Moshi Moshi Students,
This is another way to say "Hello" in Japanese. Literally translated, "Konnichiwa" means "Good Afternoon", but many websites I have visited use this greeting for "Hello".
In class Friday, my classes talked about Japan's geography. For those who haven't yet had that class, Japan is located in the Pacific Ocean east of China, Korea, and Russia. It is separated from mainland Asia by the Sea of Japan, the Sea of China in the South, and the Sea of Okhotsh to the North. I was pleasantly surprised that many of you knew to look in the Northern Pacific Ocean. The Japanese do not call their country Japan, but Nippon or Nihon, which in Kanji characters means sun origin. Before Japan was known as a distinct culture, the Chinese referred to the land that is in the East, and where the sun rises, as source of the sun. Therefore, "Land of the Rising Sun" is a common way to identify Japan. I think it is a very poetic description, so I chose this for the title of my blog. The Japanese flag is a red disc on a white background. The centered disc, called the Hinomaru, symbolizes the sun, the white honesty and purity. Though the red disc has been used on Japanese flags for thousands of years, the flag pictured on this post was not officially adopted as the Japanese flag until 1870.
