Lesson Title: Japanese Culture Day

Class and Grade level(s): Fifth grade

Goals
1. and Objectives - The student will be able to:
o2. Compare and contrast a Japanese school day with an American one
o Analyze why Japanese homes have to be different than ours
o Compare and contrast Japanese lifestyles to ours
o Create chochin--Japanese lanterns to decorate for lunch
o Practice using chopsticks
o Paint on their chopsticks
o Compare and contrast Japanese food to American food
o Recognize that rice and tea are served at most Japanese meals
o Taste seaweed and discuss its uses
o Taste tofu
o Cook okazu
o Eat with chopsticks at Japanese lunch
o Create an ikebana arrangement with silk flowers, twigs, etc.
o Try on Japanese kimono, happi, yukata, geta and tabi
o Participate in a simplified tea ceremony
o Watch a “Sailor Moon” Japanese cartoon
o Play “Ishi--Hasami--Kami” (Rock—Scissors—Paper)
o Play Japanese Jeopardy to review what they’ve learned
o Enjoy a demonstration of karate
o Divide into teams and play one of Japan’s favorite sports-baseball

Time required/class periods needed: Lesson plan will take place over most of two days.
Fifth grade students will rotate to classrooms where they will be assisted by teachers with helpers from
our high school. Lead teacher will instruct fellow teachers about what they will be doing with their
groups. Assessment will take place on the third day.

Primary source bibliography:

Good Apple ,1992
Connecting Social Studies and Literature #345, Teacher Created Materials, Inc. 1992
http://japanese-tea-ceremony.net/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDvEVq73Brk Make a chochin video
http://www.jinjapan.org/%20kidsweb/%20japan/a.html
http://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/exhibits-programs/exhibits/japanese-house A virtual tour of a
Japanese house
http://www.timeforkids.com/destination/japan/day-in-life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8ImmS-RwlA (youtube video: You will want to delete or somehow hid
the comments)
http://www.tattoosales.com/asiankanjitattoos.aspx temporary tattoos
 Primary source bibliography cont.:
http://www.steamykitchen.com/custom-search?gcs=japanese+recipes
http://findpdf.net/documents/japanese-bento-cookbook.html (This is a free
downloadable PDF)

Other resources used: This lesson requires cooperation among all the 5th grade teachers, and the a
teacher (for chochin), prior introductory knowledge of Japanese history and geography (It would be best i
the lesson on Japanese Geography were done before undertaking this one) and an overview of the
language as well as parent involvement. You can involve the music teacher for background on Japanese
music. Enlisting the aid of high school students is a good idea especially if your high school offers Japanes
language and the students can be recruited from this class.

Required materials/supplies:
o Pictures of Japanese schools, homes, daily lives from websites, magazines, postcards, books
o Recipes for Japanese foods
o “Answers” for Japanese Jeopardy
o Chopsticks, cups for tea, lunchroom trays to eat on
o Balloons, newspaper, paste, brushes and construction paper for chochin.
o Green tea, tofu, seaweed, ingredients of Japanese okazu
o Pictures of ikebana arrangements
o Accumulation of silk flowers, twigs, small pots, clay
o Kimonos, happi coats, yukatas, getas, and tabis
o Japanese cartoon
o Hotplate for tea ceremony
o Homemade Japanese Jeopardy game
o Local karate instructor

Vocabulary: uchi, hon, ikebana, ishi, ocha, nori, ima, sensei, chanoyu, hasami, sushi, ramen,
shinshitsu, kimono, okazu, kami, soba, satoim, tatami, shoji, sukiyaki, cho-chin, teriyaki, sashimi, gakko,
futon, tempura, hashi, tofu, gochiso, besoboru

Procedure:
Introduction
The students will learn about typical Japanese homes, schools and food, traditional dress and some
traditional arts. Unit will end with a Japanese Culture Day on which students in will rotate from room to roo
doing various activities and abiding by certain Japanese customs such as taking their shoes off, cleaning u
after themselves and calling their teachers “sensei”. For lunch, they will eat Japanese food prepared by
parents from recipe websites above or their own cookbooks.

Day 1
First Period : Divide students into groups . Let each group explore one of the websites.

o Group 1--read, discuss, and prepare a talk about roles of fathers, mothers and children and
record in their daily journals
o Group 2--do the same about schools in Japan
o Group 3--do the same about Japanese homes

While one group presents, the other groups will take notes in their daily journals. Teacher will add to
these discussions
Procedure cont.:

Second Period: Lead students into an art activity to make chochins (small lanterns) which will be used
to decorate the music room for the luncheon. As students work on lanterns teacher will explain how
lanterns were used in the past and how they are used in present day Japan as ornaments.

Third Period: Have a local karate teacher come in to talk about, demonstrate and teach a little karate.

Fourth Period: Teacher will conduct a simplified “Tea Ceremony” so that students can participate in the
formal, serious, quiet ritual. They will taste green tea and rice crackers. They will write their
impressions of the tea ceremony in their journals. Often universities will have tea ceremony practitioners
that are willing to do demonstrations at schools.

Fifth Period: Watch a Japanese cartoon-”Anime”. Discuss differences between these and American
cartoons.

Day 2
First Period: Instruct students on use of chopsticks. Let students practice picking up shrimp chips.
Show examples of how chopsticks can be decorated, then let students decorate their own using fine
point pens.

Second Period: Discuss and read about Japanese foods. Show pictures and look at recipes.
Emphasize the rice, tea, and fish in typical Japanese diets. Sample seaweed and talk about how it is
used in many American frozen foods. Sample tofu and talk about its health value and uses. Students
will work together to make okazu using recipes below. Students will chop and add to pot: tomatoes,
squash, onions, peppers, celery, eggplant and tofu. This will be served over rice at our luncheon.

Third Period: Discuss flower arranging – ikebana – in Japan. Explain that in Japan people go to special
schools to learn how to do Ikebana. Let the boys know that even the samurai did it. Show pictures
accumulated from old calendars. Allow students time to make their own ikebana arrangements using silk
flowers, twigs, pinecones, feathers, etc. The emphasis will be on natural beauty, color, and balance in
the arrangement.

Fourth Period: Decorate the class room with chochin and ikebana arrangements. Arrange pillows on
the floor for everyone to sit on. Cue Japanese music. As parents arrive with food we will arrange it on
the table and get ready for the other classes to come in.

Lunch Time: Students will remove their shoes, and come into the room quietly-ready to eat with their
chopsticks. They will bow to the teachers and parents. Parent-guests and teachers will go serve
themselves first. Students will clean up, just as they do in Japan: They will wash off tables, rinse out
bowls, and sweep.

Fifth Period: Students will try on Japanese traditional clothing. A high school student will be there to
help and take pictures of groups as they are dressed up. Those waiting their turn will play “Rock-
Scissors-Paper” using Japanese words. Japanese music continues.

Sixth Period: Students will be put into teams and play Jeopardy using questions about Japan. After the
game each team will receive a Kanji Tattoo purchased from website above or students can copy kanji
using a washable marker.

Seventh Period: Divide students into teams and go outside to play one of Japan’s favorite sports—
besuboru (baseball).
Assessment/evaluation: Students will be assessed on the following:
Day 3 Assessment:

o Make sure all activity papers, art projects, information papers are stored in students’ Japanese
portfolios. These will be graded and sent home.

o Put students into groups of 3. Give each group a piece of poster board. Give them 15 minutes
to list as many things as they can about Japan. Each group will talk about their poster and each
student will tell what they enjoyed doing the most.

o Have students bow to their sensei upon leaving for the day.