Thank you very much for participating the sessions yesterday! The topic of the month was 'Taboos in your country'. It was very interesting to know that giving a watch is not a very good present in China. The reason is that they feel like their life is limited and counting down starts with the watch. In Japan, it is nice to receive a watch as it is normally an expensive present and many people feel they are valued. I hope you had a great time to discovver your own culture and others.

先日は「日本語を話す会」「英語を話す会」にご参加くださり、どうもありがとうございました。今月のトピックは「自国のタブー」についてでしたが、興味深かったのは中国では時計をプレゼントするのはあまりいいことだと思われていないそうです。これはもらった側が余生をカウントダウンするイメージがあるからだそうです。逆に日本では時計をもらうと嬉しい人が多いのではないでしょうか。値の張るものをいただくというのはある意味大切に思われていると感じる人が多いかもしれません。今回も日本について、また他の参加者の国々についてより多くのことを学ぶ機会となったなら幸いでございます。

Thank you very much for joining JAPAN FOCUS yesterday.

I am glad to hear that the topic was fascinating and you learnt a lot about Geisha world. It was also good for Japanese people to have gained more knowledge about the culture which is one of the most interesting topics for foreigners. The presenter, Lesley Downer, explined the high standard of the skills of entertaining and the dresses and hair styles of Geisha. They are well-trained in dancing and playing music.They always make sure that they make their customers feel absolutely pleased by providing high standard service. Lesley said that Geisha are very strong women and I can believe that people who are trained so hard must have strong mentality.

I am very pleased that Lesley is happy with contributing to JAPAN FOCUS more in the future.
Next topic will be on 'Traditional Japanese food'. I will inform you the details next year!
I really appreciate for kind support from Lesley.