On February 1st, we had a cultural class about Setsubun.

Setsubun is the day before the beginning of Spring in Japan! In its association with the Lunar New Year, Spring Setsubun can be and was previously thought of as a sort of New Year's Eve, and so was accompanied by a special ritual to cleanse away all the evil of the former year and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come. This special ritual is called mamemaki (literally "bean throwing").

At GenkiJACS, 3 students played a role as oni(demons) and other students threw beans at them!


We eat uncut makizushi called eho-maki (恵方巻) (lit. "lucky direction roll") in silence on Setsubun while facing the year's lucky compass direction, determined by the zodiac symbol of that year.

Our staff and teachers made makizushi :-)


YES, our students and staff also ate makizushi in silence at GenkiJACS!!!


Wishing lots of luck to everyone!

What would you like to do on weekends and national holidays when you study in Japan?!

GenkiJACS organises a day trip for students to many places such as Nagasaki, Oita, Miyazaki and so on.
Last Friday the 23rd was a labor day and we took students to a beautiful town named Akizuki in Fukuoka.

Look at these beautiful trees with amazingly colored leaves!


They experienced making a Japanese paper Washi(wa means Japanese and shi means paper).


Students loved spending a day in Akizuki!


Studying Japanese is fun but also challenging, so how about taking a break and sightseeing beautiful places in Japan on weekends and national holidays? We organise events for you and also we are happy to help you get tickets for transportation and a hotel booked!

Do you know what nabe is?

Nabe（鍋）is a hot pot dish, and we eat it together from a shared pot. We had 2 different kinds of nabe at school last Friday.
Usually we sit around the pot and eat, but there were so many participants that we had to put the pots on one side of the lounge.



Sharing food from one pot creates warm relations among people! Many Japanese participants and our students enjoyed not only the food but also the conversation!



You need a break after studying hard, right?
Let's have a dinner party at GenkiJACS!!!

Yesterday (1/10) was 成人の日 (coming of age day) in Japan. Some GenkiJACS students, along with members from Fukuoka Communication Centre, went to a cultural event where they taught sushi-making, traditional Japanese dancing and Aikidou martial arts.

Students were divided into two groups. The first group learned how to make three different types of sushi: 巻き寿司 (maki: rice and other ingredients rolled together with a sheet of nori), 握り寿司 (nigiri: an oval-shaped ball of rice topped with a slice of another item, usually raw fish) and稲荷寿司 (inari-zushi: sushi wrapped in a fried tofu skin).



Simultaneously, the second group learned 日本舞踊 (nihon-buyou: Japanese traditional dance). The event started with a demonstration of two dances performed by the junior and veteran dancers, before the students were taught the traditional dance, “桜” (sakura).



Afterwards, the two groups switched with each other.



After the demonstration, it was off to the dojo for an Aikidou demonstration. The students were shown how to sit in the correct position for a short meditation session, before they did some warm-up excercises.



After that, students were shown various Aikidou techniques.



It was a very interesting and fun day!

You can view more pics of the event here.

Wagashi (和菓子) is a traditional Japanese confectionery which is often served with tea, especially the types made of mochi, azuki bean paste, and fruits.　One of our cultural classes recently included a wagashi-making session, where students got to create their own wagashi under the guidance of an experienced wagashi confectioner.



Check out some more pictures of the event here!

We held our annual Christmas party last week, in the new GenkiJACS lounge. There were a variety of acts, and hopefully we’ll soon have an edited video of some of the students singing and giving speeches. However, perhaps the highlight of the party was GenkiJACS teachers performing the song "Nihon no mikata", by Yajima Biyoushitsu.

Yajima Biyoushitsu is made up of the comedian duo Tunnels, and DJ Ozma. The original version of the song is here.

The lyrics of the song (Japanese here / English here) make fun of foreigners' expectations of Japan - the three (male) singers dress as glamorous visitors from Nevada, arriving in Japan for the first time, and sing about being surprised by the revolving sushi, the lack of samurai, etc. It’s fairly funny, and seemed an appropriate way to poke fun at the students. Although the teachers themselves looked pretty funny doing it…

先週12/14（金）（アップが遅くなりましたが・・・）、ちょっと早めの“GenkiJACSクリスマスパーティー”を開催しました。50人もの生徒、ホストファミリー、そしてスクールスタッフが集い、楽しいひと時を送りました。来年はもっと多くの方々にお会いできることを祈りながら、みな様にメリークリスマス！！

Last Friday, Dec. 14, we had a X'mas party at our school. 50 people( host families, students and school staffs) gathered and enjoyed the party.
We hope that next year, we have more people and more fun!
To everyone, merry chrismas and a happy new year!

Here are a few events that might be of interest to people living in Fukuoka, as well as students at Genki Japanese language school:

Kyushu Area Traditional Folk Arts Festival
Date: October 28 (Sunday), 1pm - 4:40pm
Place: ACROS Building
Cost: free
A performance of a local traditional folk art from each of the nine prefectures in Kyushu. Should be very interesting!


Japanese Speech Contest for Foreigners
Date: October 28 (Sunday), 1pm - 4pm
Place: Airef Building (Maizuru, about 10 minutes' walk from school)
Cost: free
Foreigners living in Fukuoka give speeches in Japanese.


Volunteer Festival
Date: October 28 (Sunday), 10am - 4pm
Place: Fuku Fuku Plaza (near Nishi Park, about 25 minutes' walk or 5 minute bus ride from school)
Cost: free
Meet local people interested in volunteering, find out what volunteer opportunities are available for you, and learn a special hula dance using elements of sign language!

» Read More

Tuesday the 3rd of April marks GenkiJACS' first Wii 大会 (taikai, sports festival)! Join us at the school at 6pm for several rounds of tennis, baseball, and maybe even boxing. We have prepared four Wiimotes for the day, so hopefully everyone will have a chance to play. On our 100-inch projector screen, with surround sound. Broken limbs are your own responsibility!

You'll hear nothing but music in Tenjin for 2 days! The biggest music festival in Fukuoka is coming soon...
"Music City Tenjin (MCT)" is held on the 14th and 15th of October, and about 300 professional and amateur musicians perform at various places in Tenjin.

Events for the festival will be held in about 40 places, but one of the most remarkable events is the one called "Street Stage". You can see performances of 40 select professional musicians FREE! A main stage will be located in front of Fukuoka City Hall.

There's one other event we'd like to mention, called "Floor Circuit". Once you buy a ticket (Adv: 1500 yen, Day: 2000yen), you can make the rounds of 8 concert venues. Not bar hopping this time but live house hopping!
Besides these, many places have free performances by lots of local musicians. You may find artists from famous bands performing solo, so it's a great chance to catch the other sides of them!

Concert sites included unique places such as 博多百年蔵 (Hakata Hyakunen Gura, a famous sake brewery) and a famous live music house 照和 (Shoowa) which has turned out many great musicians.

It is a good chance to get to know or explore the Japanese music scene.
Why don't you drown yourself in pleasant autumn music waves?

For more info: MCT official website

(This blog entry by Mika-sensei, our resident music expert.)