こんにちは! Konnichiwa! Hello!

Japan Fun Facts

By: Megan Mendoza

Nolan Ryan has a wide variety of cultures and ethnicities. Here we feature one of them: Japan!

Japanese culture has been vibrant and diverse ever since 10,000 BC when the Jomon settled in Japan and has had been acclaimed for their traditional arts. With an interesting history, it elucidates an impression that Japan’s modern day pop culture as intriguing. Here is a part of their compelling culture as facts:

• In Japan, Kit Kat candy bars comes in flavors like grilled corn, Camembert cheese, Earl Gray tea, grape, sweet potato, wasabi and more! It is pronounced as “Kitto Katsu” which appears as sounding similar to “you are sure to pass” and therefore is a notorious gift to students during entrance exam season.
• We all know anime, but do you wonder why we do? Anime- Japanese films/TV shows account for a major 60% of the world’s animation-based entertainment. It is so successful that Japan has about 130 voice-acting schools in the country.
• Over 2 billion manga- Japanese graphic novels are sold each year!
• More than 5 billion servings of instant ramen noodles are consumed each year!
• Japan has around 5.5 million vending machines, meaning there’s one on almost every street corner!

DIY:

Sure you’ve heard of origami, but have you yet heard of kirigami? Kirigami, literally translated to cut paper, is a form of paper art that is cut and folded. It is typically symmetrical and is not glued.

How to Cut a Five-Pointed Star

1. Take a 8.5" x 11" piece of paper and fold it in half.
2. Fold in half again to mark the quarter-way point. Unfold.
3. Bring the bottom left corner to the quarter-way mark at the
4. right edge of the paper.
5. Fold the bottom right corner over-top the left edge.
6. Fold the bottom right over-top the left side one more time.
7. You will get a pizza shape.
8. Cut a wedge out of the bottom of the pizza shape:
9. cut from bottom right up towards top left.
10. Unfold the wedge and see a perfect five pointed star. If you
11. cut a narrow wedge then you will get a star with skinny arms.
12. If you cut a fat wedge, then you will get a stumpy star.
13. Experiment and have fun!

じゃあね! Jaa ne! See you!