秋の夜空に「中秋の名月」

Welcome to Japanese Daily News. I'm Maya. Today is September twenty-sixth. Last night, people all over Japan looked up at the sky for a beautiful autumn tradition — the harvest moon. Let's listen.

Now let's break it down, sentence by sentence.

Last night, September twenty-fifth, was the night of the harvest moon. All across Japan, many people looked up at the moon.

It means the moon — the star of tonight's story.

The harvest moon is the most beautiful moon of autumn. It also has another name — the fifteenth night.

It means autumn — the season we are in right now.

In Japan, there is a custom of watching the moon on this night. It is called moon viewing.

It means a custom or habit — something people do regularly.

People decorate with round rice dumplings and pampas grass, and enjoy the moon.

It means to decorate — to put something out to make a place look nice.

The moon-viewing custom came to Japan from China about one thousand years ago.

It means to be passed down or introduced — to spread from one place to another.

This year, there is something a little unusual. The true full moon comes two days later, on September twenty-seventh.

It means the full moon — when the moon looks perfectly round.

On autumn nights, the air is clear, so the moon looks beautiful. Why not look up at the sky tonight, too?

It means air. When the air is clear, you can see the moon and stars very well.

Let's listen to the whole story one more time.

Time for a short quiz. Listen and try to answer.

It was the night of the harvest moon — the most beautiful moon of autumn, also called the fifteenth night.

Round rice dumplings and pampas grass.

September twenty-seventh — two days after the harvest moon night. A gap that big will not happen again until twenty forty-three.

That's all for today. The moon is still almost full tonight, so if your sky is clear, take a moment to look up. See you next time.