Day 4

Culture Classes
The second culture class of the year differed in all ways from the previous. Japanese climate and geography is quite a change from traditional food and categorization, but was no less interesting. We took a scenic virtual tour through the mountains, valleys, lakes, and jungles of Japan and meet several interesting animals unique only to specific regions. Japan is broken into 5 islands, Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa, each with its own geography and inhabitants. Among these are the higuma (brown bear) of Hokkaido, nihon kamoshika (serow) of Honshu, and the Iriomote cat of Okinawa. The gorgeous scenery panned out before us: towering Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan, Lake Biwa, the Yoshino River. It was interesting to discover new sights and learn the Japanese names that go with them. Spoken in the traditional and native language, these names give each area greater fascination and complexity. Today’s class was not merely a powerpoint of beautiful pictures with little value to the students of JLA, but instead, more like a peek inside the life and times of Japan.





Jillian


Cooking Class: Yakisoba
After language class, we rode a city bus to the U.Va. Lorna Sundberg International Center to cook yakisoba (焼きそば), a type of Japanese pan-fried noodles. The ingredients for yakisoba consist of pork meat, noodles, cabbage, onions, carrots, and mushrooms, all of which are stir-fried with yakisoba sauce. We divided into four groups and took turns chopping vegetables, frying the noodles, and cooking the meat. With cooperation and synergetic efforts, we not only learned cooking techniques, but gained more knowledge of Japanese cuisine.

Lizzi