Janpanese Culture- Cosplay (BY Nicole)

Cosplay is a short form for "costume play". It is an activity in which participants wear costumes and accessories to act and represent a specific character or idea from animations, fictions, video games,comic books and films, etc.

Initially "cosplay" was a promotion strategy. In the1980s, Tokyo Game Show was held in Japan. Some exhibitors wore costumes and accessories to act as the characters from the games so as to get attentions from audiences. They were called "Brand ambassador" in the beginning. Later some animation-lovers imitated those "brand ambassador" to wear customs in some private gatherings. 

The Internet fosters the creation of social-networking between animation-lovers. They share stories,news,photographs to each other. They even have regular gatherings. This gradually increases the number of participants in Cosplay activity. Cosplay is thus getting much more popular. Finally Cosplay becomes an unique culture of Japan. 

Cosplay is generally considered different from Halloween.It is because wearing customs in Halloween is a tradition and activity to reflect the culture. However the purpose of Cosplayers is to accurately copy the characters. In order to replicate characters accurately, most of the customs and accessories are made by the Cosplayers themselves. Apart from customs and accessories some Cosplayers will pay much attentions on other details so as to act as the characters such as body languages and dialogues.

Some people may think that Cosplayers are too addicted to animations and comics. Some even criticize that Cosplay is a waste of time and money that Cosplayers won't get anything from it. Some extreme thought say that Cosplayers are strange and label them as "otaku". In my opinion, Cosplay is a kind of hobby. It is a method to show and express the adoration and appreciation to the characters by the Cosplayers. It can encourage the producers and related creative industry. Moreover Cosplayers make much efforts in Cosplay such as making customs and accessories. They can get satisfactions and confidence in Cosplay. We have no right to stop or criticize them but should try to accept or even appreciate their works.

Buzzer Beat (By Percy)

‘Buzzer Beat’ in Japan

Concerning to Japan, I am very interested on its soap opera. Last year, I watched one of them which is called ‘Buzzer Beat(零秒出手) ’.  It is a story about love and pursuit dream. It is inspiring for teens because the main character has the common interest just like us is playing basketball. When we do something related to our interests, we seldom think of fighting for it to become our future jobs. But in this soap opera, the two main characters try to work hard to make their lives different.

Also, the other reason I like it is the two main characters ‘山下智久’ and ‘北川景子’ ( I apologize that I don’t know how to express their names in English). Both of them are fad and famous movie stars. This absolutely is one of selling point in this drama.

This drama actually is well-known in Hong Kong too because it was a TV program in 2005.Many teens who born in 80S-90S watched it before. And it is a discussing topic between adolesents .

UK - Afternoon Tea (By Dorothy)

  Along with the increasing demand of tea and the formation of afternoon tea culture, it seems that there are considerable tea-related expressions in Hong Kong. Recently, many people love going to the hotel or some western restaurant to enjoy the traditional afternoon tea, three-storey display have become more popular in our social network. 

  Frankly, afternoon tea involves things like manners, lace and dainty foods. It is typically served in the mid-afternoon and it was traditionally served on low tables. Historically, afternoon tea was considered to be a ladies' social occasion, and it is more often enjoyed by women than men to this day.

  Traditionally, high tea was a working class meal served on a high table at the end of the workday, shortly after five PM. It was a heavy meal of meat dishes (such as steak and kidney pie), fish dishes (such as pickled salmon), baked goods (such as crumpets or, in Ireland, barm brack), vegetables (such as potatoes or onion cakes), and other heavy foods (such as baked beans and cheesy casseroles).

High tea was much more of a working class family meal than it was an elite social gathering.

  

On my point of view, I think high tea is a kind of life style, it aims at gathering a group of like sitting around to talk instead of being a " show off tool "! To me, I love having a afternoon tea with my family when we are free^_^

                                                                           My Dad

Japan - food 日本美食 By Candice

When you talk about Japanese food, the first few things you would think about are miso 

soups, sushi and hand-pull noodles. In Hong Kong, you can easily notice the Japanese 

restaurant around you.

Now I would like to introduce different symbolic food one by one:

First, miso soups (味噌湯みそしる), they are the most common soup in Japan, since all family

includes miso soups in their daily meals. In all Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong, you must

be able to order miso soups, which are also very popular among Hong Kong people.

Moreover, you can buy the powder of miso soups in many convenience stores like Welcome

(惠康) and 759 (阿信屋).

Second, hand-pull noodles. Japanese noodles (日本拉麵) are becoming as important as rice in  
Hong Kong. Even though noodles are invented by the Chinese, but they are improved by the 

Japanese. That’s why noodles are popular in both countries. However, there are totally 

different kinds of soups in Japan, e.g. high soup. Because of this, a few stores selling 

Japanese noodles have become a hot topic. For example, people in Hong Kong would like to 

queue up for 6 hours to eat noodles in Ichiran (天然豚骨拉麵專門店一蘭 ).

  

Last but not least, sushi (壽司 すし) is the Japanese traditional food I love the most. You can 

also order it in all Japanese restaurants. Also, there are roulette sushi restaurant in Hong 

Kong, like Genryoku Sushi and Sushi Express. The main characteristic of sushi is raw fish(魚

生), such as Salmon(鮪魚) , octopus(章魚) and conch(螺). Though there are many 

controversies against the raw fish, I will not stop eating sushi because I really love it! 

United Kingdom- places 英國景點 (By Candice)

我很希望跟你們分享我最嚮往的英國著名地方，但在此之前，我先介紹一下英國首都─倫敦。

黑夜比白天更美的倫敦(London)

比起香港，倫敦的建築物各具特色，而且有些更有古老英國風格，令黑夜中的倫敦添一分色彩！另外，倫敦更有不少名勝：

1、特拉法加廣場(Trafalgar Square)

l   位於倫敦市中心，是倫敦交通的樞紐

l   是世界上最出色的公共廣場

l   場中矗立著納爾遜紀念柱，柱頭有銅像

l   基柱附近尚有各戰役的浮雕

2、聖馬丁教堂(St. Martin-in-the-Fields)

l   是特拉法加廣場附近最古老的建築物

l   白金漢宮的轄區教堂，因此英國王室的人員皆在此受洗

l   教堂內經常有舉 辦室內樂演奏，可一飽耳福

3、國會觀光區

l   維多利亞塔(Victoria Tower) 是倫敦現存最高的塔樓

l   大笨鐘(Big Ben) 以它巨大的鐘面聞名

現在就介紹一下我最喜愛的英國景點：

1、劍橋(Cambridge)

l   從小至今，劍橋在我心中是一處遙不可及的地方。

l   國王學院(King's College)：是美侖美奐的哥德式建築。可能是因為我嚮往童話故事，因此我

     十分欣賞哥德式建築。

l   而且，位於劍橋的三一學院(Trinity College)：是劍橋的光榮所在，共出過28位諾貝爾獎得主，頓時令劍橋這地方充滿書卷味。

l   最後還有聖約翰學院(St John's)：於1511年由Lady Margaret Beaufort創立。院內河上的仿威尼斯所興建的嘆息橋(Bridge of Sighs)，是我小時候唸「再別康橋」所引起的濃厚興趣。

2、英國凡爾賽－漢普頓宮(Hampton Court Palace)

l   漢普頓宮有「英國的凡爾賽宮」之稱

l   我喜歡這地方全因為這王宮完全依照都鐸式風格興建，是世上其中一處最華麗的建築。

l   當中的國寓(State Apartment)更是絕不可錯過。

l   而且花園是典型的英國庭園，優雅寧靜，園內還有一個英國式迷宮，十分有趣。

Festival- Halloween (BY Nicole)

 
The date of Halloween is 31 October. Halloween originated from United Kingdom. Initially Halloween was named Samhain. People believed that it was the time where the spirits and ghosts could come back to the physical world and the lived could meet the dead.

Later the festival of Samhain was renamed as Halloween and was commercialized by adding of different traditions like putting up customs, "trick or treat",visiting haunted attractions, etc.

Style of Halloween costumes diversify from place to place. However ideas of the costumes mainly come from horror things such as monsters, ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. People usually wear Halloween costumes and have party together. Examples of common party games are dunking or apple bobbing, walnut shells and fortune teller. There are other Activities like telling of ghost stories and viewing of horror films. 

Trick or treat is a tradition activity for children. They will put on customs and visit neighbors house asking "trick or treat?". The "trick" of  "trick or treat" means a"threat" to play tricks if no "treat" is given. Usually adult will prepare some sweets, snacks or a small gifts as "treat" for children.

Haunted attractions are entertainment venues designed to thrill and scare patrons. People especially teenagers like visiting haunted attractions as activity for Halloween.  

In UK people treat Halloween as an important traditional festival, they will celebrate it for about a week. Apart from the above traditions and activities they will also decorate their houses by putting up pumpkin lantern (which aims to threat the ghosts and spirits in the past but change to be as a kind of decoration now). They will make Halloween food like candy apples, soul cakes and pumpkin pies. While in Hong Kong, people treat Halloween as a "game day" rather than a festival due to commercial reasons. Theme park like Disney and Ocean Park set up haunted attractions. Lots of horror films will be screened too. Sometimes people will put on customs and held parties. However traditions like "trick or treat" and making traditional Halloween food are all missed in Hong Kong. 

Actually I think "trick or treat" is a funny and interesting tradition of Halloween. However because of the difference in culture, it's quite awkward to visit some unknown people asking " trick or treat". I really want to try once in UK if I have chance.

BY Nicole

Famous UK brands in Hong Kong (by Percy)

I hang out with my friend in Tsim Sha Tsui this Thursday. She is a shopaholic and went across in different shops in Harbour City. I was very surprised that she knows every brand in the shopping mall very well. For example, Fred Perry, Jackwills etc. 

These brands were created in UK

.Actually, it is common for teenagers of Hong Kong to know these brands.

Jackwills is one of famous brand between us. It is not difficult to see that our classmates and friends own its products. The designs of products focus on ‘Simple’ that means the patterns are not really complicated: Just some flowered and horizontal lines. At the same time, the British national flag and pink color is the sign of Jackwills. Hong Kong teenagers are keen on ‘western products’ and ‘simple’ all the way. Therefore, when Jackwills appeared in Hong Kong, teens adore it then products of Jackwills, like bottles, wallets, stationaries, seem suffuse in our campuses.

Fred Perry is another well-known brand in Hong Kong. It was also created from Uk and its image is also'easy and simple'.The clothings and other products are mainly made to checked patterns .

Fred Perry and Jackwills are just two examples .It is fast that brands which appeared in Uk first open their branches in Hong Kong later .Even this is a phenomenon between adolescents in Hong Kong , those brands are quite expensive for a student. I hope that there existed a change later that is teens do not addict to those Uk brands but support the local brands .