Herb Baths

Do you know what an herb bath is? It is a kind of bath in which you put herbs before you get in. There are many kinds of herb baths. This time I would like to introduce some winter herb baths.

Ginger bath:
Method: cut ginger into small pieces, put them into a cloth bag and place it in the bathtub.
Effect: neuralgia, backache and so on. It improves the circulation of the blood.
Tea bath
It is easy and effective.
Method: put about two rice bowls full of green leaves in the bathtub.
Effect: it is good for chapped skin and frostbite.　Green tea disinfects. It will warm the bather to the bone.
Orange bath
In the winter solstice you will take a hot bath scented with yuzu but you can get the same effect by taking an orange bath.
Method: dry orange peels in the sun, put them into a cloth bag and place it in the bathtub.
Effect: the skin that has dried out becomes slick and improves the circulation of the blood.
Mugwort and a red-berried elder bath
Method: cut them into small pieces, put them into a cloth bag and place it in the bathtub.
Effect: the scent is fragrant. It is good for a stiff neck, backache, and bruises.
Calamus bath
We also take this bath during the Boys’ Festival. It is a custom to stay in good health.
Method: cut them into small pieces, put them into a cloth bag and place it in the bathtub.
Effect: it will relieve chap and frostbite, also it is said that whoever uses it won’t catch a cold.
There are many kinds of herb baths. Why don’t you try some of them and let’s spend our winter in good condition!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
116-2 Yuki Fujita

Christmas Tree

In December, many of you may be looking forward to Christmas. Some are going to buy cake, things to decorate with, and a tree! Yes, Christmas trees are popular around the world. But do you know the history of the Christmas tree?
The very start of the Christmas tree is the religion of the ever green. Before the birth of Christ, the tribes in middle and northern Europe professed ever green plants because they thought the ever green should have magical forces. This was continued until the 4th century. Now, present-day Christmas trees are said to have arisen from the customs of the tribes that were Christianized.
In 1419, the ever green tree was first decorated as a Christmas tree by the Freiburgian brotherhood of bakers. They decorated the tree with gingerbread, apples, gold stripes, colored nuts and paper inside the "Heiling Geist Spital." Incidentally, Freiburg is one of the cities in Germany.
However, the custom of decorating trees didn't spread very widely until 1597, when the craftsmen's guild of Bremen decorated a Christmas tree. After the guild put up the tree, the citizens liked that new custom. They took it over quickly and the custom began to spread in the towns of the upper Rhineland. But it didn't spread to other areas for a long time. One of the reasons was that the custom was regarded as a Protestant custom by the Catholic majority.
But since 19th century, the custom of the Christmas tree became popular. In 1816, Princess Henrietta von Nassau-Weilburg introduced the Christmas tree to Vienna in Austria, and the custom spread fast. Also in France, in 1840, the Christmas tree was first introduced and then spread.
The Christmas tree was also introduced to Japan in the 19th century. In 1860, the mission of Prussia decorated a Christmas tree in a diplomatic establishment. It was the first time to put a Christmas tree up in Japan.
Now Christmas trees are popular with not only Christians but also other people. But there are some differences in how long the trees have been decorated in other countries.
Traditionally, Christmas trees aren't decorated until December 24, when Christ was born, and they aren't removed until January 6. If the trees are kept up for longer or shorter than this period, it is considered bad luck.
However, recently, the traditions have become a little different. For example, in the UK, the tree is put up much earlier; in shops it goes up often as early as late October. This happens America also. There, Christmas trees are usually put up after Thanksgiving, on the fourth Tuesday in November, and removed right after the New Year. Yet some Americans don't put the trees up until the second week of December, and keep them decorated until the 6th of January.
Like this, the Christmas tree has a history and a lot of various customs. Did you know that? 117-5 Nagatomo Schun

The Improved Games

Do you like playing games? If I am asked this, it is difficult to answer. I have played games since I was seven. My father gave me a Pocket Monster game then. Though I had known TV games, I didn’t know about “The Game Boy”. It is small and easy to carry. I remember that I was really interested in it.
I heard that my mother had been afraid that I would play games every day, but I didn’t. This is because I came to know that I was not good at playing games. After I was given a Pokémon game, I bought “Hoshi no Kirby 2”,”Sarugecchu” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. But I could finish none of them. I thought that “Sarugecchu” was easy to finish. At first, it was easy to get Piposal(the name of the monkeys). I could use the tools well. But as I finished more and more stages, the Piposal became stronger and stronger. I was really shocked! They ran away, kicked me, punched me, and finally fired a gun at me! So I came not to play it.
There is only one game that I can play. That is Pokémon. I have five Pokémon games. Pokémon is better and better, so I like it. Recently, I bought Pokémon Diamond. It is so interesting! The picture is so much clearer than the first one, and the story is more interesting. I heard that it is very popular now. I hope that many students in this school will play it.
116-2 Saki Nabeta

tableau

You let a pencil tip slide over a piece of granulated piece of hot pressed paper. What’s the big deal about this? Logically thinking, random lines of smeared graphite accumulating into patches of different densities all over the open area creating tones and shades couldn’t possibly mean that much. Even if it also assumes color value, why would it become a thing that so many people should care about?
Even the most famous pieces of artwork can be broken down to these simple conclusions if only human emotions and senses were some things that could be easily ignored. After all, what we call “art” can become meaningless scrap if you set your perspective on how practical the item is. There really is no use to the Mona Lisa other than putting in on the wall to look at it and have it decorate the wall – which would also be a way to entertain our vision anyway. The reason why the masterpieces become masterpieces that are worth all the attention and maybe even more than its given, all starts at the point that every human has a “heart” – in a poetic way. Leonardo DaVinci had a set of emotions to his heartstrings, and so did any other artist you can name. That feeling, instinct, and all of what his or her senses bring in as information are condensed into the space flowing from the artist to the medium, to the artwork, and finally to the one who views it. A piece of artwork is there because there was one who created the piece itself, one who made the medium, and one who saw it afterwards.
However wonderful the artwork may be, it has no use unless someone gives it a glance to feel whatever was given to the piece. A masterpiece is not something to let the flow stop, and accumulate – that is just an opening for a person to get rid of their uncalled for emotions. Art is a representative of the one who made it, which is the key that makes it so important in all cultures. And so, like any other person, it has a need to associate with others, as well.
117-2-31 Shifumi Nagase

Christmas Cake

Christmas is coming. This year, are you going to eat any Christmas cake? If you’d like to eat some, what kind of cake will you choose? There are many kinds of Christmas cake in the world.

In Japan, the most popular Christmas cake is sponge cake with whipped cream or butter cream, decorated with strawberry, chocolate, a little Santa Claus, and a Christmas tree made of sugar. Some of the Japanese and Korean Christmas cakes have candles that are similar to those on a birthday cake, but European and American people don’t have the habit of putting candles on Christmas cake. Ice cake (it is a cake made of only ice cream) is also a popular Christmas cake in Japan.

Bûche de noël is a French Christmas cake. It is called Yule log or chocolate log in English. Noël means Christ mas, and Bûche means log in french. Bûche de noël is not so difficult to make for us. Cover uncut rollcake with butter cream mixed with cocoa, and draw the pattern of a log on it by using a fork, and decorate it with chocolate for tree branches and whipped cream for snow.

Christmas Pudding is a tradittional Christmas sweet in Britain and Ireland. It is steamed cake with dry fruit, nuts, rum or brandy, and spice. Many households have their own recipe for Christmas pudding, often handed down in the family.

Stollen is a German traditional bread-like cake. It is usually eaten during the Christmas season. It is named Stollen because it looks like a tunnel. Powdered sugar is sprinkled on it to seem that baby Jesus Christ is wrapped in swaddling clothes, suitable for a newborn baby. Stollen is more popular than Christmas cake for Germans.

Panettone is a typical cake of Milan. It is usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas, and it is also made for Easter. It is a type of bread with dry fruits, for example raisins, plums, and orange peels. Panettone means big bread. Panettone can stay for about six months, so people eat it not only on Christmas but also throughout the winter.

If you are interested in and think you now want to eat foreign Christmas cake, try some this Christmas. You can find any recipe by searching on Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com/)

116-3 Hanako Okamoto

The Sea Colors

“Why is the color of the sea blue?” Have you ever heard such a question? And perhaps some of the second grade students think, “Why is the color of the sea in Okinawa emerald green?” This time, though it is out of season, I'd like to answer these questions.
When the sun gets in the sea, the water absorbs red lights and reflects the blue lights. So, we feel the sea color is blue. This is the answer to the first question. However, the answer isn't only this. These days it is said that it's not true that the sea color is blue because the sea reflects the sky. But there is one theory which says that that is one factor for the sea appearing blue. According to the theory, we feel the sea color is blue in the sea because the sea absorbs red lights, but we feel the sea color is blue from out of the sea because the sea reflects the sky’s blue. Anyway, the particular machinery of this is not certain.
Then, why is the sea color not only blue? Why are the colors of the sea in Okinawa or other beautiful seas emerald green? This is because the sunlight hits not only water. For example, when the sunlight hits the plankton, the plankton absorb red lights and blue lights, and put out the orange lights or green lights. So, if there is lots of plankton, the sea looks green-brown. The sea in Tokyo has a lot of plankton, so the sea looks brown and doesn't look transparent. The sea in Okinawa and other beautiful seas have little plankton, so the sea is clear. And in the shallow part of the sea there, white sand reflects the sun light, so the sea looks emerald green.

There are various colors in the sea. It depends on the depth, the number of plankton, and whether we are in or out of the sea. These colors seem to express the condition of the sea. Which sea colors do you like?

116-3 Nanami Miura