In today’s Fun Friday podcast, Rob from News From The Other Side taught me an interesting way to learn Hiragana and Katakana using the application Kanatap.

Hiragana and Katakana are the two basic phonetic scripts used in Japanese which beginners should tackle to start being able to read the language.

Rob found Kanatap through his studies of Hangul which could also inform people how to learn the basic phonetic scripts of Hiragana and Katakana.

Other methods include using Anki and also watching youtube videos with basic vocabulary lessons on Japanese.

We hope you enjoy the podcast.

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Rob a.k.a El Gringo from News from the other side joined me today to talk about cycling in Tokyo. We covered various topics including the Tour of Japan, Jerome Sadou’s Fixed in Japan, Fixed Gear Girl Taiwan, Fixed Gear Girls Korea and other information about living the bicycle life in Japan.

If you want useful information on cycling in Tokyo or to network with other cyclists then Tokyo Cycle Club is a good website and forum.

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[podcast]http://media.libsyn.com/media/japanese/ff100319.mp3[/podcast]

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Today’s Fun Friday edition of Learn Japanese Pod was recorded at the A to Z cafe in Omotesando in Aoyama. I was joined by Jim and Sandra of Japandra fame.

The walls of the A to Z cafe are adorned with drawings by the artist Yoshitomo Nara and they even have a mock up of his studio.

In the podcast we talked about Sandra’s latest article for Japan Pulse Blog which is about Twiwari. It’s an ingenious scheme where businesses post discounts for services on Twitter.

We also talked about the renovation of Kabukiza and old theatre in Higashi Ginza which has daily Kabuki shows popular with fans and tourists. This led us on to the topic of the Tokyo Marathon as Jim took part and ran past Kabukiza. We gave a shout out to Joseph Tame who podcasted his marathon run. We mentioned Run Keeper which is a great iPhone app and time keeper for athletes.

Other points mentioned in the podcast:

Tokyo International Anime Fair
Tokyo Kawaii Exhibition @ The Design Festa Gallery
Daniel and Yuki
El Gringo and News From The Other Side
Dan Morales of How to Japanese
K-Pop boys
Smart FM
Kotoba iPhone App
Run Keeper iPhone App
Anki
Learn Japanese Pod Forums

[podcast]http://media.libsyn.com/media/japanese/ff091211.mp3[/podcast]

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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.

[podcast]http://media.libsyn.com/media/japanese/ff091204.mp3[/podcast]

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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

3) Tame goes wild

4) Tokyo Marathon

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.

6) Baird Beers Tap Room

This is a micro brew pub with some awesome little beers just off Takeshita Dori in Harajuku. The “Yabai yabai” beer is excellent.

7) Oriental Bazaar

8) Kiddy Land

9) Japanese Language Proficiency Test

Other topics included were
Yoyogi Park, Harajuku and Omotesando.