Satsuki, the old Japanese name for the month of May, means "rice sprout month," for this is the traditional time for planting the young rice in paddies.

Satsuki is replete with holidays and is a very popular time for travel in Japan. May 3 is Constitution Memorial Day, May 5 is Children's Day, and many companies also give May 4 off to form a string of vacation days known as Golden Week. Golden Week actually begins on April 29, which is currently known as Greenery Day, but which will become Showa no hi (Showa Day) next year. And Greenery Day will move to May 4 to make the Golden Week cluster official.

Although not an official holiday, the 2nd Sunday in May is commonly observed throughout Japan as Mother's Day.

Dr. Nakashima is being honored for her lifelong activity as a master of ikebana (flower arrangement) and sado (tea ceremony), through which she has promoted friendship and cultural exchange between the United States and Japan, while engaged in medicine at various hospitals and sanatoriums around Chicago. Her work as “cultural ambassador” has not been limited to Chicago and Indiana, but extends throughout the country as she has helped set up chapters of ikebana and sado.

Born on February 14, 1928, Dr. Nakashima moved to the United States in 1948. She graduated from the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois, Chicago in 1964 and was engaged in medicine as a microbiologist until 1987. She established the Ikenobo Chicago Chapter in August 1964, and was awarded the highest degree of “Sokatoku,” Senior Professor First Grade, by the Ikenobo School. In 1981, she established a chapter of the Urasenke School of Tea Ceremony and became the president. She continues to teach Japanese culture and aesthetics to this day.

The decoration and the certificate are scheduled to be presented to Dr. Nakashima by Mr. Taro Aso, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan on May 12, 2006.

Cambodian Stories is an unprecedented collaboration for the acclaimed Japanese-American pair Eiko & Koma, who traveled to Cambodia to work with young visual artists aged 14-20 and struck up a moving creative relationship. The piece opens on a stage thickly covered with sand and strung with large canvases and commences with eleven young Cambodian artists creating a large-scale painting.

• Origami (June 1)
• Ikebana (May 9 through June 27)
• Japanese cooking (May 13)
• Folk dancing (May 23 through July 25)
• Making happi (June 3, 10, 17)
• Shamisen (Japanese lute) (June 3 through July 22)

This exhibit samples the vast number of images, stories, performances, and accounts of Japan that circulated in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century - paintings, poetry, travel literature, editorial cartoons, motion pictures, advertisements, circus acts, magic shows, and a range of other forms.

The Goi Peace Foundation sponsors an annual essay contest for children and youth up to 25 years old. The theme for 2006 is "Learning to Live Together: Promoting Tolerance and Diversity in Globalized Societies." The deadline for this year is June 30.

The Sendai International Music Competition, which is held every three years, aims to boost the careers of talented young musicians, thereby contributing to the promotion of music and international cultural exchange. Application packages are due by September 1, 2006.

The competition is open to the public and consists of a violin and piano section. A preliminary selection based on documents and recordings will be held to decide which contestants qualify for the competition. This will be followed by the competition itself, held from May to June 2007.

United States-Japan Security Consultative Meeting held May 1, 2006
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Aso, and Japanese Minister of State for Defense Fukushiro Nukaga approved implementation details for the October 2005 realignment initiatives.

For a text of the Joint Statement given by the Ministers:
http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/us/security/scc/joint0605.html

For a text of the “United States-Japan Roadmap for Realignment Implementation:
http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/us/security/scc/doc0605.html

Japan's Economy Continues to Recover Steadily
On April 28th, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) issued its Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices (TENBOU Report). According to the BOJ, Japan's economy, as a whole, continues to recover steadily. As a result, the conditions of persistent oversupply have been dispersed, the output gap seems to have closed, and the CPI (consumer price index), excluding fresh food, is rising gradually. The forecast for the real GDP growth rate in fiscal year 2006 has been revised to 2.4%, which exceeds the previous forecast 1.8% increase.

Note: The Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices (TENBOU Report), which contains the forecasts made by 9 BOJ Policy Board Members, is released twice a year in April and October.
http://www.boj.or.jp/en/type/release/teiki/tenbo/gor0604.htm

1. As part of Dove's "Campaign for Real Beauty," the company covered which Japanese exhibition hall with huge photo panels of Japanese models?
2. Which massive retailer opened its first store in Japan after pulling out of the country 20 years ago?
3. Former Japanese soldier Ishinosuke Uwano was reunited with his family after more than 60 years. Where had Iwano been living?

1. Trying to meet Kyoto Protocol obligations, Japan's Environment Ministry dictated that lights in the Ministry must be out by 8 pm.
2. Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka was named MVP of the World Baseball Classic.
3. A recent report by an internet security company ranked countries in terms of spam as a percent of email received. Where did Japan rank on this list? Apparently, there are numerous (and conflicting) reports of spam as a percentage of email. No one submitted an answer matching the report we used as the source for this question, so we have decided not to include it in this month's quiz.

METROPOLIS - Japan's No. 1 English Magazine
www.metropolis.co.jp

This English-language magazine website features Japanese pop culture news and things to do in Tokyo. They have also recently launched a weekly podcast - an audio version of the contents of Metropolis magazine, including news, celebrity interviews, events, travel, and shopping.

Official website for Consulate General of Japan at Chicago
www.chicago.us.emb-japan.go.jp