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ALC Newsletter No. 062 06/20/07
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By the International Marketing Team at ALC Press
http://www.alc.co.jp/international
Contents:
1) The "Dear Readers" Column: Messages from the International Marketing Team at ALC Press
2) Topics in Japan #22: Spiritualism and Fortune telling
3) Quiz on Japan #1: How many kanji(chinese characters) do we use?
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Dear Readers,
Greetings from sunny Tokyo!
According to Japan's Meteorological Agency, the rainy season
started around June 14 in Tokyo, but we cannot expect much rain
this season. In fact, water shortage is becoming a serious problem
here. The same problem is being found around the world.
We are now working on developing new website targeting
only those young Japanese people who wish to study English
overseas. This is a separate website from ALC's main website:www.alc.co.jp and is scheduled to be launched around July 20,
2007. The reason why we decided to launch this independent
website is because we would like to attract a much larger number
of young Japanese people in their late teen's and early 20's with
an interest in studying English abroad, and increase our share in
that market further. ALC's main website, of course, has been
playing this role but is a huge website also targeting a wider
range of people.
Anyway, together with our main website and this new one,
ALC will become much more powerful in attracting the young
Japanese people ESL program providers overseas wish to
reach.
Those who are currently participating as advertisers in the
Campus Guide on the Web for ESL Programs on our main
website will be also listed in our new website. Lucky you!
This is just a little preliminary information. We will announce
more specific information in mid-July.
Best wishes from the International Marketing Team at ALC Press
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Topics in Japan #22: Spiritualism and Fortune telling
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No one would disagree that Japan has been one of the great economic
nations. But did you know that Japan has also been a great "spiritual"
nation? In recent years, more and more Japanese seem to be
interested in spiritualism. Many bookstores have a special section for
books on spiritualism, such as one's spiritual power, fate, life-energy,
etc.
A TV program called "Aura no Izumi (=The Spring of the Aura)" is
also very popular. During the one-hour show, Mr. Hiroyuki Ehara, a "spiritual counsellor," welcomes celebrity guests and tells them
about their spiritual factors ─ what type of aura they have, what
they were in their previous lives, what type of spirits they are
accompanied by, and so on. Why are many people interested in
spiritualism? Are they tired of this busy life of modern, industrialized
society? This may be the case.
But actually, Japanese people seem to have been more or less
interested in superficial things even before this "spiritualism boom"
began. One typical example can be found in fortune telling. People
check their fortunes on morning TV shows every day before they
go to school or work. Many magazines for women have horoscopes
─ maybe this part is also true in your country ─ and some of them
have a special issue once in a while, featuring only fortune telling
throughout the whole magazine! Inside these issues appear a wide
variety of articles that predict your fortune by name, blood type,
face, the lines on your palms, or even your cellphone number ... just
about anything you can imagine!
However, it does not mean that the Japanese make decisions based
on fortune tellings! People consider fortune tellings as something
that adds a little spice to their everyday life. If a fortune telling
says something good, then you'll feel a little additional happiness
for the day. If it says something bad, then you'll just forget about
it, or maybe have it in your mind and be careful not to
make it come true. For many Japanese, spiritualism and fortune
telling are just one of many forms of entertainment.
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Quiz on Japan #1: How many kanji (Chinese characters) do we use?
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How much do you know about Japan? We'll give you a quiz in each
issue, so try to find the right answer!
Quiz #1: How many kanji (Chinese characters) do we use?
As you may know, we use three different sets of letters; hiragana,
katakana and kanji. Among them, kanji characters are the most
challenging for Japanese learners, because there are just too many
of them! But how many is "many"? How many kanji do we actually
use in our everyday lives?
(a) 500
(b) 2,000
(c) 15,000
(d) 50,000
Check out the correct answer in the next issue!
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Thank you for reading!
*Back issues of the ALC Newsletter are available at:
http://www.alc.co.jp/international/Newsletter.html
*If you wish to be removed from this newsletter or change the e-mail
address to which it is sent, please let us know by e-mailing us at:
intl-mag@alc.co.jp
Publisher: ALC Press, Inc.
2-54-12 Eifuku, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 168-8611 Japan
Writers: The International Marketing Team at ALC Press / Ayako Ishimoto
Editor: The International Marketing Team at ALC Press
Copyright (c) 2007 ALC Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
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