The Big Persimmon » Japanese

TheJapanShop’s Hiragana eBook for Free

Michelle — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:46:09 +0000

I recently received an email that owners of the thejapanshop.com published their first Kindle ebook, a beginners’ level Japanese language text called “Hiragana, the Basics of Japanese.” They’ve asked mailing list subscribers to download the book (available for free here at least for the moment) and review it on Amazon’s website. I haven’t loaded the PDF on a Kindle to see how the formatting looks, but each page appears small enough (horizontally and vertically) to appear well on the Kindle’s screen.

As far as hiragana books go, this one looks straightforward enough. However, I wonder at the viability of this type of book for an e-reader interface. Isn’t the point of a workbook to actually take your pencil and practice drawing the characters in real life? This text includes spaces to write characters, fill-in-the-blank exercises, and crossword puzzles… but Kindle isn’t a good platform for this type of activity. Perhaps an iPad or iPhone app would make more sense…

Still, if you have a printer and want to learn the basics of Japan’s hiragana writing system, grab the free download while it lasts and work your way through the book the old fashioned way.

Vocaloid Sings in English

Michelle — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 05:12:56 +0000

The Vocaloid program sounds best in Japanese (what else would you expect from a singing synthesizer from Yamaha?), but it’s actually pretty entertaining to hear it sing in English. It definitely sings English with a classically Japanese accent. The clip above is from the song “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).”

Right Place

Michelle — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:36:43 +0000

I forgot where I saw this… whether it was part of a film festival or just on YouTube. But either way, it’s funny in a particularly Japanese sort of way .

Right Place
By Kosai Sekine

Hip-Hop Meets Enka

Michelle — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:35:12 +0000

Japan can be a tough nut for foreigners to crack — foreigners who want to go beyond the “tourist” level and actually integrate into Japanese traditional society, that is. In particular, there seems to be this overall feeling that it’s impossible for non-Japanese natives to truly understand traditional Japanese culture. That’s what makes this example of cross cultural expression all the more interesting:

Jerome Charles White Jr. (aka “ジェロ“) was more or less an average mixed-race kid who was born in 1981 and grew up in Pittsburgh, PA. He majored in information science at University of Pittsburgh, moved to Japan after graduation, and is essentially the first renowned black enka singer in Japan. His first single, 海雪 (umiyuki), has remained on the Oricon charts since its release on February 20, 2008.

Interesting, Jero has attempted to blend black American hip-hop culture (which is surprisingly popular in urban Japan) with the stereotypically dated genre of enka… to create something rather unique. You can see it here on YouTube or see a Reuters video report here. There’s just something strange about watching him stand on-stage and sound so Japanese while dressed in his baggy pants and baseball cap (here’s a good reference if you’d like to see what normally passes for enka attire).

季節はずれの天気

Michelle — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 02:44:12 +0000

ここ数日来、春ぽいな陽気が続いて、気温はカ氏７０度にまで上昇した。みんなはポカポカ暖かさの中であまりにも早く冬服をしまって、週半をのんきに過ごした。
私は仕事中で窓の外をそっと見たら、「満開の桜なんてあるかしら？」って甘い考えでため息をついて、がっかりしたような顔をした。早く春にならないかなぁ～

Oh, and for some Valentines Day humor Japanese-style, see this article: “Win over your Valentine with fish cakes” (Japan Times)

豆腐が作りたいわー

Michelle — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:53:48 +0000

I’ve developed a new obsession. I want to make tofu — no, not dishes containing tofu. I’d like to make tofu itself. It doesn’t appear to be overly difficult (buy some soybean, set aside a few hours, and voila you have beautiful homemade tofu). But it turns out that it’s not quite that simple. Essentially, I need magnesium chloride (MgCl2). Or as they say in Japan: 塩化マグネシウム. This is the chemical that acts as a coagulant to produce tofu from soy milk. And you’d think that it would be stocked at the Korean supermarket I generally visit. Yeah, you’d think… 実は、どこで探しても見つかなかった。すごくがっかりした。

I was listening to NPR today and learned a new word (which is suppose is a statement on modern society): Perma-lancer. This means essentially: A permanent freelancer. A person originally hired on a contract basis, but now essentially a full-timer (though without the perks and benefits of a full-time employee). This sort of “permanent temp employee” status seems in my eyes not that dissimilar to Japan’s freeters (フリーター) who are not “regular” employees (正社員). Generally freeters do similar or the same work as regular employees but do not receive the same benefits or job security… hm.

But anyway, here are a few links that I’ve stumbled upon lately:

Child’s Play

Michelle — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 02:36:25 +0000

In the process of language-learning (an arduous, painful task), I’ve found that materials made for native-speaker children can be really useful. For instance, this Asahi Shimbun site introduces words and phrases to kids that have come up recently in current events/discourse. Examples include:

Mainichi Shimbun has a similar word list. this one aimed at adults (so the explanations are a little harder to understand, and the words themselves are a little more obscure–or rather, just not as obvious):

Identity Check

Michelle — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 04:54:06 +0000

Japan recently announced that it will fingerprint and photograph all foreigners entering its borders. Another response to the “global war on terrorism”? Well, who knows–except that Japan is one of safest and yet most paranoid nations… This doesn’t, of course, mean that it’s immune from crime and terrorist attacks, but it’s not (I would say) one of the world’s hotbeds for bad things. And am I right in thinking that this rule won’t apply for people just connecting to other flights through Narita Airport (TYO)? Because Tokyo is one of the major air gateways to Asia…. I did a quick scan of Japanese news sites but didn’t see anything items on this regulation. (what section would it be under anyway? “Government,” “society,” “living”…?)

Anyhow, here’s the MOFA document on the new immigration procedures. At least it looks as though everything will be electronic. But the Japanese government doesn’t have the greatest record when it comes to information security…. See for example:

Yomiuri: 9/28: イージス艦船情報流出、護衛艦など捜索: 海上自衛隊のイージス艦情報流出事件で、神奈川県警と海自警務隊は、海自第１術科学校元教官の１等海尉が特別防衛秘密情報を無断で持ち出したとして、流出ルートとなった護衛艦「しまかぜ」などを日米相互防衛援助協定に伴う秘密保護法違反の疑いで捜索を行った。この事件での強制捜査は４度目で、自衛隊艦船は初めて。
Asahi: 5/20: イージス艦情報流出、海自学校を捜索　秘密保護法違反で:海上自衛隊第１護衛隊群（神奈川県横須賀市）の２等海曹（３３）によるイージス艦情報の漏出事件で、神奈川県警と海自警務隊は１９日、広島県江田島市の海自第１術科学校を日米相互防衛援助協定（ＭＤＡ）に伴う秘密保護法違反の疑いで家宅捜索した。教官、学生らのパソコンや、ＣＤなどを押収。同校内で本来は保有権限のない学生らに機密を含むファイルが広まり、最終的に２曹に渡ったとみて、資料の分析を進める…

Oh, and for those of you studying Japanese, here are a few vocab words related to the AEGIS incident that you might find interesting:

イージス艦【イージスかん】 (n) Aegis ship
海上自衛隊【かいじょうじえいたい】 (n) Maritime Self Defense Forces
無断で【むだんで】 (exp) without permission; without notice
捜査【そうさ】 (n,vs) search (esp. in criminal investigations); investigation
海曹【かいそう】 (n) petty officer (navy)
漏出【ろうしゅつ】 (n,vs) leak out
機密【きみつ】 (n) secrecy; highly classified information

In the Grass

Michelle — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 04:57:32 +0000

Obviously, as far as this blog goes, I’ve been letting the grass grow under my feet. In all other aspects of life, I think, I’ve been sprinting at full speed. Work has been busy–but I suppose that’s been a given recently. Aikido has also taken up a decent amount of time. I’ve been lazier than usual over the past few weeks, so I’ve returned to the treadmill in an attempt to head-off that cold-weather fitness slump. I’ve also been lamenting the lack of pretty WMA fall foliage this year. I suppose it’s just been too dry–the theme of the year, I guess, is “seasonably warm, dry.”

And what else is new…? I’m going to sit the JLPT (日本語能力試験) again this year. In truth, I should have taken level 1 last year, but with moving and starting work, and all that I simply forgot to register.

What’s been happening around the world lately? It’s been relatively quiet, which is always a good thing. Putin has been flexing his muscles, or at least trying to raise his international stature–and scheming of ways to stay in power after his current term as President of Russia expires.

The cycle of protests and arrests in Burma/Myanmar seems to have quieted, but the UN is still endeavoring to pressure the Junta to stop “repressing” its population. Hu Jintao opened the Seventeenth National PRC Congress (every five years China’s top leaders meet to plan the next half-decade) on October 15th.

In business news, Boeing announced that the production of its 787 Dreamliner has been delayed. This would be caused for celebration at rival Airbus… expect that its A380 was delivered almost 2 years behind schedule, and it looks like the A400M will be at least 6 months late as well.