[podcast]http://media.libsyn.com/media/japanese/ff20091002.mp3[/podcast]

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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

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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

Muzie is a site for you to listen to and download free Japanese music. A lot of the featured artists are not signed to major lables so there is a high chance you will find something new.

Most of the MP3s are streamed via Real Player with a medium bit rate quality so the sound isn’t perfect. There are a few high quality MP3 downloads however.

You will need to be able to read Japanese to navigate the site. Alternatively you could just about get the gist of whats going on with this Google translation of Muzie. Again, this site is best if viewed as a place to discover new music and artists.

Check it out!

[podcast]http://media.libsyn.com/media/japanese/ff20090626.mp3[/podcast]

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

[podcast]http://media.libsyn.com/media/japanese/funfriday20090619.mp3[/podcast]

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:

Tofugu

Monster flower

Cracked

Black Belt Course

Featured bands were:

Crispy Nuts

Electric Eel Shock

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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