Quote:
Originally Posted by YuriTokoro
Hi.
Could you correct my English?
"Bon/Obon : Augusut 8, 2009"
Bon (or Obon) is a Japanese Buddhist custom concerning the spirits of ancestors. It takes place around August 15 in many areas all over Japan.
The main custom of Obon is visiting the graves of the ancestors, but customs vary by area.
In many areas, they make a horse and a cow called “shouryouuma” with a cucumber and an eggplant to welcome the ancestors. Shouryou means spirit, and uma means horse. They are the spirits’ conveyances between our world and the afterworld. The cucumber represents a fast-running horse; the spirits use it in their journey to arrive in our world early. The eggplant represents a slow-moving cow; the spirits use it to travel back to their world late.
However, there are many people who don’t visit the graves or participate in the ceremonies. They go out for a trip because many companies are closed around bon, and they only think of it as a day trip.
Almost 50,000 people departed from Narita Airport today. Like Golden Week, all leisure venues and almost all Shinkansen trains are full of people. Expressways are full of cars, and plane tickets are more expensive during bon.
You should avoid Bon when you come to Japan for the same reasons as Golden Week.
Thank you.
Bon Festival - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Not very many changes needed, Yuri. The main revision was with the explanation of the horse and cow. I changed the sentences so both had the same general structure (compound sentences with a semi-colon) to make it read more naturally. The concepts can be understood and remembered more easily by readers because the sentences are essentially identical and only differ in the symbols and explanations (fast horse, slow cow).
It wass a very good idea to connect travel advice between Bon/Obon and Golden Week, as it gives readers an opportunity to reference your earlier posts to the current one. This expands their understanding and keeps their interest in future posts that may have the same advice for them.