My artifact

 A lovely key chain 

　My artifact is a key chain. This was given to me by my dance team reader at her wedding on November 27. She made it and It was used instead of a name tag in the wedding. This size is about 12cm. The basic color is clear and the top ribbon is pink. Three petals are inside and my name “Ayu” is written in the middle of it. It is usually with a chain, so I can attach it to my bag. 

　I belonged to a dance team from 10 years old to 14 years old. There were twelve members  and I was the youngest of the group. There is a nine years difference between the reader and I. She treated me kindly. She always said to me,

 “Let’s take a picture together!”

because I didn’t have a smartphone. She posted these pictures on the internet instead of me. I am grateful to her and love her.  In our team, there were many problems about dancing, directions of the team, and so on. For example, we talked about whether to keep attending festivals inside our hometown Fukushima or to go outside. We loved Fukushima and wanted to contribute with dancing to reconstruction after the Great East Japan earthquake. Finally, we decided to stay local and attend festivals in Fukushima. We discussed these various kinds of problems many times and solved them. I felt we were like a family. When I was 14 years old, all of the members graduated from the group. We cried a lot in the last stage and encouraged each other to do our best in our new life. Last year, the reader married a fan of the dance team. He often came to our stage and cheered. At a wedding, we met for the first time in four years. I was very glad that she and her bride looked happy and talked a lot with the members about the latest situations.  

　In Japan, what kinds of hospitality do the bride and groom give to their guests at the wedding? The invited guests usually give the bride and groom gosyukugi, which is about 30,000 yen to 100,000 yen, as a marriage celebration. In return, the bride and groom give them hikidemono. What is hikidemono? It is something goods or foods. The bride and groom tend to choose some practical products and something can be consumed immediately. According to Honote, which is a Market research media, most people become happy when they are given “Catalog gifts”, “sweets”,“coffee or tea”, “Kitchen products” and “Bath products” as hikidemono. In the case of my reader, she gave me a key chain, Amazon card, and soda with a snazzy package. This is a unique Japanese culture not found in other countries such as the US. The spirit of “Omotenashi” still remains in recent Japan. I think its tradition costs a lot of money but should be passed down in the future.  

　And, as mentioned above, I had taken a dance lesson. How many Japanese children take lessons in the present age? According to a research in August 2019, the rate of children who take lessons was about 80%. The first place of children’s lessons is “swimming” and it is more popular with boys than girls. I think if children take a lesson, they can communicate with people who are not in the family and school. As a result, they can improve their communication ability and It will be useful when they enter a new school and look for a job. Moreover, they can find something that can be absorbed. It may be a way of relieving stress. Otherwise, the parents should pay a monthly fee and it may be a burden on the household. I think parents give their children lessons. Also for that, people managing the lessons should serve lessons at a more reasonable price.

References:

結婚披露宴に関する調査｜市場調査メディア ホノテ (macromill.com)  

小学生白書Web版　学研教育総合研究所｜学研 (gakken.co.jp)