January 12th was "Seijin no hi (Coming of Age Day)", which honors young people who have turned, or who will turn, 20 during the current year. In Japan at the age of 20 you are able to smoke, drink alcohol, have the right to vote and get married without one's parent's permission. You can also bet on horse racing, which is quite popular in Japan.　I didn't feel anything special when I turned 20. I was in the second year of the University and was enjoying life as a student. There were not many things that I needed to worry about. I think the good thing about being young is that you are fearless and you think anything is possible. I guess I should still try and keep that spirit. Japanese translation

Did you enjoy the holidays? Christmas in the west is such a fun time, but after Christmas is over, I always feel it's little too quiet and something is missing. In Japan, New Year's is the biggest holiday of the year. When I was little, I was so excited about New Year's Day that I used to count how many more sleeps until it arrived. I love its festive atmosphere. I really miss the Japanese New Year. I wish I could go to a shrine and pray for happiness in the New Year, like I would in Japan. Anyway, as for my "Japanese Language" site, I will continue to do my best to make it better. Your comments or suggestions are always welcome. I wish you a Happy New Year. Japanese translation

There are some areas that have a lot of snow in Japan. Nagano hosted the Winter Olympics in 1998. Skiing and snowboarding is quite popular, especially among young people. Since my hometown, Kobe, doesn’t have much snow, I always get excited when it snows. There is a Japanese word, "yukigeshou," which means, "to be covered by a blanket of snow". It is written with the kanji characters for "yuki (snow)" and "geshou/keshou (makeup)". I think snow is so beautiful, and it does completely change familiar scenery. Japanese translation

I saw a survey of popular Japanese names for 2008. The top 5 names for boys are, "Hiroto," "Ren," and occupying third, fourth and fifth spot (each version spelt with a different combination of kanji characters), "Yuuto". The top 5 names for girls are, "Aoi," "Yui," "Hina," "Rin" and "Yua". Since Japanese names are usually written in kanji (sometime in hiragana), even the same name can be written in many different ways. There are many cute sounding girls’ names today compared with the names of my generation. I found the name "Kokoa" at 17th in the rankings. It uses kanji characters, but it sounds like "cocoa". I never imagined "Kokoa" being used as a name, but I thought it is kind of cute. Japanese translation