Hay Fever in Japan “花粉症” (Kafunshō)
It’s February which means the hay fever season is upon us. Every year at this time, thousands of tons of cedar pollen swirls around Japan making life miserable for millions. The number of sufferers depends on who you ask but estimates range from 10% to 20% of people in Japan and that’s a lot of runny noses.
Business has been quick to cash in by providing a wide range of products designed to alleviate symptoms. These include antihistamine tablets, face masks, nose sprays and goggles which account for 20 billion yen in annual sales.
Why does Japan have so much cedar?
Between the 50s and 70s, around 4.5 million hectares of cedar trees were planted in an attempt to meet the growing need for construction materials. However, it eventually became more economical to import lumber from abroad making the cedar plantations obsolete. Even today as the forests mature the amount of cedar produced increases as do the number of hay fever sufferers. Apparently, even the monkeys are suffering. The cedar looks as if it is here to stay as government plans to reduce the plantations are not ambitious or well funded.
In the mean time the only course open to most people is to by whatever is on offer at the pharmacy and check out the pollen maps of Japan. Weathernews.jp has an excellent pollen map of Japan updated in real time. I’ll definitely be referring to it in the coming months. Wish me luck and plenty of chainsaws…
Some useful links:
General Facts on Hey Fever (Japan Times)
Tokyo Weekender on NHK
This is a video segment about the Tokyo Weekender Magazine which I am involved with. It’s a magazine for the foreign community living in Tokyo and has been going for about 40 years.
The other day, NHK came, filmed around the office and followed Kelly the editor of the magazine on her rounds. I’m in the video for about 2 seconds trying and failing to not look like a complete idiot speaking Japanese.
Some of the Japanese in this isn’t too challenging so this might be good practice for you budding students of the language. NHK was also kind enough to provide subtitles for our interviews so there is some reading practice for you too.
Enjoy.
Japanese Language Learning Links and Resources
Character and Writing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_writing_system – A Wiki article on historical development of Japanese writing system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoiku_kanji – List of kanjis to be learnt in elementary school with the pronunciations and meanings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyo_kanji – List of kanjis to be learnt up until high school with pronunciations and meanings.
http://brng.jp/50renshuu-s.pdf – printable practise sheet for hiragana and katakana
http://kanjisite.com/html/start/index.html – Kana and kanji – preparation for JLPT.
http://members.aol.com/writejapan/index.htm – katakana/hiragana and some kanji writing tutor (with stroke order animations)
http://nihongo.isc.chubu.ac.jp/komor…kanji2056.html – 2056 kanjis with stroke orders indicated by live-action video
http://kakijun.main.jp/ – Kanji stroke order database (more than 4000 characters listed)
http://hesjapanese.com/ – Kana lessons with sound and animation files
http://kanjisite.com/html/start/jlpt/4/all/index.html – JLPT kanji levels
http://www.jlpt-kanji.com/ – Another web page that helps you when it comes to kanjis for the JLPT.
http://www.kanjistep.com/ – Very cool page for kanji beginners, includes writing order, meanings, etc.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~kanji/ – kanji stroke orders
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/jouyoukanji.html – printable list of the jōyō kanji as well as a some other commonly seen ones, arranged in the order they are learnt in Japanese schools.
http://www.polarcloud.com/kanji – printable kanji flashcards
http://homepage2.nifty.com/Gat_Tin/kanji/honji.htm – Variant forms of Chinese characters; from China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea.
http://www.realkana.com/ – practice the reading of random characters from your selected list
http://www.flickr.com/groups/brush_calligraphy/ – Flickr group to help decipher calligraphy works
Online Lessons/Tutorials:
http://www.learn-japanese.info/ – Easy to follow grammar lessons, some vocabulary. Nice for starters.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/columns/0002/ – The excellent Daily Yomiuri Online “Pera Pera Penguin” articles.
http://www.ichiban.narod.ru/nihongo/nihongo.html – Various tutorials and phrase books in Russian.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/ – Japanese lessons by NHK Radio available in 17 languages
http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/ts/japanese/cover.html – Teach yourself Japanese – Basic Japanese with a linguistics approach.
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/grammarpage.php – One hundred “watered-down, understandable, bite-sized grammar helps”.
http://jplang.tufs.ac.jp/account/login – JPLANG provides e-learning materials for learning Japanese, developed by a TUFS team.
http://www.trymango.com/language_program.php – for beginners, lots of audio, free but with a registration
http://www.basic-japanese.com/ – 34 free lessons and tools
http://www.manythings.org/japanese/ – free-to-use online study materials
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagod…/1jp/main.html – conversational topics and grammar references
http://www.japanese-online.com/ – Free lessons on particles and sentence structures: audio files available for conversation examples.
http://homepage3.nifty.com/i-yasu/bk-les.htm – 市川保子’s lessons by grammatical topics, compiled from Q&A: Japanese
http://homepage3.nifty.com/i-yasu/bk-les-e.htm – the English version of the above
http://www.pantomime.org/nihongo-tusin/note.html – frequently asked questions about Japanese: Japanese
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Japanese – textbook project by Wiki volunteers
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~sg2h-ymst/yamatouta/intro/dousikatuyou.html – grammar of Classical Japanese: Japanese
Reading Material:
http://www.genpaku.org/ – Collaborative translation project. Usufruct granted by acknowledgement.
http://www3.cnet-ta.ne.jp/p/pddlib/ – Public domain documents including an encyclopaedia, a biographical dictionary and Japanese laws
http://www.aozora.gr.jp/ – Collection of copyright-free works. A lot of texts have phonetic guides in hiragana.
http://hukumusume.com/douwa/ – listen and read fairy-tales
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20683 – Oku no Hosomichi by Matsuo Bashō
http://eloise.cocolog-nifty.com/rodoku/ – Japanese classics in text and audio files
http://ikeda-hideo.hp.infoseek.co.jp/library_e.html – text and audio files of early modern Japanese literature
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/languages/ja – Japanese reading materials in Project Gutenberg
http://www.esuj.gr.jp/cgi-local/Docu…d=list&lang=jp – Contemporary Japanese opinions with English translations
http://jpn.scripturetext.com/matthew/1.htm – Japanese Bible translation with cross references to other translations: courtesy 電網聖書
Pronunciation:
http://forum.wordreference.com/showp…52&postcount=9 – IPA explanations and tools, compiled by WR’s own timpeac.
http://www.paulmeier.com/ipa/charts.html – sound files for IPA symbols as revised in 1996
http://ipa4linguists.pbwiki.com/ – instructions for setting up your computer to display IPA symbols
http://www.siskiyous.edu/NCTA/Japane…iles/index.htm – sound files for Japanese syllabary and verb conjugations.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2151706_impr…unciation.html – Quick tips of phonemes (aimed at English speakers)
http://www.voiceblog.jp/ted606/ – Recitations including classic literature (texts may be found in Aozora Bunko)
http://www.voiceblog.jp/kiyo22/ – Recitations by a voice actor (texts may be found in Aozora Bunko)
http://www.env.kitakyu-u.ac.jp/corpus/texts/index.html – audio samples from very non-structured interviews
Web Services:
http://webcat.nii.ac.jp/webcat.html – Searches library catalogues in universities and research institutions.
http://ci.nii.ac.jp/ – Searches journal articles by the title.
http://www.ndl.go.jp/ – Home page of National Diet Library.
http://www.google.co.jp/ – Google Japan with Web services in Japanese.
http://www.yahoo.co.jp/ – Yahoo’s Japanese portal.
http://podcastle.jp/ – Nascent technology for transcribing and searching podcasts.
Media:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/ – News from NHK, Japan’s public service broadcaster.
http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/ann/news/web/index.html – TV Asahi News is another good listening resource with transcripts. Enjoy!
http://www.rikai.com/perl/Home.pl – Generates small vocabulary bubbles for Japanese news text.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/rj/index_j.html – live streaming of NHK Radio Japan
http://news.tbs.co.jp/ – News site of TBS, a commercial network.
Dictionaries:
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi – Commonly known as Jim Breen’s dictionary, supports a verb conjugator.
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1R – search for kanjis by combinations of stroke counts and radicals
http://www.jisho.org/ – WWWJDIC spin-off with more user-friendly interface
http://www.online-dictionary.biz/english/japanese/ – another WWWJDIC spin-off
http://dico.fj.free.fr/traduction/index.php – French-Japanese / Japanese-French dictionary.
http://www.alc.co.jp/ – A bidirectional English-Japanese database with a search box for looking up more natural expressions.
http://www.yamasa.cc/members/ocjs/ka…nPage?OpenForm – A bidirectional English-Japanese dictionary and kanji guides
http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/ – Online dictionaries offered from Yahoo! Japan Dictionary. Includes Ja-En, En-Jp and Jp-Jp.
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/ – Online dictionaries offered from Goo, another Japanese search engine. Includes Ja-En, En-Jp and Jp-Jp.
http://www.excite.co.jp/dictionary/ – Online dictionaries offered from Excite. Includes En-Ja, Ja-En, Jp-Jp, Ch-Ja and Ja-Ch.
http://www.englishjapaneseonlinedictionary.com/ A Romaji English <> Japanese dictionary.
http://www.trussel.com/f_nih.htm – Jeffrey’s Jp<>En Dict. Kana and Romanji input. Display results in Romanji and Kanji
http://www.j-talk.com/nihongo/search/kanjisearch.php – Kanji-English Dictionary
http://www.dictjuggler.net/tamatebako/index.html – 類語玉手箱 is an on-line Japanese thesaurus: Japanese
http://www.matsu-kaze.net/mk/kanji/ – Kanji (教育漢字)-English Dictionary by romaji input.
http://www.saiga-jp.com/kanji_dictionary.html – Kanji Dictionary, with stroke order, English meaning, On-yomi (phonetic reading), Kun-yomi (native Japanese reading), irregular pronunciations (e.g.一日 = ついたち), example sentences, and audio files.
http://www.languageguide.org/nihongo/ – thematic picture dictionary with audio
http://www.nihonjiten.com/ – Collection of numerous Japanese dictionaries
http://www.hikyaku.com/dico/onmyog.html – kanji dictionary and themed lists
Specialised Vocabulary and Phrase Books:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Japanese_phrasebook – Survival Japanese for Travellers.
http://www.geocities.co.jp/SilkRoad-…ei/jinmei.html – list of typical nanori; special kanji pronunciations for personal names
http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~suzakihp/index40.html – Japanese family names; click on 1.苗字検索 in the left pane.
http://yubin.senmon.net/ – A database of Japanese place names, searchable in kanji and hiragana.
http://gogen-allguide.com/ – etymology dictionary: Japanese
http://coe21.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/djvuchar – Chinese characters from Tang inscriptions; search by CJK allomorphs/scripts [説明書]
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ax2s-kmtn/ref/old_chara.html – Tables to match old and new kanji forms.
http://homepage2.nifty.com/TAB01645/ohara/ – Dictionary of Japan-made kanjis. Entries are provided as image files. Japanese
http://hougen.atok.com/ – User-driven database for regional dialects
http://ryukyu-lang.lib.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/ – The Ryukuan language phonetic database; Nakijin, Shuri-Naha, Amami, Miyako dialects
http://sanabo.com/words/?=index – Yojijukugo (four-charactered idioms) with definitions, usages and English translations.
http://nihongoup.com/blog/japanese-color-names/ – Japanese colour names cheat sheet
http://hiramatu-hifuka.com/onyak/onyindx.html – Pronunciation dictionaries compiled by topics.
http://www.saglasie.com/tr/chemical/ – Names of chemical substances in Japanese and English; database
http://www.ffcr.or.jp/Zaidan/mhwinfo…25684600083647 – list of aromatic bases: Japanese and English
http://www.tradmedicine.com/term/syoyaku-db.html – list of crude drugs: Japanese and scientific names
http://zokugo-dict.com/ – Slang with definition and usage.
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_htsrv_tdy – Glossary of colloquial expressions
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_sit_browse – Themed list of conversational phrases
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_kaydic?ctg_in=1 – Glossary of loan words and Japanese English
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_kaydic?ctg_in=2 – Glossary of yojijukugo or four-character expressions
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_kaydic?ctg_in=3 – Glossary of proverbs and clichés
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_kaydic?ctg_in=4 – Glossary of onomatopoeias and mimetic words
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_kaydic?ctg_in=5 – Glossary of Japanese culture and news
http://www.geocities.jp/tomomi965/index.html – Proverbs and clichés with synonymous and antonymous expressions.
http://crlao.ehess.fr/japonais-coree…eDesIndex.html – Dictionnaire terminologique de linguistique japonaise/日本語言語学専門用語和仏辞典
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~wbaxter/etymdict.html – Mandarin, Middle Chinese and Japanese pronunciations; PDF
http://www.schei.com/dictionary/ – English/Japanese Japanese/English Aviation Dictionary 和英・英和航空学辞典
http://e-words.jp/ – Dictionary of information technology terms: Japanese
http://www.geocities.jp/ps_dictionary/a.htm – 英語－日本語電気専門用語辞書
http://www5.synapse.ne.jp/sio/siof1/…dic_E_top.html – Financial Dictionary (EN <> JP)
http://engeinavi.jp/fen/ – 園芸ナビ 花の園芸用語辞典 (JP <> EN)
http://www.e-bridge.jp/eb/tcontents/…edic.php?job=0 – 橋梁の英和・和英辞典 (JP <> EN)
Grammar:
http://www.jgram.org/ – Very useful web page when studying grammar for the JLPT (from 4kyū to 1kyū).
http://www.nihongoresources.com A rather successful all-in-one Japanese site. From very basic dictionary, to grammar through particles. Noteworthy: giongo (which are onomatopoeia but there’s more to it!).
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/index.html#contents – Japanese grammar reference by constructions.
http://books.google.com/books?id=l_f3b7J2zjcC – constructions compendium offered as a Google search service
http://www.jpf.go.jp/j/urawa/j_rsorc…_04_02_04.html – teaching materials by the Japanese-Language Institute
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=g…ummary_r&cad=0 – Japanese by Iwasaki is a reference in a theoretical framework
Particles:
http://www.timwerx.net/language/particles.htm – Particles overview.
http://japanese.about.com/blparticles.htm – Basic particles overview at about.com.
http://home.inter.net/kenbutler/particlehome.html – A guide to the functions of structural particles in Japanese.
http://www.geocities.jp/nihongoguide/particles2.html – Verb related particles.
http://www.maedera.com/home/jgrammar…r/jgr_part.htm – Particles from a linguistic point of view.
Software:
http://abctajpu.mozdev.org/ – A Firefox add-on to enable easy input of Unicode characters: includes kana shortcuts.
http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/ – For Firefox users: Rikaichan is a pop-up dictionary – reads Japanese web-pages.
http://members.lycos.co.uk/szunvukung/kk/ – Kanji flashcard system by Peter Salvi. Uses Tcl/Tk.
http://wakan.manga.cz/ – freeware that parses Japanese text in English and Furigana and Romanji (Hepburn)
http://wakan.manga.cz/files/wakan_full_167.exe – complete download
http://nihongo.j-talk.com/parser/ – converts both Kanji and Kana into Romaji (select “Kanji to Romaji” option)
http://www.furiganizer.com/ – provides furigana to Japanese texts
http://www.popjisyo.com/WebHint/Portal_e.aspx – parses Japanese sites and provides pop-up vocabulary. Also in Chinese and Korean.
http://www.freewebs.com/horazio/freeware.htm – Pazuru Alfabet is a learning tool that helps to recognize kanas.
http://homepage3.nifty.com/jgrammar/…s/tradkan0.htm – Converts between Chinese and Japanese kanjis, old and new varieties.
http://homepage3.nifty.com/jgrammar/…s/readkan0.htm – kaňon (漢音), goon (呉音), MSC and Hanja pronunciations output
http://homepage3.nifty.com/jgrammar/…s/zen2hanz.htm – Converts between fullwidth and halfwidth forms.
http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~grosenth/jwpce.html – Japanese word processor, with a built-in IME for kana input and kanji conversion. Also supports dictionaries.
http://ajaxime.chasen.org/ – Online Web-based Japanese Input Method
http://japan.adventuresoftim.com/flash.asp – vocabulary flash cards
http://www.tagaini.net/ – Tagaini Jisho is a free, open-source Japanese dictionary and kanji lookup tool.
http://www.byki.com/ – a flashcard style system, the tool contains set lists of basic phrases for certain situations
http://nihongoup.com/ – Japanese educational game and reviewing tool (kana, JLPT kanji, vocabulary and particles)
About Japanese:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_language – Wikipedia’s general account of the Japanese language.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_verb_conjugations – Comprehensive tables for Japanese verb conjugations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology – Basic topics of Japanese phonology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_grammar – An account of Japanese grammar with emphasis on morphology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_particle – particles galore
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics – Japanese honorifics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanes…ntracted_words – Japanese abbreviated and contracted words
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_sound_symbolism – Japanese sound symbolism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanes…raphic_symbols – typographic symbols
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_punctuation – punctuation marks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_…poken_Japanese – gender differences in Japanese
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_counter_word – list of Japanese counters and phonological alterations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_verb – conjugation paradigms of verbs and adjectives
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kambun – Kambun is the traditional conventions for translating Classical Chinese texts.
http://users.tmok.com/~tumble/qadgtj.html – Titled “A quick and dirty guide to Japanese”.
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/kanaqadgtj.html – The quick and dirty guide to Japanese. (kana version)
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/ – Blog, lessons and method of learning Japanese
http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Ewey…nime/japanese/ – tips for common but difficult expressions
http://www.kanji.org/kanji/japanese/writing/outline.htm – Outline of the Japanese Writing System
http://kimallen.sheepdogdesign.net/Japanese/index.html – fundamental differences of Japanese from European languages
http://www.classical-japanese.net/ – Translations and grammar for Classical Japanese
http://nihon5ch.net/contents/ch5/dai…08-3-part2.pdf – list of transitive and intransitive verb pairs: PDF file
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/conditional.html – concise article on Japanese conditionals
http://www.cic.sfu.ca/tqj/GettingRig…conundrum.html – an essay on different systems for Latin transcription
http://homepage3.nifty.com/park/aspect.htm – A Study of “V-te iru” in Japanese by Taeko Tomioka
Links:
http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/m.rowley/resources.html – Melita Rowley’s Japanese learning resources.
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/japanese.html – Once again Jim Breen’s. This time his Japanese related web page. Ugly, but every link in that page is worth gold.
Corpora:
http://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/ – searchable record of proceedings of the Diet
http://teikokugikai-i.ndl.go.jp/ – searchable record of proceedings of the Imperial Parliament
Tokyo Weekender Magazine
For those of you interested in Tokyo and possibly planning a trip here you should check out Tokyo Weekender Magazine.
What is it?
It’s a lifestyle magazine and website aimed at the foreign community living in Tokyo. It covers various topics including fashion, parties, events, products and a lot more. It was traditionally aimed at the expats but the website might have an appeal to a global audience who are interested in what’s happening in Tokyo.
When did it start?
It started in 1970 back in the days before the internet, twitter and even the Sony Walkman. A lot has changed since then and with the recent updates to the website it could morph into something quite different. After the 40th Anniversary watershed there is even talk of video and audio podcasts but we’ll have to wait and see.
Blogs
One really good recent feature is the inclusion of blogs written by the editorial staff. They cover different aspects of life in Japan and are updated regularly. They include:
Tokyo Designed: A blog on cool design from Tokyo and looking for interesting new products around the metroplis
Tokyo Foodspotting: This is a great little blog with information on random culinary discoveries made in Tokyo.
Tokyo In Heels: Not all blogs on Tokyo are written by nerdy men who collect plastic dolls. This is a great blog on fashion for women in Tokyo. Check it out ladies.
Some useful Links
The Tokyo Weekender Facebook Group
Climbing Mount Fuji
Last August I hung out at the Solar Cafe. It is part of the Earth Embassy, an organic farm and learning center for sustainable living located in Yamanashi prefecture. I was helping my friend Jake out on the farm as part of my attempt to escape the madness of Tokyo and relax over the summer holidays.
During my stay I met Hugo and Adam who climbed Mount Fuji. I shot this interview with them and asked them about their experiences. They also give some good advice about climbing Mount Fuji, what to do and what to avoid. I think the moral of the story is be prepared and don’t underestimate Fuji, it can be more challenging that you think.
Map of the video
View Learn Japanese Pod locations in a larger map
Japan Links And Resources
Japan Resources
| Site Name | Type Of Site | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Japandra | Blog | A great blog with funny observations about life in Tokyo |
| Tokyo Weekender | Blog | The online version of the Tokyo Weekender magazine. A huge amount of information on Tokyo |
| Tokyo Werewolf | Blog | A great blog on the underground music scene in Tokyo |
| Japan Probe | Blog | A website with a wealth of information and news from Japan |
| Tofugu | Blog | A blog containing info on Japanese culture and learning the language |
| Shibuya 246 | Blog | Great products, trends and photos from Japan |
| Tokyotopia | Blog | A blog/website with useful information on Tokyo |
| Rikai Chan | Dictionary | A powerful Kanji reading dictionary plugin for firefox |
| Jisho | Dictionary | One of the best Japanese-English-Japanese dictionaries on line |
| Jref Forum | Forum | A forum on Japan |
| Japan Forum | Forum | A forum on all aspects of Japan |
| Maggie Sensei | Japanese Study | Entertaining blog on learning Japanese with Maggie Sensei, a dog! |
| Kanji Koohii | Japanese Study | Great online resource for learning kanji |
| Smart Fm | Japanese Study | A very slick online course for learning various languages including Japanese. Lots of audio and dictation exercises |
| Japanese Language Proficiency Test | Japanese Study | The official website for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test |
| Anki | Japanese Study | Excellent software for learning vocabulary |
| http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar | Japanese Study | A great Japanese grammar resource by Tae Kim |
| Gaijin Pot | Jobs in Japan | Gaijin Pot is one of the most popular sites for finding jobs in Japan |
| Mainichi Daily News | News | Mainichi Daily news website |
| Japan Today | News | Japan Today news website |
| News on Japan | News | News on Japan's website |
| Japan Pod Show iTunes Subscribe | Podcasts | A great podcast created by Joseph Tame and friends on life in Japan |
| Japancast iTunes subscribe | Podcasts | A great podcast for learning Japanese |
| Rinkya | Products For Sale | Buy products from Japan |
| Flutterscape | Products For Sale | Buy and sell products from Japan |
| Hyperdia | Train Route Planner | Find your way around the Japanese rail system |
| Jorudan | Train Route Planner | Find your way around the Japanese rail system |
Learn Japanese Pod New Year’s Party
Learn Japanese Pod and Tokyo Weekender Magazine will be joining up to hold a New Year’s Party on Jan 15th in Roppongi. The Weekender Magazine is celebrating their 40th Anniversary and we will be celebrating the fact that it isn’t 2009 anymore. We are expecting a lot of people to come so this will be a great opportunity to meet new people, practice your Japanese and have a lot of fun in the process. Here are the details.
Location: 57 in Roppongi
Date: 15th January 2010
Time: 8pm start
Entrance: 4000 yen advance tickets (5000 yen on the door)
There will be an open bar, food and live music. Guy Perryman will be spinning the decks for us so this promises to be a great party.
You also have the chance to win a lot of freebies in our prize draw. Included in the prizes are free hotel tickets and organic food packages. We Japanese Language school will also be providing some cool prizes for students of Japanese.
You’d be absolutely bonkers not to come and we’d love to see you there. If you are interested please sign up here.
View Learn Japanese Pod locations in a larger map
Learn Japanese Pod Videos
Here is a collection of the Learn Japanese Pod videos all in one place for you.
Click on the thumbnails below to take you to the video.
Enjoy!
J-Slang 10: Donbiki
Today’s J-Slang is…
ドン引き
donbiki = to creep people out, to make people feel awkward or turned off
彼が痴漢で逮捕されたんだって。どんびきだよね。
kare ga chikan de taihou saretan datte. donbiki da yo ne.
They say he was arrested for molesting women. That’s so creepy. (It leaves me cold)
Donbiki is a phrase that refers to when people get creeped out or turned off by something. It’s used when something happens or someone says something that makes people feel uncomfortable and don’t know how to react.
彼が寒い冗談を言ったら皆がドン引きされていた。
kare ga samui joudan wo ittara mina ga donbiki sareteita.
When he told that terrible joke everyone was left cold.
Fun Friday: Japanese Language Proficiency Test
Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes
Today, Karamoon and myself sat around in Yoyogi park watching Japan enjoy it’s Friday afternoon. Karamoon explained the latest developments as well as the basics of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Listen to the podcast to find out more about the test.
Learn Japanese Pod Get Together
What a crazy year that was and in true Japanese style we will be holding our 忘年会 (Bonenkai) or end of year party. Interesting enough 忘年会 translated literally means “forget the year party” and I can imagine there are more than a few people who would like to do that.
The party will be held at the Pink Cow. We will be holding this in conjunction with their Japanese Lounge event. There will be traditional Japanese music performances from Shakuhachi and Shamisen player. There will also be Kimono wearing.
ENTRANCE: FREE!!!!!
Doors open at 7pm
This is a free event so this is an excellent opportunity to experience some amazing Japanese culture, learn some Japanese and make friends. We would love to see you there so if you are interested please come along and if possible please sign up to the Facebook Event Page so we know how many people to expect.
Useful links:
Health Insurance and Visa Renewal in Japan
According to these unconfirmed sources, it seems possible that enrollment in Japan’s national health insurance system would not be a prerequisite for gaining visa application approval.
“The Free Choice Foundation has obtained a copy of an ‘internal’ Immigration Bureau document that seems to provide a measure of clarification on the issue of foreigners’ enrollment in Japan ’s social health care system as a prerequisite for visa application approval. A DPJ Lower House lawmaker, after questioning Justice Minister Chiba about Guideline Number 8, was sent the document via fax from Immigration. The lawmaker then forwarded the document to a Free Choice supporter.
Although the overall language of the document continues to be somewhat vague (in keeping with the tone of the Guidelines themselves), one very interesting declaration was made in no uncertain terms:
“Accordingly, if a health insurance ID card is not presented (to an immigration officer), that alone cannot be sufficient reason for rejection or denial of a (visa) application.”
This passage makes it very clear that not being enrolled in one of Japan’s public health insurance plans cannot of itself be sufficient cause for declining a foreigner’s application for visa renewal or change of status. It can only be used as one possibly influencing factor when taking into consideration the applicant’s individual circumstances, along with the other seven guidelines. So, if you’re an honest, hard-working foreign resident who just happens to prefer private insurance, not being enrolled in social insurance will not result in your visa application being denied.
Also;
Yesterday representatives from ASIJ, ISSH, NIS and St. Mary’s visited the Nyukan Kyokai (immigration bureau consulting organization) This membership organization is made up of former immigration officials and is established to give advice on immigration issues to member organizations. In yesterday’s meeting we asked for their advice in answering three questions:
1. The purpose of the new immigration guideline?
2. Would the new immigration guideline be implemented in April 2010?
3. What would be the best way to express our organizations concerns regarding the new guideline to immigration officials?
The answers we received were as follows:
1. The purpose of the new guideline is to encourage all citizens to join a national health scheme.
2. The new immigration guideline would definitely NOT be a factor in processing visa applications from April of 2010. Until the guideline becomes a law the immigration office will not actively use the guideline as a criteria to accept or deny visa applications. The immigration office may recommend to applicants not enrolled in a national health plan that they enroll, but they will not use the lack of enrollment as a criteria for denying or approving visas.
3. Both the immigration office and Ministry of Justice have already received numerous concerns from large organizations, including Keidanren, regarding the implementation of the new health certificate guideline therefore it is very likely the DPJ and the Ministry of Justice will review the guideline prior to making any further recommendations as to how it should be implemented or whether it should become a law.”
Fun Friday: Yoyogi Park, Harajuku and Omotesando
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Today’s Podcast Location
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This week’s podcast was recorded by the fountains in Yoyogi park in Tokyo with Karamoon and myself. Here are some of the topics we talked about with some useful links.
1) The Learn Japanese Pod Facebook group, Mixi community, Twitter and the Forums.
2) Useful websites and blogs about Tokyo: Tokyo Heels which can be found at Tokyo Weekender
5) Japanese Pod Get Together.
This is a great chance to meet new people, learn some Japanese and hear some traditional Japanese music for free. This event is being held in conjunction with The Japanese Lounge at The Pink Cow on 7th December from 7pm.
This is a micro brew pub with some awesome little beers just off Takeshita Dori in Harajuku. The “Yabai yabai” beer is excellent.
8) Kiddy Land
9) Japanese Language Proficiency Test
Other topics included were
Yoyogi Park, Harajuku and Omotesando.
J-Slang 09: Futoppara
Today’s J-Slang is…
太っ腹
Futoppara = to generous, broad minded, openhearted
彼って太っ腹だね
kare tte futoppara da ne = He’s a really broadminded guy
Although the Kanji 太っ腹 literally means fat stomach, it really refers to someone who is generous or openminded. In the past, travellers to Japan were often shocked when new Japanese acquaintances would give compliments such as “Nice to meet you Mr Smith. my, how fat you are”.
Of ocurse, these days, calling someone fat in Japan would not be a good idea unless you wanted to get a slap in the face. Women have been brought up on a diet of photoshopped magazine stick insect models as the rest of world has. It’s interesting that although 太っ腹 literally migh be quite rude, it has retained its positive real meaning and can be used as a compliment. And that’s phat!
Fun Friday: Absolutely Fabulous in Tokyo
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Natccu
Today’s Fun Friday was recorded at Agave in Roppongi with the lovely Liz and Kelly, authors of the “Tokyo in Heels” blog which can be found at the Tokyo Weekender Website. The music at the beginning was “Command Z” by Natccu.
The podcast was spiced up a little with a few frozen margaritas and delicious Mexican food. It’s a hard job but someone has to do it. We mostly talked about fashion in Tokyo and the sorry state of my current wardrobe.
Here is a basic timeline and list of topics we touched in during the podcast.
(00:00)
Intro music: “Command Z” by Natccu
(02:42)
Shout outs: Congratulations to Daniel and Yukki on their wedding day. I wish you both health and happiness for the future.
(03:07)
Get involved with the Learn Japanese Pod community:
LJP Facebook group
LJP Mixi group
LJP Forums
(03:32)
Clothes Shopping in Tokyo:
Kelly, Liz and I talked about the sad state of my current wardrobe. We also discussed some points about the ease of using the Uniqlo website to buy clothes. The general consensus was that knowing kanji would help you but it wasn’t absolutely necessary to work out how to use the website. They bought me a purple shirt. People…help.
(05:30)
Tokyo In Heels:
Tokyo In Heels is a new blog written by Kelly and Liz that will soon be up on the Tokyo Weekender website. It’s about fashion, shopping, cool gadgets and more for your discerning lady around Tokyo town. Tokyo Weekender is a magazine and website for expats living in Tokyo. It has lots of event and lifestyle information in it so check it out.
(06:11)
Shout out to Danny Choo
(06:44)
Shout outs: To Leviathon, Nick, Zombiehead and Isacksen for writing some awesome blogs entries on Learn Japanese Pod.
(07:19)
Sin Den: Sin Den is simply a wickedly good hair salon in Tokyo. It came up in discussion as I may be forced to get a hair cut as well as new clothes…
(07:47)
Japanese Lounge: The Japanese Lounge is an event where you can hear some great traditional Japanese music live. The venue is The Pink Cow in Shibuya and it will be held on 20th December 2009. This is also being held in conjunction with the Learn Japanese Pod Get-Together. So come along and enjoy the fun.
(08:36)
Liz’s story: According to Liz, she met an Australian friend who came over to Japan. Apparently he had listened to Learn Japanese Pod. So that’s who our listener is…
A big shout out to Matt Johnson and thanks for listening.
(10:23)
Cool blogs and websites from Japan:
Tokyo Weekender
Japandra
Tokyo Werewolf
Transit Lounge
(11:17)
Natccu live dates in Tokyo:
Thursday 3 December
Sangenjaya Heaven’s Door
With Seiji Kimura (ex-Zeppet Store/Hurdy Gurdy/Pale Green), Prague (new Sony signing) and more!
From 6.30pm; 2,000/2,500 yen
Friday 18 December (all night)
Green Green Cyclone @ Shibuya Cyclone
Rock out all night, with The Great Funny Pant Sounds, Danny Blanco, DJs and more!
From 12am (midnight) till first trains; 2,000 yen
Thursday 14 January
Chelsea Hotel, Shibuya
with GURUGURU (ex-Softball) and others!
From 6pm; 1,500/2,000 yen
Friday 22 January
Club Mission’s, Koenji
‘Three-man’ live show, with BAKUBENI and more
From 6.30pm, price tbc
Well, that’s it for now. Thanks to all those who were involved in this week’s podcast.
Learn Japanese Pod is 4 Years Old!
Learn Japanese Pod is four years old! Happy birthday to us! Four years, three apartments, two mac books and one relationship later, here we are still making podcasts for all you eager students of Japanese. I had no idea LJP would become such a great place to meet people interested Japanese and Japan. We’ve made some great friends and had a great deal of fun along the way.
Learn Japanese Pod started out under the vaguest and most pathetic of plans: “I guess I’ll just do it for a laugh”. So here’s to vague and pathetic plans. And here’s to all of you who listened to the podcast and supported it. Without your help, support, comments and general correspondences LJP would only be a mere shadow of itself and not the gargantuan, green, Tokyo skyscraper munching monster it has become.
As we are on the thankyous, a huge thank you to:
Beb: She made the podcast possible. Let’s face it, you only listen because of her don’t you?
Waka sensei: She spent countless hours recording podcasts, checking the show notes were OK and generally being cute.
Karamoon: He was the tech guy and ideas man for us. On one occassion he single-handedly saved the forums from digital oblivion.
Daniel and Yuki: They’re a cute couple. Daniel has been our audio engineer and Yuki has appeared on various shows teaching us Japanese.
You: yes YOU! Not you! YOU! Another huge shout out to all of you who listened to the show and are interested in Japanese culture.
This list is endless but for those of you who haven’t been mentioned you know who you are. Thank you, thank you, thank you and that’s three thank yous!
Here’s to another four years.
#96 The Latest Craze From Japan
Waka Sensei and I hung out on the beautiful roof garden on top of Marui in Shinjuku. Today’s lesson focused on the word “流行” or Hayari which has various meanings related to being popular and fashionable.You can hear us talk about some of the latest trends in Japan.
The Random Phrase Of The Week
ちゃう！ Chau = That’s wrong
I’ll be posting the show notes up in a day or two. Stay posted!
Upcoming Fun Friday Information Request
Dear Learn Japanese Podders,
I will be recording the next Fun Friday Podcast this Friday on 16th October. In an usual fit of organized disciplin I am making a plan for the show. If you have any Japan or Japanese related information that you would like me to mention in this show or subsequent ones then please feel free to contact me.It could be anything such as JLPT information, a funny story from Japan, a shout out or anything else you can think of.
You can contact us at info(at)learnjapanesepod(dot)com
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu
Fun Friday for 9th October 2009
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Today’s podcast was recorded at Ocean’s Table in Lumine Est in Shinjuku. A huge thank you to Miki, Jim and Sandra who joined me on today’s podcast and made it as hilarious as ever. I humbly bow in your general direction.
Here are some points mentioned in the podcast.
Serial Trial Lesson Enthusiast
Miki told us that she has become a serial trial lesson enthusiast. This means she goes around various schools and culture centers trying out their free first introductory lessons. So far she has tried vocal training and intends to do Tahitian dance next. She said it is a good way to meet people she would not normally meet. I look forward to future reports from her.
Poster Competition
Sandra’s poster competition is underway. Please check out her blog at Japandra to find out how you can be the proud owner of a JR “Do it at home” poster. In the podcast, she also told us about an interesting cafe in Kashiwa where you get the order of the person who came before you. Check out the podcast for more on that.
We’re Still Here
Luckily, Yukki’s friend’s friend’s mother’s acquaintance’s mate who works in the secret underground government bunker somewhere in Japan was wrong about an earthquake predicted for tonight. Tokyo was supposed to be rubble after the 9th and happily the earthquake to end all earthquakes decided to stay in bed. This was a little story continued from last week’s Fun Friday.
Other News and Points of Business
Don’t forget the next Learn Japanese Pod Get Together on Sunday 18th October at The Pink Cow in Shibuya. We are doing it in conjunction with the Japanese Lounge event which will be featuring tradition Japanese musical performances. This is a great chance to make friends, learn Japanese and experience the culture. Details are here.
Joseph Tame, we’re calling you out! Let’s do a podcast together. If you don’t know who Joseph Tame is, please check out his great website and podcasts at Pokya.
Check out the Forums. Leave your comments, ideas, suggestions, questions and anything else you care to share with our growing community of Japanese learners.
Finally we have a new lesson which will be posted on Monday so stay podcasted to Learn Japanese Pod.
Featured music in podcast- Radwimps “Iin desu ka?”
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Have a great weekend!
#95 Daijoubu
Waka sensei and myself are back with today’s lesson which focuses on the word “Daijobu”. This is a very commonly used and useful word and means “OK” or “Alright”.
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