Nico Nico Tues, March 3, 2009 Show

Today we talked about Hina Matsuri.

Hina Matsuri is (held/hold) (on/at) March 3rd every year.

The Japanese Doll Festival ~ place on March 3 and celebrates "Girls' Day".

The custom of displaying dolls began (during/while) the Heian period.
The Shimogamo Shrine celebrates the Nagashibina (by/with) floating these dolls between the Takano and Kamo Rivers to pray for the safety of children.
It is customary to drink amazake on this day.
Dolls are displayed on a 7 tier display.
On the top tier of the display are the Emperor (御内裏様, odairisama) and Empress (御雛様 O-hina-sama)
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Weather:
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It is raining in Nagoya.
X Today is hard rain.
O It poured.= It rained hard.

It's drizzling.=細かい雨が降ってる。

Remember to use "It" sentence to talk about weather or uncontrollable environment (環境) things.
Examples:
It's raining today.
It's dark outside.
It's cold outside.
It's 11:20pm.
It's Tuesday night.
It's March.

It was crowded on the train today.
It is a problem.

It's difficult to find a job now.
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Rules:
on + day
I was born on April 2nd.

to take place=to happen
When does the doll festival take place?

in + month/year
They celebrated his birthday in July.
The USA was born in 1776.

during + noun
Someone called during the meeting.
It rained during the night

while + sentence / verb-ing
I like to listen to music while I jog.
I like to listen to music while jogging.

with + tool
I fixed it with the hammer.

by + activity
I fixed it by using the hammer.

It is customary to + verb
People celebrate by + verb-ing