listening lab 2023
LISTENING LAB 0423
Step 1: Read the questions below.
質問を読んでください。
1. What kinds of businesses often don’t allow people with visible tattoos to enter?
2. Why are tattoos not widely accepted in Japan?
3. Were hajichi tattoos worn by men, women, or both?
4. What are some countries that may have inspired hajichi tattoos?
5. By when had hajichi tattooing almost completely stopped?
Step 2: Listen to the audio and try to answer the questions.
オーディオを聞いて、 質問に答えて見て下さい。
Step 3: Listen again while you read the article.
記事を読みながら、もう一度聞いてみてください。
The Changing Views on Tattoos in Japan
by Claire Gorant
Japan has a booming tourist business. People from all over the world travel to Japan to visit its historical castles and temples and to enjoy its world-famous cuisine. And of course, no trip to Japan would be complete without taking a dip in one of the thousands of hot springs across the country. Unfortunately, people coming from other countries might find themselves unable to enter the public baths if they answer yes to this question: Do you have a tattoo?
In Japan, tattoos are still not widely accepted, though public opinion is changing. The negative association with organized crime, such as yakuza gangs, means that many companies shy away from hiring people with visible tattoos, and many gyms and hot springs won’t let you in if you have a tattoo that can’t be easily covered with a bandage. However, if you go back a couple of generations, less than a hundred years, tattoos were not only accepted, but were actually a large part of peoples’ lives.
Let’s travel southwest to the island chain of Okinawa, formerly known as the Ryukyu Kingdom. For hundreds of years, traditional tattoos called hajichi were deeply tied to the local culture. Almost exclusively worn by women, the tattoos could mark important points in a woman’s life, symbolize spiritual cleanliness and a path to heaven, or simply be done for fun. In fact, it was not uncommon for girls as young as ten years old to tattoo themselves or their friends.
The tattoos were primarily drawn on fingers and hands, but sometimes reached up the arms. They were hand-poked with a special kind of needle, and were drawn with a mix of charcoal or squid ink and Okinawan alcohol called awamori. The designs were usually simple and geometric, such as straight lines, triangles, and squares, and were often inspired by local animals and plants. It’s not clear exactly when the hajichi tradition began, but most historians believe it was around the 1600s. At that time, the Ryukyu Kingdom was doing a lot of trade with neighboring Southeast and East Asian countries, including the Philippines, Taiwan, and Samoa. Similar styles of tattoos are found in those countries as well, so it’s very possible that they were a source of inspiration for hajichi.
Once the Ryukyu Kingdom was colonized by mainland Japan, however, things started to change. Heavily influenced by Japan’s negative opinion of tattoos, the number of people who decided against getting hajichi began to increase, and by the late 20th century, the hajichi tradition had all but disappeared. But because of the younger generation’s growing interest in rediscovering their history and culture, the Okinawan tattoos are making a comeback. Although many public places and jobs still don’t allow tattoos, artists that use temporary ink are finding ways to keep the tradition alive. As public opinion on tattoos continues to change, and as more and more people work to revive this part of Okinawan culture, it might not be long before tattoos become just another part of the everyday scenery.
Step 4: Check your answers.
答えをチェックしてください。
1. What kinds of businesses often don’t allow people with visible tattoos to enter?
Gyms and hot springs often don't.
2. Why are tattoos not widely accepted in Japan?
Because they are associated with organized crime.
3. Were hajichi tattoos worn by men, women, or both?
They were worn mostly by women.
4. What are some countries that may have inspired hajichi tattoos?
The Philippines, Taiwan and Samoa may have inspired them.
5. By when had hajichi tattooing almost completely stopped?
It had almost completely stopped by the late 20th century.
LISTENING LAB 0223
Step 1: Read the questions below.
質問を読んでください。
1. How long has the heart been associated with love?
2. What was the earliest physical heart symbol found on?
3. Where was the first drawing of a romantic heart found?
4. What was the popular slogan advertising New York in the 1970s?
5. When emojis were first released, how many of them were hearts?
Step 2: Listen to the audio and try to answer the questions.
オーディオを聞いて、 質問に答えて見て下さい。
Step 3: Listen again while you read the article.
記事を読みながら、もう一度聞いてみてください。
Hearts and Love
by Claire Gorant
Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and hearts are everywhere you look. Cards, balloons, cookies — nothing is too big or too small to make heart-shaped. People say that the heart is the sign of love, but why is that? It’s a very important organ; it works hard to keep us alive. But why is it associated with emotions like love? To find the answer, we have to travel back in time more than 2,000 years.
In those days, philosophers and scientists recognized that the heart was connected to our emotions, both positive and negative. They noticed that strong feelings, such as love, happiness, anger, or grief, often went hand in hand with a physical reaction. Our hearts beat faster when we see someone we love, and we all know the phrase “a broken heart.” It’s not a surprise that people believed that the heart was the home for these emotions. Ancient Romans associated the heart with Venus, the goddess of love, and the earliest physical symbol of a heart was found on a coin dated to around 500 BC.
Fast forward to 1344, and we find the first clear drawing of a heart in a romantic scene. It was in a French picture book, and after its publication there was an explosion of heart imagery across the world. By the 15th century, the heart icon was everywhere — on accessories, in books, on combs and sword handles. It was even one of the suits on playing cards. Scientists eventually realized that emotions came from the brain rather than the heart, but the association between the two was too strong to break. In fact, the image of a heart had become so powerful that in 1977 the icon was part of a huge advertising campaign in New York to increase tourism. The slogan "I❤️NY" was incredibly popular, and it inspired countless variations.
Finally, we come to 1999. A Japanese company, NTT Docomo, released the first emojis for mobile communication, and five of them were some version of a heart. If you open your emoji keyboard on your smartphone, there are probably more than 30 versions of that original icon, and more come out with every update. So while we now know that love doesn’t actually come from the heart, we’ll probably never see a brain on a Valentine’s Day card.
Step 4: Check your answers.
答えをチェックしてください。
1. How long has the heart been associated with love?
It has been associated with love for more than 2,000 years.
2. What was the earliest physical heart symbol found on?
It was found on a coin.
3. Where was the first drawing of a romantic heart found?
It was found in a French picture book.
4. What was the popular slogan advertising New York in the 1970s?
It was "I❤️NY."
5. When emojis were first released, how many of them were hearts?
Five of them were hearts.