More from Japan

Ohayo again First Graders!

Japan is such an interesting place. I have been getting around in Tokyo and I found out about a lot of things that you wanted to know.

Mia asked what the money looks like. It is called yen, and here are two different bills.

 

The top one is a 1000 yen note. It has a picture of the Emperor. The bottom one is a 2000 yen note, and it has a picture of a torii gate.

 

Ziggy and Christian both asked about what kind of special buildings that I saw in Japan. A torii gate is one kind. It is not exactly a building, it's more of an entry way.

 



This one is in the water. Boats come through it on the way to shore.  Other ones are on land. People  walk through them to enter some buildings.

Another type of building is a pagoda. It is a religious building (like our churches) where people go to  worship and pray. They are tall towers with many layers of roofs.

 

You can see guard lion statues, called Shishi, outside many buildings. They are always in pairs. One has an open mouth, and one has a closed mouth. They are supposed to keep evil away.

 

 



Xaria asked what kind of clothes people wear. Mostly, they dress just like us. They like jeans and hoodies. Girls wear a lot of Hello Kitty clothes. Boys like tee shirts with Pokémon and Picachu on them. Did you know that all 3 of those characters started in Japan?

 

There are some traditional clothes that people wear on special occasions. This woman is dancing onstage, and wearing a kimono. She has traditional make-up on her face to make it very white.

 

 

Another type of special clothes that children wear all the time is school uniforms. Elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools all have uniforms. I saw these boys and girls in the subway station one morning on their way to school. There are no school buses. Kids walk to school, ride bikes, come in cars with their moms, or take the subway.

 

The uniforms always have hats. Their backpacks are bigger than ours, and made of leather.

 

 

It is time for my to say good-bye to you. I know that your school year is almost over. Soon you will start summer break, so this will be my last post. I hope that you have enjoyed learning a little bit about some far away places in our world. Always stay curious and keep learning.

 

Sayonara!

Your friend,

Flat Stanley



 

 

 



 



 



 

Ohayo from Japan!

I just said, "Hi" to you in Japanese. The word sounds like the English word, "Ohio" which is the name of a state in our country.

I have been here for one week now, and I have been learning a lot. I am staying in Tokyo, which is the biggest city in Japan. Much bigger than New York City even! It is very busy. The people are very nice, though. They are so polite. They bow from the waist when they meet. Girls and ladies bow with their hands clasped in front of them. Boys and men bow with their hands straight down at their sides. Would you like to try that?

We have been tasting many different foods. Japan is an island nation, so most people live close to the sea, and they catch and eat a lot of fish. Rice is another favorite food. Rice and fish are part of almost every meal - even breakfast!

This is a picture of a restaurant window. 

 

Lots of visitors to Japan aren't familiar with the foods, so they put plastic models in the window for people to look at to help them choose what they would like to eat.

 

This man is selling food in the street. He is cooking squid muffins. They are steaming hot when you buy them. They're round spheres, crispy on the outside, with pieces of squid in the middle. We liked them a lot!

 

 

 

Not all food is different, though. If you want American food, you can go to Subway, or McDonalds.

The signs look different, but the food is just the same.

 

 

 

Because I am in a city, the animals that I have seen are birds and squirrels. These small animals can live alongside people in crowded conditions. They can find enough food, and places to live. People here like to feed the birds. This man was scattering pieces of bread, and soon a whole flock of pigeons came to eat.

 

 

 

Another animal to see in the city is fish. These are called koi. They look like goldfish, only bigger. These fish are not for eating. They are for decoration. Many families have a pond in their yard full of these pretty fish.

 

I bet you know where I am in this picture!

 

 

That's right - the fire station. The big front doors were open, and the fire fighters let us come in to take a picture. Except for the writing on the side, the truck looks like one in the USA.

 

That's all for today. I will write more another time.  For now, I will say goodbye.  "Sayonara!"

 

Your friend,

Flat Stanley.







 









 

Here I am in North Carolina!

Hi First Graders,

It was a long car ride, but here I am at the Outer Banks. It is a NC beach that is on a long skinny island in the Atlantic Ocean. It is pretty here, and VERY windy. It was because of the wind that the Wright Brothers picked this place to try out the first airplane. It needed lots of wind to help it fly.

 

 

 

This is what the plane looked like. It was made of wood and cloth and had no motor. It seems more like a big kite than a plane. I went to see it in a museum.



The people in North Carolina are very proud of this. You can see a picture of the first airplane on the back of the NC state quarter.

Jaylen wants to know if I saw any famous buildings, and Ziggy asked if I saw any big buildings. The answers are yes and yes. I saw a building that is big AND famous. It is not a skyscraper, it is a lighthouse.

 



The island has some very tall lighthouses. They warn ships about where there are rocks in the water. Many, many shipwrecks have happened in the water near the Outer Banks. A nickname of this area of the ocean is "The Graveyard of the Atlantic". That sounds creepy, but it does describe what really happened here. Do you remember another place where I saw a lighthouse?

Andre wondered what kind of animals are here.
I saw wild horses. These horses have no owners.
They live together in small herds on the beaches and in the wooded areas of the island. They aren't afraid of people because they see so many of us. You can get pretty close to them, but not touch them. There is a law against that.


They came here from ship wrecks that happened long ago. When ships carrying horses crashed and sank in the water, they swam to shore and have been living wild ever since. Isn't that cool?


Here are some other animals that live here. They look a bit like eagles. They are called osprey, and they are birds of prey that hunt and eat fish. They fly down to the water and grab the fish with their feet.They made their nest on a tall wooden platform that people built for them. Can you tell what the birds used to make the nest?
                                   

 

Here is one last animal picture. It was the smallest one I saw. Do you know what it is?

That's right, a dragonfly. There are lots and lots of them in the Outer Banks of NC. I saw them everywhere, but especially at the beach. They fly very slowly and are very pretty.

Ka'Mya asked if I went to the beach. We did, but not to swim. It's not really hot out, and the water is very cold! We walked on the beach, and took a boat ride. You can see some small boats, and behind them, a long strip of sand in the water. That is called a sand bar. The red floating barrel is a marker to show where the deeper water is, so the boats don't get stuck in the sand.

This is a short trip, but it has been a lot of fun. I will be back in Rock Hill later this week.

I'll see you soon!
Your Friend,
Flat Stanley