Learn Japanese Pod » Fun Friday

Fun Friday: Japanese Language Proficiency Test

admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:00:51 +0000

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.

Fun Friday: Yoyogi Park, Harajuku and Omotesando

admin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:00:30 +0000

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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.

Fun Friday: Absolutely Fabulous in Tokyo

admin — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:00:41 +0000

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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.

Fun Friday for 9th October 2009

admin — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:19:01 +0000

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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?”

Have a great weekend!

Fun Friday for 2nd October 2009

admin — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:30:07 +0000

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This week’s Fun Friday was recorded at The Pink Cow on Friday 2nd October 2009. I was joined by Sandra, Jim, Daniel and Yukki who all injected some hilarity and fun into today’s podcast. A big thank you to all of them who put up with a badly behaved iPod recording device. And apologies to you dear listeners as the audio skips a few times at the end of the podcast.

What did we talk about today?

Here’s a list of topics we talked about with some links and other information:

1) The Learn Japanese Pod Meet Up at the Pink cow

We will be having a meet up on Sunday October 18th at the Pink Cow. We are doing this in conjunction with the Pink Cow’s Japanese Lounge event which is an opportunity for you to experience some excellent traditional Japanese music. There will be traditional Kimono wearing, Shakuhachi and Shamisen performances. So come along, have some fun, learn some Japanese and meet some great people.

Pink Cow Facebook group

Learn Japanese Pod Get Together Event Information (Facebook)

THE PINK COW MAP

View Larger Map

2) Earth Quake Prediction

It turns out that Yukki chan has a friend of a friend of a friend who knows someone who works in a secret underground government agency that can predict earthquakes. According to Yukki, Tokyo will crumble to the ground around 9th October. That’s good news because it means I might not have to go into work.

3) Japandra’s Amazing Poster Giveaway

Sandra of Japandra fame has just given away an anti “chikan” poster to one of her subscribers. She has her mits on a new one and will be giving it away soon in a new competition. Listen to this podcast or check out her blog for some upcoming information on that.

Sandra writes great blog containing interesting and witty observations about life in Tokyo.

4) John Cusack’s in Town

Apparently John Cusack is in town promoting his latest movie. One of Sandra’s friends is going to interview him. We tried to work out which hotel he was staying at so we could stalk him.

John, if you are reading this blog post or listening to the podcast please make it easy on yourself and come out for a drink at The Pink Cow we want to hang out.

That’s pretty much it for this week. Thanks again to Jim, Sandra, Daniel and Yukki for making this a fun Fun Friday. Stay tuned, check out the forums and send us an email with your ideas, suggestions, questions and comments to: info(at)learnjapanesepod(dot)com

Fun Friday: Namaste India Festival in Yoyogi Park

admin — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:24:39 +0000

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Today I checked out the Namaste India Festival in Yoyogi and took along my ipod recorder. I bumped into my friend Ady who took the pictures in this post. I’ll be posting some of my own pictures up soon. Here are some pictures and thoughts on what happened today.The food was amazing, the smells intoxicating, the dancing amazing and the music more jolly than a herd of elephants dressed in saris crashing through a Bollywood set. It was great to get my India fix and as an Englishman, I need my curry, it has become the national dish or after pub grub in the UK now.

I mentioned during the podcats that there were 100,000 people which I think was an exaggeration. Probably more like 20,000, oops. Suffice it to say it was packed out with people queuing for food, chatting and slowly

getting drunk by the food stalls.

I also claimed in the podcast that Indian restaurants in London give you free papadoms and condiments whereas the ones in Japan don’t. Ady corrected me on this saying that you can get free appetizers but it probably helps if you are Indian.

I’ve noticed that Indian culture has become gradually more popular in Japan in recent years. The numbers of Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis have been increasing. When I first came to Japan more than 12 years ago there weren’t as many Indian restaurants as there are now. Now there are not only small run family restaurants but big chains such as Samrat. Japan just became that little bit more delicious.

Ady taught us a little Hindi and how the grammar is similar to Japanese. Perhaps that is why many of the Indian people I have met here don’t seem to struggle with picking up the Japanese language quickly. I won’t tell you the Hindi my mates from London taught me from my school days. It wasn’t something your grandmother wouldn’t want to hear.

All in all it was a great festival and even better for bumping into Ady and my friends.

It’s still going on tomorrow (26th September 2009) so if you have a chance check it out. Lola Kutty would be proud.

Here is a video of Chadha, an Enka singing Indian who has been in Japan for 30 years. Ady told me he was popular about 20 years ago but has now had a bit of a come back. Who’d have thought…

NOTE: At 14:05 you will hear a woman shouting “Alex!”. This is Lola Kutty, an MTV VJ and very funny woman from southern India. You can check her out here.

Fun Friday for 3rd July 2009

admin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:00:40 +0000

We kicked off this week’s Fun Friday with some awesome rap from Kenjiman. Check out his Myspace page for some excellent tunes and incredible rapping from Tokyo. (If you are a band in Japan, please contact us at info(at)learnjapanesepod(dot)com if you would like your music to be considered for our podcast)

The festival season was today’s theme which is starting in Japan. Waka sensei and myself will be checking out as many summer events as we can in Japan and reporting you about it stay tuned. Check out our festival calendars for Kanto and Kansai to find some great events to attend.

We also talked about the latest Eco convenience store located in Kyoto which doesn’t sell plastic bottles or provide plastic shopping bags for customers. It’s the first of its kind in Japan and we will be waiting to see if the idea spreads. Waka sensei suggested that plastic manufacturers had try to protect the “pet bottle” in Japan which is why this idea hadn’t taken off sooner. I suggested that plastic bottle making ninjas would soon put a stop to this. Waka sensei didn’t agree…

A big shout out to Dennis for sending this photo of an ad to ask people to smoke more responsibly.

The interesting thing is, in the UK you have posters telling you to quit smoking whereas in Japan they tell you how to be a good smoker. And being good is not disturbing those around you. The tide is slowly turning in Japan as more and more public areas are designated as smoke free areas. I’m not sure what will happen when they take the last cigarette away from the hassled and stressed salaryman. Japan could have a revolt on their hands.

Again thanks to Dennis for the picture. Please send us your own Japan related pictures, comments, questions and suggestions to info(at)learnjapanesepod(dot)com or alternatively leave a comment at the end of this post. DOMO!

Fun Friday for 26th June 2009

admin — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:49:43 +0000

Holy okonomiyaki, it’s Fun Friday podcasting at you from a humid Shibuya with me Alex and the lovely Waka sensei. If you don’t know what Fun Friday is, it’s a podcast with music, chat, news and other general hilarity from Japan.

In this week’s show we covered quite a few topics including the weather, haiku, the economy and a story about a crazy guy who has been stealing garden ornaments. The poor man said he stole the ornaments, took them home and then he talked to them as he was lonely. Maybe not as original as most traveling gnome pranks but more bizarrely entertaining. (Original article here)

The featured bands in this week’s show were Natccu, a talented singer song writer who will be touring the UK soon. Check here site for details.

At the end of the show we played some Yugo Sato, a unique blues guitarist and singer from Tokyo. Yugo Sato was introduced to me by my good friend Ethan Green, creator of Tokyo Werewolf, a website that covers the underground music scene in Japan. Someone give this talented man a job.

We also talked about the latest goings on at Learn Japanese Pod which involve tidying up the site and a new set of articles and lessons which will be posted on the main site. Here’s what it looks like:

Monday – J-Slang

Weekly lessons on slang and the street Japanese you usually don’t find in text books

Tuesday – Main Lesson

As always we will be bringing you the main podcast lesson on Tuesdays

Wednesday -Kanji

We are thinking of doing some sort of weekly kanji lesson. Still thinking about the details but that should be coming up in the next week or so

Thursday – Japan guide

We will try to post some kind of travel guide and reviews at least twice a month for those interested in exploring Japan

Friday – Fun Friday

Of course. Did we really need to tell you that?

If you have any questions or comments either leave a comment at the bottom of this post or send us an email at info[at]learnjapanesepod[dot]com

Fun Friday for 19th June 2009

admin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:18:57 +0000

In this week’s Fun Friday we have music from Crispy Nuts and Electric Eel shock, two awesome rock bands from Japan. We also talk about some cool Japan related websites, how to become a ninja and other sillly banter with me Alex and the unstoppable Coffeebot.

Shout out to Tomo Akiyama who taught us how to say “Is that a sword in your pocket or are you happy to see me?”.

If you have any funny, interesting or amazing Japan related pictures or stories, shout outs or whatever please send them to info[at]learnjapanesepod[dot]com

Featured websites included:

Featured bands were:

Featured Photo

The sign reads “HOMO SAUSAGE”…no comment. Thanks to Coffeebot for sending this photo in.

Please send your own Japan related photos to info[at]learnjapanesepod[dot]com to be featured on Fun Friday

Fun Friday for 12th June 2009

admin — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:43:23 +0000

It’s been getting a little warmer in Tokyo now and summer is definitely on its way at last. Now is the time to get out and enjoy the weather in Japan before it gets too hot. So last Friday I cycled from Shinjuku to Odaiba to check out the huge Gundam statue that has been built in Shiokaze Koen. It’s quite an impressive structure and they were putting the last finishing touches to it when I arrived. The scale is impressive and made the people working on it look tiny.

It’s worth a visit as you usually don’t see 30 meter tall robots in Tokyo plus it’s free. So check it out at Shiokaze Koen in Odaiba.

Apart from describing Gundam in this week’s Fun Friday Podcast, I also interviewed Patrick Widdess, somewhat of a renaissance man living in Cambridge England. He is an old chumb of mine from my days in Osaka. Patrick is involved in various creative projects including his own radio show on 209FM called Headstand, a show with an ecclectic mix of music, spoken word, interviews and live music. We also talked about life and art in Osaka and comparing the English teaching industries in Japan and the UK.

Finally, the music at the end of the Podcast was by Fatblueman a band from Nagoya. Info and links at the bottom of this post.

GUNDAM PICTURES

Links mentioned on the show

Headstand radio

Fatblueman