western Christmas, correct? |
| Sakura: Yes well it’s not so much a religious event in Japan because people are Buddhist or Shinto. You know they have different religions but we usually celebrate Christmas as a sort of just a celebration. We all love Santa and presents, decorations and its – you know, we do Christmas shopping and buy presents for family members. |
| Peter: Yes. For everybody out there in Japan listening, I heard that 表参道 (Omotesandō) has a very nice Christmas light display. |
| Sakura: Hah yes. A few years back they were doing it. |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Sakura: Yes they have – they are big trees along the side of the street and they are all lit up. It’s very beautiful. |
| Peter: Yeah okay so everyone out there, if you are in Japan, please check the net and make sure that it’s still going on. How is a typical Christmas spent in Japan? Obviously it’s not a National Holiday. So people go to work. |
| Sakura: Right, yes. |
| Peter: So if it’s on a weekday, there is no day off. |
| Sakura: That’s right. |
| Peter: And what is this – I hear about a Christmas cake. |
| Sakura: Christmas cake. |
| Peter: Yes Japanese seem to really like Christmas cake. |
| Sakura: Yes we buy Christmas cakes. They are usually… |
| Peter: Strawberry shortcakes. |
| Sakura: Strawberry shortcakes. Yes, so bakers are very busy. |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Sakura: In this season and strawberries, the price goes up very much and we usually eat Christmas cake. It may be roasted chicken or fried chicken and leave a present at the bedside of, you know, the children. |
| Peter: Really ah! I didn’t know that. |
| Sakura: Yes, they sometimes have socks. They sometimes don’t but usually you know Santa comes at night and they leave a present. |
| Peter: Okay. |
| Sakura: And when the child wakes up, he or she finds the present and opens it up. And we don’t usually lay presents around the Christmas tree. We do decorate Christmas trees sometimes but we don’t place presents there. |
| Peter: Oh really! Well I didn’t – that’s news for me and I’ve been here a while. Now one last thing. Who do you usually spend Christmas with? |
| Sakura: Umm let’s see. If you are teenagers or if you are in the 20s or low 30s, if you are single, that is, you usually spend the day with your boyfriend or girlfriend. |
| Peter: Ah… |
| Sakura: If you have any. Yes and like if you are, you know, a mother or father and usually with your family. |
| Peter: Ah I see yes. I remember last year I tried to book a hotel around Christmas. |
| Sakura: Ah, that's very difficult. |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: So it’s a very interesting interpretation Japan has of Christmas. So for all of you out there, we would like to say merry Christmas. |
| Sakura: Merry Christmas. |
| Peter: Okay so how would we say merry Christmas in Japanese? |
| Sakura: Okay. メリークリスマス。(Merī Kurisumasu.) |
| Peter: Now this is a common greeting, correct? |
| Sakura: Yes, yes. |
| Peter: Okay let’s have that a few more times and break it down nice and slowly. |
| Sakura: (slow)めりーくりすます (Merī Kurisumasu) |
| Peter: Merry Christmas. One more time please. |
| Sakura: (slow)めりーくりすます (Merī Kurisumasu) |
| Peter: Okay and how about Santa Claus. How do you say Santa in Japanese? |
| Sakura: サンタクロース (Santa Kurōsu) |
| Peter: Very nice. One more time please break it down nice and slow. |
| Sakura: (slow)さんたくろーす (Sata Kurōsu) |
| Peter: Okay this might be a little difficult. How about a nice, just the first name of Mr. Claus. |
| Sakura: サンタ(Santa) |
| Peter: Yes, very nice. One more time please. |
| Sakura: サンタ (Santa) |
| Peter: Okay. |
| Sakura: We sometimes put mr. like サンタさん (Santa-san). It is very popular. |
| Peter: Really? |
| Sakura: Yes. サンタさん (Santa-san) is coming tonight. We say that. |
| Peter: Okay now for giving presents, are there any stipulations in the US you know in the west. Usually the kid has to be good to get a present. |
| Sakura: Umm yes. |
| Peter: Same here? |
| Sakura: Same here. |
| Peter: Okay. Okay I had originally planned to do some kind of survival phrases today but since we’ve run a little short on time, we are going to end this week with just a merry Christmas and we are going to get to survival phrases on Monday after Christmas. There will be no show tomorrow, sorry no Christmas show because we are going to spend – I am going to spend Christmas with my wife and you will be spending Christmas. |
| Sakura: With my family. |
| Peter: Yes. And yes, for my wife, Santa-san, oh did he bring a nice present and I will be paying for it until March. |
| Sakura: Oh! |
| Peter: How about you? Is サンタさん (Santa-san) coming to your house? |
| Sakura: Umm maybe. サンタさん (Santa-san) is coming to my daughter who is just a little over 1 year old. |
| Peter: Oh how sweet! What’s her name? |
| Sakura: もみじ (Momiji) |
| Peter: Oh wow! What a cool name. Can you give us, nice and slow? |
| Sakura: (slow)もみじ (Momiji) |
| Peter: もみじ？(Momiji?) |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: What does this mean? You know I noticed, oh I can’t believe, I didn’t do this. |
| Sakura: Aahahaha! |
| Peter: In Japanese, all Japanese names have very specific meanings. |
| Sakura: Often yes. |
| Peter: Yeah how about your name? |
| Sakura: My name is Sakura. |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Sakura: And it means cherry. |
| Peter: Cherry blossom. |
| Sakura: Cherry blossom but pronunciation for the blossom is さくら (Sakura). It’s kind of flat but for name, it goes down like さくら (Sakura). |
| Peter: Oh really? |
| Sakura: Yes. |
| Peter: Okay I am sorry listeners. As you can see, the co-host today has just surpassed my knowledge. So I am going to be quiet and let Sakura explain about everything. |
| Sakura: Yes and Sakura was one of the most popular – I think it was the most popular name given to a baby girl a couple of years ago. |
| Peter: Oh wow! It is a nice name. |
| Sakura: It’s a very popular name, さくら (Sakura). And もみじ (Momiji) |
| Peter: What a cute name. |
| Sakura: Is – it means colored leaves or maple leaves. |
| Peter: Oh wow! |
| Sakura: Yes so it’s like autumn word, yes. So it’s さくら (Sakura) and もみじ (Momiji). |
| Peter: Very… |
| Sakura: Very Japanese. |
| Peter: Very, very nice. Very cool names. Okay so that’s going to be it for everybody here. We would like to say, I would like to wish you a merry Christmas. |
| Sakura: メリークリスマス (Merī Kurisumasu) |
| Peter: Yes and we hope that サンタさん (Santa-san) stops by your house. |
Outro |
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| Sakura: Okay. |
| Peter: See you on Monday. |
| Sakura: またね。(Mata ne.) |
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