Dear Moka Girls High School Staff and Students,

How are you? I hope this diary entry finds you all well. December is coming up soon and I’m already about to explode because of the excitement I feel for the upcoming Christmas season! As the song goes, ‘It’s the most wonderful time of the year’. At least in a Western sense, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. For me, the time leading up to Christmas on December 25^th, starting on December 1^st is when I am the most happy. Perhaps the one thing I love more than Christmas is actually waiting for Christmas. I love decorating our house and filling it with the spirit of the season. I love going shopping for Christmas presents at the busy shopping malls and shopping streets in Toronto and fighting with other shoppers for the perfect gifts for my friends and family. Finally, I love cooking meals and sweets, such as turkey, ham, cheesecake, and cookies all with a Christmas theme.  

In my family, because we all love Christmas, our celebrations start traditionally on December 1^st when we put up all our Christmas decorations outside and inside the house. Outside the house, we hang multi-coloured lights and put up our Snoopy Christmas decorations that light up at night. On our front door, we hang a big Christmas wreath, which is a ring of green pine branches decorated with shiny Christmas ornaments, bells, and balls. The Christmas wreath is a sign of our welcoming the Christmas season, but also that our house is welcome to all of our guests. Inside the house, we hang red, green, and gold garland and tinsel to make our house festive, light up red coloured candles and play cheerful Christmas music all through the house. The most important part of the Christmas decorations however, is our Christmas Tree. In my house, I was always responsible for decorating and the most important job in decorating was the trimming of the Christmas tree. ‘Trimming’ in this sense does not mean ‘cutting’ but rather ‘decorating’ the tree with pretty Christmas lights and ornaments and last but not least, putting the star up on the top of the tree. When the Christmas tree is light up, the whole house transforms into a Christmas wonderland. It is as if your house becomes something else, something magical and mesmerizing.

Christmas time, although originally intended for the Christian celebration of Jesus’ birth, it is now celebrated, especially in Canada because we are less religious, by Christians and non-Christians alike because it is a time for family. The most important part of Christmas is spending that time with the ones you love. In a way, Christmas is just like Oshougatsu お正月 in Japan. Oshougatsu is about spending time at home with family and eating special types of food. In Canada, Christmas is also about spending time with family and eating special types of food. During shougatsu, Japanese people eat お節料理and for Christmas in Canada, we eat Christmas feasts. Just like how osechi varies between families and places, so too does Christmas feasts. Some people eat Turkey with stuffing, other people eat glazed and roasted ham; some people even eat both! In addition to turkey or ham, families usually also eat mashed potatoes with gravy, chestnut pudding, and fruitcake. In my family, we don’t eat fruitcake but rather I make a Christmas cheesecake for us to share. I would like to thank all the students who taught me about Shougatsu. I hope one day I will be able to experience Shougatsu, but I also hope all of you can experience a Western Christmas, especially a White Christmas – when there is snow outside on Christmas Day. There is no better feeling than being inside a house with your family surrounded by Christmas decorations, music, and a feast of food when it is cold and snowing outside.

In the year 1918, at the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month, World War I finally came to an end. To memorialize all those people who lost their lives in the war and also as a sign of respect to those who survived fighting in World War I (and all other wars Canadians fought in after WWI), known as veterans, Canadians and people in all Commonwealth countries (former colonies of Great Britain) participate in solemn ceremonies called Remembrance Day. At 11:00am on November 11^th, every year, Canadians across the country stop whatever they are doing in order to participate in one minute of silence to remember the dead. Canadians also wear red poppies on their coats starting at the beginning of November until November 11th which are bought from veterans and volunteers with peoples’ donations which go to help take care of veterans.

There are three reasons why Canadians wear red poppies (a type of flower) for Remembrance Day. First, it is because the flowers grew everywhere on the battlefields where soldiers fought. They were one of the only flowers that grew in such harsh wartime conditions. Second, their deep red colour also symbolizes the bloodshed during the war from all the soldiers. The graveyards of the soldiers in Europe are also filled with wild red poppies that grow everywhere, almost like they were feeding off the dead. However, the main reason why Canadians wear poppies to remember the soldiers is because of a poem written by a Canadian Doctor who was killed while trying to save the lives of soldiers in WWI. This Canadian Doctor’s name was John McCrae and the poem he wrote was called In Flanders Fields.

Below, I will write out the poem for you all to read. I would like you all, on this day, to remember all the sacrifices of soldiers made by all soldiers on everyone’s behalf. Everyone, in every country, should give respect to the people who fought for their country. Although  Japan does not have a military now, and because Canada is a peaceful country, both our countries can recognize the sacrifices made by those who fought a long time ago in order to protect our futures. Both Japan and Canada also have ‘peacekeepers’ stationed around the world in places like Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan. So please, I ask you all to take some time out of your day to remember those who died in the line of battle and hope that never again do we ever have to face any other wars. I hope we never again have to sacrifice innocent lives in the name of war. Please, read the poem and hope that peace will continue forever, that is the true meaning of Remembrance Day!

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

To My Dearest Moka,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am perfectly fine. I love living and working with you and occasionally with your neighbor, Motegi. Though I love to travel, in my honest opinion, there is no better way to spend a weekend than staying here at home with you. I love shopping at Fukudaya on Sundays in the early morning saying ‘おはようございます’ to your residents. I enjoy being with the elderly women and men who I love competing with to buy discounted groceries! I also enjoy the unexpected meetings with students from Moka Girls High, Moka High, Night, Technical and even Motegi High School at Eon when I am wondering the aisles, trying to understand the unique Japanese products. I thank your citizens for being so warm to me Moka. Though I understand some people are still too afraid or too shy to approach me I am forever grateful and touched by even the simplest smile or friendly greeting your people have given me.

I am from Canada, so I love witnessing the changing of the seasons. Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring… I embrace all four seasons and I am glad that Japan also has all four. The hot and humid days of Summer are not coming back until next year and I am finally beginning to feel the cool and crisp Autumn season in your air. Although I enjoy all four seasons, Autumn is my favourite of them all. In America, Autumn is usually called Fall, and in Britain, Fall is usually called Autumn. But in Canada, we use both names to describe this season; both words have the same meaning.

Fall has also begun in Toronto, and the leaves are changing from their lively green to more surreal tones of bright red, orange, and yellow. Here are some pictures from Toronto where you can start to see the changing of the colours:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=65897651&postcount=6472

and

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=65924997&postcount=3005

Sadly, you won’t be able to see the photos if you’re viewing them from a computer at school, so please try to look at them from home! J

Anyways, I am distracted. Forgive me. Oh Moka, I wish I could show you Toronto like you have shown yourself to me. Two of your students came to show me your beautifully fragrant fall flowers and I was so impressed. Another day, the Vice Principal came to one of my classes to take photos of me teaching. She said that she would write a letter and send some photos to my Mother. I was so touched by this I wanted to cry. Thank you all so much! One day I hope some of your students and your teachers or other people come to Toronto so I can repay my gratitude to you all. You’ve all been very friendly and warm to me and it is this warmth that keeps me warm when I am alone in my apartment when it gets cold. Thank you once again Moka, I love you!

Yours truly,

Matthew

When I was growing up in a small town named Preeceville (its name sounds like ‘peaceful’ and indeed it was very peaceful and very small) in rural Saskatchewan, Canada, the signs of Fall would always be connected to the coming of Halloween. The changing colours of the leaves from lively greens to antique shades of red, orange and yellow and the sudden shifting of the weather’s mood from a warm embrace to a cool handshake told me that the season of costumes, candy, and Jack-O-Lanterns would soon be upon us lucky children.

Before the big day of October 31st, people prepared for Halloween by decorating their houses with signs of the season. Big orange pumpkins (kabocha) are carved with scary and sometimes silly faces and their almond-shaped seeds and gooey innards are scooped out and replaced with glowing candles so that at night their faces come alive! People also string fake spider cobwebs along their doorways and put figurines of ghosts, witches, monsters, and black cats up to make their houses look scary. For my house, all the decorations were with Snoopy dressed up as witches, ghosts, and monsters because I love Snoopy.

On the day of Halloween, October 31^st, my entire school would hold a Costume Contest, so after lunch all classes would be cancelled so we could all change into our scary costumes and celebrate Halloween. Sometimes each class would also have a Halloween party where we’d play Halloween games like bobbing for apples, eat Halloween cake, and candy given to us by the teacher, and drink pop or juice from a witch’s caldron. When we decorated the classroom for our party, it was usually coloured orange, purple and black… because those are the colours of Halloween. After our classroom Halloween party, we would all gather in the gymnasium for the Costume Contest. We would all have a chance to go up on the stage with our class and parade around in our costumes. It was so much fun to see everyone dressed up, even the teachers! Everyone would have lots of fun and in the end winners for best costume would be chosen. One year I dressed up like a Japanese ninja, another year a vampire, and another even a scary old lady! I never won, but just spending time with my classmates and teachers in costume gave me so many happy memories.

After the celebrations at the school were done, my friends and I would go ‘Trick-or-treating’, that is, going door-to-door asking for candy from everyone in the town! On the day of Halloween, every house in my town made sure there was one adult at home who would be responsible for handing out candy. I have done it a few years in Toronto when I was older and it is always so much fun handing out chocolates, potato chips, and candy to children (and even sometimes adults) that would come to ring my door bell and say ‘Trick-or-Treat’! In return for dressing up and showing it off to everyone in the town, the people in costume would get candy from us who stayed at home to give it to them. I always made sure my Mom bought the best kind of candy for the people dressed up like witches, ghosts, fairies, Frankenstein, vampires, even anime characters, Harry Potter, and all other sorts of monsters and creatures. People would go asking for candy until late at night and amidst the glow of Jack-O-Lanterns and the scary decorations, Halloween always seemed like a magical night where the town transformed into something out of my imagination.

Halloween is a very important holiday in Canada and America, and it is one that I wish would happen in Japan as well. Halloween brings us closer to our neighbours and makes our communities stronger because we are all visiting each other and giving each other things. Halloween also creates such good memories for us as children that stay with us even when we are adults. Writing this diary entry now has brought a smile to my face. I hope you can all experience Halloween one day! Until then, Happy Halloween!