2012/2013 Academic Year Calendar - International Institute ...

SEPTEMBER 2012
Translation for days: Japanese
Moon
Festival*
CHINA
2
9
16
23
Chuseok/Hangawi* –
Harvest Festival
SOUTH KOREA/
NORTH KOREA
30
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Labor Day
UNITED STATES
3
10
17
Rosh Hashanah* –
Jewish New Year begins
Keirō no hi – Respect
for the Aged Day
JAPAN
24
TUESDAY
4
11
18
Rosh Hashanah – Jewish
New Year ends
25
WEDNESDAY
Ganesh Chaturthi
INDIA
5
12
19
26
Yom Kippur* – Jewish
Day of Atonement
THURSDAY
Liberation Day
TIMOR-LESTE
6
13
20
27
FRIDAY
7
14
21
Independence Day
ARMENIA
28
SATURDAY
1
8
15
22
29
Worlds Between Us
Communicating through calligraphy
Students from Kousen High School in Kusatsu, Japan,
practice the traditional art of shodō , Japanese
calligraphy. Learning to write kanji , Chinese
characters, is a gradual process. In elementary and
junior high school, students learn to write characters
correctly, beginning first with a soft pencil and
then graduating to brush and ink. During this time,
students also learn about the origin of characters and
the correct stroke order. In high school, shodō is, in
most cases, an elective subject in the arts, aimed at
cultivating students’ artistic sensibilities and powers of
self-expression.
DID YOU
KNOW?
• A Blogging Culture. According to an article in the
Washington Post, Japan has the largest and most
active blogging culture in the world. Research
conducted between 2007 and 2009 indicates that
40% of Japanese blogging is done on cell phones,
and 37% of the world's blog posts are in Japanese.
Compared to their Americans counterparts, Japanese
tend to write shorter posts, anonymously, and more
often. Era 8, 20th century since 1945
• Plaza TV. Television viewing gained popularity in
Japan in the 1950s when Nippon Television placed
TV sets in public places in order to increase the
number of viewers. Until the early 1960s, American
programming formed the bulk of broadcasting. In
1965, Japanese networks began to develop their own
programming. Today, the “plaza TV” phenomenon
continues to be a prominent feature of downtown
areas. Era 8, 20th century since 1945